If you’re an amateur photographer going travelling, the Sony A6000 or Sony A6400 is a fantastic mirrorless camera choice. However, as the standard kit lens has several limitations, it leaves many people searching for the best travel lenses for their Sony A6000 cameras.
Choosing between all the available lenses can be a daunting task, particularly if you haven’t got a lot of experience taking photos. After all, there are zoom lenses, prime lenses, landscape lenses, portrait lenses and many others that can be suitable depending on the type of photography you think you’d want to take on your trip.
This guide will break down what we think the best lenses are based on different shooting situations, as well as some options for secondary lenses to take with you if you want to focus on a particular style of travel photography.
These lenses are designed not only for Sony A6000 but also for similar models such as the popular Sony A6400 and the older A6300 & A6500 cameras.
They are all E-Mount and use an APS-C sensor (unlike the Sony A7III cameras) so are fully compatible with this camera series and don’t require any adapters.
What to Look For in Travel Lenses
When deciding on which travel lenses to choose, it’s important to think about the type of photos you want to take.
After all, if you’re travelling somewhere like rural Scotland or Iceland you’ll want to be taking epic wide-angle shots. However, if you’re on a safari in Africa, it’s going to be more important to have a great telephoto lens that can take wildlife shots.
The standard kit 16-50mm lens that comes with the Sony A6000 has a reasonable range and you can take some wide-angle shots and general street photography. However, the quality of this lens isn’t the best so it’s certainly worth considering upgrading before leaving for your trip.
If you are unsure about what type of travel photography you want to take on your trip or simply like to have a wide range of different shots, then I would suggest choosing an all-in-one lens.
Alternatively, if you want to focus on a specific type of photography, then I would consider one of the more specialised lenses listed below.
Best Travel Lenses for Sony A6000 Cameras
These are my choices for the best travel lenses, each with its own advantages depending on the type of photography you want to take.
Sony 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 – Best Overall All-in-One Lens
If you’re looking for an all-round upgrade to your standard kit lens then you can’t go wrong with choosing the Sony 18-135mm F3.5-5.6.
This travel lens offers travellers the ability to take a wide spectrum of shots from wide-range landscapes at 18mm to portrait and telephoto shots at the upper end of the range.
This lens is lightweight at 325g/11.5oz given its shooting range and has Optical SteadyShot (OSS) in-built to help avoid any blur in your travel photography.
Ultimately, this lens is ideal for people who are unsure about the type of photography they want to take on their travels and don’t want to be constantly switching between lenses.
This lens will work in the majority of shooting scenarios and you can easily get away with this being the only lens that you take on your travels, particularly if you’re not planning on doing much low-light or night photography.
Sony 16-55mm F2.8 G – Best Premium All-in-One Lens
If you’ve been happy with the shooting range that the standard kit lens provides and you simply want a significant improvement in photo quality then you should certainly consider purchasing the Sony 16-55mm F2.8 G.
One of the best premium travel lenses available on the market, this lens offers supreme photo quality which allows photographers to take a range of shots from landscapes to portraits.
The lens is lightweight at 494g/17.5oz and gives users more customisation options on the lens including options for specific settings as well as the ability to easily switch between auto and manual focus.
This lens is not ideal for wildlife or super-zoomed in photography, but you’ll be able to use this lens in the majority of day-to-day situations so there won’t be a need for changing lenses.
Furthermore, apart from the improved photo quality, this lens with its constant f2.8 aperture will perform better in low light compared to the standard kit lens.
Sony 18-105mm F4 G – Alternative All-in-One Lens
The Sony 18-105mm F4 G is an alternative lens to those listed above and is ideal if you’re looking for a lens that can shoot both great stills and videos but prefer the constant aperture.
It has a similar weight to the 18-135mm and 16-55m lenses, coming in at 427g/15.1oz and also has a power zoom feature which is fantastic for taking videos.
This lens is certainly one to consider if you plan to take a lot of videos during your travels and are looking for a mid-range option.
Sony 10-18mm F4 – Best Zoom Landscape Lens
If one of the main reasons you love travelling is to take epic wide-angle landscape shots then you can’t overlook the Sony 10-18mm F4 as one of the best landscape lenses for Sony A6000.
