Sony Alpha a5000 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 16-50mm OSS Lens (Silver)

I am so glad I bought this camera. I am an amateur for sure, and have not bought a camera in many years. This was serious upgrade from a cheap point and shoot camera I have used for years that takes not so great pictures when conditions are not absolutely perfect. I decided to buy this one to take on a trip. Not only did it take beautiful pictures of the scenery, it took great portraits and selfies (with the flip up screen). I have always hated the selfies I took with my iPhone but with this camera I love them. I actually had to stop myself form being self-obsessed and taking more because I am so happy with how the photos turned out! I did buy a Sigma 19 lens as well as a Sony E55-210 telephoto lens to go with this camera & I love the Sigma lens but the lens that came with it also took nice photos and selfies. However, the Sigma took it up a notch for me. I love that this camera allows for interchangeable lenses, just make sure they are E-mount lenses. I bought this used and it looks and performs like new. I think the friend I traveled with was jealous how great my pictures kept coming out because usually I am jealous of hers! My sister saw the pictures I took and immediately asked where I got this camera and now she wants one too. My family was pleased with the pictures I took of them. I think this has been my best purchase of 2016 and I am pleased that I bought a used, lower model camera (the a6000 would have cost me significantly more) in order to save money and still ended up with a great camera! I received it quickly using Prime and in wonderful condition. Another feature that I like about this camera is that it has wifi so you can send the photos to your phone or laptop or whatever via a Sony app. This allowed me to easily share the pics I'd taken. Also, I keep the camera on airplane mode until I am ready to share them over wifi. then I turn airplane mode off and back on again when I'm done. Someone said that keeps the battery from running down quickly. As for the battery life, with airplane mode on most of the time, I was able to takes pictures for hours all day long, and I never went under 50% charge by the time I got to the hotel to charge it again. I did not turn it off most of the day, just let it go to sleep and then would wake it up and start shooting again. I hope this review helps you. I do not know much about cameras as far as technical aspects so I won't even begin to speak to anything like that. All I know is I thoroughly enjoy this camera! I do think you will need to spring for a telephoto lens, if you have that need. I used mine a little but I also find I cannot live without the Sigma lens. One last thing, taking pictures while in motion on a tour bus came out great!!! I have never been able to do that before. There are many settings to use and it's easy to find them and shoot in the setting you want.

This came in its original packaging. Arrived in a timely manner (same day shipping is bae). Looked brand spanking new. I could tell the original owner cared for this camera. I wanted something so could I create YouTube videos and I didn't want to buy an expensive DSLR like 90% of the entire YouTube community. After weeks of constant research, I was convinced that this camera was the one for me. Contains manual features so I can get that cinematic look, although, navigation made it a hassle to set up. 1080p24, 1/50 shutter speed, manual focus, manual exposure, adjustable white balance, etc. All of that and more was available to me at a cost of about $350. Love the rotating LCD. Good to watch myself look like an idiot while making sure I look somewhat presentable. Battery life is subpar so I could be investing in extra batteries in the future. This is a good step up from my Sony A3000, which has a similar camera sensor but with a DSLR like body at a lower cost (no rotating LCD unfortunately). I can even use the same stock lens from the 3000 on 5000 which is good because the focus adjustment was smoother and more satisfying on the 3000. Picture and video quality is great if you know what you are doing and if you have good lighting, which I will also be investing in soon. I'm having fun researching how to use this camera to its full potential. Glad I made this investment and I can't wait to start making good content.

I'm really happy with this camera. I had been looking at it for a couple months and compared it to other cameras in the price range. Even if this is just a starter camera for you, it's an amazing one. It's easy to carry (I can even put it in my coat) and cute and I get tons of compliments on it. I love the Wi-Fi component!!! And the screen flips up for selfies with friends or for experimenting. I want to do more videos with it. I'm stoked I bought it, totally worth the money, tons of megapixels. I also got the 3 year warranty. It takes time to get used to, especially if you have no photography experience, but the intelligent mode is amazing! I used to have a heavy DSLR and this is my favorite camera so far. The photos I added are with no filters, I usually use VSCO to pull color out a bit.

