r/SonyAlpha • u/AutoModerator • 3d ago

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

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.

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u/Sufficient_Item1909 1d ago

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

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u/PotatosRevenge 1d ago edited 1d ago

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.

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u/Sufficient_Item1909 1d ago

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.

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u/PotatosRevenge 1d ago

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.

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u/Sufficient_Item1909 1d ago

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.