A New Lens for Backpacking: Sony E 18-135 f3.5-f5.6

Sony E 18-135 with lens hood

For several years my photography setup for backpacking and hillwalking has been Sony a6000 and NEX 7 bodies with Sony E 10-18mm and 16-50mm zoom lenses. This system went on the GR5 through the Alps walk last autumn and the Yosemite Valley to Death Valley walk two years before that. I've found it versatile and easy to use. Two cameras, two lenses, slung across my body in padded cases. Never any need to change lenses, always accessible.

Sometimes though I've wanted a longer lens - for wildlife, to zoom in on distant features, to pick out details. I've had the Sony E 55-210mm zoom lens for many years and this often comes with me on day walks, rarely on longer ones, as I like the two cameras and lenses system and I don't want to give up either of the shorter zooms. That leaves the 55-210 in the pack, where it too often stays, forgotten.

Sony E 18-135 fully extended

I accepted this two, sometimes three, lens system as there were no compact lightweight alternative lenses to the 16-50 that had a longer reach other than an expensive Zeiss 16-70, and the extra cost and weight didn't seem worth it for a measly 20mm increase.

Then, a year ago, Sony brought out the first new lens in many years for the a6000 series cameras, the 18-135 f3.5-f5.6. Light, compact and with a 7.5x zoom as opposed to the 3x zoom of the 16-50 this interested me straight away. I then spent a year deliberating!

Of course compared with the 16-50 the 18-135 is enormous and considerably heavier - 360 grams as opposed to 127 grams. The 55-210 is 380 grams so the saving over that lens plus the 16-50 is only 147 grams. I think though that the longer reach is well worth the extra 233 grams over the 16-50.

The big benefit of the 18-135 for me is that it extends my two cameras, two lenses system considerably. 10-135mm is a big range, equivalent to 15 to 202.5mm in 35mm/full frame. This is the biggest range in two lenses I've ever had.

I've had the 18-135 for nearly two months now and I've taken 310 images with it, half of them at focal lengths over 50mm. I'm pleased with the results. Reviews - and I read quite a few - suggested the image quality was good, better than the 16-50 in fact. I'm happy with that lens so I expected to like the 18-135. It's certainly sharper than the 55-210.

I did sometimes crop images taken with the 16-50 but this does mean lower quality and, more significantly to me, I found it harder to 'see' the image. With the 18-135 I can compose much more precisely. Looking at the data (ah, the wonders of Lightroom!) I can see that I've used just about every focal length at least once.

Carrying the 18-135 hasn't felt noticeably different to the 16-50 despite the difference in size and weight. I do have a bigger case of course but I carry it the same way.

I think for now I have found an ideal combination.

Here are some 18-135 images at different focal lengths, all taken in the Cairngorms on April 5.

18mm

24mm

31mm

71mm

95mm

135mm

The snow's back!

After a mild and snowless first half of January the snow returned late this afternoon. Light rain turned to thin sleet, then wet snow, then big flakes, then, as the temperature dropped below zero, steady fine dry cold snow. By 10pm there was about an inch lying here at 300 metres in Strathspey. I'm due to go on an igloo building trip this weekend. It looked like being cancelled. Maybe it'll take place after all. We'll decide tomorrow evening.

Yesterday I went for a stroll by the River Spey, which was fuller than I've seen it for many weeks. With no snow visible on the Cromdale Hills and the temperature well above freezing - no need for hat or gloves - it felt almost spring like. It will be different tomorrow.

Photo notes: the top photo was taken on my Samsung Galaxy S7 smartphone at 4.35 pm  - it was getting dark and snowing heavily, not ideal conditions for this camera. Settings: 1/13 second at F1.7. ISO 800.

The River Spey images were taken on the Sony a6000 with Sony E 55-210 lens at 55mm.. Settings for upper photo: 1/160 second at F8, ISO 400. Settings for lower photo: 1/50 second at F8, ISO 400.

Backpacking Photography Posts Collection

Camping in the Lairig Ghru, Cairngorms. 

