Best Lens for Wildlife Photography
| Last Updated: June 14, 2019
Sony’s a6500 mirrorless camera is among the best mirrorless cameras on the market right now. In order for photographers to ensure that they can take full advantage of the lens’ capabilities, they need to pair the camera body with a high-quality, capable lens.
We have narrowed Sony’s suite of mirrorless E mount lenses down to our top 6, covering topics like travel, macro, portraiture and general photography. This list focuses on lenses that are high-performance, affordable and high-value, focusing on equipment that is accessible to a wide range of photographers.
6 Best Sony a6500 Lenses
Best Overall: Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T E 24 mm f/1.8 ZA E-mount Prime Lens
- Focal Length: 24mm
- Minimum Focus Distance: 6.2 inches
- Weight: 8 ounces
- Filter Thread: 49mm
- Image Stabilization: No
Pros: Performs well in low light, sharp images, high quality construction, fast autofocus
Cons: Expensive, heavier than similar lenses
What Makes this Lens Our Top Pick?
This lens is built well and feels sturdy when you use it. That is largely due to the barrel being entirely built out of metal.
In spite of this, the lens is still relatively lightweight at just half a pound. It is a bit larger than other lenses at similar focal lengths. That is largely because of the extremely fast aperture.
The lens is built for a crop sensor, which makes it equivalent to a 36mm lens. That means it is versatile and functions well in a number of different situations.
Whether photographers want a lens that will excel at travel, portraiture or landscape, this lens is a great choice. While 50mm is considered a true reproduction of how we see the world, 36mm is a little more versatile and handles things like landscape slightly better.
It can focus extremely close to subjects, with clear focus just over 6 inches away from objects. At this distance the lens can reproduce images at 1:4 ratio to life size, which enables photographers to shoot some macro photos if they want to. Images are extremely sharp all the way to the edges and corners at pretty much every setting.
What Do Reviewers Say?
Reviewers love this lens for its fast performance, and particularly like it when paired with the Sony a6500. The lens and camera body complement each other well. They allow photographers to take full advantage of the technological capabilities of both.
The lens also comes with a matching metal lens hood. It is sturdy and useful for reducing glare and reflections.
Images are razor sharp and there is no distortion whatsoever. There is slight vignetting around the edges. However, this can be easily corrected in post-processing. If photographers shoot in JPG, they can also use the in-camera settings to eliminate the vignetting while they are photographing.
Apart from the price, which is a bit steep, reviewers couldn’t find much else to complain about. They enjoyed everything from the build to the extra features to the crisp, professional quality images.
This is a great all-around lens to have in any camera bag. It functions well as your only lens if you can’t afford to start with more than one.
Features and Considerations
Manual focus photographers won’t love this lens, since the manual focus ring simply activates the internal focus motor elements. There is no way to move the focus elements manually. That makes the Zeiss Loxia s.8/21 a better option since it is a true manual lens without an autofocus motor.
It also doesn’t come with optical image stabilization. That is not abnormal for prime, wide-angle lenses. Given the other specs of the lens, like the wide focal length and large aperture, most photographers can shoot handheld images down to at least 1/30-second shutter speed.
A Close Second: Sony 18 – 200 mm f/3.5 – 6.3 OSS LE
- Focal Length: 18 – 200mm
- Minimum Focus Distance: 1.64 feet
- Weight: 1 lb. 0.3 ounces
- Filter Thread: 67mm
- Image Stabilization: Yes
Pros: Versatile zoom range, sharp images, affordable, quick autofocus, lightweight
Cons: Slight chromatic aberration
What Makes this Lens Special?
This lens was released at the same time as Sony’s NEX-F3 mirrorless camera body. It is a more compact, less expensive alternative to the preceding 18-200mm E mount lens.
The build is compact and lightweight for a general use superzoom lens. It is ideal in a wide range of situations. With an equivalent focal length range of 27 – 300mm, photographers can use this lens for travel, landscape photography, detail shots, portraiture, weddings and more.
The lens produces images that are pleasantly sharp for a zoom lens. That is the case even when photographers shoot at the widest aperture setting.
