Sony Alpha A5000 Mirrorless Camera with 16-50mm Lens

I bought my Sony a5000 during Christmas in 2015. I use it mainly for video recording on YouTube and for photos when I'm on vacation. It's a decent camera it does what it's meant to do take pretty nice pictures. One of the first digital cameras I've owned where your able to change the lens to a higher or lower mm that's not a dslr camera. The video quality out put is good but not the best. It does have the ability to out put 1080 hd. The Mic on this camera is the best on the market to date it picks up every sound, even better than the dslr cameras that are in the 1000 dollar range. The one thing that I really don't like on this camera is the fact that I can never really seem to get great color tones indoors no matter what type of lighting I use or setting my face on ... MoreI bought my Sony a5000 during Christmas in 2015. I use it mainly for video recording on YouTube and for photos when I'm on vacation. It's a decent camera it does what it's meant to do take pretty nice pictures. One of the first digital cameras I've owned where your able to change the lens to a higher or lower mm that's not a dslr camera. The video quality out put is good but not the best. It does have the ability to out put 1080 hd. The Mic on this camera is the best on the market to date it picks up every sound, even better than the dslr cameras that are in the 1000 dollar range. The one thing that I really don't like on this camera is the fact that I can never really seem to get great color tones indoors no matter what type of lighting I use or setting my face on my vlog is always a different shade or color. There is an upgraded version to this camera which is the a6000. But I will stick with the a5000 till I can afford a dslr. Overall not a bad camera for the price but there is better. It all depends on what your using it for. I wouldn't recommend for a professional photographer.

A great camera for beginners!

I bought this camera yesterday and I'm already extremely happy with it. This is my first camera and I couldn't have made a better choice, I feel. The pictures I've taken have come out so clear and beautiful that it inspires me to take more and more! I'm going to learn all of the features and settings so that I can get the absolute most out of this camera and I would suggest anyone who buys it do the same. Once you see how great the pictures produced from the automatic settings are, you'll want to know just how far you can take this little camera. As an android user, with a fairly fresh Instagram, the NFC functionality is perfect. After you've downloaded the app for the camera you simply select an image, enable NFC in your phone, and hold your phone close to the ... MoreI bought this camera yesterday and I'm already extremely happy with it. This is my first camera and I couldn't have made a better choice, I feel. The pictures I've taken have come out so clear and beautiful that it inspires me to take more and more! I'm going to learn all of the features and settings so that I can get the absolute most out of this camera and I would suggest anyone who buys it do the same. Once you see how great the pictures produced from the automatic settings are, you'll want to know just how far you can take this little camera. As an android user, with a fairly fresh Instagram, the NFC functionality is perfect. After you've downloaded the app for the camera you simply select an image, enable NFC in your phone, and hold your phone close to the camera. It will automatically send the selected image to your gallery after a few seconds making it insanely easy to share a moment with your family and friends that you might not have been able to clearly capture with your smartphone's camera. The camera is compact making it convenient for moving around and storage. I think the only drawback I can find is that there isn't a view finder. It takes away from the feel of the camera, but only slightly. The zoom is great on the lens that this camera comes with, but think I will buy more lenses to explore the different possibilities.All in all I give this camera a 10/10 for beginners and I hope my review has helped you in some way!

An excellent camera for lazy photographer

Not many SLR's are so automatic. I just let the camera set everything, then I modify the Shutter and Aperture depending upon the effect I want in the photo. The viewer tells you everything you need to know and the LCD display makes it easy to adjust everything. It does three frames in about a second and a half, so that work out great if you want to use it for fast moving shots. The battery life is very long, about three rolls for me, that's about 72 photos. May be less for the larger rolls. This one has the date back which is nice for keeping track of each photo. It even will print day, hour, minute and second on each frame. This camera also controls the flash, depending upon conditions, the camera will adjust the flash according to the ambient light although it can ... MoreNot many SLR's are so automatic. I just let the camera set everything, then I modify the Shutter and Aperture depending upon the effect I want in the photo. The viewer tells you everything you need to know and the LCD display makes it easy to adjust everything. It does three frames in about a second and a half, so that work out great if you want to use it for fast moving shots. The battery life is very long, about three rolls for me, that's about 72 photos. May be less for the larger rolls. This one has the date back which is nice for keeping track of each photo. It even will print day, hour, minute and second on each frame. This camera also controls the flash, depending upon conditions, the camera will adjust the flash according to the ambient light although it can be set to just standard flash. The camera will also act like the modern Digital SLR's and set everything for you, Aperture, Shuttle and Focus. Although the cost of film and development is much higher than digital, you can't beat the quality. I highly recommend this older camera.