Over the years I've posted quite a few pieces on backpacking photography and cameras. I've gathered them together here for easy access.

My Photography in 2019: Favourite Pictures

A New Lens for Backpacking: the Sony E 18-135 f3.5-f5.6 

My Photography in 2018: Thoughts and Favourite Pictures

Farewell to Old Cameras

Carrying Cameras

Compact Cameras for Backpacking

Cameras for Backpacking: Decisions, Decisions

A Year With The Sony NEX 5

The Sony NEX 7: A Superb Camera for Backpacking and Hiking

Controversy 3: The Best Camera, The Best Carrying System

Sony NEX on the Scottish Watershed

Night Photography With The Samyang 12mm f2 NCS CS Lens

New Camera: Sony a6000

How many megapixels do you need?

Photography Then & Now on the Yukon & Watershed Walks

Thoughts on Tripods for Backpacking

Wildlife Photography & Backpacking

2016 Favourite Photos & Thoughts on Lenses and Focal Lengths

My Camera Set-Up

Just One Lens 

Favourite Photographs 2017 

Camera Bag Review: Hadley Small Pro

The camera bags I use on the hills and on long-distance walks

2016 Favourite Photos & Thoughts on Lenses & Focal Lengths

Camp on the Cairngorm Plateau, March 14. Sony NEX 7, 16-50 lens @ 16mm, ISO 400, f 6.3@15 sec, tripod

Last year I took 3,500+ images. Here are my 15 favourites - though at another time I might pick a different selection!

Whislt sorting through the pictures I remembered a lens review by Alex Roddie in which he wrote 'when I analysed all the thousands of photos I’d taken with my zoom lens, I found that most of them were at about the 35mm focal length (53mm in full-frame terms). It’s how I see the world.' What, I wondered, was my most-used focal length? Did I see the world in one particular way?

The Cairngorms, January 27. Sony NEX 7, 55-210mm lens @ 210mm, ISO 400, f8@1/1600 sec

Through the wonders of Lightroom I could find out. I knew that most images were taken on my 16-50mm lens as it's often the only one I carry and it's my main one when I take more than one lens. I wasn't surprised then to discover that over 2,800 pictures were taken with this lens. Of these just over 600 were taken at 16mm and at 50mm, which did surprise me a little. I hadn't realised I used each end of the zoom so often. That still left well over half the pictures taken at other focal lengths and here there's not much variation with the highest number being 108 images at 30mm.

Forest, mist & mountains, January 31. Sony NEX 7, 55-210mm lens @ 113mm, ISO 800, f8@1/80 sec

After the 16-50 lens my next used lens are the 10-18mm wide angle zoom and the 55-210mm telephoto zoom. The former I carry on most trips and it's a lens I like a great deal so I was surprised to find I only took 325 images with it, the most popular focal length being 10mm, with which I took 130 pictures. I really must use it more! In competition with the 10-18mm lens is the Samyang 12mm, which I bought for night photos as it's a f2 lens and so lets in more light than the f4 10-18. I took 50 images with this.

Cairngorms camp, February 27. Sony NEX 7, Samyang 12mm lens, ISO 400, tripod

With the 55-210mm lens I took 400 images, many of them of wildlife at or close to home - sometimes through a window! Unsurprisingly over half these were taken at 210mm.

Sparrowhawk, February 24. Sony NEX 7, 55-210mm lens @ 186mm, ISO 100, f6.3@1/250 sec

I also have a Sigma 30mm f2.8 lens which I hardly used, taking just 16 photos with it, and a Sony E 30mm f3.5 Macro lens, which I bought mainly for photographing old slides on a lightbox. I took 98 pictures with it. I intend taking many more this year, again of old slides.

Isle of Rum from Morar, May 13. Sony NEX 7, 16-50mm lens @ 50mm, ISO 100, f8@1/250 sec

My conclusion from this analysis is that I don't have a favourite focal length and that I like zoom lenses - which I already knew. It has made me determined to make more use of the 10-18mm lens though.

