The 18-135mm Sony lens produces good images, is versatile, reasonably light and not too expensive. Those are qualities that matter to a lot to me. If most of your photography would be covered by that range of capability, I would strongly recommend it. I have a 35mm f1.8 which is a great lens. It's very good in low light situations and indoors. It's light, small and not unreasonably expensive. I bought a 50mm Sony lens which is excellent but I find it redundant. It was a mistake.

I wish A had picked instead of replying. I was wrong to have done so.

I consider myself a patriot. I could have escaped the draft in the early 1960s because of a bad back but chose not to and spent four years in the Air Force, unlike Cadet Bone Spur, aka Trump, who was a draft dodger. Trump's pretense that Russia did not interference in the 2016 e******n is not patriotic and encouraging them to do it again is not patriotic. . Trusting Putin's word over that of American intelligence agencies is not patriotic. Attempting to help carry out Putin's agenda of dividing the European Union and dividing Nato is not patriotic. It borders on treason. The Democrats do not equate patriotism with r****m. They do equate white supremacism with r****m. The Republican Congress has remained silent in the face
of Trump openly parading around, along with many members of his cabinet, as subservient to Putin.

There is a significant difference between capabilities of post-processing programs. MAC's photo editing program is quite good for general purposes.It's easy to learn and use. Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop can do more but are harder to master.

You might regret not having longer lens capability. I have the 16-50mm lens which came with the camera but have stopped using it. I don't think it is terrible but the 18mm-135mm is reasonably lightweight, versatile enough for most travel needs and a fairly sharp lens. If I take one lens on a trip, and that's all I will take in the future, that's the one. If I were willing to carry two lenses, I would choose the 35mm prime.

I take back what i just said. I now see answers that I did not see when I wrote earlier.

The question was about cleaning the lens. That was avoided. A response does not necessarily mean the question was answered. It wasn't.

I wish someone would answer the question. I sometimes find it difficult to get a lens clean and wish someone would offer useful advice. The answer so far are non-responsive. I agree about avoiding salt water and having a filter on but then the filter also needs to be cleaned.

"Need" is not the most relevant word since you can adjust your photography around the equipment you have. As you imply, it is easy to get sucked into buying a lot of expensive equipment that you may not need enough to use frequently if you have it, or may find that you just do not like to use it. That can be especially true if you take photography classes or watch video tutorials that recommend equipment for different purposes.


Depending on where you are in your development, versatile zoom lenses make a lot of sense. At many price points they are not the best lenses but I'd hold off on investing in a lot in specialized lenses until you find yourself passionate about some particular type of photography and frustrated because you cannot execute what you want to do.

Tomorrow I have a class in macro photography about which I know little. I'm convinced that specialized macro lenses would allow me to produce better photos but I'm not certain that I'd use them often enough to spend money to buy them. If I develop a passionate interest in photographing flowers, insects or mushrooms I might change my mind.

I spent money on an expensive tripod which is good to have but I rarely use it. I should but I hate carrying it. I bought a reflector which was useful on a class assignment but I've never used it again. I have extension tubes which may never be used again. Equipment that is good to have but not used very often is fine if one's budget permits but a prior calculation of the likely frequency of use, even though not immediately known, seems prudent. I think you answered your own question. Obviously the pros need to have the best they can afford but photography can be a spending sinkhole where we are enticed into spending a lot on items we use too infrequently to justify.

They are both good but the B&W is more dramatic.

Businesses did not used to charge state sales taxes if they did not have a physical presence in the state. That has changed. Now, if you order by internet from a state with a sales tax you are now charged the sales tax of the state from which you order.

I've been using the Sony a6000 for a year and like it a lot but it is a complicated device. The manual that comes with the camera is not very useful. I suggest spending the $40 to buy David Busch's manual for this camera and spend a lot of time studying it but doing so in small bites.His manual is excellent and detailed but there is an extraordinary amount of information to absorb.

For auto settings you don't need to worry much about anything but composition but its not the best way to improve your photography skills. You need to learn about many of the settings and then going out and experimenting, with them. Based on my experience I would emphasize mastering white balance, metering, exposure compensation and how to use the histogram. The three important shooting modes are aperture priority, shutter priority and manual. It's important to when to use all three. I've generally keep my camera on aperture priority as a default preference but am trying to adjust to manual mode.Some photographers insist it's the best way to learn how to use the camera. I suggest avoiding automatic.

Going out and shooting as often as possible and with purpose is one of the best ways to accelerate improving photography skills. Taking photography classes and going out and practicing with others is extremely helpful.There are a lot of excellent tutorials on photography on the internet, some free some not. I get a lot of excellent free information from dps Photography School even though I don't sign up for classes. However, one of the best way to improve photography skills quickly is to use your camera frequently, learn how to use the important settings and how to locate them quickly.

What kills your pocketbook obviously depends on the size of the pocketbook. If I were in your shoes and could afford a DSLR in the $400-$50O range made by Canon or Nikon, that would be my choice. Because they are popular brands there are more lenses and photo equipment available at better prices than some other brands which are equally good. That price range would allow you to acquire a couple an excellent entry level camera with two kit lenses that will fill needs of most starting photographers through an extended period of learning photographic skills. It takes quite a while for most beginning photographers and somewhat experienced amateurs to develop their skills to the point where the quality of photographic output is significantly limited by the lack of expensive equipment. The price range I mentioned will buy all the camera and lens capability most amateurs will ever need. Many photographers will outgrow the capabilities of entry-level DSLR camera but many do not nor do they come close to their needs exceeding the capability of entry level DSLRs with kit lenses.

Photography for many can become a very expensive hobby and my feeling is to start with an entry level camera in the $400-$500 dollars with 2 kit lenses. In that price range you can buy a very capable camera that can last you for a long time. Moreover, buying better lenses (expensive prime lenses) is a possible future step to improve the quality of one's cameraphotos if the interest in photography is sustained and you use and learn the features of the camera entry level photography. There is a lot to be learned about photography and from learning the capabilities of an entry level DLSR that is necessary before higher level equipment will improve one's photographic output. I strongly suggest handling and possibly renting a Nikon or Canon in your price range to see how it feels and how you react to the accessibility of its features. I own a Sony a6000 which I bought because is a terrific camera, compact and easy to carry around. However, it's expensive as are additional lenses. Canon and Nikon each have their devoted fans but keep in mind that whichever brand you choose may prove to be a lifetime commitment.




For $400-$500 you can get excellent entry level cameras that you can use for years. I think it worth the money to get a reasonable good camera with kit lenses. I think it's a mistake to invest too much money initially before there is sufficient display of interest to wa It takes a lot of time to develop photo skills sufficient to require an upgraded camera or prime lenses.

Very good. However, I'm not sure I want to "repurpose" my entire bathrooms