Switched from Canon mid-level DSLR to Sony A6000 -- Changing Camera Brands in photography-on-the.net forums

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Sep 07, 2016 08:02 | #1

Foreword:

I made this thread for those who might find themselves in a similar situation down the line of trying to decide if switching to mirrorless is a step forward or backward for them. Obviously the only person who can decide that is ultimately yourself, but hopefully my initial experience helps make your decision a bit more calculated. I am far from a pro but I am a hobbyist who likes to shoot from time to time. Also, what I'm comparing is the change from a particular Canon setup to a particular Sony setup. So keep that in mind as you read this.

Making the switch from DSLR to Mirrorless:

Over the last few years my wife and I have used our DSLR less and less (Canon t2i body + various lenses). We typically only vacation at Disney World with our daughter (5yo) and we both got tired of lugging multiple lenses around so we got to the point where we pretty much only used our 17-55mm lens, which was an excellent lens. This wasn't the best Canon body. It's still a 'Rebel' and uses a cropped sensor but it was a really good prosumer type combo. The t2i+17-55 was a good mix of great PQ and ease of transport (relatively speaking, compared to my full camera bag of stuff). But still... it was a PITA the majority of times and it wore on me after an hour or two of lugging it around my neck at the parks.

We have a trip to Disney Land coming up and I was looking forward to taking some cool photos there but I wasn't looking forward to packing up all our DSLR gear and lugging it around. We've done that numerous times and after a while it pulls from the enjoyment of vacation... getting the camera in/out of the bag, walking around with the lug on my neck and trying to carry my daughter around. It makes for great shots but also comes at a price of convenience. And frankly, I've accepted the fact that I'm no pro and I'm not going to get the stellar images I see online from some of these guys who have more time and experience than I do. So, I admire their images via Google search and live with the photos I'm able to obtain.

We considered mirrorless cameras a couple years ago but the reviews back then weren't positive enough for me to dump the DSLR rig. But with our vacation coming up, I told the Mrs. about the mirrorless tech, noting the size and weight reduction, and how it's come a long way since we last looked at it and with practically no coercion she said to go for it.

The Decision (not Lebron James'):

I had seen great things about the Sony A6000 Body so I pretty much knew right away that was going to be the pony. A friend of mine was one major reason I picked this one up because he had such great things to say about it. But, I did due diligence in researching the various options as we do... mainly to verify my bias. lol. Still, I fell right back at the Sony.

I went with that but decided against the kit, which comes with the 16-50mm for the reasons below. Now, the new A6300 is a step up but I couldn't justify the additional $400 price tag for the body. You can find all sorts of discussions/sites regarding the differences. Some good cases made for the upgrade but a lot of people also not able to justify the increase based on their usage. So, I decided to put that savings toward a lens.

Lenses:

Now, the thing I find about Sony (and maybe other mirrorless-minded brands?) compared to Canon/Nikon is they are less... established... than the other big DSLR brands. Which unfortunately means costly lenses if you want a fixed/low aperture. I really don't want to lug around a bajillion lenses on vacation so the 16-50mm kit lens probably would suffice. But I also didn't want to go on vacation with not-quite-ideal glass.

Rather than purge my wallet on a zoom lens, I decided to shop a few prime lenses for their balance of price/PQ. I wanted a good walkaround lens. That was key. There are a lot of prime lens options out there for this camera but picking the right focal length with ability to shoot in dark places was important. For how I shoot, 50mm is way too cropped and 35mm is still too cropped. 20mm is a bit more wide than what I needed. Based on how I shoot, 25-30mm range made more sense. Ultimately I found the Sony SEL28F20 (28mm, f/2.0) to be the best option for me. It has excellent reviews if you dig around... some folks even suggest it over the more expensive glass primes. The cool thing about it is you can buy an ultrawide lens adapter for about $250 which converts it (rather nicely, according to reviews) to 21mm or this fisheye adapter to get you to 16mm. EXIF data works with both adapters, too.

Impressions of the Sony A6000 and SEL28F20:

I got the a6000 + 28mm last Friday and did a couple shots with it. Right away I realized one huge benefit over my previous t2i+17-55mm combo: sharpness. The images are much sharper. Based on previous experience with prime lenses, I presume the prime nature is the reason. The Canon was great but the lens natively had some slight softness that I personally didn't care for. No more.

As for other pros/cons, I can't really speak to that in detail juuuust yet because I haven't had the chance to take a lot of various pictures. However, I've done some shots around the house and the Sony is definitely different with respect to the menu/options structure. It's not necessarily worse. Just different. Going to take a bit of time to get used to it. One thing I don't personally care for is that the Auto-Focus and Manual focus isn't on the lens; it's in the menu structure and I don't like that. Not a deal breaker.

The big plus, though, is the reason I bought it: size and weight savings. The sony combo (a6000+28mm) weighs 485 grams. The Canon combo weighed 1175 grams. That's about 60% weight savings. This little Sony setup is so much easier to carry around and that's great for vacations. Heck, case in point: I'll be taking it with me on work travel in a couple weeks so I can go to the Very Large Array in Socorro, NM specifically to take photos there (it's about an hour and a half from my hotel). I have been there once before about 5 years ago and it was a truly awesome place. I travel to that area at least once a year and have wanted to go back a to take photos but didn't want to deal with taking the big ol' Canon. The Sony's ease of travel will make that a much more livable experience and I'm excited about getting back out there to take photos. I definitely plan to post them up here if I can get some good ones.

So the bottom line is:

I'm glad I made the switch.

Size/weight savings is a no brainer for our purpose. Picture Quality is stellar, at least as far as I can tell so far. I realize the pro types aren't going to ditch their DSLR's but I think for the pro-sumer types such as myself, the sony mirrorless route is a certainly a viable option. Images are sharper and Auto-Focus is MUCH faster than with my DSLR setup and keep in mind that Canon 17-55mm USM AF was no slouch. The 28mm prime is the perfect (prime) focal length for how/what my wife and I shoot at this point in our lives. It will force us to think about some shots a bit more and we will have to work for some more than others but I understand that tradeoff for a prime. Now, I may still pick up a zoom or an extra prime or two down the line just to have *in case* the mood strikes but for now I can say that the 28mm prime is a fine purchase decision for what we shoot. If anyone with the sony mirrorless cameras is looking at prime lenses in the 20-35mm range, I suggest checking this one out.

Sample Photos:

Here's some random test shots I took using the A6000 + 28mm, all shot in JPEG. I don't have anything to process raw photos yet and frankly, I'm not sure I'd know what to do with them at this point. Though, I will be shooting raw+jpeg on vacation.

JL TwK88 DSP: