Decently sharp zoom lens for A6500

[Inkz]

What lens would you guys recommend? I will be shooting a mix of still and video at an outside graduation. It is held at a football field in the cent of the field, and I will be sitting in the bleachers off to the side. What lens could get me enough reach while being decently sharp? (It doesn't have to be the best, just fairly good). My budget to work with is around $400 USD, but this can flex down or up a little. I am planning to also buy the camera at the same time, should I get the kit lens if it is really cheap in a combo? 

[AkiraDaarkst]

3 hours ago, Inkz said:

What lens would you guys recommend? I will be shooting a mix of still and video at an outside graduation. It is held at a football field in the cent of the field, and I will be sitting in the bleachers off to the side. What lens could get me enough reach while being decently sharp? (It doesn't have to be the best, just fairly good). My budget to work with is around $400 USD, but this can flex down or up a little. I am planning to also buy the camera at the same time, should I get the kit lens if it is really cheap in a combo? 

The A6500 is available in 3 different combinations of kit lenses:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1289585-REG/sony_alpha_a6500_mirrorless_digital.html

 

For what you want to do perhaps the one with the 55-210mm kit lens option might be suitable though I have no idea how good that lens is.  For what you want to do, you most likely need a lens that covers the 70-200mm range if not longer because of the distance from where you are standing/sitting to the graduation podium.  With this kind of range, use a tripod or monopod to help with stability, don't rely just on the 5-axis IS inside the camera.

[xQubeZx]

The 50-210 is the way to go. The 18-200 is expensive and performs worse and the 70-200 f/4 is out of budget.

 

 I own the 50-210 and it produces good images. Sure its not amazingly sharp, but I wouldn't call it bad either as I'm happy with the results I have gotten with it. (Its defentivly better than the kit lens.) I have not shot much portraits but mostly sports and landscape with it. AF on it is nothing incredible but if you use the center focus it performs a lot better imo. (And that is on my very old a5000 with only contrast AF. 

[thekillergazebo]

I would agree the 55-210 is a great lens for getting the reach you need. It's also light and relatively small for the range you get, but if you didn't need so much range the 18-105 is a great video lens. It's got a power zoom button on the side so you get super smooth zooms and is really nice so you don't get that jerky zoom in or out look. It's also a great walk around lens and would be my first choice for a lens upgrade, but you do need the reach and the 55-210 will get you that. 

[Inkz]

20 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

The A6500 is available in 3 different combinations of kit lenses:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1289585-REG/sony_alpha_a6500_mirrorless_digital.html

 

For what you want to do perhaps the one with the 55-210mm kit lens option might be suitable though I have no idea how good that lens is.  For what you want to do, you most likely need a lens that covers the 70-200mm range if not longer because of the distance from where you are standing/sitting to the graduation podium.  With this kind of range, use a tripod or monopod to help with stability, don't rely just on the 5-axis IS inside the camera.

I do wish it came as an option to not buy the 16-50 with it, oh well, it is basically a free bonus since the savings equals what buying the lens separate would be. I do plan to get additional lenses later (Sigma F1.4), but for now I need to get ready for it. With those two kit lenses I have a remaining budget of about $200 max. What tripod or monopod do you think would fit the situation that is relatively cheap (doesn't have to be dirt cheap). I do need to get a microphone, but what would work the best in this scenario? Maybe a shotgun mic? If you have any suggestions please let me know, thanks.

17 hours ago, xQubeZx said:

The 50-210 is the way to go. The 18-200 is expensive and performs worse and the 70-200 f/4 is out of budget.

 

 I own the 50-210 and it produces good images. Sure its not amazingly sharp, but I wouldn't call it bad either as I'm happy with the results I have gotten with it. (Its defentivly better than the kit lens.) I have not shot much portraits but mostly sports and landscape with it. AF on it is nothing incredible but if you use the center focus it performs a lot better imo. (And that is on my very old a5000 with only contrast AF. 

Thanks, for now it will have to do. If it is decently sharp that should be good enough for now. 

13 hours ago, thekillergazebo said:

I would agree the 55-210 is a great lens for getting the reach you need. It's also light and relatively small for the range you get, but if you didn't need so much range the 18-105 is a great video lens. It's got a power zoom button on the side so you get super smooth zooms and is really nice so you don't get that jerky zoom in or out look. It's also a great walk around lens and would be my first choice for a lens upgrade, but you do need the reach and the 55-210 will get you that. 

