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

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[–] 3 points 1 week ago (1 child)

Welcome! You can too easily go completely poor! I know nothing, and anything here is subject to huge IMHO context.

First: Full-frame compatible lenses will be more expensive than APS-C-compatible lenses. You'll be able to use your APS-C E mount lenses on a future full-frame Sony camera -- BUT with either a cropped sensor area limited to the smaller APS-C size or with some really weird optical issues in the wider frame. Second: your APS-C sensor will currently have an impact on the perceived field of view versus a full-frame camera -- effectively 1.5x. So on a 50mm lens, the field of view will be ~75mm. On a 70-200 lens this becomes 105-300mm. On a full frame camera, this effect can be roughly achieved with cropping, so the bigger deal is the loss at the wide-angle -- the cropped sensor takes an 18mm lens to 27mm, and you can't make uncaptured parts of the image appear. I have a crop (hee hee) older APS-C oriented lenses that I can't easily pull over (I am, they're just not what they say on the label -- with an Nikon F to E adapter no less).

Then: I like Viltrox at the less expensive end. The advertised prices are a lie -- Aliexpress runs nearly continuous sales and can take $50-$70 off the price of their more expensive lenses. Chinese manufacturers have not yet shifted to telephoto lenses, but their prices are optically good (tendency to rely on software correction on specific lenses, but that's not Chinese specific). Samyang and Rokinon are the same brand.

Chasing aperture can be an unnecessary psychological burden. I have shot sports inside with an F2.8 and depending on lighting, you'll really want it -- but I've also shot with a (rented) 70-200 f2.8 with 1.4x teleconverter, which makes it an effective 98-280mm/f4 inside with daylight -- and those turned out fine as well.

My current walk-around is a Tamron 25-200/f2.8-5.6. It under performs on indoor at night sports (the ISO jumps too high), but it's reasonably light, covers most of my field of view needs, AND I got it on Woot! at a great price in the US which means I got a warranty.

I've been happy with used hardware I've bought from KEH, but a local photo store might be a better bet depending on where you live (I know of two shops near me where I watch for used lenses). Used tends to come with a far shorter warranty (30-60 days versus 1+years). Grey market imports will be cheaper (ebay plus others) depending on exchange rates, but will not have the in-market warranty. Greentoe claims to offer discounted pricing that is lower the advertised while still being from authorized dealers, but I haven't tried it myself. Yet.

For portraits the "traditional" standard is 85mm at f/1.8 or better (better subject isolation / depth of field); street photography tends to think 50mm. With a 1.5x crop, that would shift to 55mm and 35mm to get the same field of view. Does that mean you have to use those for those purposes? Absolutely not.

Good luck!

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  • [–] [S] 2 points 1 week ago*

    Thanks for all the ideas and input :)

    I’m aware of the crop factor and the fact that full frame is more expensive but I appreciate the contextualization nonetheless. I’m also open to APS-C lenses I just wasn’t sure if it would be more worth to save some money now by buying an APS-C lens or save some money later by already having bought a full frame one 🤷‍♀️

    I’ll look into viltrox and Samyang/Rokinon as I’ve read some positive things about those online as well :)

    I also appreciate your input on warranties although I doubt I’ll buy anything expensive enough that I couldn’t live without one if it meant I could save a couple bucks :)

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