New a6000 purchase lens or Kit Purchase

[map-it]

I plan to pull the trigger on a new a6000 purchase.

Costco has what seems to be a great deal on the body, the KIT Lens and the 55-210mm Zoom lense. For $799.

 

I'm traveling to Scotland in 3 weeks and plan to attend a few festivals, stay at the Eisenhower Castle and hike in the Highlands.

 

Can you please advise on if I should go with the package deal from Costco or buy just the body and a fixed lens for landscape and street photography?

 

If just getting the body is the way to go which lens should I purchase and I have to stay with in $800-$900 dollars for everything.

Thanks and any suggestions would be great.

[saj2001ind]

U can also get a 35mm 1.8 for street photography along with the combo

[map-it]

So going to B&H it looks like I could only pick the KIT lens of the 55-210mm as part of the purchase.

 

If I only select the body and the 55-210mm lens the price is like $699 only $100 cheaper than the package from Costco that included a a small memory card, the 18-55mm lens and a carry bag for only $100 more.

It looks like the Costco Deal is pretty good.

 

So for landscapes and city photography will the KIT Lens be alright or will I need to pick up a seperate lens??

[Al Pha]

I have the A6000 and A7m2. In my opinion the 55-210mm is an under-rated beast! And I have a lot of good glass to compare it to (Minolta, Sony, Zeiss, Sigma). For my style of shooting I prefer the 16-50mm PZ lens over the 18-55mm. One reason is that while shooting video you can do nice smooth zooms either handheld or via Sony's remote control cable. My copy of the 16-50 is also an exceptional performer for stills. 

[map-it]

AL Pha

 

This is my thoughts exactly.

But would you be better with a Fixed 20mm with the F2.8 or go with the 16-50.

I've read really less than stellar reviews of the 16-50 on B&H and other websites.

[ethierbach]

I don't particularly like my 16-50 PZ, way too soft for my tastes. Maybe I got a poorer copy.  But if I was in your shoes, with your stated budget, I'd get the kit with the 18-55 and 55-210. (I really like my 55-210.)  Then add a Sigma 30mm (~$200) or the Sony 35mm 1.8 (~$450) for landscape/city if I could manage it.

 

Until I got my Sony/Zeiss 16-70, the Sigma 30 was my go-to lens for landscapes, or closer-in city-type work.

 

If you had an extra several hundred in your budget, I would easily recommend the A6000 + Zeiss 16-70 + Sony 55-210. I'm finding that to be a really nice combination. Add the 35 or 50 1.8 if you plan to do indoor or night shooting.  But it's easy to tell someone else to scare up a bunch of extra cash. :-)

 

Most of all, enjoy your trip!

-Ed-

[map-it]

Ed,

 

The more I research the higher my budget gets.

Right now I'm really thinking of spec'ing out a Camera Kit with the 16-70mm Zeiss as most of my photography will be Landscapes, Monuments, City Shits and HD Video and I believe the zoom range of 16-70mm would be great for what I plan with the camera first.

And adding the 55-210mm later.

 

But I do have a question how is the HD Video quality with the fixed F4 on the Zeiss 16-70??

We want to shoot some HD Video for certain run and gun stages at our Rifle Competitions we engage in a few times a year. And I did know if the a F4 would be fast enough.

 

I'm definitely in trouble as I'm an optic tramp and all of our rifle scopes are Schmidt and Bender and Nightforce not to mention the Land Surveying Equipment Optics all hail from Europe. We are self employed Land Surveyors.

 

So I do think the 15-50mm or the 18-55mm would be a waste of money.

 

Thanks for your help.

[ethierbach]

I hear you about the budget increases.    I sent you a link to a video I shot last week on vacation. I'll post it here as well:

 

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~ethierba/Lowering%20the%20front%20sail.mp4

 

I adjusted the exposure a little, and iMovie changed the format to mp4 when I exported the clip, so it's not exactly straight out of the camera. But hopefully it will give you a decent idea of what to expect.  I know next to nothing about video; what little I learned was behind my Dad's Super-8 movie camera some decades ago.

[map-it]

Thanks for all of your comments it really helped my my decison.

[svenski]

Try and get an old manual 24 mm lens and the corresponding el cheapo adapter to mount it. No cheaper way to optically good landscape lenses out there. Manual focus is great with focus peaking.