Hello! Brand New to Photography!

[epach35]

Hello all!

I want to say thank you to the admin for allowing me to be in this space!

Well let me start off by introducing myself! My name is Edwin and I have recently been gifted a Sony a6000 by my girlfriend this past Christmas. It's taken me a while to bust it out and start working with it and getting familiar with the camera itself. But I finally have done so and want to embark on a new journey within photography. I have always been fascinated with landscape and nature in general and wish to really work on those types of shots. I currently reside in California and figured what better way to capture nature within this state, country and world than with a camera of quality better than just my cell phone. What really compelled my girlfriend to get this as a gift for me is because I keep saying "MAN! If I had a camera right now... this would be a perfect shot to take right here of that _____________." So I think she got really fed up with my constant use of that phrase because I have said it just about every time we went somewhere new, or when I saw a beautiful sunset, or when the moon looked amazing and I wish I could just capture all that detail. I feel as though I have a relative good eye as I spent a lot of time growing up traveling throughout the country and just observed nature to pass the time away. Anyway, Long story short, I am brand new to this hobby and am excited and ready to learn all I can!

I would greatly appreciate any help or guidance or recommendations on any sort of information to read or watch to get better at photography! So please fire away!
Please keep mind you my girlfriend bought the camera used so I don't have a lens of any sort. I just have the camera and lens cover and a couple batteries.

SO! If you read this, please drop some books, videos, articles, or recommendations (especially for lens for landscape/nature/night photography) of any sort in the comments or replies... not entirely sure how this works.

Excited to be here and looking forward to learning!

 

[Jeff A]

Hello Edwin and welcome to the forum. With the limited information you have provided, I have a couple of suggestions.

First, I think your Girlfriend is a keeper, thats for sure! BTW, what part of California are you in? Secondly, I posted a thread a few days ago that contains important information, specialy for the new shooter. You can read it by clicking red the colored text here.

You have already done one good thing by joining this forum. There are a lot of friendly and knowledgeable folks here. Good luck and happy shooting!

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Welcome Edwin! I agree with Jeff, that was very nice of your GF!

The a6000 was my first interchangeable lens camera, and I only upgraded to the a6400 for 4k video, otherwise, I might still be shooting with the a6000! Its very capable with the right lens in the right conditions.

So I just want to clarify: you said you DON'T have a lens? not even the kit 16-50? If indeed you have the camera body only, you are going to need a lens.

You may be surprised by how expensive some of these lenses can get. From cheap to expensive you've got: cheap manual lenses, old APSC E-Mount lenses, 3rd party manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron, then you have more recent (more expensive) Sony E-mount lenses, and finally your camera allows you to use Full Frame e-mount lenses which can be $uper expensive. Just remember all the lenses need to say "Sony E-mount" but be aware that the full frame e-mount lenses are designated with "FE" and of course you will be able to tell in person because they are usually bigger/heavier and may feel a bit unbalanced on your a6000 (but they DO work).

I don't want to tell you what lens to buy, but I'd love to point you in the direction of your many options.
Have a look at our webmaster's lists of APSC lenses and the best lenses for the a6xxx body:

Complete List of Sony E-Mount Lenses & Latest Firmware in 2025 - Alpha Shooters

Here you'll find a complete list of Sony E-mount lenses together with the latest firmware versions and filter sizes. You'll also find my third-party lens guides and my niche (macro, telephoto) guides that go into more detail about each of the lenses.

www.alphashooters.com

The Best Sony APS-C Lenses - Alpha Shooters

Welcome to my guide to the best Sony APS-C lenses. This guide covers native APS-C E-Mount lenses from Sony and third parties.

www.alphashooters.com

and also, look at a few lenses in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cAXxG1XLbo

Judging from your stated interests "landscape/nature/night photography" let me just say that almost any lens can work for daytime landscape and nature shots, but night/low-light/astrophotography will require you spend more $ on a lens with a wider aperture. A wider aperture, or the opening which lets light in through your lens and onto your sensor, is denoted by a lower "f" number, like f2 or f1.8. Just remember the smaller the f-stop number here, the wider the aperture.

Here's an easy to digest explainer on a few photography principles you will need to know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7z7BAZdt2M

Good luck!

 

[Deleted Member 5003]

Welcome Edwin,
its good to hear your girlfriend eventually shamed/challenged you into action.......

I am sure you will not regret this move.

The sources as above quoted by Chris and Jeff will be very helpful and getting familiar with your camera is also a necessary step.

