Sony A6300 vs A7 and other full frame cameras

[wudaokor]

Hi SAR forum readers, 

 

I was recently hiking in Nepal, slipped and fell and my camera fell out of my bag and tumbled down the side of the cliff. I went to look for it and then myself tumbled ~200ft. down the side of the cliff and almost died. My Sony NEX 6 survived the fall! But got beat up pretty bad, so i'm going to keep it as a back up and purchase a new camera. 

 

I was looking at the A6300 and it looks great, plus I already have a nice 50mm E mount lens, so I quite like that camera. However, i'd really like a full frame camera, so I'm curious what your suggestions would be for a comparable full frame sony camera as well as what your suggestion would be A6300 or full frame. Edit: After looking a bit more it seems like the A6300 doesn't improve too much on stills which is what i'm looking for so now i'm contemplating going after the A6000 over the A6300. 

 

To give a little context, I'm a (somewhat inexperienced) amateur photographer that travels all the time. As such I love taking pictures of the beautiful scenery. I vastly prefer taking photos of landscape compared to urban environments. I've been using an NEX 6 for the past three years and have absolutely loved it. I have the f1.8 50mm E mount lens, and but i mostly shot with the 16-50mm on the go because of the versatility but it died in the fall. 

 

I also have one other question. Can I use a FE lens on an E-mount lens? It looks like Sony is shifting focus on lens to the FE lens so I'd like to have a compatible camera. Also, what would be a good lens or two to get with the camera (both full frame and A6300)?

 

Thanks in advance for your help. If you have any questions let me know. 

[Golem]

For your described purposes there seems no

reason to choose the 6300 over the currently

still available and much more affordable 6000.

  

There is no major advantage to full frame and

for travel it has disadvantages, as everything

is larger. However most of the size increase

in the lenses, not so much in the body. If you

carry only two lenses then that increase is not

unmanageable. The main advantage of Sony's

current [not previous] FF bodies is IBIS. Your

deceased 16-50 had image stabilization, but

your 50mm does not. If using both has shown

that you benefit from stabilization then IBIS is

a possible reason to use Sony's FF bodies. If

you can get the lens or two that you need for a

6000 from among the OSS models [stabilized]

then you can really stay with the APSC size. A

standard kit packed by Sony is two OSS lenses

spanning 16 thru 210mm. The whole shebang 

is about $850 and is by far The Deal currently

available in any brand or format. Sony has no

reputation for being underpriced [LOL] but this

is clearance pricing as long as there are still

a6000's available.

  

Your final question is unanswerable cuz it is

ambiguous, prolly due to a slight keyboard error

but it could be asking two different things ....

But both things should be answered by just one

fact: The Sony "E" lens mount is the same on

APSC and on FF bodies [not like Canon SLRs]. 

So all the lenses fit and function fully, regardless

of whether they match the format ! Lenses that

are assured to cover the FF format are called FE

lenses. The F means "full frame". The regular E

mount lenses are for APSC ... but the mounts on

the cameras are identical, everything fits perfect.

Nothing will be damaged.

[yarmmcd]

see Steve Huff`s A6300 review, the "advantages" of full frame are often overstated!

[GhostWalker]

I was recently hiking in Nepal, slipped and fell and my camera fell out of my bag and tumbled down the side of the cliff. I went to look for it and then myself tumbled ~200ft. down the side of the cliff and almost died. My Sony NEX 6 survived the fall! But got beat up pretty bad, so i'm going to keep it as a back up and purchase a new camera.

 

Ouch! Good that you survived - and (to belatedly state the obvious...) no camera is worth risking your life over!

 

 was looking at the A6300 and it looks great, plus I already have a nice 50mm E mount lens, so I quite like that camera. However, i'd really like a full frame camera, so I'm curious what your suggestions would be for a comparable full frame sony camera as well as what your suggestion would be A6300 or full frame. Edit: After looking a bit more it seems like the A6300 doesn't improve too much on stills which is what i'm looking for so now i'm contemplating going after the A6000 over the A6300.

 

There are a few specific advantages that you *might* expect from full frame. One is the potential for better image quality (e.g. most lenses are a bit sharper on full frame than they are on APS-C format). Another is low light performance - full frame sensors have more area to gather light, so all other things being equal (which they rarely are, fwiw) full frame can be more sensitive. A third is depth of field - specifically, full frame has shallower depth of field, so if you want to use out-of-focus background effects you'll get further with full frame.

 

I have both an a6300 and a full-frame Sony, and although for most purposes I lean towards the full-frame, the a6300 is also a great camera and serves as a wonderful backup and second camera body.

 

 also have one other question. Can I use a FE lens on an E-mount lens? It looks like Sony is shifting focus on lens to the FE lens so I'd like to have a compatible camera. Also, what would be a good lens or two to get with the camera (both full frame and A6300)?

 

All FE lenses mount and work fine on both full-frame and APS-C camera bodies. The reverse isn't true, however - lenses designed for crop format (APS-C) will typically produce vignetting if mounted on a full-frame camera. One thing to be aware of is that the effective focal length will be 50% longer when an FE lens is mounted in front of an APS-C sensor - so, for example, a 50mm lens will provide a FOV equivalent to a 75mm lens when it is mounted on an APS-C camera body.

 

I've chosen a range of FE lenses and I'm able to use them on both my APSC (a6300) and full-frame camera bodies, which is great.