ShutterKlick wrote in post #18602112
Mickey, agn you prove to be a true gentleman and a true artist in photography, willing to read and give insight, I value your time sir.
On a more positive side, I did go and download raw images from the 6300 here:
http://www.photographyblog.com …300_review/sample_images/And compared the higher ISO noise of the A6300 with my D5300.
The conclusion I make, with the human eye.. Very very similar overall quality and noise.
I have located an A6300 with short tele and long tele for right at $1,200. The only thing really
I am missing is a 35mm f1.7, which I trust I can find. Then I would "mostly" have the basic
kit I need for my type of photography.
So moving forward, my wish list would include-
- Grip for the 6300, to extend batter and possibly minimize/eliminate the possibility of over heat
This would also give it a "nicer" form factor for my use.
- A good ?? - 300mm lens, I prefer that often times to the 200mm
- Sigma or Tamron 100-600 (or there abouts..) tele for WL and BIF, Sports, etc.
- Nikon F to Sony E adapter, so I can affix my 8mm fisheye lens, its full manual anyway, no need for expensive adapter
- I still want a 50 f1.8 to get ~85mm eq. for portraits, etc..
I am presuming, any E mount lens I get for the A6300 would also function as designed on the A7/7II/7III,
am I correct?BTW, I ran Topaz noise filter on a 6400ISO raw from the A6300 and wow, the image is so clean and details
were hardly effected!
Okay, so maybe Im back in the Sony market.. the 6300 has *all* the features I want, I can get the kit for
not a lot of money including 2 lens for 60% of what I do and can build on it leaning on the used market.
a6000 - not near as many features as the 6300
a6500 - not sure I want the IBIS and extra features
a6300 - appears to be EXACTLY what I want/need
Would KEH be a good place to get the used lens? Ive been browsing there list for a few months anyway.
Is there anyone else you trust to buy used E mount lens from?
Kind regards,
Andrew
Andrew, thank you for your kind words. If I had to guess, I would say there are around six members of this forum who have upgraded from the a6000 to the a6300--or, at a minimum, have tried out the a6300 after using the a6000 extensively. To a person, they have said the a6300 is a nice upgrade and have fingered the AF and the ability to adapt glass better as chief reasons.
If you are looking to extend out to 300mm, the 70-300G is a lens that member MedicineMan4040 loves and has shot with extensively on the a6300. His birding shots with this combo are to die for. As far as adapting a Sigma or Tamron lens, the first version of the Tamron 150-600 has been found for as little as $680 new over the past few years--even before the second version, which MedicineMan4040 tried and pretty much said didn't feel was much of an upgrade from the first version--and that lens comes highly recommended. Whether or not it is better to adapt the Nikon, Canon or Sony A-mount version of this lens is something I do not know--but I have a feeling it can be unearthed. Most of MedicineMan's (all?) was done with the A-mount version on the a77ii and a99ii. I believe he sold that lens when he converted to (mostly) full e-mount. He is a wealth of information on adapted lens wildlife shooting, and one heck of a guy.
I can't speak on adapting the Sigma, although many of the members here adapt the Canon Sigma Art series lenses with quite a bit of success.
The Sony FE 50 1.8 has a bit of a following on this forum, and there are no less than four guys who shoot it happily here. I had the FE 55 1.8, which I bought like-new for $700 on eBay, and that lens was probably my favorite lens all-time across any mount. That will get you closer to 85mm on your a6300, but also cost you $500 more. There is at least one shooter here who swears by the 50 1.4 Zeiss, but that $1200 price is $1K more than the 50 1.8. Only you can decide what you need, but I say save yourself $1K and go with that 50 1.8.
Much like Canon and Nikon, Sony mirrorless lenses have crop and full-frame designators in the item description. While the mount is universally called "E", only the "FE" lenses are full-frame. Lenses just marked "E" will lenses designed to shoot on crop bodies like the a6x00, a5x000 and NEX line of cameras. These crop lenses will work on the a7 and a9 bodies, where you can put these cameras into "crop" mode and the MP will be reduced as a result. There are some shooters who sacrifice the MP to shoot with their crop lenses on the full-frame bodies, and they typically have good results albeit at a lower resolution.
I have been pretty trusting in building the variations of my photography kit over the years. As far as Sony goes, I bought an a6000 from both BuyDig (they and Beach Camera are the same company, and are both Sony Authorized dealers) and Secondipity for $499 new with the kit lens. The body from Secondipity was probably an open box. I have also bought an a77ii from Secondipity refurbished, which I had to return due to steady shot error. They took it back, as I returned it within the 30-day period. Their policy as a company is to refund the money once they get your item returned, and you send an explanation letter with it. I don't know if they just felt bad for me, but they sent me what appeared to be a new A77ii with no shutter count back to me and it was a great body for me for the 18 months I owned it. Of note, I also sent my a6000 back to secondipity after the AF system started malfunctioning. Full disclosure, I was shooting knee-deep in the ocean and I wasn't especially careful with the body. I didn't drop it, but the body got a drop of saltwater on it here and there. Secondipity refunded me in-full when I sent it back, and that is why I bought another from Buydig like a week later.
KEH, of course, has very high standards for selling used gear although I have no experience with them. I bought my a7r and a99ii from B&H (9/10 condition), and an a77 (V condition) and a 60D (E- condition) from Adorama--all four bodies are success stories. I resold the a77 and 60D for a profit a few months after I bought them (both were bought for specific periods in my shooting) and I sold the a7r for a $150 loss after owning it for not quite two years. I would likely take a $100 loss on my a99ii if I sold it now after owning it since late July. The moral of the story is that buying new just doesn't make solid fiscal sense. I recommend both Adorama and B&H highly for used camera purchases.
I have never bought a new lens outright, although the kit lens that came with my a6000 bodies was new. I have bought two lenses on the buy/sell forum here with very good results. Both were fantastic deals--$525 for a 17-40L like four years ago and a 135 1.8 ZA last year for $725. I have bought from various eBay sellers who had excellent feedback scores with very good results, even one from Japan. The only lens I have ever bought I was unhappy with was a projector (lomo) from Belarus that I was going to convert to e-mount. It is an incredible 120 1.8 lens with an equally incredible amount of dust inside of it. Luckily, I only invested $55 into this project--lol. So, maybe be careful buying from Eastern Bloc countries? 
I hope some of this helps!
Sony A7RIII, Tamron 28mm 2.8 Di III OSD M1:2, Sonnar T* FE 55mm f/1.8 ZA, Canon 200mm 2.8L ii, Sigma MC-11, HVL-F43M
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