In going to youtube which is an absolute goldmine of photography related information and learning, be aware it is equally very vast.

in clicking on the link provided by chris you will see video courses by a guy called chris bray....his video courses(free) are very
educational going from first principles of using cameras/settings and explaining what they mean, the exposure triangle(a critical understanding)
and then going on to practical shooting, composition ,equipment etc etc.

Dependant where you are in your current understanding, you can pick the appropriate point to start from and move on from the basic principles
to the more complex matters related to equipment selection and needs versus genre, principles of composition and then branch off to focus on your
preferred area of landscapes/nature with active professional and starter shooter videos.

As you embark on your photographic journey, of course, in addition to tapping into Youtube sources you will find engaging on this site very informative and responsive and where, as has been said, there are many well experienced photographers who can support you on specific issues as your knowledge and practical photography experience develops.

Good Luck........

 

[MrFotoFool]

You don't have any lens at all, as in you can't take a picture yet? Or you just have the standard zoom lens that comes with the camera kit? If it is the former (no lens at all), then obviously getting a lens is your first step. You also need a memory card to record the pictures, if you don't have one yet. And you may need a card reader to plug into your computer to sort the photos (unless you have a laptop with a built-in SD slot).

You should start with a standard zoom lens, meaning it goes from modestly wide angle to modestly telephoto. The good thing about this forum is most users understand this is all a beginner needs and will guide you accordingly. Some other forums the photo geeks will tell beginners they need several expensive pro lenses, when in fact they do not.

Once you have your setup and start taking pics, feel free to post for additional advice.

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

You also need a memory card to record the pictures, if you don't have one yet. And you may need a card reader to plug into your computer to sort the photos (unless you have a laptop with a built-in SD slot).

Great advice!
I'll just add to that: the a6000 is a bit long in the tooth and doesn't require the latest and greatest memory cards. You only need a UHS-I card, and I recommend an SDXC card. So you could easily get 64gb for under $15 (USD), and that's a lot of pictures when you're just starting out!

 

[Jeff A]

Well folks, Edwin posted his hello and has not logged in since.

 

[epach35]

Hello Edwin and welcome to the forum. With the limited information you have provided, I have a couple of suggestions.

First, I think your Girlfriend is a keeper, thats for sure! BTW, what part of California are you in? Secondly, I posted a thread a few days ago that contains important information, specialy for the new shooter. You can read it by clicking red the colored text here.

You have already done one good thing by joining this forum. There are a lot of friendly and knowledgeable folks here. Good luck and happy shooting!

Thank you Jeff! I will look more into that Mark Galer guy and watch his videos! I am definitely all about trying to learn as much as possible.

I currently live in Carpinteria just south of Santa Barbara. So being between the ocean and the mountains seems like a great opportunity to get into photography of nature/landscape as well as sunrises and sunsets.

 

[epach35]

Well folks, Edwin posted his hello and has not logged in since.

I'm here! I just have been between work and being a new dad but I am catching up and will certainly be posting more and asking questions! So I'm sure I will be back soon with plenty of questions once I am able to dive deeper into all the great information shared so far!

 

[epach35]

You don't have any lens at all, as in you can't take a picture yet? Or you just have the standard zoom lens that comes with the camera kit? If it is the former (no lens at all), then obviously getting a lens is your first step. You also need a memory card to record the pictures, if you don't have one yet. And you may need a card reader to plug into your computer to sort the photos (unless you have a laptop with a built-in SD slot).

You should start with a standard zoom lens, meaning it goes from modestly wide angle to modestly telephoto. The good thing about this forum is most users understand this is all a beginner needs and will guide you accordingly. Some other forums the photo geeks will tell beginners they need several expensive pro lenses, when in fact they do not.

Once you have your setup and start taking pics, feel free to post for additional advice.

I have the camera body with but I noticed that the camera typically comes with a specific lens when bought new, but since she got the camera used, the previous owner didn't include that. I did manage to get a memory card and tried to do some basic shooting at a zoo not too long ago.

 

[epach35]

Welcome Edwin! I agree with Jeff, that was very nice of your GF!

The a6000 was my first interchangeable lens camera, and I only upgraded to the a6400 for 4k video, otherwise, I might still be shooting with the a6000! Its very capable with the right lens in the right conditions.

So I just want to clarify: you said you DON'T have a lens? not even the kit 16-50? If indeed you have the camera body only, you are going to need a lens.

You may be surprised by how expensive some of these lenses can get. From cheap to expensive you've got: cheap manual lenses, old APSC E-Mount lenses, 3rd party manufacturers like Sigma and Tamron, then you have more recent (more expensive) Sony E-mount lenses, and finally your camera allows you to use Full Frame e-mount lenses which can be $uper expensive. Just remember all the lenses need to say "Sony E-mount" but be aware that the full frame e-mount lenses are designated with "FE" and of course you will be able to tell in person because they are usually bigger/heavier and may feel a bit unbalanced on your a6000 (but they DO work).

