photography Archives

New Camera & Loaner Lenses

I’ve always loved taking photos. I’ve used almost every popular photo sharing website at some point – Photobucket, Facebook, Flickr, tumblr, Instagram…I love sharing memories with family & friends, creating scrapbooks & photo albums, & remembering special moments.

Six years ago, I got my first DSLR camera: a Nikon D60. My parents treated me to a photography course for my birthday that year, where I learned the (very) basics. It was great!

That little Nikon has served me well. It’s been with me on most road trips as well as down to Mexico & on our European Honeymoon. & I’ve taken some great photos with it. It also taught me about the kind of lenses & photography that I truly enjoy. The only lens I’ve ever bought is a NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G Lens. I love this lens. It’s great in low light & provides an undistorted angle of view, similar to what your eye sees. My D60 has a cropped sensor so it translates to about a normal 50 mm focal length. 50 mm is a fantastic everyday focal length, if you ask me. (I highly recommend this lens if you have a Nikon that uses DX lenses – good quality for a reasonable price). I used this camera & lens combination pretty happily for 4 years before I started to notice some things.

First of all, I found myself switching back to my kit lens (an underwhelming 18-55 mm f3.5-5.6G lens) when we travelled or if I was trying to get a photo of N & I together. & I really didn’t like having to switch back. I’m a huge advocate of prime lenses because the quality is so much better (especially if your budget is smaller). The style of photography I most enjoy doesn’t require a huge zoom lens anyway. Personal preference.

The second issue I started running into with my D60 was the in-camera focusing. If I was ever using autofocus, it had a really hard time, & switching to manual wasn’t giving me the best results either.

So I was feeling like it was time for a new camera. I started researching & was finding that a lot of the lenses I would be interested in were only available for a full frame camera. Full frame cameras are still, sadly, out of my price range (& beyond my skill level). I wanted something a little more compact, but with more lens options than my current set up. That’s when mirrorless cameras caught my attention. I contacted my uncle to ask for some advice (who is extremely knowledgeable about cameras & lenses). He responded quickly & was a wealth of information so I felt confident in my decision. He even offered to send me a few lenses to play with once I got my camera.

The following week, I headed down to The Camera Store & purchased a Sony a6000. Two lenses were already on their way, care of my Uncle. I’ve been playing around with this new camera for about a month now & couldn’t be happier with my purchase. I’ve mostly been using the two lenses he sent me, both of which are fully manual, so it’s been a pretty big learning curve. Having to slow down my picture-taking & think more is a bit of a blessing though.

I’m especially loving the 28mm f2.8 lens he sent. He included a Speedbooster adapter (both lenses are Canon fd mounts) so it converts to a 30 mm f2.0. I absolutely love it! I think 35 mm is my favourite focal length, so it’s getting quite close to that.

Canon 50 mm fd 1.4 with regular adapter

Canon 28 mm fd 2.8 with Metabones Speedbooster Adapter

Two of the coolest features on the A6000 are the magnifier & focus assist colours. While I used to struggle to get a sharp image with my D60 when focusing manually, I’m finding these two features alleviate this issue.

I’m really looking forward to playing around more. I’ll definitely be sad to send these lenses back to Toronto, but I’ve got my eye on a Sigma 19mm f.28 (which would convert to about a 29 mm focal length).

Enough nerding out about my new toy though. Here are a few actual photos that I’ve taken since my purchase. (I’m still very much in learning mode here!)