Despite it being the oldest and most affordable Sony mirrorless camera out of all, the Sony a6000 remains one of the most popular travel cameras out there.
If you are one of the owners of the well-beloved Sony a6000 and you want to breathe new life into your camera gear, why not look for a new camera lens to take your photography game to the next level?
Well, if you are wondering which lens you should buy to pair with your Sony a6000, then you are in the right place. With more than 200 lenses available for the Sony E-mount cameras, such as the Sony a6000, it can be quite daunting to find the right lens that is perfect for you.
Within this article, I will take you through some of the best lenses for your Sony a6000, explaining why they are great, and helping you decide which one is the right lens for you to buy. The list is based solely on my personal experience shooting with Sony mirrorless cameras for more than a decade.
Without further ado, let's take a look at all the great lenses you can buy for the Sony a6000 below:
📸 Quick Summary: The best lenses for Sony a6000
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💰 Great Value
Best All-Around Lens
Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 lens
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Features
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Best Video Lens
Sony 18-105 mm f4 lens
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Features
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Best Landscape/Architecture Lens
Tamron 11-20 mm f2.8 lens
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Features
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🏅 Editor's Choice
Best Vlogging Lens
Sony 10-18 mm f4 lens
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Features
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Check PriceRead Our Review |
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Best Astro Lens
Sony E 11mm F1.8
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Features
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🏅 Editor's Choice
Best Portrait Lens
Sigma 56mm f1.4
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Features
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Check PriceRead Our Review |
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Best Street Lens
Sony 35mm f1.8
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Features
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🏅 Editor's Choice
Best Wildlife Lens
Sony 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 lens
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Features
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Check PriceRead Our Review |
👍 What Makes for a Good Travel Lens for Sony a6000?

For me, what makes a good travel lens is the lens that strikes the perfect balance between high-quality glass, weight, and features that will help me take great photos in any situation I might find myself in, without hindering my ability to travel around effectively.
I'll be including lenses for different travel situations and shooting styles that reflect the type of traveler you are, like street photography, wildlife, and general purpose. I'll also provide budget alternatives that will help your Sony a6000 reach its full potential.
Of course, feel free to mix and match and see which travel lenses fit your needs the most. Let's begin with the most important travel lens of all, the best all-around general-purpose lens that every travel photographer should have in their kit:
🌎 Best All-Around Travel Lens
- Great range
- Fixed and fast aperture
- Affordable
- Not the most compact and light lens
- Not the sharpest
Tamron 17-70mm f2.8 lens: This lens is, hands down, the best all-around travel lens you can get for your Sony a6000. It comes with OIS (optical image stabilization), which helps compensate for the fact that the Sony a6000 doesn't come with IBIS (in-body image stabilization).
With OIS, this Tamron lens should be able to help smooth out undesirable jitters and shakes from your photos when you shoot handheld, and in turn, it will allow you to keep your photos in focus.
The focal range of 17-70mm is also very flexible for travel, as you can zoom in and out without having to move. The 17mm focal length is wide enough for general landscape photography, while the 70mm focal length is great for portraiture.
With its fast aperture of F2.8, the lens is also excellent in low light, allowing you to create stunning bokeh images at 70mm. Not to mention the fact that it is cheaper than the alternative, the Sony 16-55mm F2.8 lens, which doesn't even come with IBIS!
If you're looking for an all-around travel lens for your Sony a6000, you can't go wrong with the Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 lens. As for the price, you can check it out with the link below:
- ⚡ Pete's Take: "This is hands down my favorite all-around travel lens for this Sony camera. You get a versatile 17-70mm range, a fast F2.8 aperture, and built-in stabilization, all for less than the Sony equivalent."
🎥 Best Video Lens
- Great range
- Power-zoom
- Affordable
- Quite old
- Bulky and heavy
- Not the sharpest
- F4 aperture might not be enough for some
Sony 18-105mm f4 lens: This may be an old lens, but it is still one of the best video lenses to buy for your Sony a6000. It comes with all the features you need for videos, like OIS, a fixed aperture of F4, and best of all, it has an internal zoom barrel that doesn't extend out when you zoom in or out, which makes it great for gimbal use.
With such a flexible focal range of 18-105mm, it should cover 80% of the applications for which you might want to use the lens. The fixed F4 aperture will also allow you to retain the aperture value when you zoom in and out, which is extremely essential to keep your footage consistent.
All in all, if you are looking for a video lens for your Sony a6000, there is no better deal than this lens. Click the link below to see the recently discounted price for the lens:
- ⚡ Pete's Take: "This lens is showing its age, but I still really like it for video. The huge zoom range, stabilization, and internal power zoom make it especially useful on a gimbal."
🏔️ Best Landscape & Architecture Lens
- Light & Compact
- Fast aperture
- Ultra-wide field of view
- Not the sharpest
- Not the fastest autofocus
Tamron 11-20mm f2.8 lens: For the best landscape/architecture lens for your Sony a6000 camera, you just can't beat the newly released Tamron 11-20mm f2.8 lens.
For one, this is the only available ultra-wide APS-C lens that has a fast aperture of F2.8, making it the best choice out of all the other ultra-wide lenses.
With the focal range of 11-20mm, you will be able to capture a super-wide-angle field of view, such as an expansive landscape or a large piece of architecture, in all its glory in one frame.
Unfortunately, the lens doesn't come with OIS, and since the Sony a6000 lacks IBIS, you will have to rely on your hand steadiness to stabilize your camera.
