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Travel photography is unique. You need to have the best travel lens for Sony A6000 cameras if you want to capture all your favorite moments. We’ll look further into what makes a lens great for traveling and how you can pick a lens that works to your strengths and photography style.
We’ve gone through countless options to find the ones that stand out. There are so many things to consider – durability, price, versatility, compatibility, quality, control and so many more. It can be painstaking to find the right balance between all these aspects.
We’ve done all the hard work for you by bringing you the 10 best lenses that get the balance right. Each lens has a unique feature and very good general usability. We believe that the lens you choose needs to very closely match your style of photography and your needs.
This travel lens for Sony A6000 review should give you all the information you need to make a smart choice that you’re happy with.
Let’s get into the reviews!
Comparison of 10 Best Travel Lens for Sony A6000 in 2023
Image | Product Name | Features | Price |
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Rokinon Ultra-Wide Angle Lens |
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Meike Ultra-Wide Angle Lens |
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Sony Wide-Angle Zoom Lens |
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Sony Portrait Lens |
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Sony Power Zoom Lens |
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Sony 18-105mm Telephoto Lens |
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Sony 50mm Standard Lens |
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Sony 55-210mm Zoom Lens |
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Sony 35mm Fixed Prime Lens |
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Sony 55mm Sonar Full Frame Lens |
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Top 10 Best Travel Lens for Sony A6000 in 2023 [in Detail]
1 Rokinon Ultra-Wide Angle Lens – Best Landscape Lens for Sony A6000
- Weight: 9.6 ounces
- Dimensions: 2.3 x 2.8 x 2.8 inches
- Colour: Black
- Focal Length: 18mm
- Aperture: F/2.0 – F/22
- Zoom/Prime: Prime
- Lens Type: Ultra-Wide Angle
- Mount: E-Mount (APS-C)
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We love wide-angle lenses for travel. They are uniquely equipped for landscape photography and capturing more of the scene.
Fish-eye lenses are also great, though I personally prefer the wide-angle lens. If you’d like to make your mind up then here is a great comparison of fish-eye and wide-angle lenses for photography.
It’s a prime lens that has an 18mm focal length (35mm equivalent) – which gives you a very broad scene. The A6000 isn’t a full-frame camera and this lens will help you get much more of the scene.
The f/2.0 aperture makes it pretty decent at snapping low-light evening shots. This is very handy as you will come across so many low-light photo opportunities while you’re traveling.
Key Features:
- 12mm ultra-wide-angle lens
- Compatible with APS-C Sony E-Mounts
- Nano Crystal Coating System (NCS) for increased light transmission
- Manual focus available
- f/2.0 – f/22
- the wide aperture is great for low light perfect for capturing those alluring evening shots
- lightweight and easy to carry around
- great wide-angle field of view
- manual focus is better if you have the skills
- fits all Sony APS-C E-mounts
- no auto-focus if you’re after a point-and-shoot lens
- you can’t zoom – for some people, this isn’t too great for travel
2 Meike Ultra-Wide Angle Lens – Best Prime Lens for Sony A6000
- Weight: 12.6 ounces
- Dimensions: 2.8 x 2.8 x 2.8 inches
- Colour: Black
- Focal Length: 12mm
- Aperture: F/2.8 – F/22
- Zoom/Prime: Prime
- Lens Type: Ultra-Wide Angle
- Mount: E-Mount (APS-C)
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This is a great performing wide-angle travel lens for Sony A6000 cameras. It’s fully compatible and quite affordable.
You’ll get an almost 100° viewing angle which is amazing for landscapes and sunsets.
The aperture isn’t amazing for low light but the results you get are still good quality.
It’s a prime lens, meaning that you aren’t able to zoom. Prime lenses are different from zoom lenses in a couple of ways. Knowing how they differ is quite important.
Its lack of zoom is balanced out by the short 12mm focal length – which lets you focus on objects just under 4 inches away.
You’ll be able to use this lens to snap some great macro shots – you can get some interesting results with a little practice.
The multi-layer coating helps to reduce reflections and improve the amount and quality of light hitting the sensor.
Key Features:
- compatible with Sony E-mounts
- f/2.8 – f/22 aperture
- the minimum focus range of just under 4 inches
- nanotech multi-layer coating for better light transmission
- ability to get some decent macro shots
- very short 12mm focal length
- almost 100° viewing angle for wide-angle shots
- great price
- excellent for landscape and architecture photography
- image stabilization could be better
- no auto-focus – it’s not really a point-and-shoot lens
Also Read: Best Lenses for Sony A7riii
3 Sony Wide-Angle Zoom Lens – Best Travel Lens For Sony A6000
- Weight: 8 ounces
- Dimensions: 2.5 x 2.8 x 2.8 inches
- Colour: Black
- Focal Length: 15-27mm
- Aperture: Constant f/4.0
- Zoom/Prime: Zoom
- Lens Type: Wide-Angle Zoom Lens
- Mount: E-Mount
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This is the first zoom lens of the review. Earlier we took a look at the differences between prime and zoom lenses.