The crop sensor helps to eliminate any vignetting and light fall off around the edges. However, there is still slight vignetting when the lens is wide open. This can be easily corrected in post-processing, however.
There is a slight distortion at the widest focal length, but it drops off significantly as you zoom in. The distortion also isn’t bad enough that it can’t be corrected in post-processing if it really bothers you. The price and utility more than make up for this slight inconvenience.
The autofocus is also quick and quiet. The lens takes just under one second to go through its entire range of focus.
What Do Reviewers Say?
Reviewers praised this lens’ performance and low price tag and were particularly happy with the versatility of the zoom range. While it isn’t quite as sharp as a prime lens, the focal length range enables photographers to use this lens for everything from landscape to macro to portraiture, and it is small enough to take when traveling.
The build is sturdy, with Sony’s normal black satin finish and a metal lens mount with plastic filter rings. The seven-bladed diaphragm help create a nice bokeh effect and separate subjects from the background and narrower fields of view, making the lens good for light macro photography or portraiture. The focus ring is plastic with large grip bands and is easy to use.
Overall, reviewers rated this lens as performing better than you would expect for a superzoom lens, with sharp images and a wide range of applications. While there are a few alternatives from Sony and Tamron in the same zoom range, Sony’s other lens is much heavier and difficult to balance with mirrorless cameras, and Tamron’s is very similar.
Features and Considerations
There is some slight chromatic aberration, especially at the widest and narrowest focal lengths on the lens. It isn’t so noticeable as to knock this lens off our list, however, and is almost completely unnoticeable in the middle range of the focal lengths.
Best Landscape Lens: Sony E 10 – 18 mm f/4 OSS
- Focal Length: 10 – 18mm
- Minimum Focus Distance: 10mm
- Weight: 8 ounces
- Filter Thread: 62mm
- Image Stabilization: Yes
Pros: Constant aperture, inexpensive, quiet autofocus, Optical Steady Shot included
Cons: Slight distortion, tight zoom range
What Makes this Lens Special?
This lens is a bit strange given its super tight, wide-angle zoom range, but it is also ideal for landscape photography and can be quite fun to use once you get used to the tight focal length. On crop sensors, the range is equivalent to 15 – 27mm, which isn’t quite as wide as it would be if it were full frame.
The autofocus motor is a bit older and uses the stepping motor system, but it is fast, accurate and quiet. This makes the lens great for shooting video as well as landscape shots. Since it is lightweight, it also won’t unbalance your lighter mirrorless camera body.
The lens comes with 10 elements that are organized in 8 groups, and has a fixed aperture of f/4 that enables it to shoot decently in lower light situations. While there is some distortion and light fall off around the corners at the widest focal length, it corrects almost completely towards the narrower end of its range.
What Do Reviewers Say?
While this lens was released several years before Sony started creating their G Master lenses, it is still robust and useful enough to serve landscape photographers well if they are willing to play around with the settings and focal lengths. It is inexpensive and holds up well under prolonged use, making it more than worth the cost.
Reviewers praised the wide-angle range, with this lens being Sony’s only wide-angle zoom lens for APS-C cameras at the time it was released. While it doesn’t perform as well as more expensive lenses, it is surprisingly sharp for the price point. Reviewers also liked the small size since the lens didn’t unbalance smaller camera bodies like the Sony a6500.
While the range is abnormal, it is more versatile than many photographers first think, and it can create stunning landscape shots with a little bit of effort. While you can use full frame lenses on the ASP-C cameras, they are a bit big and clunky. This lens is the perfect size and price point for many photographers.
Features and Considerations
While Sony’s Optical Steady Shot image stabilization isn’t the best system available, but it is better than nothing. For a more robust optical stabilization system, we recommend looking at lenses from Panasonic or Olympus. Since the lens is so wide-angle, stabilization shouldn’t become an issue unless you are shooting below 1/30-second shutter speed.
It is also a little bit older in terms of technology compared to Sony’s newer lenses, but it still functions more than well enough, especially given the price point and the unique range of focal lengths.
