My Trip to London With The Sony a6300:
I’m back from London but surprisingly, even though it is only a 5 hour difference from New York, I feel more jet lagged from this trip than from my visit to Tokyo! I don’t know what it was…maybe it was the timing of my flight. All I know is I still haven’t quite adjusted to New York yet. But it was well worth it because London was amazing. I’ve been there before but I was a lot younger then. There’s just so much to see, and so much to do that a week was not nearly enough. The food was incredible too. I posted plenty of foodie pics on my Instagram account :). As some of you know, I brought along a Sony a6300 loaner along with a bunch of lenses to capture my whole trip, and while those reviews are in the works, I figured in the mean time, I’d post a few pics I took over there.
So, I mentioned this in an earlier post but just in case you didn’t see it, the lenses I brought along were the 35mm f1.8, the 10-18mm f4, and the 16-50mm kit lens. It was generally a good range, and it basically covered all my needs. I chose the 35mm f1.8 (50mm equivalent) because the 50mm is my favorite focal length, and I also needed something fast. I brought along the 10-18mm because it really helps in crowded or cramped areas such as in cities, and I also just love using ultra wides. Lastly, I chose the kit lens instead of something a little more exotic like the Sony Vario-Tessar T E 16-70mm f4 OSS lens, for example, because I figured some who are going to read my a6300 review are maybe first time Sony buyers. The kit lens in any system is generally a great way to start because it gets one’s hands on a versatile lens without paying a whole lot more.
While I did use all the lenses, so that I would have a more complete a6300 review, I must say that I ended up using the Sony E 10-18mm f4 OSS lens most of the time. In fact, if I wasn’t reviewing the camera, I probably could’ve gotten away with just bringing only this zoom. I love ultra wide angle lenses, I can’t help it ;). Think about it, as a fan of ultra wide angle lenses, how could I resist a 15-27mm lens that’s also compact ;)?
In terms of the places that I went, let’s just say that I was the very definition of a tourist :). I went to all the major sites and attractions like the HMS Belfast, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Trafalgar Square, Kensington Palace, Hyde Park, Temple Church, Westminster Abbey, London Eye, the Tower of London, and Tower Bridge just to name a few. I even went inside Buckingham Palace although no pictures were allowed. I stayed in Covent Garden, which was lively, and had some incredible restaurants. I did tons of walking, I rode the Underground, and I even went on one of those double decker tour buses just for fun ;).
With the amount of walking I did, I was so glad I brought the Sony a6300! I was originally thinking that I would only take lenses that I needed for a particular day, and leave the rest in the hotel room but there was no need for that; the camera along with the lenses were light and easy to deal with all day. The whole kit fit perfectly in my Billingham Hadley Small. Plus, with such a compact and light kit, it was easy to navigate through the busy streets of London. The beauty is even though the a6300 is compact, it still has a lot of power under the hood: while it’s smaller than a Fuji X-E2s, it has a 24mp APS-C sensor instead of a 16mp, and the electronics are definitely up to par with its competition. It’s also versatile; it’ll give you full control of functions or go into full auto mode, which is very useful when you want someone else who has no idea how to use the camera to take a picture of you (important if you want to be in some of the photos on vacation if you ask me). Truthfully, you couldn’t ask for a better vacation camera, and I will definitely discuss more about the finer points in my upcoming review.
For now, I hope you enjoy the photos. I haven’t gone through all the ones that I took yet but I will have plenty more in my upcoming reviews of the Sony a6300, the 50mm f1.8, and of course, the 10-18mm. I’m also still waiting for the Sigma sd Quattro…I hope it comes soon :). As always, thanks for stopping by!