I have heard good things about the 18-105, but it is just barely out of my budget at the moment. I might acquire one later though. I also plan to get a Sigma 1.4 for E mount, but this is for the moment. I could just barely afford it, but then I would have no money for a tripod/gorrila pod and a microphone. Total I have to work with is about $1900, so if I get the 16-50 and 50-210 with A6500 that will be at about $1700. That leaves me only $200 for tripod and mic. Thanks. 

[AkiraDaarkst]

4 hours ago, Inkz said:

I do wish it came as an option to not buy the 16-50 with it, oh well, it is basically a free bonus since the savings equals what buying the lens separate would be. I do plan to get additional lenses later (Sigma F1.4), but for now I need to get ready for it. With those two kit lenses I have a remaining budget of about $200 max. What tripod or monopod do you think would fit the situation that is relatively cheap (doesn't have to be dirt cheap). I do need to get a microphone, but what would work the best in this scenario? Maybe a shotgun mic? If you have any suggestions please let me know, thanks.

Audio is going to be an issue because if you're filming something from a distance then any mic mounted on camera will pick up a lot of unwanted noise.  At a graduation ceremony, you probably want to record the speeches given by the teachers and students but unless you can stand right in front of them to record the audio the mic will pick up noises from anyone in the crowd positioned between you and the graduation ceremony stage.  However if you can place a mic and audio recorder on the speech podium, you can capture cleaner audio and then add it in post, the only problem here is that you cannot easily control when to start and stop recording the audio on the external recorder.

 

$200 is not a lot so I'll recommend some "starter" mics and camera support.

Option 1: record audio to an external recorder, and using the built-in mics on the camera to record a scratch track to assist in syncing audio in post.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1261239-REG/zoom_zh1g_h1_ultra_portable_digital_audio.html

 

Option 2: on camera shotgun style mic

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1012003-REG/rode_videomic_go_videomic_go_on_camera_shotgun.html

 

 

For the monopod, buy something like this for the time being until you can save up and get a better tripod.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1083916-REG/benro_a38fd_monopod.html

 

These should all total less than $200.

[Inkz]

23 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Audio is going to be an issue because if you're filming something from a distance then any mic mounted on camera will pick up a lot of unwanted noise.  At a graduation ceremony, you probably want to record the speeches given by the teachers and students but unless you can stand right in front of them to record the audio the mic will pick up noises from anyone in the crowd positioned between you and the graduation ceremony stage.  However if you can place a mic and audio recorder on the speech podium, you can capture cleaner audio and then add it in post, the only problem here is that you cannot easily control when to start and stop recording the audio on the external recorder.

 

$200 is not a lot so I'll recommend some "starter" mics and camera support.

Option 1: record audio to an external recorder, and using the built-in mics on the camera to record a scratch track to assist in syncing audio in post.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1261239-REG/zoom_zh1g_h1_ultra_portable_digital_audio.html

 

Option 2: on camera shotgun style mic

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1012003-REG/rode_videomic_go_videomic_go_on_camera_shotgun.html

 

 

For the monopod, buy something like this for the time being until you can save up and get a better tripod.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1083916-REG/benro_a38fd_monopod.html

 

These should all total less than $200.

Thanks I think for the moment I will go with the shotgun mic since I still need to learn syncning. I will probably buy a recorder later for more flexibility though. As for the speeches it might not be terrible because they are speaking into a mic into loud speakers, so it's kind of a tossup. I am ready to but everything now (plus a dead cat for the mic) except one tiny thing. I saw a few reviews claiming the Rode Go mic has clicking sound near anything even close with WIFI (even the camera itself). Normally this wouldn't be an issue, but if I am near a crowd of people I can't tell them to turn off all of their devices, have you heard of this? If not I might have to find another mic quickly.

 

Also do you know how well this monopod would compare? https://www.amazon.com/Tripod-1650mm-Alumninum-Camera-Monopod/dp/B01FD6QZZE/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1495777708&sr=1-6&keywords=monopod The tiny amount of savings could let me get a bigger SD card.

[seanmiller]

I usually use stock since I always use a mirrorless or an action camera.

[Inkz]

15 hours ago, seanmiller said:

I usually use stock since I always use a mirrorless or an action camera.

Unless it was risky I would use my phone over a Yi camera any day.