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

Hey, while not the cheapest lenses and only for aps-c, I'm really happy with my Tamron 17-70 f2.8 as kind of "always on" lens. For outdoor stuff and well lit scenes, I've got the Sony 70-350 f4.5-6.3.
I'm totally happy with that setup, because it's just two lenses but covers a huge range of focal length.

I also own the Sigma 30mm and love it, good choice on that one! But due to the situations in which I mostly take photos, i prefer the zoom lenses ;)

I appreciate the input 👍🏻 I’ll read up on the lenses you mentioned and see if they could work for me ☺️

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.

I'm a lens and camera addict. I own hundreds of these things. First off, don't turn into me. I don't think you will.

Anyway, this may not be what you're looking to hear, but it sounds like you like to experiment. I fell in love with vintage lens adapting. For me, it defines why mirrorless technology is awesome. To give you an idea why, here's a 2-minute video telling you about the virtues of a (typically) inexpensive vintage lens from the former USSR: https://youtu.be/MKOOFnv2b0Q. There are LOTS of other reasons why mirrorless tech is awesome, such as insanely fast and accurate eye-autofocus and highlight warning image preview. There's even a product out there, the LM-EA9 by Techart, that can reliably make many vintage prime lenses act like autofocus lenses, as long as the camera body has phase-detect autofocus.

If you're looking for wide and telephoto recommendations, I feel fairly safe in recommending the Nikkor-Q 135mm f/2.8 lens, which easily adapts to Sony E-mount. If you want a longer focal length, a 200mm f/3.5 from Soligor should work well. Alternatively, you could look into the Asahi Optical Company Super-Multi-Coated Takumar 135mm and 200mm options, although my luck with those not having fungus has been lower. Vintage 135mm and 200mm lenses tend to be pretty inexpensive.

For wider angle lenses, the Nikkor-H 28mm f/3.5 tends to be inexpensive but still good. There are also lots of third party 28mm and 24mm f/2.8 lenses out there, but I recommend finding the ones with close-focus ability with a magnification factor of 0.25x or so.

Otherwise, 3rd party Chinese lens manufacturers like TTartisans and 7Artisans and Laowa and BrightinStar and others make many excellent, often (but not always) manual focus, lenses for E mount.

Don't feel like you need to spend a fortune to get equipment that works well for your hobby. If you're a pro and your livelihood depends on top-notch efficiency and results, then investing in expensive glass may be worth it. But as James from the YT Snappiness channel says, the weakest link in producing great results tends to be the equipment user far more often than the equipment itself.

If you're interested in seeing my online photos where I experiment with my collection of vintage lenses and mirrorles, as well as older, digital cameras, DM me.

I'm about to take a trip 5 hours away. The kit I'm bringing? A Nikon Z7 with a Canon 135mm f/2.5 in FL mount from the 1960s.

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 🫶🏻

Wow that’s a lot of info. I greatly appreciate all your input 😊

I have not yet worked with any vintage lenses but it’s something that definetly sounds interesting to me, so I’ll make sure to watch the video you linked and look into the options for adapters and the like.

It will probably take me a while but I’ll look into the specific lenses you recommended plus the third party manufacturers as well as soon as I have a bit more time 🙈

I also definetly see the point about not having to break the bank and more working on my skills than my set up. I think with all the camera blogs calling 1000$ things Budget I just got a little nervous about how important such things are, especially considering the camera I was able to get is already like 10+ years old or something 😅

I am currently using the 18-50mm f2.8 by Sigma on my ZVE-10! The 10-18mm f2.8 is basically the wide version of that, so it might be good.

I've heard the Viltrox f1.7 "Air" series of lenses are very good value and they come in lots of focal lengths.

There's plenty more good lenses to be had, Mark Bennett's Camera Crisis has lots of videos regarding budget APS-C E-mount lenses, as those many other creators (Mark is the funniest guy though)

If you want a cheap and weird looking lens, that Oreo pancake thing is also there. Image quality is pretty poor though, but it's an Oreo lens, what do you expect?

So you’re a homeless raccoon, which means you’ve got a budget of zero and a propensity for theft. This works out well!

First, find a photographer.

Then, steal their lenses.

(I would be more helpful if I shoot with Sony kit, but unfortunately, I don’t. I read your post though!)

Thank you I’ll look up the sigma zoom and the “Air” lenses :)

Why didn’t I think of that ^^

(I appreciate u reading the whole thing feel free to nerd out about your favorites either way maybe they’re adaptable :))

It's can be highly subjective as to what constitutes a good photograph, but here some I took with my Sony A7M3 with a Helios-44 attached that I enjoyed taking and looking at, if only for the memories they stir up. Vintage lenses can be VERY inexpensive...like $15 sometimes, and they can produce some wild artistic character that'd be very difficult to apply in post processing. You've got a good camera body; in my opinion digital photography reached a new milestone of quality when it crested the 16MP (Nikon D4 and Df) and 20MP (Canon 5D Mark II) mark. Your A5000 will treat you very well as long as your composition and exposure are well-controlled.