Best Macro Lens: Sony E 50 mm f/1.8 OSS
- Focal Length: 50mm
- Minimum Focus Distance: 1.28 feet
- Weight: 7.1 ounces
- Filter Thread: 49mm
- Image Stabilization: Yes
Pros: Wide aperture, crisp sharp images, optical stabilization included, low distortion, compact, affordable
Cons: No weather sealing, vignetting, electronic manual focus
What Makes this Lens Special?
When coupled with the Sony a6500, this lens has an equivalent focal length of 75mm, which captures faces with ideal proportions and makes this lens perfect for creating classic portraits.
The lens compresses the image to bring the background closer to the forefront and creates a smooth bokeh effect to help the subject pop and stand out in a way that is ideal for portraiture. The fixed wide open aperture further contributes to the utility of this lens, enabling it to work well in low light and ensuring clean separation of subjects.
The lens body is more compact than lenses with similar focal lengths, allowing it to balance well with the light mirrorless camera bodies like the Sony a6500. Images are also incredibly sharp, which is impressive for how affordable this lens is.
The design is comparable to Sony’s 35mm f/1.8, with the camera body being made almost entirely out of durable plastic, keeping the weight down to just under half a pound.
The technology in the lens has nine elements that are arranged in eight groups, but there are no special ED or aspherical glass elements included, which helps keep the price down. The metal mount is made with aluminum alloy, which further keeps the weight down, and the filter size is standard for most NEX lenses.
What Do Reviewers Say?
This lens is an ideal focal length for portraiture and reproduces proportions and subjects exactly as we perceive them with the naked eye. This fact, along with the low price point and consistent, sharp performance, has made this lens very popular with reviewers. The lens comes with a pinch type lens cap and a hood to help cut down on flares and ghosting.
The autofocus motor is quick, accurate and almost entirely silent, and the front of the camera doesn’t rotate, allowing photographers to use filters easily. The aperture blades create smooth bokeh that are perfect with portraiture and some macro images. The lens handles ghosting and flares well and does even better when the hood is attached.
There is some amount of color fringing and chromatic aberration given the wide aperture, but it isn’t so noticeable that many photographers will think it’s a problem. There is no distortion and low vignetting because of the crop sensor.
Features and Considerations
While the vignetting is low, you do still get some slight fall off around the corners. This can be easily corrected in post-processing. A bigger drawback to this lens is the fact that the manual focus is actually automatic, which means photographers who prefer to shoot with manual focus should look for a lens that is truly manual.
This lens also lacks weather sealing, which makes it a bit of a risk when using it in adverse weather conditions with moisture or dust. For portraiture, however, this shouldn’t be an issue, as photographers tend to take portraits in the studio or in ideal weather anyway.
Best Macro Lens: Sony FE 90 mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS Lens
- Focal Length: 90mm
- Minimum Focus Distance: 11 inches
- Weight: 1 lb. 6 ounces
- Filter Thread: 62mm
- Image Stabilization: Yes
Pros: Sharp, clear images, 1:1 magnification, floating focus mechanism, partial weather sealing
Cons: Expensive, heavy, missing rubber gasket seal
What Makes this Lens Special?
This lens is definitely a professional-level lens, with a high price tag and even higher value technology. Images are razor sharp with beautiful separation of subject and background. The aperture blades create a perfect bokeh effect.
This lens also has a sturdy build and weather sealing to ensure your camera and lens stay functional even when shooting macro shots outside in adverse weather conditions.
Images are reproduced at perfect 1:1 magnification. The sharp focus is accomplished though the use of a floating focus whether you use a travel tripod or hand hold your camera.
The floating focus system also helps eliminate chromatic aberration no matter how close you are to a subject. That renders professional-level macro photos worthy of any gallery wall.
Even though Sony’s OSS image stabilization system isn’t the best, it definitely helps stabilize the lens in low light and is better than nothing.
The slightly longer focal length allows photographers to shoot insects and other small animals without scaring them away. The quiet, fast dual Direct Drive Super Sonic Wave Motors enable the camera to autofocus with incredible speed and virtually no sound.
What Do Reviewers Say?