As a happy owner of the a6000, I was looking to purchase another a6000 or previous version in the alpha line that would serve as a good backup in case my a6000 died or I needed an extra camera during a shoot. I was fortunate to find a great deal where I was able to get my hands on the a5000 for a great price. Since I already have a fair amount of lenses I've purchased for my a6000, it made it a great choice since I could use the lenses on both. To keep this review concise, I'll list my pros and cons below: Pros: - Great size. It is very compact and can be taken on trips with little hassle. - 20 megapixel sensor, accepts same lenses as a6000 - Software features/ menu options are close to same as newer a6000 Cons: - No viewfinder, no hot-shoe. Using live-view all the time is not as convenient as one would perceive. - Lack of buttons to quickly change settings. I've included a few pictures that I took with the a5000 to give you an idea of its capabilities with a good lens. Overall, I am very happy with this product. It is extremely light, versatile and useful in most photography applications. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles a more expensive camera has, but it doesn't take away from how good it is. It only helps aspire to get a better camera in the future that you'd be able to take full advantage of. I knocked down a star for no viewfinder. It almost seems natural to use one since I've been using a a6000 for some time now, but more importantly, it seems a crime not to have it because of what this camera is capable of doing. It is especially needed for manual focus shots.

We just had our one year anniversary with this camera, and we couldn't be happier. This is our first step up from the "point and shoot" realm, and this camera exceeded our expectations in pretty much every respect. It takes beautiful photos in terms of clarity and color. The focus is fast and accurate, although more expensive cameras might get even faster. It's not even in the same ballpark as the photos we get with our phones or with our old point and shoots. The 16-50mm lens was a little limiting in terms of zoom, but we just got the 55-200mm for the holidays and it has really increased our already voluminous photo taking with this camera. Transferring the photos to a phone, tablet, or laptop is way easier than I expected. It sets up a wireless "hotspot" even in places where there is otherwise no internet or network connection, and it transfers quickly and painlessly (you just need to get the app). On top of all of that, it's much smaller and less obtrusive than traditional SLR's. I can't recommend this camera enough.

I purchased a Sony a5000 in May 2014 and loved the functionality and quality it put out even with my amateur photo skills. However, I noticed that the stock lens was "stiff" to rotate. I wish I would have contacted Sony sooner. This June (13 months after purchase), the lens started giving a "Lens Not Recognized" error message and quit working with the camera. My father in law has the same camera and I tried swapping lenses. It was definitely a problem with my lens as his lens worked on my camera body, but my lens would not recognize on his camera. I contacted Sony knowing that the 12 month warranty was expired, but hoped they could help me resolve the problem and/or point me in the right direction for repairs. To my surprise, they offered an "accommodation" to the warranty and offered to cover the repair costs. I received an email with instructions to send the lens to Precison Camera and promptly sent it off. Included in the instructions was the phrase "Sending the lens under accommodation warranty. :- Warranty: Yes" After almost 6 weeks, I tried to contact Precision Camera. After several weeks of no one answering on their service line, I decided to contact Sony. Since that point, it has been an absolute nightmare. I received a call back saying that they had contacted Precision Camera and they were waiting for payment on the repair. That took me by surprise since Sony had promised to cover the repairs. After explaining this, they requested proof of purchase of the camera (even though it was out of warranty and they were accommodating it anyways). I sent this, along with the original email stating they were covering it under a warranty accommodation. Since then, they've given me the runaround during a dozen phone conversations and finally today (a month after I contacted them to check on the status and 2.5 months since the initial contact!) they told me they wouldn't cover it because it was out of warranty. Explaining they had promised to cover the repairs and the fact that I would never have sent the lens to them in the first place fell on deaf ears. After 10 minutes of back and forth with the rep, I then asked them to send the lens back to me so I could pursue repairs on my own (for a much cheaper price than the quoted $126.50). I then received a call from Precision telling me I need to pay $12.50 shipping to get it back! I can't believe the runaround I've received from Sony regarding the repairs. While disappointed my lens stopped working after 13 months, I accepted I would probably need to pay for repairs. When they offered to cover the price, I was extremely happy with their customer service, but since then my respect for them has sunk to rock bottom. The fact that they tricked me into sending my camera to their "repair center" that in actuality is a 3rd party vendor with absolutely terrible online reviews is despicable. Then to retract their offer and require me to pay for shipping both ways is downright horrendous. In the future I plan to steer clear of Sony products (both cameras and otherwise) for their incredibly poor customer service.

