u/meownowhere

It’s been three months since I got this little gem, and I’m still enjoying it just as much.

Two manual lenses have become a perfect match for it: the 7Artisans 25mm f/1.8 and 35mm f/1.4. I also picked up the Viltrox 25mm and 35mm f/1.7, but I’m already selling them - just not the same vibe for me.

There’s something special about slowly turning the focus ring while walking around, missing focus sometimes, and simply not caring.

It’s this calm, relaxing kind of pleasure. My own little form of creative therapy x_X

I post more stuff like this on IG: meownowhere if anyone’s interested.

Happy shooting, and hope you all have some great photo walks!

I have to admit, Sony never really excited me.

My full-frame Nikon Z with a few S-line primes is basically my dream setup. The problem is that this dream setup has been sitting at home for two years. Meanwhile, thousands of my travel photos were taken on a phone.

Why? Because the body with even one lens is about 1.25 kg, and for travel that is just too much for me. I also don’t love the idea of carrying something that expensive around all day and constantly worrying about damaging it or losing it.

So I started looking for a smaller travel camera.

Fuji was tempting, but still a bit too big and heavy for what I wanted, and the joystick-based controls on the newer bodies drive me crazy.

Then I looked at Micro Four Thirds. Olympus, Panasonic, all that. Very tempting too, but the 2x crop and the feeling of a slowly dying system made me hesitate.

So, almost as a last resort, I looked at Sony.

And honestly, I was biased. I had heard the usual stuff for years: bad colors, bad screens, bad EVFs, terrible menus. The classic Sony reputation.

But I also always remembered the NEX line as something special. Back then it felt like a real breakthrough, and I still think nobody quite repeated that idea.

While looking at old NEX cameras, I somehow ended up reading about the a6000. Then I found one used, in perfect condition, with only 300 shutter actuations, for about $375.

I bought it.

And yeah, I get it now.

This little camera is beautiful in its simplicity, compactness, and imperfection. It feels great in the hand, the weight is perfect, and the menu really is not that bad. After a couple of days, everything made sense.

Sure, it is missing a lot of modern features. But somehow that is part of the charm.

I immediately bought three small lightweight prime lenses, two extra batteries, taped over the EVF proximity sensor, and even blacked out the Sony logo with a marker because I am still not fully used to seeing it there.

Now I actually take a camera with me again. And I am enjoying photography in the same way I did 15 years ago with a tiny Canon Rebel XT / 350D and a Helios 44.

The a6000 is a legend. Such a weirdly pleasant and addictive little camera.

Guess I’m one of you now. New travel setup, and I’m impressed.