Anyway here are the rest of my favourite 2017 photos.

Evening in Glen Feshie, May 21. Nex 7, 16-50mm lens @ 27mm, ISO 100, f8@1/320sec

Rainbow over Victoria Bridge, Deeside. Sony NEX 7, 16-50mm lens @ 42mm, ISO 200, f8@1,000 sec

Glen Doll from Jock's Road, May 23. Sony NEX 7, 16-50m lens @ 17mm, ISO 100, f8@1/20 sec

Young chaffinch soliciting food from a greenfinch, July 5. NEX 7, 55-210mm lens @ 210mm, ISO 1600, f8@1/125 sec

Small tortoiseshell butterfly, September 7. Sony NEX 7, 55-210mm lens @ 210mm, ISO 100, f8@1/250

View from Red Peak Pass, Yosemite National Park, September 24. Sony NEX 7, 10-18mm @ 14mm, ISO 100, f8@1/250

Mirror Lake & Mount Whitney, Sequoia National Park, October 12. Sony a6000, 16-50mm lens @ 50mm, ISO 100, f8@1/250 sec

Guitar Lake & Mount Hitchcock, Sequoia National Park, October 13. Sony a6000, 16-50mm lens @ 20mm, ISO 100, f8@1/160 sec

Strathspey & the Cairngorms, December 27. Sony a6000, 16-50mm lens @ 28mm, ISO 800, f8@1/10 sec

New Camera: Sony a6000

Sometimes I'm asked about the cameras and lenses I use and I have posted about them occasionally over the years. Yesterday I bought a new camera for the first time in many years so here, for anyone interested, are my thoughts about it.

For the last four years the Sony NEX 7 has been my main camera with an NEX 6 as backup. I'm still really pleased with the NEX 7 and although it's a little battered now I hope it'll last quite a few more years. The NEX 6 however, whilst okay as a backup, doesn't have as good image quality as the NEX 7 nor as easy to use controls and I've never been really happy with it.

Sony replaced both the NEX 6 and 7 with the a6000 a few years ago, having dropped the NEX name. At the time I didn't think it offered enough to justify upgrading. So why have I bought one now? With a big trip coming up (more on this soon) I want two 24mp cameras (the NEX 6 is 16mp) with a lens on each so I can use them alternatively and know the results will be the same quality. I did consider the a6300, Sony's latest camera in this series, but it's over twice the price of the a6000, which is currently available a real bargain, and its main advantages - 4k video and fast shooting - are not big concerns for me. It is weather resistant but my lenses aren't so that probably wouldn't be much of an advantage. From reading many reviews it seems the image quality is only marginally better than the a6000, if at all, and that's the main factor for me. I also briefly considered the full frame A7 which costs less with a 24-70 lens than the a6300 without a lens but I'm not convinced full frame has enough advantages to justify the extra weight.

I bought the camera from Jessops in Inverness - I always like to handle cameras to be sure I'm happy with them - and must praise the assistant there who gave good advice, listened patiently to my deliberations, and didn't try and push me towards the most expensive option. That's the way to get regular custom.

NEX 7 left, a6000 right

I bought the a6000 with 16-50mm lens even though I already have one of the latter. I think my old one is on the way out though - the focus/zoom ring no longer works - and I wouldn't want to rely on it on a long trip.

So my camera kit for long trips where weight matters will now be the Sony a6000 and NEX 7 bodies plus Sony E 10-18mm and 16-50mm lenses and Velbon V-Pod tripod. On other trips other lenses may come along - Sony E 55-210mm, Sony E 30mm Macro, Samyang 12mm, Sigma 30mm.

Initial tests with the a6000 suggest the image quality is much the same as that of the NEX 7 at low ISOs, as expected. Maybe at high ISOs it'll be a little better. The controls are better than those of the NEX 6 though I think I'll miss the top dual control dials of the NEX 7. The menu system is far more user friendly than that of the NEX cameras, which involves endless scrolling. I think I'm going to like this new camera, though it'll take a while to feel as familiar with it as I am with the NEX 7.