Great Camera

I wanted to move up from my Canon point and shoot to a camera with no shutter lag. The only thing I don't like about the Canon is the substantial amount of time between pressing the shutter release and when the photo is actually taken. Makes taking action photos almost impossible.This new Sony has no shutter lag. Of course, it's a whole lot more expensive. But there a number of benefits including the ability to change lenses. I'd hoped to be able to avoid multiple lenses with just one zoom lens. But with this higher quality camera that's what's available.Fortunately, I was able to purchase a kit including a camera, 16 - 50mm lens, 50mm-200mm lens, a camera case, lens filters, memory card and some other stuff for $649.This camera has numerous advanced features ... MoreI wanted to move up from my Canon point and shoot to a camera with no shutter lag. The only thing I don't like about the Canon is the substantial amount of time between pressing the shutter release and when the photo is actually taken. Makes taking action photos almost impossible.This new Sony has no shutter lag. Of course, it's a whole lot more expensive. But there a number of benefits including the ability to change lenses. I'd hoped to be able to avoid multiple lenses with just one zoom lens. But with this higher quality camera that's what's available.Fortunately, I was able to purchase a kit including a camera, 16 - 50mm lens, 50mm-200mm lens, a camera case, lens filters, memory card and some other stuff for $649.This camera has numerous advanced features including the ability to use my cell phone as a remote control. The photos I shoot remotely also end up on my camera. Pretty cool. Of course, there's also both wired and wireless transfer from camera to laptop.The camera appears to be well designed. However, it does not appear to be designed for rugged use. The instructions are quite clear in that the camera and lenses should not be dropped, handled roughly, or exposed to moisture. Hope this isn't a problem in the future.If you go with this Sony camera, plan to spend time reading through the very short and inadequate instruction manual several times. If you are tech savy, using the camera won't be a problem. If you're not, you can learn but it will take more time.So far, there's only a couple of things I don't like. I've already mentioned the abridged instruction manual. The other is that this camera uses a rechargeable battery. No separate charger is included. The battery must be charged while in the camera which must be plugged in to either a wall outlet or your computer. You can buy a stand-alone charger from Walmart for about $30.

Great intermediate quality camera.

My wife and I bought this camera for two reasons. First, we were tired of point and shoot variety cameras with their inadequate quality. When a cell phone takes a better photo than your camera that is a shame. Secondly, we were jealous of our friends and family members with DSLRs who always seem to have amazing photos of their kids. So we ventured into the search for our own DSLR. Mirrorless cameras such as this one have a distinct advantage of size and reduced weight. The only downside was that it lacked an optical viewfinder and instead uses a digital viewfinder. That was fine by us. We are serious outdoorspeople and the only advantage we could find in any DSLR otherwise was that Pentax sells several models which are water resistant.The price point of mirrorless ... MoreMy wife and I bought this camera for two reasons. First, we were tired of point and shoot variety cameras with their inadequate quality. When a cell phone takes a better photo than your camera that is a shame. Secondly, we were jealous of our friends and family members with DSLRs who always seem to have amazing photos of their kids. So we ventured into the search for our own DSLR. Mirrorless cameras such as this one have a distinct advantage of size and reduced weight. The only downside was that it lacked an optical viewfinder and instead uses a digital viewfinder. That was fine by us. We are serious outdoorspeople and the only advantage we could find in any DSLR otherwise was that Pentax sells several models which are water resistant.The price point of mirrorless cameras tends to be comparable to DSLR cameras but when this one went on sale for Black Friday there was a clear price advantage at $299 which was better than any new DSLR. So we went for it. And we are very happy with our purchase.So far the camera has proven to be highly functional, easy to use, and takes amazing photos without much tweaking. We have already taken hundreds of photos of our family over the holidays and look forward to compiling them. We plan to take it with us on a weeklong backpacking/kayaking trip in the summer so the weight advantage is very nice.Some cool features include Wi-Fi which allows your iPhone, iPad, or Android phone to be used as a wireless view screen and remote for the camera, automatic uploading of unlimited photos to the Sony cloud (only caveat is that they are reduced in size and quality compared to their native state and that videos and full quality images are limited), and the ability to add additional apps after purchase of the camera. I haven't really gotten into all the possible functionalities of the camera yet but I've been able to easily figure out all the ones I wanted including burst photos, panorama, timer, and macro. I see a lot more potential waiting in this highly versatile camera.Downsides are that it isn't weatherproof, takes less quality photos than a professional level camera (duh), and that additional lenses are not as easy to get as compared to the bigger brands (canon, Nikon, etc) because Sony has less market share (but we haven't wanted any different lens so far).