It's a good camera. Takes nice pictures, works for what I wanted it for... but I do have some complaints about things I never even would have thought about prior to purchasing this. 1- The lens cap removes completely, and there is no option to tie it to the camera so as to avoid ever losing said cap. I've owned it for about 36 hours now, and already lost the little bugger. I'm no professional photographer, so I don't know if this is how all cameras are; but the only other cameras I've experienced either had a lens cover that opened and recessed into the camera, or a strap that kept the cap dangling, yet still technically attached. Now, this time I was able to find the cap, but I am very worried that I won't be so lucky next time. Hopefully replacements aren't too expensive. So, if you think at any point you'll be using your camera without an outfit with pockets or a purse/backpack, this is something you really need to consider. 2- NFC is a fail. NFC is one of the two options for transferring pictures from the camera to your phone. It's the easier of the option, requiring only to touch one specific part of your smartphone to one specific part of the camera. And yes, it must actually full on touch. Now, the problem is that on this camera, the NFC spot on the camera is located right beneath the little camera strap thingy. So it is actually physically impossible to make this work with any smartphone. If someone else figured it out... congrats. I watched videos and scoured google, and came up with no way to make this work. The other option is via a wifi connection between the camera and phone. Which is... still super easy, but also kind of tedious. You have to go through the settings on the camera, find the right thing, open the app on the phone, have them in range, connect them (yes, you have to reconnect each time. It will also temporarily disrupt your actual wifi connection), and then let it load onto your phone. So it does work fine, it's just not as fast and simple as I wish it could be. Also you kind of need to master the camera/phone shuffle, as you need to be holding both and switching between which you're operating to make this whole thing work. 3- I will say this though, it does take nice pictures. Better than my galaxy s5. So if you want a step up from your smartphone's camera, this will definitely work. It has a lot of really cool features, many of which I haven't even discovered yet. My personal favorite is the option to take the same picture in 3 different light settings. So while you're still working on mastering the way to get the best lighting and when to choose each setting, you can fall back on this to ensure you do get the perfect photo.

I did a decent amount of research when it came time to buy a "real" camera. Up until now, I used either a decent smartphone camera (Lumia 1020/1520/950, LG G4) or a bridge/superzoom camera. When I did a little more background reading, I learned that most bridge cameras use a sensor no bigger than what's in a smartphone, and that the DSLRs use sensors 10-20 times bigger. Once I decided to go large-sensor route, I needed to decide on mirrorless or traditional. While I wouldn't mind a "true" viewfinder, as in traditional DSLRs, I really wanted compact so I'd be more likely to use the camera on the go. I have 3 young kids, so bulky is just not an option. Sony seems to lead the way on mirrorless designs, and this model in particular had some nice features. The WiFi and NFC is great to get pictures over to your smartphone for quick sharing, and really gives these dedicated cameras a new level of convenience when on the go. Charging from microUSB is great, as I have many chargers already available, including in the car. As for the actually light capturing, so far so good for me. I like the speed in which it can focus and take pictures, and I like how you can set the modes to go from idiot to advanced. I'm not as impressed with the lens itself, but it does a decent job, though I've yet to find a way to manually control the focus (I guess that's not something people really want?). I'm eager to get a 50mm prime lens and maybe a 55-200 telephoto lens for more versatility. Low light performance isn't too bad, though I don't normally shoot in such a setting. I target nature shots and pictures of the kids, and I've already captured several winners with just the stock kit, and my kids do not sit still. I'm very happy with the overall package, and I look forward to growing with the camera. Update: Still happy after a few months of pictures. I added my first lens to my kit, the E55-210. It adds some weight, but it really gets you close to things further away. I've had no problems with the camera itself, and I am quite happy with this camera. I found sharing to my iPad via WiFi to be quite handy for sharing and showing your content, and for getting it to my cloud storage.

Shipping was very fast and questions emailed were responded promptly. The actual product itself is awesome. Great colour and the quality of the photos it takes is awesome for such a small and compact camera.

Awesome camera for the average person used to using a phone camera that wants to take way better pictures because it'll be an already familiar feeling for you. The image quality is fantastic even in low light. I shoot with a 6D and I wouldn't recommend this a5000 to any more serious photographers due to the fact that A) I keep finding myself lifting the camera to look through the non-existent viewfinder I'm used to otherwise and B) It's really quite difficult to use this in manual mode. Otherwise it's a great automatic shooter packed with awesome capabilities for the average snapper

great for the value, very useful. No touch screen is a con but for the price, it's the best you can get

Amazing Camera, totally has exceeded my expectations. The lens that it brings is a generic one, but it does the job fairly well. Upon further research, I have other lenses in mind to purchase to increase my satisfaction. The attached pictures were taken with this Camera (had to downsize, as a picture is usually around 20MBs). Also, the flip mechanism on the display is very useful when taking self-portraits.

It wasn't exactly what I was looking for but I liked to use it while I had it. In truth, I already had a DSLR and I was looking for a compact alternative and choosing a mirrorless camera meant allowing an extra budget for this camera too and carrying lenses and therefore taking some away from my DLSR. I wanted a more compact camera all in one which offered great quality and this wasn't it for me although I can see why some like it.