There's also an optical adapting device called a focal reducer (sometimes referred to as a 'speedbooster') that essentially allows a full frame SLR lens to retain its native focal length for an APS-C crop sensor while also making the maximum aperture brighter by one stop (it's kind of the the inverse of a telephoto converter). They can come in versions that will retain autofocus for a certain adapted mount (I would recommend getting one that electronically and physically adapts Canon EF DSLR lenses to Sony E mount so you can use any of the HUGE variety of Canon autofocus EF glass, as well as easily adapt other mounts like Nikon F, Minolta SR, Pentax K, M42, Exakta, and others, albeit strictly in manual focus mode), or get one without electronic contacts that just performs the optical compression for focal reduction (that's what I have for Konica AR and Canon FL/FD lenses).

The world of possibilities for mirrorless adaptation is enormous and fun, especially if you don't mind taking your time to get the shot.

Wow those pictures are so beautiful I almost feel the warmth looking at them ☀️

I didn’t think vintage lenses could start that low that definetly motivates me to explore a little 😮

I have never heard of a focal reducer but I’m curious to research it now

Thanks for the advice 😊

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!

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 :)

After my Sony Zeiss 16-70 F4 broke, I got the Sony 18-135 'upgrade kit lens' used and really fell in love with the zoom range for travel and everyday photography. I also have the 70-350 G, but that's only coming out when I know that I need the range. Yes they overlap, but the kit lens is so light and compact. Camera is a6300. Also have the Viltrox 28mm F4.5 pancake for more of a retro vibe when I want a really light and stealthy camera. Have not yet experienced a wide open prime lens, though 😅 still thinking about trying the Viltrox Air 56mm 1.7 for portraits

Lens reviews are my recent autistic interest.

For Sony (APS-C) e-mount, you literally cannot beat Viltrox at the moment. The 50mm Air is razor sharp corner-to-corner, even if you upgrade to a 40MP APS-C body later, and it's cheap:

https://viltrox.com/products/af-50mm-f2-fe

This is one of the best value lenses of all time, for sure. It's maybe not as sharp as some APS-C lenses, but it's still quite good on APS-C.

The EVO 75/90mm/85mm are fantastic if you want a tighter field of view: https://viltrox.com/collections/evo-series?filter.v.price.gte=&filter.v.price.lte=&filter.p.tag=E-mount&sort_by=created-descending

The 75mm would be best on your camera right now, but it's not a full-frame lens. The 85mm will work better on a full frame camera, but won't be quote as sharp/bright now: https://viltrox.com/products/af-85mm-f2-0-fe

Either way, wait a bit for a sale on these, and stack it with a discount code from some reviewer. Viltrox runs deep discounts often.

EDIT: Since you think you might buy a full frame camera some day, the Yongnuo 85mm is also excellent. It's sharp on either kind of camera, and a "sleeper" brand. Some of their lenses are mediocre, but the 85mm is their gem: https://th.hkyongnuo.com/products/85f18s-df-dsm

I adore my own Yongnuo 23mm, and the 85 is definitely better.

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...

You have an APS-C camera, so listed focal length of 100mm+ would be a 150mm+. That's more "wildlife telephoto" range. Its suboptimal for "portrait" type photos because keeping the camera steady becomes really difficult with so much zoom, and the apertures tend to be slower, it's too tight for many subjects, and the plane of focus is just too thin for many shots.

I'd stay in the 50-90 range.

I was also thinking about getting an even wider angle for like cityscapes nature and maybe stars

And for video! Wide angles are great for all sorts of stuff. For APS-C, this means below ~19mm.

But this is tricky, because a "wide angle" on a full frame and APS-C camera are going to have wildly different fields of view and costs. For example, a 14mm on a APS-C camera is averagely wide, a good focal length, and dirt cheap. 14mm on full frame is extremely wide, so wide it's hard to shoot and looks distorted, and hideously expensive.

In other words, unlike telephoto lenses, it's hard to buy a good value wide-angle lens that works on APS-C AND full frame cameras, due to the way the optical engineering works out.

TBH I would recommend buying an APS-C wide lens, then just selling it and swapping to something else when you upgrade in the future. Depending on if you wish to do this or not, I have different recommendations.

Thanks for reading and for your opinion :) I’ve got a lot of googling and comparing to do 🙈