Hi everyone,
I got a good old Sony a6000 which I would like to use as a handy travel camera. Do you have any recommendations regarding an affordable travel zoom lens? As I am mostly using my Nikon Z6 I would like to keep expenses a bit lower for the Sony.
I found the Sony SEL 28-70 and SEL 18-135. Any experiences with those?
Thanks a lot in advance.
I can tell you for sure - do NOT bother with the Sigma 17-70 + MCS-11. The combo is garbage.
I have no experience with the 18-135 since I upgraded to FF and now my travel zoom is the 24-105G. If you really want to prioritize compactness, the SELP1650 is extremely compact since it can retract.
I have an A6000 that sports a 16-70mm Zeiss f/4 OSS SEL whenever we travel. It does everything I want a camera/lens to do. As a bonus, the out of focus rendition is smooth as butter.
Thanks a lot. The SELP1650 sounds like an interesting compact lens. Perhaps a good compromise.
Still not sure though whether I should go the way with the Sony or perhaps sell it and invest in a more compact Nikon Z30 as travel cam.
Hmm interesting option. A bit above budget but perhaps I can find a good second hand deal.
The 16-50 is nice and small, but also mediocre. Visibly soft corners at 16mm, strong distortion, and the power zoom can be a bit annoying. That’s the price you pay for compactness, apparently.
New, the 16-70mm f/4 SEL OSS would be well outside my budget. My wallet is sucking air as it is. But I found one for around 300Euro in mint condition.
Checking around a little I see with a little patience and shopping care that they can be had for around 250Euro.
I really like the size (ie: small) and the fact it has OSS (great for dark touristy kinds of places).
Whatever you get, have fun!
Not sure it helps, but here is a Flick image set I took while in Italy two years ago. Everything was shot using the 16-70mm. The processing isn’t my usual since I was posting on the fly out of Snapseed and off a tablet I had, and I’ve never gone back to properly process the images.