Nightscape Mirrorless Camera choice….

[Neutrinosoup]

After my dad sadly passed last year, I was gifted by my mother several old DSLRs to sell via the local Sony shop.

My dad wanted my 14 year old daughter and I to explore the hobby he loved (to some degree).

It will have to be a Sony camera as its store credit - the purpose will be a combo of Street photography, wildlife and landscape/nightscape.

With current offers I’ve narrowed it down to either

1) Sony A7 iii with 24-105 F4  and later get a pricy prime lens for nightscapes

2) Sony A6700 with 18-135 upgraded kit lens and later get the pretty cheap (for lenses) Sony 11mm F1.8 or Sigma 14mm F1.4

 

Am I stupid in considering the APS-C camera? Given my daughter is likely to use it for a wide range of photography & showed an aptitude for composition and editing with a relic DSLR on a recent family trip to Canada? I know the A7 iii is probably better if we were ONLY doing nightscapes?

Any advice appreciated!

NC

[Mr Spock]

The 11mm f1.8 is a fabulous lens. Take a look at the tests - it's very sharp at f1.8.

The A6700 is supposed to be an excellent vlogger's camera. That might be of interest to a 14 year old.

[Elp]

I went from A7S to A6400, no qualms. The former was rubbish for long exposure AP (well it's not straight forward due to how the sensor behaves), for everything else (especially near absent noise in images from camera) and the low light video it was probably one of the best if not the best. The latter was a smaller body which I preferred, newer so the AF is far superior and low light isn't so bad. The A6600 and above will be better still due to in built stabilisation.

The A7iii is supposed to be excellent, note FE (full frame) lenses do tend to cost more than APSC.

 

[Neutrinosoup]

On 30/09/2024 at 12:36, Elp said:

I went from A7S to A6400, no qualms. The former was rubbish for long exposure AP (well it's not straight forward due to how the sensor behaves), for everything else (especially near absent noise in images from camera) and the low light video it was probably one of the best if not the best. The latter was a smaller body which I preferred, newer so the AF is far superior and low light isn't so bad. The A6600 and above will be better still due to in built stabilisation.

The A7iii is supposed to be excellent, note FE (full frame) lenses do tend to cost more than APSC.

 

Yep looking at new lenses:

Sony 11mm F1.8 for the a6700 = £499

Sony 14mm F1.8 G full frame lens = £1400 (it does get universally good reviews BUT…that’s a lot of cash!!)

[Elp]

If you're going to use them for AP I'd be a bit dubious about all the hype reviews around g master lenses. I've yet to use a Sony lens which is good for AP (but then again GM is out of range of what I'm willing to pay for something I'd hardly get to use). The only hyped up lenses which allegedly perform for AP are the Sigma Art prime's especially the 40mm, and I can certainly vouch for the Samyang 135mm f2 manual. In fact their 24mm F1.8 AF FE mount is also pretty good, I've used it a lot for video recording of meteor showers and even the major aurora of May earlier this year.

Edited 21 hours ago by Elp

[Neutrinosoup]

Well, multi use is the aim. Travel, Landscape and nightscape/Milky Way/ Northern Lights shots. So no deepsky astrophotography. Plus needs to be super portable to take on holiday.

[Elp]

TBH, I found a PZ lens to be my do it all as it covers wide into telephoto. Has in built IS too for smoother video.

Very fast lenses arent really essential unless you image indoors in low light or at night handheld, or if you're a commercial events photographer. You can always increase the shutter speed and iso, if you have a small tripod at hand even better.

[trailer]

I'm currently using an A7iii with a Viltrox 16mm f1.8 lens which you can switch between auto and manual focus. There's a review of the A7iii by the late, great Alyn Wallace HERE

With regards to fast lenses then I would argue that the faster lens will help for night time capture. Astrobackyard has an explanation of the 500 rule HERE - I see he uses the Samyang/Rokinon 14mm f2.8 in some of his examples but be aware that some of these faster lenses don't have a thread at the front for a filter though if that's a requirement for you.

Hope this helps!!