Zoom lenses are very useful for travel photography. Often, you’re so busy you don’t have time to constantly move around and relocate to get your shots.
Wide-angle zoom lenses give you the best of both worlds. You get the viewing angle of a wide-angle prime lens, and the ability to zoom in and out to better frame your photos.
The internal focus makes focusing fast and easy to control.
The A6000 isn’t a full-frame camera, so this wide-angle lens helps you get photos that look full-frame and capture the whole scene.
Key Features:
- wide-angle lens that can zoom
- circular aperture for the bokeh effect
- extra-low light dispersion
- lens-based image stabilization
- 15-27mm focal range (35mm equivalent)
- Both wide angle and it can zoom
- Very high-quality engineered build and design
- Internal focus and in-lens stabilization produce great results
- Helps improve the photos of the A6000 non-full frame
- Expensive – but it does deliver quality
- A constant aperture of f/4.0 means low light isn’t amazing
4 Sony Portrait Lens
- Weight: 7.2 ounces
- Dimensions: 2.4 x 2.4 x 2.4 inches
- Colour: Black
- Focal Length: 50mm (0.16x)
- Aperture: F/1.8 Maximum
- Zoom/Prime: Prime
- Lens Type: Portrait/Standard
- Mount: E-Mount
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Traveling is often more about the people you encounter than the places you can tick off your list. Wide-angle lenses aren’t really made for capturing people and portraits.
This lens is near-perfect for photographing people. The frame is just the right size to capture the emotion of the person and enough of the scene to make the moment memorable.
It’s a compact and lightweight lens that’s easy to slap on your camera and get awesome shots.
The viewing angle is around 35° wide – so you need to make sure you pay special attention to how you compose your shots.
You’re getting a smaller frame, meaning you have less room to correct composition errors through cropping and tilt correction.
Key Features:
- 16x zoom (35mm equivalent is 75mm)
- 7 diaphragm blades
- Large f/1.8 aperture
- The minimum focus range of 0.4m
- Great for low light and portrait photos
- Gives simple photos a professional look and feel
- Lightweight, compact and easy to carry around – perfect for travel
- Images are very sharp and the colors are accurate
- The frame is quite zoomed in and the zoom isn’t adjustable – this means you need to move around to change the zoom.
- Focal length makes it a little difficult to use in small spaces and some indoor situations
Read Also: Best Lenses for Sony A6300
5 Sony Power Zoom Lens
- Weight: 4.2 ounces
- Dimensions: 2.5 x 2.5 x 1.8 inches
- Focal Length: 24mm – 75mm
- Aperture: F/3.5 – F/36
- Zoom/Prime: Zoom
- Lens Type: Power Zoom
- Mount: E-Mount
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This is a 16-50mm lens, but it isn’t a full frame. There isn’t much need for you to get a full-frame lens for your Sony A6000 as it wouldn’t make a difference.
The measurement of the focal length has been changed to the 35mm equivalent. This is a great article to teach you the basics of this very important topic.
This is a great camera lens if you want versatility. It’s retractable – this means that you can go all the way from wide-angle to full zoom.
It’s very well-suited to travel since it can handle so many situations. You won’t have to move around as much thanks to the zoom lens.
The images are sharp and the stabilization is quite good. It’s relatively easy for beginners to get good professional-looking photos with a little practice.
It’s a fantastic all-rounder Sony A6000 kit lens for travel.
Key Features:
- 24mm – 75mm focal length (35mm equivalent)
- f/3.5 – f/36 aperture range
- 25cm minimum focus distance
- SteadyShot image stabilization
- Mount can retract to 30mm for wider compatibility
- Very compact and versatile
- It can do the job of several lenses at the same time
- It’s quite affordable and offers good value for money
- Decent image stabilization
- The perfect compact lens for use while traveling
- The wide angle isn’t as good as dedicated wide angle prime lenses
- You may need to wiggle the lens around a couple of times to get the camera to recognize the lens. This isn’t a widespread problem but it’s a minor inconvenience
6 Sony 18-105mm – Sony A6000 Telephoto Lens
- Weight: 15 ounces
- Dimensions: 4.3 x 3.1 x 3.1 inches
- Colour: Black
- Focal Length: 27-158mm (35mm =)
- Aperture: F/22 minimum
- Zoom/Prime: Zoom
- Lens Type: Telephoto
- Mount: E-Mount and A-Mount
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Telephoto lenses are excellent for travel because they open up opportunities for you to get shots that aren’t possible with the standard kit lens.
