The Only Sony Camera You Will Ever Need

I've worked as a photojournalist for the past 35 years. When I need a small, pocketable setup, I use my A5100 (24mp) and a Kamlan 50mm f/1.1 (great for portraits). Take your time (use focus peaking, bracket your exposures), and you will be stunned with the results. Thanks for this excellent video, Mark.

I use my A5000 with an Industar 69 28mm f2.8 lens and an M39 adapter. The Industar 69 is basically a pancake lens, and together with the A5000 you have a great little setup that you can easily slip into your pocket. Some of the best photos I took in the past year were taken with this setup. Highly recommended!

Just found your channel, got some really great budget advice gonna have to recommend your channel to the beginners I come across!

I agree 100%, I was lucky to snag one, body only, in a battered box on ebay for £50 around 5 years ago. These days, it would be more like £150. I’ve captured some of my favourite images on this camera purely because it’s so small, I was able to put it in my work rucksack. Great video!

This is my baby. I bought the a5000 10 years ago at Best Buy for $300. Came with the kit lens (which is pretty bad) and a $100 gift card. Love how tiny it is. Its been my main camera since because its allowed in places where other cameras are not. I go through metal detectors and people don't ever give it a second look.

The A5000 was my first Sony Alpha camera. I bought mine in 2014. I bought an A7II in 2018 and an A7IV in 2022. I use the A5000 all the time still because of its compact size and yes the image quality of the A5000 is excellent for a ten year old mirrorless camera.

The older NEX series cameras were amazing as well. I look back at photos I took with my NEX 5R back 7+ years ago and the quality and detail is surprisingly good, even by today's standards.

I cant express how much you are helping me out

My first Sony e-mount was the a5100 and it captured some incredible shots for my travel photography series. Mt. Rainer, St. Helen, Banff and the list goes on. I recently just pulled it out and dubbed it the ‘Dad Cam’ small enough for us to use when we travel and want to capture the kids on our travels!

People are so obsessive with their bodys, I bought a alpha6000 in 2023 because she was cheap and I knew its all about the lens and my eye :) Hell a camera from 20 years ago would make great pictures with the right lens

Great video! I'm looking to get back into photography after a few years away. Is there a telephoto lens you would recommend? Strongly considering this or the A6000 since I do like a viewfinder. THANKS!

I recently picked up a used NEX-6 as my first camera. I didn't time the market at all because I was anxious to get hands on and start trying to learn how to use it! I paired it with the Sony PZ 16-50mm. A week in and I am already thinking I need a different lens!!

I still regularly use my Sony NEX-5t. Such a great little camera!

Love these older Sony mirrorless cameras. I still have a NEX5T and the weird a3000 that looks like a dslr but is mirrorless and came out the same time as the a5000. With good glass the photos are beautiful.

I thought that was one of the NEX line cameras. I loved the NEX 5N, a 13-year-old camera that I enjoyed taking photos with. I had it briefly before I sold it to get the A6400.

Mark Wiemels Hi Mark I have been out with my a5000 today taking test shots with a vintage lens for a video I am doing, I have had mine for about 4 years. I got it for next to nothing as it was bare bones with no parts other than the kit 16-50 electric zoom lens which is awful. I bought it as a third camera behind my Pentax SLR and sony zv1 vlogging camera. I mainly use it for low light and night shots as its so much better than the Pentax. I have a sigma art 19mm 2.8 a sony 18-55 ios kit lens and today I have been playing with a vintage m42 helios 135mm 2.8, the results have been great as is the camera I love mine. Miss having a hotshoe mount but memory card placement is an upside over some other sonys as is all the built in modes.

Thanks for the video, Mark. I have the NEX-6 and the a6000. For what I do that is more than sufficient. But I have like 20 lenses. 😅

I have an old NEX-5T and I still love it! Especially with the tiny 16/2.8 lens

In January, on a whim, I bought a $300 A5100 from MPB. It's a surprisingly tiny camera compared to the flagship MFT cameras I usually use. However, both the A5100 and A5000 are nowhere near $100 at MPB now. Try 3x more. The A5100 impressed me so much that I bought a new A6700, mostly for its autofocus, stabilization and video upgrades over those older models. Now I have access to the vast E-mount lens universe. Still getting used to the size-weight increases vs my MFT gear.

the a5100 is a big step forward. i got one last September brand new in a sealed box with one-year warranty for 11,000THB (313USD at that time). perfect for experimenting with CCTV lenses like the Fujian 35mm 1.4 and all the fantastic manual lenses by Brightin Star, Risespray, 7Artisans, TTartisan... edit: the focus peaking comes in very handy in absence of the viewfinder.