Reviewers consistently praise this lens, both for its Macro performance and the suite of technology built into the barrel. The autofocus motors are particularly impressive. The AF-C mode is a nice addition because it enables photographers to follow a moving object like a flower blowing in the wind or a bee.
The nano anti-reflective coating and other flare-resistant features have almost completely eliminated flares, ghosting and reflections, as well.
Specular highlights are perfectly round with smooth centers, and bokeh is nice and consistent. The body is built out of durable plastic, and the focus ring is broad with grips that make it easy to handle.
The lens is also advertised as being resistant to dust and moisture. That tends to be really important for photographers shooting macro images outside in nature.
The lens is a tad heavy and can be a tiny bit awkward on the smaller mirrorless camera body. However, it isn’t so heavy that photographers can’t adjust and get used to the weight. Overall, the capabilities and technology outweigh any slight inconveniences with this lens.
Features and Considerations
The most obvious downsides with this lens are the price and the weight. At a little over a pound, it is definitely heavier than many other lenses on this list. It certainly doesn’t come cheap for such a specific-purpose lens.
The performance does justify the cost, however. If you are looking to shoot macro images and potentially dabble in portraiture, this is a great lens.
Also, while the lens is advertised as dust- and moisture-resistant, it isn’t truly weather-sealed as it is missing a rubber gasket seal on the lens mount. This is a bit of an oversight. It means photographers should use it with extra caution when weather conditions aren’t ideal.
Best Telephoto Lens: Sony FE 70 – 300 mm f/4.5 – 5.6 G OSS
- Focal Length: 70 – 300mm
- Minimum Focus Distance: 2.96 feet
- Weight: 1 lb. 14.3 ounces
- Filter Thread: 72mm
- Image Stabilization: Yes
Pros: Image stabilization, Nano AR coating, fast quiet autofocus system, compact, lightweight
Cons: Expensive
What Makes this Lens Special?
This lens has a great telephoto zoom range and is amazingly compact and lightweight, making it ideal for travel and wildlife photography. While the price is higher than many of the other lenses on this list, it is still low enough that it is affordable for photographers looking for a tool for either of these types of photography.
It is also the most affordable telephoto lens from Sony, with similar lenses in this class costing as much as $12,000.
The technology has 16 optical elements arranged in 13 groups, including 4 aspherical elements and 2 ED glass elements that help cut down on chromatic aberration and reflections. The lens comes equipped with Sony’s linear actuator focus motor, which is not quite as good as Sony’s sonic-type Direct Drive SSM motor but is still fast and accurate.
The lens also comes with Sony’s Optical Steady Shot image stabilization, which is definitely helpful at the longer focal lengths. It is also weather-sealed, enabling photographers to use it in adverse weather conditions, which makes it perfect for a travel camera user. It is also surprisingly light and compact for having such a long telephoto zoom range, making it the obvious choice for travelers.
What Do Reviewers Say?
Reviewers praise this lens for its professional mirrorless performance and affordable price tag, and especially like how versatile the zoom range is. Photographers can use this lens for a wide range of applications, including wildlife, sports, action photography, landscape, nature, travel and even portraiture and light macro images.
The build is consistent with Sony’s G-Master series of lenses, which come equipped with a magnesium-alloy barrel and sturdy plastic outer barrel casing. It also has a metal mount that has a rubber gasket to protect the lens and camera from moisture and dust. The relatively light weight balances decently with mirrorless cameras like the Sony a6500, and makes it pleasant to shoot with.
The front thread doesn’t rotate, which enables photographers to use the lens with filters easily and conveniently. While several reviewers commented that they wished the lens had more metal in the barrel casing than plastic, this factor helps keep the lens lightweight and portable.
Features and Considerations
It is hard to find criticisms of this lens other than the price. While it is definitely affordable compared to other telephoto lenses and is very accessible for photographers who can’t afford to spend $12,000 on professional telephoto zoom lenses, it does still cost over $1,000. Other than that, the performance, range and compact size are all excellent.
Selection Criteria: How We Ranked Our Choices
Photographers have a long list of considerations when it comes to choosing the perfect lens or lenses for their stylish camera bag. Here are some of the top considerations we looked at while compiling this list.
