NEX-7 - World tour: Which lens to pick?

Hi guys,

I'm looking to invest in a mirrorless system and was considering the NEX-7. In your experience, which lens would you recommend for going around the world? We will be going in various countries with different weather.

If you had one lense to pick what would you go for?

Thanks!

reefdreams said:

reefdreams wrote:

Hi guys,

I'm looking to invest in a mirrorless system and was considering the NEX-7. In your experience, which lens would you recommend for going around the world? We will be going in various countries with different weather.

If you had one lense to pick what would you go for?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

SEL18200LE

Jack

Grab the 24mm Zeiss and the 50mm

-Rob

that all depends on your style. I'd pick the smallest size lense(s) as wide as possible. I'd probably be just fine with a new 10-18 and a new 16-50.




Current my nex7 has 16mm most of the time. The setup is super light/small, image quality is good, autofocus is fast. I had to dump great sigma 19mm, because it takes about a sec for nex7 to turn on with that lens attached and AF is slow too.

I've been around the world and taken many lenses, but I got back and figured out that I used the Zeiss 24 for more than 90% of my shots. The SEL50 was used sparingly as well. I'd be comfy just shooting the Zeiss 24 on my camera.

SEL24 is an easy choice for me - that's the viewing angle I use most often while roaming.

But that's just me. And I like prime lenses (... as opposed to a zoom which would could prove very handy sometimes).

24mm Ziess and original Sony 18-200 and you are covered for all situations, low light and zoom.




I will say as another poster stated the Ziess along with the crop-ability of 24mp's of the 7 cover a hell of a lot of shooting situations.




I carry my Nex-7 & 18-200 lens in a Lowepro belt bag, photo below, I do not like shoulder bags they irritate me. You could even carry a slave flash etc in the side pockets.





This bag also comes with a detachable bottom pouch which you can easily carry a 24mm Zeiss, although to be practical you would have to use the supplied shoulder strap.




If you want a smaller belt bag just for the NEX-7 & Ziess NITE-IZE have a very good small belt bag which I use when I want to go light.

























--

If it had to be one lens - 18200, no question.

If one and only one, SEL 24f18z would be my choice.

reefdreams said:

reefdreams wrote:

Hi guys,

I'm looking to invest in a mirrorless system and was considering the NEX-7. In your experience, which lens would you recommend for going around the world? We will be going in various countries with different weather.

If you had one lense to pick what would you go for?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

SEL 18-200

Jefenator said:

Jefenator wrote:

SEL24 is an easy choice for me - that's the viewing angle I use most often while roaming.

But that's just me. And I like prime lenses (... as opposed to a zoom which would could prove very handy sometimes).

Click to expand...

I think that the E24 is easily the best E mount lens for the Nex-7.



I used to travel with the Nex-7, E24, and kit lens, and can easily say that the E24 is too limiting. Circumstances vary, but not always 24 mm is the right focal distance. The kit lens is the easiest compagnion, both at the wider and tele sides.





OTH, a majority of shots can be done with the E24, under many circumstances.

reefdreams said:

reefdreams wrote:

If you had one lense to pick what would you go for?

Click to expand...

If you want just one lens, the new 16-50mm is probably the best answer... at least that's what Sony thinks and why they made that kit lens. The folks saying you should use a 24mm with NEX as the only lens, well, I think the RX1 is the better choice for a travel kit along those lines.

However, the biggest advantage of NEX is how well it handles lots of different lenses. I think a decent kit would be:

• An ultrawide zoom
• Kit zoom
• A faster lens (perhaps a fast 50 for bokeh and low light)
• A longer lens

All of that can fit in a small travel kit along with a lenspen for cleaning the sensor.

reefdreams said:

reefdreams wrote:

Hi guys,

I'm looking to invest in a mirrorless system and was considering the NEX-7. In your experience, which lens would you recommend for going around the world? We will be going in various countries with different weather.

If you had one lense to pick what would you go for?

Thanks!

Click to expand...

A handy travel lens for the NEX-7 should be the new 16-50mm zoom. It covers the equivalent angles from 24mm to 75mm and thus the most useful focal length area. This keeps the set quite handy for carrying all day. You might add an additional tele lens, but this is up to you and your needs.

I'd go along with those who suggest the 18200. In the past year, I've been to Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore. Aside from a few dinners on the town (where I used the SEL16 so that I could put the camera in my pocket), I kept the 18200 on the camera. It's a bit bulky, but the IQ is excellent and any aberrations can be fixed in post. The SEL16 isn't really too bad (IMO) and LR lens corrections (manual) can be used to "fix" perspective(s).

I have the Sigma 30 and the kit lens. My shooting style has made these lenses collect dust (except where the caps are!).

upsidedown said:

upsidedown wrote:

that all depends on your style. I'd pick the smallest size lense(s) as wide as possible. I'd probably be just fine with a new 10-18 and a new 16-50.

Current my nex7 has 16mm most of the time. The setup is super light/small, image quality is good, autofocus is fast. I had to dump great sigma 19mm, because it takes about a sec for nex7 to turn on with that lens attached and AF is slow too.

Click to expand...

That has got to be the worst possible combo. Such a waste of a good body, you'll probably get better results using that lens with a C3.

The cheaper, smaller and lighter sigma 30 2.8 would be best IMO.

For one lens I's take the Sony 18-200. I took it to France in May and it never came off the NEX-7 despite having more than that one. Took over 3000 shots.





Rich

koibag said:

koibag wrote:
That has got to be the worst possible combo. Such a waste of a good body, you'll probably get better results using that lens with a C3.

Click to expand...

Waste is when such a good body sees only insides of a camera bug most of the time

mine flew around the world at least twice and was used all the time during that travel. I kept it in a pocket of my shorts. try doing that with 18-200 or even 24mm. and one thing many forget that even tho 16mm is not the best, it's often better than many "classical" lenses people try to fit to nex-7. It works very well for my style and my needs.

I bet that your best possible combo will not work for me for one reason or another, that is all personal preference and style after all. BTW i sold zeis 24 after few weeks of use, lens is great, but it's not my focal length

c3 and 5n don't have viewfinder, that rules them out

World tour? Take a second body! The NEX-7 is an excellent camera with a tough shell, but having a spare body (5n or F3) for an extended trip won't hurt neither your back nor wallet. And it opens up new possibilities for lens combinations; i.e. SEL 16 on one body, SEL 50 on the other.

Since a 16-80 does not yet exist, I'd recommend 16+18-200.

Happy travel!

Just came back from a tour of Spain and Italy with NEX-7 and will say that the 18-55 kit lens worked very well for almost all my shooting situations. I especially liked the OSS for low light situations, very handy in churches and museums that do not allow flash, or you just want the ambient light. Something you don't get with the primes and Zeiss...

I found that focal range worked well for most everything. I do exetensive travel and used to carry an 18-200, but after looking at most of my shots, over 2000 form all over the world in different situations, I found that I rarely went beyond 50-70mm, so it was an easy decision to lighten my load and go with a smaller focal range.

As an old Nikon shooter who used the very yummy pro level 17-55mm 2.8 I am eagerly awaiting similar quality glass for the E mount, but found the IQ with kit lens pretty good, but just to be clear I do shoot in RAW mode and process them through the Sony supplied Image Data Converter. Once you strip out the detail destroying noise reduction and restore contrast through judicious use of the DRO function the images are just about as good as those from the Nikon glass.


So that is my two cents. I would agree with other posters that one of the benefits of ILC are more lenses, but if you just want to carry one, that would be the one I would go with.