Hey! I am using the Sony A6000 camera since it was released 3 years ago and after checking out some alternatives, I just a few days ago switched back to the good old proven setup.
I tried to summarize why I like this combination so much and why it is so good for traveling, hopefully it will be helpful for some!
Also please do share the equipment that you guys are using for traveling and what your experiences are?
Thanks so much,
Chris
Sony A6000 Camera & Sony SELP18105G Lens Review
The Sony A6000 was one of the first mirrorless cameras to appear on the market. As the name suggests, it does not use a mirror like conventional DSLR cameras and thereby is much faster without losing a lot of image quality at the same time. I had used it for ages and then recently switched to a lighter Sony RX-10 premium Bridge camera. Quality wise, it cannot compete with the combination described in this post, but it is much cheaper and lighter and so I wanted to see if it will be good enough. The fact that I could not do zoomed-in panoramas turned out to be deal breaker ithough and I have just bought my third Sony A6000 here in Cambodia today!
For starters and most importantly, the camera has excellent picture quality for it’s weight (285g) and price (~500€) – if you pair it with a good lens! The 16-50mm kit lens is not bad, but far from good enough to get everything out of what the A6000 has to offer. I suggest to just buy the body and move straight to a better lens, but more on that later. Next to the image quality, the A6000 is also really really fast for a 3 year old camera. It only takes seconds from turning it on, focus on your motive and take the shot. Other cameras (incl. the RX-10) take much longer and I missed a lot of great shots because of that! Having a light camera for me personally is very important and I am happy that the A6000 still rests very solid in my hands. Last but not least, I simply love Sony’s built in Panorama function. The image is stitched together instantly and in 95% of the cases, it is simply perfect! Only taking pictures on a moving boat for instance will make it hard to get a good Panorama. Zoomed-in Panoramas are my favorites, something I did not know that I could do until a year ago or so.
Finding a good lens is really important and after a couples of years, I had a few of them to check out. As mentioned, the 16-50mm kit lens is not really a good option. If you bought the kit, I suggest selling it separately and move on to a better lens. I had tested various lenses, from zoom to fixed length and ended up with the Sony SELP18105G, a simply perfect lens for nearly all situations. Having a 18-105mm range AND good image quality at the same time enables me to leave all other lenses at home. Carrying only one lens with me also makes up for the fact that the 18105 is pretty heavy and rather big, I can barely fit it into my small camera bag! The lens is ideal for landscape and panorama shots and produces amazing JPEG images with the A6000. I still prefer JPEG over RAW due to the fact that I take about 300-400 pictures each day for 2 1/2 years now and I simply do not have the time to edit them all instantly. Not to mention how many external HDD I would have to carry. And finally, the 18105 is amazing for shooting videos! The quality and auto focus is great and I love the fact that I can very slowly and gently zoom in with the lever on the side of the lens, also resulting in absolute zero noises while zooming unlike many other lenses.