While we tried to choose the best overall lenses, the equipment on this list ranges in terms of affordability and versatility. Here is how these considerations factored into our decision-making process.
Value
When selecting lenses, there is always a balance between getting high-performance lenses and lenses that are affordable. If budget is no object, then the obvious choice would be to go for the best technology that money can buy. Sadly, that isn’t the case for most of us.
In general, if we included more expensive lenses, we tried to ensure they had obviously advanced technology to justify the price and noted this in our review. Otherwise, we tried to focus on mid-priced lenses that are still incredibly high-performing and are affordable for the majority of photographers.
Versatility
One way to get more value out of your lens is to get a lens that fits more than one purpose and is versatile for a range of applications. While prime lenses with fixed focal lengths tend to yield sharper, slightly better quality images, the difference is negligible for all but the most professional photographers. Zoom lenses tend to be more versatile and fit a wider range of needs.
Take the Sony FE 70 – 300mm f/4.5 – 5.6 G OSS lens that we reviewed last on this list. The long zoom range enables photographers to use the lens for applications ranging from portraiture and macro photography to action, wildlife, landscape and travel images.
This is a great option for photographers who can’t necessarily afford to have more than one lens in their kit and want a lens that can help them try out many different types of photography.
| Lens | Prime vs. Zoom |
| Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T E 24 mm f/1.8 ZA E-mount Prime Lens | Prime |
| Sony 18 – 200 mm f/3.5 – 6.3 OSS LE | Zoom |
| Sony E 10 – 18 mm f/4 OSS | Zoom |
| Sony E 50 mm f/1.8 OSS | Prime |
| Sony FE 90 mm f/2.8 Macro G OSS Lens | Prime |
| Sony FE 70 – 300 mm f/4.5 – 5.6 G OSS | Zoom |
Specs
Different focal lengths, apertures and extra features suit each lens for different applications. For instance, weather sealing is important for travel or macro photography, but isn’t as crucial for portraiture. Image stabilization is vital for telephoto lenses, but is not necessary for wider-angle lenses.
We tried to choose lenses from a wide range of focal lengths with wider apertures and additional features that fit the application. If lenses that were included are only good for a certain application, like Macro with maybe a little bit of portraiture utility, we noted why it was included and what made it a particularly good lens.
Professional vs. Affordable
Again, it would be ideal if all photographers could afford the most professional lenses, but we all have to find our own balance between technology and budget.
As we noted above, some professional lenses range up to or higher than $12,000, which is well beyond what most people can afford. We tried to keep our lenses under $2,000 on this list and noted why they were included if we chose a lens with a higher price tag.
Also, affordable lenses don’t have to be low-performance or entry-level photography lenses. Whether the lenses we included cost $400 or $1,500, they all perform well enough that professional photographers could add them to their camera kit and be happy with the results.
Durability
A lens is a big purchase, and it’s hard to justify that purchase if it is going to stop working in 6 months or a year. No matter what amount of money you are spending, it is important to find lenses that will last through consistent use and adverse weather conditions if you anticipate shooting where there is dust or moisture.
While metal is more durable, it is also heavier, which is a bigger consideration than normal with the lightweight mirrorless Sony a6500. Where lenses were constructed with plastic casings, we tried to ensure that the plastic was high-quality and durable and would hold up to normal use and reasonable wear and tear.
We also favored lenses with weather sealing wherever possible, unless a lens was specifically created for a purpose, like a portraiture, where missing weather sealing wouldn’t be an issue.
Whatever lens you end up purchasing, make sure you read user reviews to ensure that it holds up to normal use or even heavy use. You should also check to see how long the manufacturer warranty is just in case something happens.
Sony A6500 Lenses FAQ
The Sony A6500 is a best-selling mirrorless model from the tech giant and a popular choice among semi-professional and enthusiast photographers alike.
Whether you own one of these digital cameras and want to know more about them or are planning on investing in one and need to find out what they’re capable of, we’re here to help.
Check out the answers to some commonly asked questions people have about the A6500 and give yourself a nudge in the right direction.
Can I Use A Full Frame Lens On Sony A6500?