This could be because you can’t physically reach the area you’re trying to photograph – or because you’re 50mm doesn’t have the optical zoom to get a sharp image. This is a higher-end versatile lens that will be useful for about 90% of your daily use while traveling.
The wide-angle helps to get wide shots and make up for the frame cropping of the A6000. You’ll definitely be getting good professional quality shots with this Sony lens – if you have the budget for it.
The high aperture will let you manipulate exposure and depth of field to pump out some very interesting photos of your travels.
If you’d like to learn more about aperture and how to use it to get awesome snaps, then this is a fantastic read for you. This is a smart choice for your Sony A6000 for travel photography.
Key Features:
- Accepts the E-Mount and the full-frame A-Mount cameras
- Wide-angle to medium telephoto zoom
- 6x zoom range while keeping a constant f/4.0 aperture
- 27-158mm zoom range when converted to the 35mm equivalent
- Far zoom with reliable contrast and exposure all along the way
- Very good image stabilization
- Auto-focus is accurate and snappy enough to keep you locked onto your target object
- Useful in almost all situations and very versatile
- The constant f/4.0 aperture along the zoom can limit your options a little – you’ll probably need to stop down to get a sharp focus on the far end of the telephoto
- Larger and harder to carry around than other options on this list
7 Sony 50mm Standard Lens
- Weight: 6.6 ounces
- Dimensions: 2.7 x 2.3 x 2.7 inches
- Colour: Black
- Focal Length: 75mm (35mm =)
- Aperture: F/1.8
- Zoom/Prime: Prime
- Lens Type: Standard
- Mount: E-Mount
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50mm lenses are your everyday carry lenses. Read this article if you’d like to learn more about what makes them so good at general photography.
They are suitable to almost all situations though you’ll need to think carefully about composition – and be willing to move around to get a good frame.
These lenses are amazing point-and-shoot standard lenses.
You’ll find it extremely useful for catching scenes that don’t give you a lot of time to prepare for. This makes the 50mm lens arguably the best travel lens for Sony A6000 cameras.
With a decent viewing angle and good image stabilization, you can expect sharp photos that expose and capture the scene well.
Low light is generally good thanks to the larger aperture. It’s a great all-around lens for traveling.
Key Features:
- Compatible with full frame
- Large f/1.8 aperture
- 7-blade circular aperture
- Compact and lightweight
- It’s compact and easy to carry around all day. It’ll spend most of its time on your camera anyway.
- 50mm lenses are very well-suited to travel photography
- Large aperture gives good low-light photographs and great portraits of your friends
- The metal mounts feel durable and the lens, in general, feels very high quality
- Good value for money
- Not too easy for beginners as 50mm lenses require careful attention to image composition
- The auto-focus isn’t amazing – it’s a little sluggish and makes some mistakes
8 Sony 55-210mm Zoom Lens – Best Travel Zoom Lens For Sony A6000
- Weight: 12.2 ounces
- Dimensions: 4.2 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches
- Colour: Black
- Focal Length: 82-315mm (35mm =)
- Aperture: F/4.5 – F/6.3
- Zoom/Prime: Zoom
- Lens Type: Telephoto
- Mount: E-Mount
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A zoom lens is unlikely to ever give you the same image quality as the dedicated, equivalent prime lens – but when it loses its quality – it makes up for its versatility.
This is why zoom lenses have become so popular for traveling.
It’s way easier to carry a zoom lens and maybe a 35mm (or 50mm) lens than it is to cart around a prime for every situation.
It’s far more practical and cost-effective to get yourself a zoom lens.
This lens gives you quite a powerful zoom to help you capture more shots on the go without having to constantly reposition yourself.
The stabilization is quite good at the telephoto end of the lens and the lens has a solid feel to it.
It’s one of the better options if you want the best travel zoom lens for Sony A6000 cameras.
Key Features:
- 55-210mm focal length (82-315mm at the 35mm equivalent)
- f/4.5 – f/6.3 aperture range
- Optical SteadyShot image stabilization
- Very quiet internal focusing makes auto-focus smoother
- The minimum focus distance is 3.42 feet
- Great value for money when you consider the versatility and savings on prime lenses
- Good image stabilization at the telephoto end of the lens
- Image quality is better than expected – they’re sharp and the bokeh is beautiful
- Extremely versatile and useful
- Autofocus is kind of slow – but smooth
- The wide-angle end of the zoom doesn’t really give you much of a wide angle
9 Sony 35mm Fixed Prime Lens
- Weight: 5.4 ounces
- Dimensions: 1.8 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches
- Colour: Black
- Focal Length: 35mm (50mm crop)
- Aperture: F/1.8
- Zoom/Prime: Prime
- Lens Type: Standard 35mm
- Mount: E-Mount
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35mm are lenses that most seasoned photographers keep on their cameras 85% of the time.
