Sony A6000 (mirrorless) vs point and shoot??

[BenoitWW]

I am new to the photography scene and I was looking for a new camera for around $700USD. The main purposes would be family use, with a bit of sport photography and film making on the side.

 

I identified the Sony Alpha A6000 as a pretty good mirrorless camera due to its compactness and price. The lens i was planning on using was the 55-210mm lens.

However, some cameras in the 'compact' and 'bridge' class touched my eye. Would these cameras be better for my use?

 

Cameras being tossed up:

 

- Sony Alpha A6000                           (mirrorless, inter-changable lens)

- Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark II

- Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ100        (4K video)

- Nikon Coolpix P900                         (83x Optical Zoom)

- Canon PowerShot G9 X

- Sony CyberShotDSC-RX100 III

 

If there is another camera (of any type) that you think would suit me, or if you have any specific or general experience with these cameras your help would be much appreciated!

[Enderman]

Not a camera pro, but I've done a lot of research to find a really good low light video camera and the A6000 is the best of all those.

[Mira Yurizaki]

The 55-120mm lens is good for zooming and such, but if you're looking for a prime lens, the 16-50mm works pretty well.

 

I suppose it depends on what you want to do. I haven't really touched on point and shoot cameras, since my phone's been doing a good enough job. But I did get the A6000 recently and it's a pretty nice camera.

[BenoitWW]

1 minute ago, Enderman said:

Not a camera pro, but I've done a lot of research to find a really good low light video camera and the A6000 is the best of all those.

Awesome. I also do some theatre work so thats really ideal. Thanks!

 

Do you own one by any chance? And if so, how do you find the lens's? 16-50mm vs 55-210mm?

[BenoitWW]

Just now, M.Yurizaki said:

The 55-120mm lens is good for zooming and such, but if you're looking for a prime lens, the 16-50mm works pretty well.

 

I suppose it depends on what you want to do. I haven't really touched on point and shoot cameras, since my phone's been doing a good enough job. But I did get the A6000 recently and it's a pretty nice camera.

Cheers, thanks for your thoughts! 

 

Do you find that the 55-210mm zoom lens neglects the use of the 16-50mm? i.e. should I buy both?

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, BenoitWW said:

Cheers, thanks for your thoughts! 

 

Do you find that the 55-210mm zoom lens neglects the use of the 16-50mm? i.e. should I buy both?

I don't have the 55-210mm lens, I bought mine with the 16-50mm. If you think you're going take photos from faraway, definitely get a zoom lens.

 

However I just played around with my camera and noticed it measures the "zoom" by the distance noted above. So I'm going to assume the shortest zoom on a 55-210mm is longer than the 16-50mm (I could be wrong, I'm not really a camera buff on this level)

[Enderman]

3 minutes ago, BenoitWW said:

Awesome. I also do some theatre work so thats really ideal. Thanks!

 

Do you own one by any chance? And if so, how do you find the lens's? 16-50mm vs 55-210mm?

Unfortunately still saving up for one

I was debating between the A5000 and A6000 since they both have the same large sensor, but I found out that the A6000 has way more focus points and focuses much faster, which made a huge difference in low light quality.

 

 

I have friends with an A6000 and they say sony cameras are the best for video (at least in the sub-$1k range) so that's why I was looking at those two.

[Mira Yurizaki]

Just now, Enderman said:

I was debating between the A5000 and A6000 since they both have the same large sensor, but I found out that the A6000 has way more focus points and focuses much faster, which made a huge difference in low light quality.

I'd say the A6000 is better just for the viewfinder, among those other things.

[Hiitchy]

2 minutes ago, BenoitWW said:

Cheers, thanks for your thoughts! 

 

Do you find that the 55-210mm zoom lens neglects the use of the 16-50mm? i.e. should I buy both?

I would say buy both. One for further ranges, and one for close ups. I personally own 3 different camera lenses for a Nikon D3300, and am in the process of buying a 10-24mm lens which is going to cost me roughly around $1,000.

 

The lenses I own right now are an 18-55mm, 35mm, and 55-200mm lens. All of them are great additions for starting off, the cherry on top is a wide angle lens that will allow me to take much wider photographs, especially in groups.

 

With camera lenses, you always want to be careful with what you're buying. Sure a zoom lens would be nice, but you don't want to use this lens unless you're going to be taking photos from far away. The 16-50mm lens for the mirrorless camera would be ideal for taking portrait photos, or photos of closeups and so on and so forth.

[xQubeZx]

I'g get the bundle with both the 16-50 and 55-210 lens if you buy the a6000. I own both of those lenses and they are decent. The 16-50 is not that sharp but its small and versatile. The 55-210 will give you the reach you need and imo I like the look of it. 

[BenoitWW]

29 minutes ago, Hiitchy said:

I would say buy both. One for further ranges, and one for close ups. I personally own 3 different camera lenses for a Nikon D3300, and am in the process of buying a 10-24mm lens which is going to cost me roughly around $1,000.

 

The lenses I own right now are an 18-55mm, 35mm, and 55-200mm lens. All of them are great additions for starting off, the cherry on top is a wide angle lens that will allow me to take much wider photographs, especially in groups.

 

With camera lenses, you always want to be careful with what you're buying. Sure a zoom lens would be nice, but you don't want to use this lens unless you're going to be taking photos from far away. The 16-50mm lens for the mirrorless camera would be ideal for taking portrait photos, or photos of closeups and so on and so forth.

Thanks so much for your input! Those wide-angle lens's are really expensive!!! I think I will buy both lens's for the a6000, as getting a 16-50mm to be included with the camera is only $100 more or so.

 

Cheers!

[ionbasa]

A6000 owner here. Let me just tell you, its an amazing camera.Takes beautiful shots. The included kit lenses are fair/good.

Settings wise, it takes a bit getting used to, but after you've dialed in all your settings, its good to go and hasn't failed me yet.

 

Definitely invest in a second battery, it powers up fairly fast, but powering down takes a few seconds as it writes its cache to the SD card. Also, invest in a 64+ Gb SD card, especially if you take video.

 

I wish I could post portraits, but I cant, due to consent. But I can post some landscape/outdoors:

 

 

Take with a grain of salt, since they're being compressed as JPEGs and not in RAW.