This lens is ideal for capturing breathtaking scenery and landscapes, offering a minimum focal range of 10mm which most other lenses compatible with the Sony A6000 are not able to do. This lens is also lightweight at 225g/8oz and has Sony’s Optical SteadyShot technology built in.
It can potentially be used to complement the standard kit lens, as you’ll be able to get better quality wide-range shots with this lens, while still having a larger focal length to shoot with day-to-day for standard street shots.
Given its weight and range, this lens is ideal for travellers looking to improve their landscape photography while still keeping their luggage light.
Sigma 16mm F1.4 – Best Prime Landscape Lens
If you prefer a high-quality prime lens for your wide-angle shots, then the Sigma 16mm F1.4 is a great option.
While this Sigma lens doesn’t have the Optical SteadyShot feature that most other lenses on this list have, it takes great quality photos and is ideal if you’re looking for either a bit of extra range from the 18-135mm or if you want the flexibility to take landscape shots at low-light.
This lens is a bit large for a prime lens and not as compact as some of the Sony primes but as there isn’t a great wide-angle prime lens from Sony, this is the best option if you want to take a second lense on your travels that focuses on low-light landscape shots.
Sony 50mm F1.8 – Best Portrait Lens
If you’re looking for a pure portrait lens then you can’t go wrong with choosing the Sony 50mm F1.8.
This prime lens allows you to take a range of portrait shots in different circumstances. Its f1.8 aperture means you can take shots in low light, particularly as its Optical Steadyshot functionality helps with ensuring your images are blur-free.
This lens has a focal length ideal for portrait photography and your shots can get that beautiful shallow depth of field and bokeh that you want when taking portraits.
The lens is also lightweight enough at 202g/7.2oz that you can take it with you as a second or third lens without adding a lot of weight to your backpack.
Sony 35mm F1.8 – Best Complimentary Prime Lens
The Sony 35mm F1.8 is a great choice for people who are happy to take a second lens to complement their all-in-one lens.
This lens allows you to take beautiful night photography, making it ideal for travellers who might be heading into the great outdoors or shooting the Northern Lights. It’s not a lens I would recommend as an all-in-one option but is ideal as a second or third travel lens to pack in your bag.
Weighing 154g/5.5oz, it is not as compact as other prime lens options but its ability to take low-light photography means you are gaining the opportunity to take photos that most other lenses will struggle with.
With this lens you’ll also be able to get some great portrait shots with a shallow depth of field given its f1.8 aperture.
Sony 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G – Best Premium Zoom Lens
While most of the other travel lenses mentioned so far are ideal if most of your photography is street or landscape photography, none of them are ideal if you want to super-zoom capability for an upcoming safari trip.
This is where the Sony 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 G comes in.
This lens is a premium zoom lens that works best if used as a complementing lens to the 16–55mm F2.8 G or any other all-in-one travel lens. I would only consider purchasing this lens if you have a specific purpose for its telephoto capabilities, such as wildlife photography.
It weighs 625g/22.1oz which is reasonably light given the range that this lens offers and also has Optical SteadyShot built-in.
It has various other perks built-in such as a shake compensation switch and the ability to easily switch between auto and manual focus which can be quite handy if shooting wildlife.
Sony 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 – Best Budget Zoom Lens
If you are looking for an affordable zoom lens to complement the standard 16-50mm kit lens or the 16–55mm F2.8 then the Sony 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 is an ideal choice.
This budget lens actually comes included sometimes in purchases of the Sony A6000, however, if this wasn’t the case for your camera, purchasing this lens allows you to easily extend your zoom range.
While the image quality won’t be as good as some of the other premium zoom lenses on this list, the lens still is lightweight enough at 345g/12.2oz that it’s not a burden to pack even for the minimalist traveller.
This lens doesn’t have many of the additional features on the lens such as the auto and manual focus switch that you see on other lenses in this article, which isn’t really a surprise given it’s on the budget end of zoom lenses for the Sony A6000 cameras.
If you’re not looking to spend a lot and simply want an affordable way to increase your range then this one is certainly a good option to consider.
It’s no surprise that there are several great travel lenses for the Sony A6000 series available on the market, regardless of what type of photos you plan on taking on your upcoming trip!
Are you searching for a travel lens for your upcoming trip? Have any questions? Let us know in the comments below!