All Sony-branded full-frame or FE lenses can be used with the Sony A6500 camera, but you’ll need to make some adjustments to the focal lengths so that they match.
These lenses work with all mirrorless cameras from Sony but will need to be at 1.5 multiplication of focal length for them to work.
The entire range of E-mount cameras from Sony, including the A6500, have that name because of where the lens mounts onto the body of the camera and they can use both FE and E lenses.
However, the FE lenses were made for their full-frame cameras and the E lenses were made for their crop sensor APS-C cameras, of which the A6500 is one.
There’s no real reason to buy an FE or full-frame lens for your A6500 unless you want to upgrade in the future, and you can save money using just the E-style lenses instead.
As these were made for the A6500 system they can offer better performance and are cheaper to purchase as well.
Is TheSony A6500 Good In Low Light?
The Sony A6500 mirrorless camera is a good choice for shooting in low light and has a good dynamic range that makes it ideal In this setting.
The quality of the image you’ll achieve in low light depends on the settings you have in place, particularly the ISO as this controls the sensitivity.
For the A6500 specifically, the camera has been rated highly for its excellent signal-to-noise ratios of around 18%, so it works well in low light.
However, mirrorless cameras in general are not considered better than DSLRs in low light settings, so it’s important to choose the right type of camera if you’re planning on doing lots of shots in these conditions.
If you’re looking at the range of Sony cameras, you might prefer their A7 hybrids as these tend to perform better in low light settings.
However, if you’re working with an A6500 there is still a lot to offer and quality performance with minimal light, so there’s no need to upgrade as long as you use the right settings.
What Is AEL On Sony A6500?
The Sony A6500 mirrorless camera comes with an AEL or auto exposure lock function that keeps the camera at its current exposure and brightness regardless of what you’re shooting.
The feature is becoming more commonplace on digital cameras made today and the Sony A6500 has one as well.
The location of the AEL on the Sony A6500 is on the top right side and looks like a switch with a button in the middle.
The button does something different depending on where the switch is set, with the default action being the AF/MF control hold, and the option to change it to “AF on” so you can focus and recompose with ease.
The most common use for the AEL button a camera is for taking panoramas as it allows you to take a series of photos that you can later merge together.
However, any time you need to keep the camera at the same brightness or lock the exposure in, you can simply flick the switch and use the button to do this with your A6500.
How Do I Focus My Sony A6500?
The Sony A6500 comes with a few different autofocus modes to choose from if you don’t wish to do this yourself, as well as manual options.
The Intelligent Auto Mode will automatically use the most appropriate focus area and set on that, as well as setting an ISO value, and this is ideal for beginners.
The focus mode can be adjusted with the Sony A6500 mirrorless camera with options including AF-S for a half-press of the shutter button focus, DMF for fine-tuning the subject, MF for manual focus, and AF-C for continuous focus on a moving subject.
This is changed during setup and you have the option to adjust it whenever you need it.
If you find that autofocus isn’t working on your camera, you might want to check that the AF/MF slider is set on AF in your lens barrel as it can sometimes be in the wrong position.
This is the most common error that occurs and prevents people from using autofocus modes, but is an easy fix.
Mirrorless Magic With the Sony A6500
Shopping for lenses for a mirrorless camera can be a challenge, but if you’re choosing the Sony brand to go with your camera’s body, you can’t go wrong.
Thankfully, Sony has a huge selection of E mount mirrorless lenses that fit perfectly with the A6500 camera body, and they’ve covered it all.
There’s something for every perspective here including a macro, portrait, landscape, and telephoto lens, with multiple options in some categories. Sony creates their range of E mount lenses to enhance the performance of this camera so you’re guaranteed to get the most of your new camera with one of them attached.
With our expert picks and detailed reviews of what each of these lenses has to offer, there’s no more need for guesswork.
You’ll have every type of A6500 lens at your fingertips and be able to shoot any subject matter or perspective to perfection, so consider adding at least one of these to your camera bag today.
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Where is the Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 16mm?
The Sigma is such an amazing lens for the A6500/A6000.
I have the Sony 18-105 and it might be good for video but its not good for photography.