Sony Upgrade Options
 

Hi,
I currently have a Sony a330 and have been looking to upgrade to a model with more features and better resolution. I have also been looking to increase my lens collections, currently the 18-55 kit and 70-300 Tamron lens.

Before I began to spend more money on Sony fit lenses I was trying to work out which camera body to go for. Sony don't seem to have an obvious choice. The a580 seems to be comparable to entry level Nikons and Canons so I assume will not give a massive advantage. I therefore started to look at Nikon and Canon and what they had to offer. The Canon 60d seems to be a favoured option.

The question therefore is, should I move to a Nikon/Canon with more obvious upgrade options before investing more on a Sony system, or should I stick with Sony? Will the swap over cost be worth the benefits I would receive from a new brand?

Thanks

Hi tacarey and welcome to the forum.

It's a very tricky question you pose for us to answer, because you don't say why you feel the need to upgrade. What is it about your current equipment that you find is limiting what you would like to do? Ask yourself what do I want to be able to do that my current set up prevents me from doing. Once you've made a more detailed assessment of the situation, you'll then be in a better position to see if you need to upgrade and if so to what.

At the moment I am just about making use of the features of my camera. However as I want to get some more lenses, predominantly a macro and a wide angle I took a look at what would be likely upgrade options for the camera in the future. I didn't want to be stuck with a lot of lenses for a Sony camera and then find out there was nothing to upgrade to later on.

So my option was either to keep investing in Sony fit lenses and move to an upgraded Sony body when my current one no longer meets my needs. Or while I only have limited equipment and lower investment cost move to another brand of camera.

Nikon and Canon seem to do better within reviews than Sony bodies, so I began to wonder. I know Sony make Nikon sensors so in theory with the same lenses in front of the sensor I assume I would get comparable quality pictures, in which case my choices would be more about lenses than bodies. I have been told there will be more better quality mid level lenses for Nikon and Canon than Sony and this began to sway me. I don't want to spend thousands of pounds on lenses, so would I benefit from the swap? Is a complex question to answer, and in reality there probably is no right answer anyhow!

It's fair to say that you get a far greater choice of upgrade options with either Canon or Nikon than you will with Sony. It could be argued that you get too many choices with Canon and Nikon, making it even more difficult to make a decision on what to upgrade to.

With Sony, you have just two options. You choose either the APS-C sized A580 or at the moment the A850 Full Frame camera. If you choose the latter, you will need to invest some substantial sums getting the very best quality lenses you can get, as full frame sensors are not at all forgiving if the optical quality of the lenses you're using with it are not great. The A580 is a very competent camera, though again it's worth investing in better quality lenses to improve image quality.

If you want to move over to Nikon, the recommendation would be the D7000 but again it's worth investing in the best quality lenses you can afford to maximise it's perfomance.

Yes, it's true that Canon and Nikon have more mid level lenses than Sony but at a price. Don't forget Minolta had lots of very good lenses, which will fit the Sony camera with a few exceptions. The one advantage Sony have, is stabilisation is built in to the Sony camera whereas, with Nikon and Canon you need to buy it in the lenses, which is more expensive. :D

I'm a Nikon user. :)

Well in the end I decided to jump ship from Sony and have just purchased a Canon 600D. Got a good deal on the new camera and traded my old one against it. Just waiting for the battery to charge up now!

[QUOTE=tacarey;46697]At the moment I am just about making use of the features of my camera. However as I want to get some more lenses, predominantly a macro and a wide angle I took a look at what would be likely upgrade options for the camera in the future. I didn't want to be stuck with a lot of lenses for a Sony camera and then find out there was nothing to upgrade to later on.

So my option was either to keep investing in Sony fit lenses and move to an upgraded Sony body when my current one no longer meets my needs. Or while I only have limited equipment and lower investment cost move to another brand of camera.

Nikon and Canon seem to do better within reviews than Sony bodies, so I began to wonder. I know Sony make Nikon sensors so in theory with the same lenses in front of the sensor I assume I would get comparable quality pictures, in which case my choices would be more about lenses than bodies. I have been told there will be more better quality mid level lenses for Nikon and Canon than Sony and this began to sway me. I don't want to spend thousands of pounds on lenses, so would I benefit from the swap? Is a complex question to answer, and in reality there probably is no right answer anyhow![/QUOTE]

Hi,

If you are looking at Marco lenses I have the Tamron 90 Di II F2.8 lens with 1:1 macro ratio and it is very good indeed. As for wide angle lenses I have the Tamron 10-24mm and Sony's 16-80 CZ lens and both are very good although the Sony CZ is amazing.

I have the a580 and so far when combined with my Sony 16-80mm CZ and Sony 70-300 G Series SSM lenses has produced nothing but outstanding results.

Take a look at the Tamron 90mm Di it is a very good lens. Don't forget that Sigma also produce some very good lenses for Sony too!

I don't believe that upgrading to another make will show a marked difference and I'd say the same if I had a Nikon, Canon or Pentax.

Kind regards

Si