That said, it isn't as bad as it sounds, especially since jitters and shakes are not as prevalent at wide focal lengths, say 17-70mm, so you should be able to get away with it. You can check the most recent price with the link below:
- ⚡ Pete's Take: "This is still one of my favorite ultra-wide lenses for Sony APS-C. It's compact, lightweight, and the constant F2.8 aperture is great for landscapes, architecture, and gimbal work."
🤳 Best Vlogging Lens
- Light & Compact
- Optical stabilization
- Ultra-wide field of view
- Not the sharpest
- F4 aperture might not be enough for some.
Sony 10-18 mm f4 lens: The Sony a6000 may not be the best camera to vlog with since it doesn't come with a flip-up or tiltable screen, but it's not impossible.
With the right lens, such as the Sony 10-18mm F4 lens, you should be able to vlog with the Sony a6000 just fine. The lens comes with OIS, which should help smooth the walk-and-talk-style footage.
The 10mm focal length of this lens is also great for vlogging, as it is wide enough for you to hold your camera out and capture both yourself and the environment in one frame. It is the perfect vlogging lens that you are looking for, and you can check the recent price with the link below:
- ⚡ Pete's Take: "I still like this lens for vlogging, especially on older Sony cameras without IBIS, but I wouldn't buy it new today unless you really need its built-in stabilization."

⭐️ Best Astrophotography Lens
- Small & Compact
- Fast aperture
- Ultra-wide field of view
- Affordable
- Lacks manual controls
- Distortions
Sony E 11mm F1.8: For the best astrophotography lens, the new Sony E 11mm F1.8 is the best lens you can buy out there. It is extremely well-built, compact, which makes it a great lens to travel with.
With the 11mm focal length, you will be able to capture the expansiveness of the night sky as well as allowing you to use the landscape as a foreground subject to give your night sky photo an epic scale.
The fast F1.8 aperture will also allow you to let in more light, which in turn lowers your ISO and ultimately produces sharper images. If you are looking for a great astrophotography lens that isn't too expensive, you can't go wrong with the Sony E 11mm F1.8 lens. Hit the link below to see the recent price.
- ⚡ Pete's Take: "This is my pick for astrophotography on Sony APS-C. It's tiny, affordable, extremely wide, and the fast F1.8 aperture lets in plenty of light for shooting the night sky."
😃 Best Portrait Lens
Sigma 56mm f1.4: With all the affordable, high-quality lenses Sigma has released in the past couple of years for APS-C cameras, Sony is no longer the only game in town, and they have really given Sony a run for its money.
The Sigma 56mm f1.4 features a 56mm focal length, enabling you to bring the background closer, making it ideal for portraits. Additionally, it boasts an aperture of F1.4, making it excellent in low-light conditions and enabling you to create some of the most stunning bokeh effects ever witnessed on a Sony APS-C camera.
Unfortunately, it doesn't come with optical image stabilization, but since the aperture is so fast, you should be able to dial up the shutter speed enough to compensate for the camera shake due to the lack of IBIS on the Sony a6000 camera. To see how much it is right now, hit the link below:
- ⚡ Pete's Take: "This is one of my favorite portrait lenses for Sony APS-C. It's incredibly sharp, compact, affordable, and produces some of the prettiest bokeh I've seen from an APS-C lens."
🚶♂️ Best Street Photography Lens
- Light & Compact
- Nice Bokeh
- Affordable
- No stabilization
- No weather protection
- Could be sharper
Sony 35mm f1.8: If you want a compact lens for street photography, the Sony 35mm f1.8 is a great option for you. The 35mm focal length, which is equivalent to 52mm on a full-frame camera, falls in the nifty-fifty category, which is considered to be the most useful focal length for photography.
It has a fast aperture of F1.8, making it great at subject separation, shooting in low light, and producing one hell of a stunning bokeh effect without zooming in too much, like the Sigma 56mm F1.4 lens.
Also, it comes with OIS, which will help eliminate camera shake when taking photos and smooth out camera shakes in your footage, especially for cameras without IBIS, like the Sony a6000.
It is also very affordable, and if you are looking for another lens to go with your all-around zoom lens, the Sony 35mm F1.8 should be a great addition to your camera gear arsenal. For the most recent price, you can check with the link below:
- ⚡ Pete's Take: "This is a great little street photography lens. It's small and lightweight enough to carry everywhere, while the F1.8 aperture gives you great subject separation and beautiful bokeh."
🔎 Best Telephoto Lens
- Amazing range
- Relatively compact
- Optical stabilization
- Variable slow aperture
- Not compatible with teleconverters
Sony 70-350mm F4.5-6.3 Super-Telephoto Lens: If you are looking for a telephoto lens to take close-up shots of animals, there is no better lens to get than the Sony 70-350mm super-telephoto lens.
It might be a little front-heavy when mounted on the Sony a6000 camera, but with its incredible reach of 350mm or a whopping 525mm equivalent on a full-frame format, there are no other lenses out there that can zoom this far without being the size of a small medieval cannon.
Not to mention, it also comes with optical image stabilization, which is extremely useful at keeping your shot stabilized while at the 350mm range. If you are planning to go on a safari trip or bird-watching with your Sony a6000, this is the lens you should buy. For the most recent price, be sure to hit the link below and check on Amazon:
- ⚡ Pete's Take: "For wildlife and safaris, this is the telephoto lens I'd recommend for Sony APS-C. You get an incredible 525mm-equivalent reach in a surprisingly compact package with built-in stabilization."
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