They are so good for general use and low light that they can pretty much live on your camera.
35mm lenses are perfect secondary lenses and they really excel at indoor photography.
If you’re planning on visiting a place that requires regular changes of scenery – and switching between indoors and outdoors often – then this is possibly the best 35mm lens for Sony A6000 cameras.
The auto-focus and the image stabilization are both excellent and reliable.
Having a lens like this available for your A6000 will be perfect as it helps deal with the cropping factor of non-full frame cameras.
Key Features:
- 35mm focal length (50mm true length thanks to the crop factor of the A6000)
- Large f/1.8 aperture for excellent low light and general use
- Intelligent internal image stabilization
- Object-locked auto-focus that stays on target
- High-quality images
- Autofocus is fast and reliable – it stays on target well
- Image stabilization is very good and gives you consistent results
- Large f/1.8 aperture for amazing low light and indoor photography
- The very useful and versatile primary lens
- You’re getting amazing image quality from a well-built prime lens
- The price may be a little out of the average traveler’s budget – but it’s a prime lens after all
- Doesn’t feel as durable as some other lenses in the same price range
Read Also: Best Flash for Sony A6000
10 Sony 55mm Sonar Full Frame Lens
- Weight: 9.9 ounces
- Dimensions: 2.8 x 2.5 x 2.5 inches
- Colour: Black
- Focal Length: 55mm
- Aperture: F/1.8
- Zoom/Prime: Prime
- Lens Type: Full Frame Standard
- Mount: Fixed E-Mount
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This full-frame lens is a really high quality carefully crafted lens.
It’s probably the highest-quality travel lens for Sony A6000 review we’ve done.
The price is much steeper – as you’d expect from a full-frame prime lens – but the quality of the images you get from this lens blows the competition away.
Lens flare and internal scattering of light are pretty much non-existent thanks to Carl Zeiss T* coating. You’ll get consistent and reliable results when you use this lens.
The material and build quality are extraordinarily good.
You’re going to enjoy using this lens… for a long time!
The auto-focus is arguably the best on this list, and the image stabilization isn’t far behind.
The near-perfect image quality places this as one of the very best travel lenses for Sony A6000 cameras.
Key Features:
- Very high-quality full-frame compatible prime lens
- Very wide f/1.8 aperture
- 55mm focal length gives you a minimum focal length of about 50cm
- 14x magnification is possible
- Whopping 9 diaphragm blades
- Full frame prime lens that delivers a stunning quality image and an expertly crafted build
- The low light ability is amazing
- Auto-focus is stupidly fast and accurate
- 50mm lenses are very versatile and useful in a lot of different situations
- The price is very high for beginners. You’ll still need to buy a zoom lens if you plan on taking any telephoto shots
- You can get f/1.4 lenses for a similar price that can give you even better shallow depth-of-field shots
Here’s Some Things We Think You Should Know
We hope your “What lenses can I use with Sony A6000?” question has been dealt with. They’re just a couple of things that we want you to keep in mind before you make a decision.
Remember that the Sony A6000 Isn’t a Full Frame Camera
I’ve made a special effort to convert all the focal lengths in this travel lens for Sony A6000 review into their 35mm equivalents. Full-frame cameras and full-frame lenses are much more expensive, though they do come with their advantages.
The lenses that we’ve gone through here are going to help you best deal with the cropping factor of the A6000. They will all be able to give you high-quality images that feel and look professional.
Learn and Master One Lens at a Time
It’s important for you to focus your attention on developing one skill at a time. Learning everything about your lens – and how to use it to get the best photos from your A6000 – is the skill that’ll give you tangible results in the shortest time.
Learn EVERYTHING there is about your lens. Spend some time every day looking up articles and tutorials on tips and tricks to get better photos with your lens. Each lens has its strengths and weaknesses. It’s up to you to make the most of that information.
Our Final Thoughts
You should have a very good idea of which lens suits your style, needs, and budget.
We have given you a variety of options to cater to the unique interests you may have.
Many seasoned photographers carry several lenses – but they have spent lots of time learning the ins and outs of each of them.
Now that you have the best travel lens for Sony A6000 that matches what you need – it’s time to get out there and work on your skills. Getting the results it’s just a matter of practicing with the right gear for you.
Enjoy your new photo and let it inspire you to dive deeper into this beautiful art!
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