I don't want to tell you what lens to buy, but I'd love to point you in the direction of your many options.
Have a look at our webmaster's lists of APSC lenses and the best lenses for the a6xxx body:

Complete List of Sony E-Mount Lenses & Latest Firmware in 2025 - Alpha Shooters

Here you'll find a complete list of Sony E-mount lenses together with the latest firmware versions and filter sizes. You'll also find my third-party lens guides and my niche (macro, telephoto) guides that go into more detail about each of the lenses.

www.alphashooters.com

The Best Sony APS-C Lenses - Alpha Shooters

Welcome to my guide to the best Sony APS-C lenses. This guide covers native APS-C E-Mount lenses from Sony and third parties.

www.alphashooters.com

and also, look at a few lenses in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cAXxG1XLbo

Judging from your stated interests "landscape/nature/night photography" let me just say that almost any lens can work for daytime landscape and nature shots, but night/low-light/astrophotography will require you spend more $ on a lens with a wider aperture. A wider aperture, or the opening which lets light in through your lens and onto your sensor, is denoted by a lower "f" number, like f2 or f1.8. Just remember the smaller the f-stop number here, the wider the aperture.

Here's an easy to digest explainer on a few photography principles you will need to know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7z7BAZdt2M

Good luck!

Let me dive into all this information a little more and I will certainly be back with questions or at posting in some of the other forums to see what others have to say! Thank you!

 

[epach35]

Welcome Edwin,
its good to hear your girlfriend eventually shamed/challenged you into action.......

I am sure you will not regret this move.

The sources as above quoted by Chris and Jeff will be very helpful and getting familiar with your camera is also a necessary step.

In going to youtube which is an absolute goldmine of photography related information and learning, be aware it is equally very vast.

in clicking on the link provided by chris you will see video courses by a guy called chris bray....his video courses(free) are very
educational going from first principles of using cameras/settings and explaining what they mean, the exposure triangle(a critical understanding)
and then going on to practical shooting, composition ,equipment etc etc.

Dependant where you are in your current understanding, you can pick the appropriate point to start from and move on from the basic principles
to the more complex matters related to equipment selection and needs versus genre, principles of composition and then branch off to focus on your
preferred area of landscapes/nature with active professional and starter shooter videos.

As you embark on your photographic journey, of course, in addition to tapping into Youtube sources you will find engaging on this site very informative and responsive and where, as has been said, there are many well experienced photographers who can support you on specific issues as your knowledge and practical photography experience develops.

Good Luck........

Thank you! I'll have to look into this Chris Bray guy as well.

I will need all the luck but I am excited and will definitely rely heavily on this community to help guide me!

 

[Arul Murugan Chinnasamy]

Hi Edwin! Good luck!

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

I have the camera body with but I noticed that the camera typically comes with a specific lens when bought new, but since she got the camera used, the previous owner didn't include that. I did manage to get a memory card and tried to do some basic shooting at a zoo not too long ago.

The camera was originally offered with the 16-50mm kit lens, a tiny thing with an electronic zoom. This is the usual starting point.
Sometimes the camera came with that kit lens mentioned above plus a 55-210mm telephoto lens. From everything I've read, this lens wasn't great, so if you don't have it, no big loss.
When the camera got a few more iterations, there was eventually an option to purchase with the 18-135mm "kit" lens instead of either lens mentioned above. This was a superior lens and suits most basic users. Almost 3 years after getting mine, I still use it.

I currently live in Carpinteria just south of Santa Barbara. So being between the ocean and the mountains seems like a great opportunity to get into photography of nature/landscape as well as sunrises and sunsets.

Gotta love California sunsets! Looking forward to the landscape photography.

I'm here! I just have been between work and being a new dad but I am catching up and will certainly be posting more and asking questions!

Congrats!

 

[MrFotoFool]

I have the camera body with but I noticed that the camera typically comes with a specific lens when bought new, but since she got the camera used, the previous owner didn't include that. I did manage to get a memory card and tried to do some basic shooting at a zoo not too long ago.

You seem to be saying you did not get a lens, but if you did some basic shooting then you must have a lens because it would be impossible without one. What lens do you have?

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Some inspiration for you Edwin:

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtu.be

 

[Tim Mayo]

Welcome Edwin and thank you for joining up here. It looks like other members have already shared some great links. Once you have absorbed everything please don't hesitate to ask any questions!