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!

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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

I cant express how much you are helping me out

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!!

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.

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.

i had the bigger version of this, the Sony a5100 my first jump to Sony from Canon. your review was my thought process when i made the big leap when i came across Classic lenses. come to think of now, i owned the a5100 more than 4 or 5 yrs and i cant let it go having A7ii and a Canon 7D this little camera is my go to camera for all around photography paired with Old classic glass that I own, my Super Takumar 50/1.4 and Canon FD 24/ 2.8 is what i use all the time if i need i a quick focus i just put on the kit lens. great combo...

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.

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

I have a Nex5 and an a6300 plus a couple lenses including the TT Artisans 27mm which was around $150. Two cameras and three lenses all totaled was less than $1000 Recently took the 6300 and the 27mm out for a Sunday afternoon at an outdoor pop up market. The only issue i have with the camera is the battery life but The camera worked fine hooked up to a small power bank which fit easily in my back pocket 😁. I also own a Nikon Z6ii which i absolutely love but the size and weight of the Sony makes street photography blast.

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

Great points!!! I love the way that U're different from the rest of the YouTubers especially those jumping on promoting every single latest, greatest n most expensive gears! I'm a serious photographer and until now, I still can't justify for replacing my Sony A6000 (which I brought in 2014, sorry Sony) ... and I can take any photos just about as good as any latest cameras! The main reason is, in today's digital age, the camera itself is just a light capturing device and once the image is captured into 1s n 0s digitally, one can easily manipulate the image computationally ... whether it is lens distortions, noise, saturations, colors, sharpness, contrast, len boken and etc! I sincerely hope more people who are seriously into photography spend more time into studying lightings, composition, perspective, post production and developing one's artistic style to become a great photographer rather than focusing endlessly on the gears ... and leave changing every latest cameras and lens to the gear-heads!!!

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