Logical next step up from point & shoot compact

I've long been a keen point and shoot photographer and have owned many point and shoot superzoom cameras over the years, my last one being a Sony HX9V. I was in the market for an upgrade but the sad fact is compact cameras don't have the sensors required to give high quality images despite the ever more outlandish megapixel claims. The only way to get a true and noticeable step up in image quality is to go for a Compact System Camera like this one.In my opinion the Alpha 5000 is the perfect 'bridge' camera retaining all the clever automatic point and shoot wizardry found in their compact cameras (I'm a particular fan of the handheld twilight mode) with the added features of interchangeable lenses and high quality sensor. In short you get the best of both ... MoreI've long been a keen point and shoot photographer and have owned many point and shoot superzoom cameras over the years, my last one being a Sony HX9V. I was in the market for an upgrade but the sad fact is compact cameras don't have the sensors required to give high quality images despite the ever more outlandish megapixel claims. The only way to get a true and noticeable step up in image quality is to go for a Compact System Camera like this one.In my opinion the Alpha 5000 is the perfect 'bridge' camera retaining all the clever automatic point and shoot wizardry found in their compact cameras (I'm a particular fan of the handheld twilight mode) with the added features of interchangeable lenses and high quality sensor. In short you get the best of both worlds!Yes it's a little bit bulkier than a compact, but the quality and feature set more than make up for it, plus using one of the camera hugging neoprene cases that are now available you can achieve compact camera levels of portability albeit at the expense of some extra protective padding.But I digress - if you enjoy taking photos you will enjoy this camera, it is user friendly once you figure out where all the options are (the built in help guide can help with this) and there is something very satisfying about using the focus rings on a big lens!The camera has a wealth of features - ranging from NFC which is great for instantly transferring your photos to your Smartphone to distribute to friends and family, to PlayMemories Camera Apps which expand the features of the phone. I personally have lot's of creative fun with the PictureEffects+ app which expands on the default PictureEffects options of the camera, there are also apps to link to social media directly and paid apps to add specialist photo modes to your camera (check out the dedicated website for them).I bought mine with the zoom lens which is great when you are going on a trip where you know you will need a large zoom, but it's worth noting that the default 1650 lens is a very competent day to day lens with it's digital zoom helping bridge the zoom gap - remember that the bigger sensor means that digital zooming is not as detrimental to picture quality as it is on cheaper compacts with tiny image sensors. You also don't need to reach for the flash as often as you might have done with a compact, often better images are achievable without the flash.So in summary then - get this camera and enjoy taking both creative and professional quality images with a camera that in my opinion successfully balances image quality with compactness and ease of use. There is something here for everyone, whether you want to do nothing more than point and shoot, or if you want to take creative and arty photos, or if you love taking manual photos and are looking for a smaller camera to compliment your big DSLR. If you take the time to learn how some of the added/advanced functions work you will get a lot more out of this camera.With the photo quality of my smartphone giving most cheap compacts a run for their money it no longer makes sense to carry a compact camera in day to day life. But this camera is a different proposition, this is a camera you take on holiday or on days out or to special occasions because no Smartphone can come close to the large sensors of these Compact System Camera. As you can probably tell I am very happy with my purchase and I personally think it is well worth the money...

