My presets: payhip.com/b/A7vCD Gear in this video: Sony Alpha A6000 & 16-50mm F/3,5-5,6 PZ OSS on tour with: / exposure.streets / franz.kostall / m.on.street / _alex_wali_ / still.broski
One could do worse than the kit lens. Sometimes, because of its compactness and versatility, its the best thing for the situation. Outside of that, I go with the Sigma 18-50 for the 2.8 and the Sony 18-135 for reach They're both great..
It's not the best lens. Fortunately, you can still improve a lot with Lightroom. You shouldn't necessarily zoom in either. 😂 The lenses you mentioned are absolutely better.
4:43 and 7:45 are great shots, at a 75mm FF field of view. Good choice of lens length since 3 people and a bazooka in close for shooting nears the point of impossible. The Sony is old, and the kit lens rather poor, but does it matter for the street, I think not, as composition, and story is all which is required. Oh that Sony menu system? Never got into Sony systems, but the focusing is said to be fast and accurate, so to that end, maybe good.
Thanks for your feedback. The kit isn't the fastest or sharpest but as you said, it's perfectly fine for the street. If you don't want to spend a lot, you can still buy this thing.
I was disappointed with the kit lens (the same lens was supplied with my a6400) and so quickly bought the Sigma 18-50 f2.8. But of course, the kit lens has one big advantage - stabilisation - which is lacking from the Sigma. Makes me wish I could afford a body with IBIS... For me, the kit lens is not sharp enough. It can be OK in the centre but quickly deteriorates towards the edges. But even so, from time to time I put this lens back on the camera to see what I can do. I guess the satisfaction really depends on your subject matter, and how Lightroom can help to make things seem sharper. I have found street photography for sure to be good. It seems you were using aperture priority? Set to f5.6 and then only adjusting exposure plus or minus before the shot? I tried street in manual mode, but too much to think so you miss some shots. Aperture priority makes more sense. For me, f8 on the kit lens. I can then snatch shots much more quickly. But it needs to be where the subject draws you to the centre or close to. That way you don't notice the shortcomings of the lens so much. For landscape or architectural work (I do a lot of both) the kit lens is just not up to the job. Although I heard more recently there is quite a variety in the quality of this lens. Maybe I just had bad luck with mine?
No, you weren't unlucky with the kit lens. In terms of sharpness, this really isn't the best lens and as you said, the corners sometimes look very blurry. That's why dimming is the best option here. And Lightroom helps a lot when editing to correct the errors of the kit lens. You definitely didn't do anything wrong with the Sigma.
