About Thomas Fitzgerald

Thomas is a professional fine art photographer and writer specialising in photography related instructional books as well as travel writing and street photography. 

Two Street Photo Lenses for the Sony A6000 (Sigma 30mm & 19mm)

Two Street Photo Lenses for the Sony A6000 (Sigma 30mm & 19mm)

When I did a recent episode of my “Street Photo Diary” series of videos, in which I shot with the Sony A6000, I got a lot of questions about the lenses that I use. The two that I probably use the most when shooting street photography, str two Sigma Lenses, the 30mm and 19mm f/2.8. In this video, I go shooting with these lenses and give you a quick review as well as showcasing the process.

While I have the older versions of these lenses, the current models should be more or less the same internally. Sigma has recently (well, recently since I git these) release a 30mm f/1.4 which I would love to try, as it gets great reviews, but the thing about the 30mm f/2.8 is that it’s really, really cheap for what it is. It currently retails for $169 and the quality is really good for that price, if you can live with the relatively slow maximum aperture. The 30mm focal length is equivalent to 45mm on a full frame, so it’s not quite a 50mm. 

The 19mm, which is a 28mm equivalent on full frame, is another great inexpensive lens. It probably isn’t quite as good as the 30mm and it does have a small amount of distortion (which is corrected automatically in camera) but again, for the price, you can’t really complain. 

If you’re starting out, and you have just bought a second hand, or even new A6000 (or any other one of the A6K series of cameras) and are looking for a cheap set of lenses, then I can’t recommend these two enough. They’re not perfect, but for the price, you get a great set of lenses. 

Below are some of the images that I shot in the video. These aren’t done as “samples” and I tried to just shoot as normal, so they’re not for examining in microscopic detail. The people who asked about what I use, did so in the context of street photography, so that’s what I wanted to show. I’ve also processed these in Lightroom as normal, so I used VSCO on some of them. 


Some photos from the Sigma 30mm f/2.8...


Some Examples of the 19mm...


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