Surprisingly powerful given the small size

I wanted a semi-professional camera for personal use (almost 0 knowledge in taking pictures) and was thinking of buying any Canon or Nikon. They have a well known design which was one of the most important factors I was looking for. After almost two hours of searching and bothering the store attendant I decided for Sony only because of the picture's quality. I actually forgot about the design I wanted because the features of this camera were far more better than Canon's or Nikon's.Features that impressed me:- Size of the sensor (one of the biggest in the market, can take pictures up to 5000 px, with plenty of quality);- Shutter time (take very quick pictures, which allows you, among several other things, to take high quality panoramic photos);- Stabilization ... MoreI wanted a semi-professional camera for personal use (almost 0 knowledge in taking pictures) and was thinking of buying any Canon or Nikon. They have a well known design which was one of the most important factors I was looking for. After almost two hours of searching and bothering the store attendant I decided for Sony only because of the picture's quality. I actually forgot about the design I wanted because the features of this camera were far more better than Canon's or Nikon's.Features that impressed me:- Size of the sensor (one of the biggest in the market, can take pictures up to 5000 px, with plenty of quality);- Shutter time (take very quick pictures, which allows you, among several other things, to take high quality panoramic photos);- Stabilization sensor (already took more than 1000 photos, none of them were blurred because of motion, even the ones without flash);- Compact and light;- Plenty of programs and features (helps a lot when you know nothing about taking pictures, the auto mode chooses the best setting for each picture and the only work you have to do is press the shutter button).Cons:- Price (kind of expensive, since you always have to buy the accessories to protect it, so everything together doesn't sound like the price of a beginner's camera);- Instructions too shallow (you receive a big instructions manual, but it is only big because of the several languages it is written, it actually doesn't have much information about how to set the camera for different pictures. It refers to a website where you can download better instructions, but there is nothing, so I have to look it up myself if want to learn how to use the camera's features more precisely);- Marketing (I'd never know this camera or its qualities if it wasn't for the shop attendant, Sony should work a little more about it);- Doesn't look like a powerful camera (but again, look isn't the only thing that matter).

Wondeful pictures!

I was using an 8MP point & shoot as well as an iPhone camera - but - I was getting more and more disappointed with the results (my reference was Kodacolor ...). I wanted to upgrade to a proper camera and started investigating. My first discovery was that most of the cameras with the small lenses have an even smaller sensor behind them! For me this meant that I would not be better off with a compact 20 MP camera.The Sony A5000 looked like the answer: A proper lens, a sizable sensor and just as important, a small body. I also liked the fact that the lens that was included goes from wide angle to some zooming, but without taking a huge volume of space.Once I got the camera, my first subject was of course our cat...I was amazed by the results! Each hair on the nose ... MoreI was using an 8MP point & shoot as well as an iPhone camera - but - I was getting more and more disappointed with the results (my reference was Kodacolor ...). I wanted to upgrade to a proper camera and started investigating. My first discovery was that most of the cameras with the small lenses have an even smaller sensor behind them! For me this meant that I would not be better off with a compact 20 MP camera.The Sony A5000 looked like the answer: A proper lens, a sizable sensor and just as important, a small body. I also liked the fact that the lens that was included goes from wide angle to some zooming, but without taking a huge volume of space.Once I got the camera, my first subject was of course our cat...I was amazed by the results! Each hair on the nose was visible, even the dust. I then took some more general pictures and then noticed two big differences to my phone camera:- The colours were always just right. Normally I have to edit each picture to get back to reasonable colours.- The other item was that the exposures were also just right. I was used to getting dark shadows on almost all pictures, whereas the Sony A5000 captures what I see with my eyes - which in fact don't see such dark shadows.I tried a picture of some plants that were in front of the window. Here the plants came out just right (of course, the windows over exposed, but that is what I wanted)I come to my main conclusion: That just using the camera in its default settings results in wonderful pictures. Of course, I have the possibility to use the manual settings for some special cases, but the point is that the combination of lens and internal image processing gives excellent results without having to fiddle with anything!

awesome!

