Hi Friends, super mega ultra beginner here, looking for recommendations :)
I’m piss poor but have gotten really into AMATEUR photography over the last year and a half with my tiny Nikon digicam and soooooo…
I semi recently got a used Sony a5000 mirrorless plus sigma 30mm f2.8 for my birthday with which I’m having a lot of fun with just trial and erroring my way through photography :) I had decided on the sigma 30mm as it came widely recommended (by the internet) and it seemed like a good middle ground for everyday things and just getting to know the camera.
However now Christmas is coming up and I’m looking to dip my toes into more specific focal lengths.
So now I’m looking for recommendations on lenses. Specifically telephoto but maybe also an even wider one.
I’m most interested yet equally uninformed about Telephoto. I’m interested in shooting portraits, my cat, close ups of makeup and still life and maybe a little mushroom or a bird here and there but wildlife shouldn’t be the focus here because I’m not that outdoorsy. With my limited info I thought an effective focal length of 85-135mm might be good (or maybe a longer range 200-300 one plus a shorter range 60-85 one? Or a zoom lens?…See I know nothing). Also I’m not sure about aperture on telephoto so feel free to educate me but I figure 2.8 is always good.
I was also thinking about getting an even wider angle for like cityscapes nature and maybe stars (I’m not looking to become an astrophotographer I just wanna be able to take a photo of the night sky that’s not a black square) but I’m not sure if I need it or how much of a difference it would make comparing to the sigma.
Sidenote: I would prefer a prime lens as I wish to squeeze all I can out of my camera (unless u can convince me otherwise)
And I would maybe prefer a full frame lens in case I ever wanna buy a new camera in a few years so I can keep using the lenses :)
TLDR: please recommend telephoto and or wide angle or just your favorite lenses for Sony e-mount considering I have the budget of a homeless raccoon (obviously I’m ok with secondhand I’m not completely delusional)
Also feel free to tell me all kinds of stuff about stuff I’m ready to be educated.
Thank you <3
EDIT: since a lot of people have pointed it out, I am aware of the crop factor when putting a full frame lens on a APS-C sensor, that’s why I stated the effective focal length I was looking for (which was meant to include the crop factor if applicable) 😅 sorry if that wasn’t clear and plus I still appreciate everyone bringing it up in context with specific lenses
I can’t give you specific recommendations because I don’t know much about E mount lens, but in general I would say 30mm is wide enough and your next lens should probably be in the 75-100mm range. Don’t be afraid of zoom lenses, the modern mirrorless zooms are much better than old zooms. Also the longer the lens, the more expensive 2.8 aperture will be. So don’t worry too much if you have to go up to f/4 or 4.5.
Another thing to pay attention to is minimum focus distance. It can be really fun to be able to get the lens close to an object. Consider macro lenses. Just because they say macro doesn’t mean you can’t use them for everything else, it just means it’s capable of taking pictures close up. From a quick search, it looks like there’s a Sony 90mm 2.8, Sigma 70mm or 105mm macro lenses for around $500 used. Not sure if that’s too much but I would pick something like those.
Thank you, that’s very helpful.
I figured f2.8 would get expensive quickly so it’s nice to know that going up to f4/4.5 is nothing to be scared of.
I also appreciate your input on zoom lenses as I was a bit worried about the quality loss compared to primes because I don’t have much experience and don’t have any comparisons of my own to rely on. As another commenter also recommended a zoom lens I’ll definetly have to look into those in general a bit more 🙈
thanks for taking the time 🫶🏻