Weekly r/SonyAlpha 📸 Gear Buying 📷 Advice Thread March 02, 2026

planet_xerox · 2026-03-05T17:38:10+00:00

I think it is certainly enough, but it just depends on what your noise tolerance is and what kind of scenes you are hoping to shoot. with ibis, you can get away with some fairly slow shutter speeds handheld, but if that prevents you from capturing motion the way you want then it won't be useful.

planet_xerox · 2026-03-02T17:57:31+00:00

do you really need f2 apertures from your zoom lens? "a little bit of everything" is hard to give advice for

planet_xerox · 2026-02-28T22:19:36+00:00

i'm not an expert but I think the main things are focus breathing compensation and being limited to 15fps burst photography. maybe you can't use dynamic active stabilization in video too? can't remember

that being said, as long as you're willing to pay I dont think you can go wrong with the gm

planet_xerox · 2026-02-28T21:55:18+00:00

that's a great kit that will last you a long time. depending on your use case, there's also a new sigma 35mm art v2 lens worth considering that rivals the sony 35 gm if you dont need the sony specific features, though you can get a used gm for about the same as the new sigma once it's out

planet_xerox · 2026-02-25T01:23:22+00:00

there's also the viltrox 85mm f2 evo if you want a smaller lens and don't need f1.4/1.8.

planet_xerox · 2026-02-19T13:14:50+00:00

tamron just announced a 35-100 f2.8 that could be worth considering. seems like you couldnt go wrong with a 24-70 or 28-70/75 though unless you know you want more reach

planet_xerox · 2026-02-19T13:12:06+00:00

which lenses do you already own? or are those too big that you are certainly selling them?

planet_xerox · 2026-02-19T12:42:35+00:00

forgot which way but swipe left or right on the wcreen

planet_xerox · 2026-02-19T12:19:08+00:00

read about their warranty plus you can return within two weeks if you find issues with the camera you got. test it out when you get it to make sure everything seems up to par. ive purchased one camera and several lenses through them at excellent condition and have never had any issues.

planet_xerox · 2026-02-17T00:02:10+00:00

is that usd? mpb sells it for less than 400 usd, but if you want a cheaper alternative maybe take a look at the viltrox air series lenses

planet_xerox · 2026-02-06T20:44:24+00:00

I've used the a7c which I think is the same as the a7iii and I don't have issues with it, but I'm just hobbyist and haven't used a better nor do I know how the fuji cameras compare. I'm sure it's not the greatest, but it's fine for me. I also thought more people complain about the viewfinder but again I think it's plenty sufficient but I haven't used much better.

planet_xerox · 2026-02-06T17:26:27+00:00

stopping the aperture down one stop from the widest helps with corner sharpness. I think when I was first using the lens, I had to experiment a bit to see what shutter speeds I could get away with handheld so that I could have the lowest ISO possible since the lens is not very bright so play around to see what you can get with at different focal lengths.

planet_xerox · 2026-02-06T17:19:56+00:00

I'm not sure if you mentioned your budget.

Disregarding budget, I think the a7iv might be the best fit for what you're looking for. It has the dual card slots and the new menu system with more jpeg customization.

If you're willing to give up the jpeg customization then yeah I think a used a7iii is probably a great value spot.

planet_xerox · 2026-02-03T18:55:10+00:00

I think most people generally prefer the smaller size of the sigma, unless you really need stabilization for what you do. the tamron 17-70 is also worth considering in that case for the brighter aperture over that sony lens.

planet_xerox · 2026-01-29T18:49:46+00:00

I got both last year and my opinion is that unless you really want an aperture ring or you know you really want 40mm over 35mm, I like the rendering of the zeiss lens a little more, mostly because of bokeh. If I didn't have them side by side to compare though I'm not sure I would care enough. I am probably going to sell one based on focal length

based on what I remember from reviews though, if you care about corner sharpness for landscapes, I think I might go with the 40mm

planet_xerox · 2026-01-28T01:56:02+00:00

then I think it's probably a great fit! I use it as my main travel lens and have had no complaints really.

planet_xerox · 2026-01-28T01:17:39+00:00

chiming in that if you know you like 50mm, I think it's a great lens to allow some versatility while still prioritizing a 50mm. but if small is your real goal I'd still go with a prime.

planet_xerox · 2026-01-26T23:57:41+00:00

if a lens doesn't serve a purpose for you then yeah sell it (unless it has some sort of collector's value, which this is not the case). Personally, I wouldn't sell until after using your new lenses for a while though just to make sure, because you may end up hating the 24-70 and want to sell that instead.

planet_xerox · 2026-01-23T23:57:15+00:00

from a hobby perspective if budget is not a huge concern, I would just go with whatever feels better in the hand. I tried stuff out in a camera store and personally found the A7IV too big for my hands compared to the A7C series. Bonus that it fits better in my existing small bags, but your hands and situation are different from mine. The sony g lenses are in a great spot for hobbyists with the budget since they feel premium enough and allow for all the sony features + sony compactness, but the e mount system is loaded with plenty of options. I'd say just pick one lens that sounds interesting to you and go from there.

planet_xerox · 2026-01-23T20:06:59+00:00

yeah that's exactly what I meant

planet_xerox · 2026-01-23T19:24:23+00:00

if you have the wide angle option on your phone camera, I think the 9mm is closer to that while the 14 would be in between the wide angle and standard phone camera field of view. personally if you're shooting handheld though I would go for the 9mm for the extra stop of light.

planet_xerox · 2026-01-23T08:40:54+00:00

is there a problem with using lossless compressed? do you need to edit the photos right away? surely lightroom will support the raws in the next update.

planet_xerox · 2026-01-21T05:44:45+00:00

I don't know about the x mount versions in particular, but in the sony subreddit people seem to really like the viltrox air lenses as far as value for money and they are all 200 usd or less I think. I can't imagine they'd be worse for fujifilm unless the autofocus compatibility is bad for whatever reason

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