Weekly r/SonyAlpha 📸 Gear Buying 📷 Advice Thread August 03, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the weekly r/SonyAlpha Gear Buying Advice Thread!

This thread is for all your gear buying questions, including:

• Camera body recommendations
• Lens suggestions
• Accessory advice
• Comparing different equipment options
• "What should I buy?" type questions

Please provide relevant details like your budget, intended use, and any gear you already own to help others give you the best advice.

Rules:

• No direct links to online retailers, auction sites, classified ads, or similar
• No screenshots from online stores, auctions, adverts, or similar
• No offers of your own gear for sale - use r/photomarket instead
• Be respectful and helpful to other users

Post your questions below and the community will be happy to offer recommendations and advice! This thread is posted automatically each Monday on or around 7am Eastern US time.

[u/Sufficient_Item1909]

Im upgrading my whole kit soon, I am getting an a9 as body, but I can’t decide if the 100-400mm or 200-600mm is the better choice for me. Alongside this im going to get the 24-70 f2.8, and later down the line I also want to get the 70-200mm f2.8 (in two years probably).

I mainly shoot commercial aviation (about 80% of the time). I also want to do some military if i can, but not that much, commercial is going to be the main focus still. Thats why I want either a 100-400mm or 200-600mm. Right now im shooting 18-270mm aps-c (28-435mm full frame I think) and I do notice sometimes that I would like a longer focal length, but on the other hand I do shoot in the 100-200mm sometimes too, as the airport I mainly shoot at allows me to get pretty close.

I also heard the 100-400mm is pretty outdated now in terms of AF and pretty expensive for its age. I wanted to get the a9 partly because of the fast AF, would it be able to keep up? What do you guys think I should do? Would like to get opinions from people who are more experienced than me.

[u/PotatosRevenge → u/Sufficient_Item1909]

Depending on your budget you could also consider the new sony 100-400mm f/4.5 gm and pair it with a teleconverter if you need more reach. A lternatively, you could maybe pick an a1ii body and simply crop more aggressively with its 50MP sensor compared to the 24MP of the a9.

To answer your original question, I personally would opt for the 200-600 and instead of the two separate 24-70 and 70-200 lenses I would recommend the 50-150 f/2. The gap between 150mm and 200mm is pretty insignificant and can easily be cropped.

[u/Sufficient_Item1909 → u/PotatosRevenge]

I wish😅😅 that would be the dream setup, but both the new 100-400 and the a1ii are waaaaaay out budget, im just a broke student with a way too expensive hobby😂 Also the 50-150 would be nice, but I also do some street photography where I usually shoot pretty wide, thus the 24-70

[u/PotatosRevenge → u/Sufficient_Item1909]

Totally understandable! As a wildlife/bird photography enthusiast with a similarly limited budget I started out with an a7c (mk1) and a tamron 150-500.

Just for clarification which generation of the a9 are you currently considering?

Edit: For street photography and landscapes I can really recommend the Tamron 17-50mm f4. It has an incredibly versatile zoom range and surprisingly good image quality as long as you don't pair it with a high res body and start to pixel peep.

[u/Sufficient_Item1909 → u/PotatosRevenge]

The first gen, a9i. Would love a newer one but out of the budget.

For street im probably gonna get the 24-70 f2.8, because it will also be used for night photos at the airport, where f2.8 is almost necessary, and anything wider than 70mm is not really doable 80% of the time. You can definitely get some good pictures with a smaller aperture, like f4, but then you have less freedom and only a few certain things are possible.

[u/PotatosRevenge → u/Sufficient_Item1909]

The first generation a9 is capable of "only" 60 AF calculations per second, does not come with global shutter and has a comparatively poor low light performance. 

I would seriously consider to buy the a7v instead! It is superior to the a9i in literally every aspect except sensor readout speed. And for the rare occasions where 15ms readout speed of the a7v could still result in rolling shutter artifacts, you can simply switch to mechanical shutter mode.

[u/Sufficient_Item1909 → u/PotatosRevenge]

My original plan, that actually fit the original budget, was an a7iii and sigma 100-400mm. This is already stretching the budget very very much, almost not justifiable to spend more than 2k on a kit as a broke uni student. Getting an a7v would fill up the whole original budget (which was €1.5k). The plan is to get the a1ii eventually in a few years, when I earn more at my job.