this is my 3rd high end camera system i have ever owned and for comparison i had a 1,600$ dslr previous to this one that took a swim and was too much to fix in relation to a new one so i went shopping and after reviewing all of my options at multiple brick n' mortars as well as online i ended up choosing this one. first off i will say that it is slightly on the intermediate to advanced level as far as being able to fully enjoy everything this unit has to offer, although, even someone without any knowledge can take incredible shots. i love this camera and find it far better than my last two and not even in comparison to all my other "basic" style point and shoots. after a few hours of playing with all the settings, functions, and combinations it completely blew me ... Morethis is my 3rd high end camera system i have ever owned and for comparison i had a 1,600$ dslr previous to this one that took a swim and was too much to fix in relation to a new one so i went shopping and after reviewing all of my options at multiple brick n' mortars as well as online i ended up choosing this one. first off i will say that it is slightly on the intermediate to advanced level as far as being able to fully enjoy everything this unit has to offer, although, even someone without any knowledge can take incredible shots. i love this camera and find it far better than my last two and not even in comparison to all my other "basic" style point and shoots. after a few hours of playing with all the settings, functions, and combinations it completely blew me away with the stunning clarity, sharpness of images without loss of definition, (once your accustomed to the locations) the quick and easy interface for changing "on-the-fly" settings to meet unique criteria for action, still, panoramic, land/sea/air, auto, moving objects...etc. i am very pleased with the cameras overall functionality and professional quality results- i even started playing with the memory and adding previously captured photos and loading them into the camera (via removable high speed sd) and in some, but not all, cases it changed the resolution of the photo and made it look like it was a completely different picture, bringing out the image quality the file deserved (not sure if its a normal occurrence or why it would do it i just got overexcited about the a5 and decided it was worth a shot... i also am running an upgraded macbook pro/ retina with multiple editing programs that i am still very new to, so it may just be the variations in how the files were read by the computer when i "re-imported the photo...). the camera feels very robust and comfortable in your hand making one handed shots reliable and the stabilization the a5 has mixed with the 180deg flip screen rounds all of that out into a perfect cam for the "selfie" in everyone... because of the price tag and the moving parts i went with a "hazard 4" wedge camera bag to protect the unit, along with their "jelly roll" lens pouch, and purchased a shiner optics "bundle to further enhance my experience. i got the digital pro uv mrc lens filter/ tulip hood,nl3 close up +3 diopter, as well as the keasemann circular polarizer mrc to round out the external side of the package and yet again i was not only fulfilled in every photographical way, but completely surprised at the picture quality that came from using the different combinations! the shined optics filters in my experience (& of course opinion) are by far the best your money can buy! why spend nearly a grand on a unit and then put an inferior object in the cameras focal plane...anything less than a quality, multi coated filter would be dissatisfying to say the least, do yourself a favor and protect your lens with some good filters and invest in shined optics, i assure you that you will not be disappointed. i also got the bundle with the 55-210 lens that i have not received yet so that'll be for another review in a few weeks but if its as good as this stock lens then I'm sure ill be more than satisfied, especially when i strap the 49 mil series shiners on to it!overall, thank you sony for building a superior product at a price that most can afford! i couldn't afford a "high end" system again and to be honest in this situation I'm glad i couldn't because i would surely not be satisfied in comparison had i spent 3 times the price and only gotten similar, to moderately increased abilities... i will say again that i am no professional, nor do i know everything about cameras but in my situation and for what i use my systems for this is as good as it gets... if you can afford the next model then surely go for it to get (for one) a higher pixel rate because if this one @20 is so satisfactory then it could only get better with sony's tech!!! thank you again!!!*the uploaded pictures do NOT do it justice!!!

great price for first non-point and shoot

I could not find this camera in stock in this white color on any other website and it wasn't at my local best buy. Best price you can find, no tax and free shipping, it was worth waiting a couple days to get it in the color I wanted. This is my first non-point and shoot camera and I have always loved Sony, my last camera was a cybershot. It is such a gorgeous and cool looking camera, very unique. It comes with a charger and a strap. I was looking for something smaller than a DSLR without compromising picture quality and not being overwhelmed by a million buttons, I don't think there is a better choice out there along those lines. There are so many fun settings on this outside of the normal black and white, sepia, etc. I am learning to shoot in manual pretty quickly ... MoreI could not find this camera in stock in this white color on any other website and it wasn't at my local best buy. Best price you can find, no tax and free shipping, it was worth waiting a couple days to get it in the color I wanted. This is my first non-point and shoot camera and I have always loved Sony, my last camera was a cybershot. It is such a gorgeous and cool looking camera, very unique. It comes with a charger and a strap. I was looking for something smaller than a DSLR without compromising picture quality and not being overwhelmed by a million buttons, I don't think there is a better choice out there along those lines. There are so many fun settings on this outside of the normal black and white, sepia, etc. I am learning to shoot in manual pretty quickly with this but all of the automatic settings do an incredible job as well. I can tell I will be wanting another lens with this fairly soon because the kit lens just doesn't have the zoom for the landscape photography I want to get more into but I also feel this was a good starting point for me and there is still so much I can learn with it. I don't think you can beat this price and with it being compact it is great for travel, especially with the screen that flips and the smile shutter and timer built in. I did my research and know I will be loving this camera for years to come.