Hiking across Spain a few months back, having to haul around 10kg of stuff on my back for many miles each day, I was glad to have robust cameras and lenses that could take the journey. The SL2 and -S tolerated day after day of steady rainfall without a blip. Weight was not an issue.

Having more recently had a taste of the other end of the weight spectrum via the a6700, I’m seeing the benefits of that, too. A modern, full-featured APS-C camera, the a6700’s IQ is so good and its lenses so light that it has me thinking about adding a FF Sony as a backup, not the other way around.

Recalling my last New Zealand book, my favorite among my titles, most of the images were shot with a TL2, TL lenses, and Nikon’s bottom-of-the-line APS-C DSLR at the time, a D3200, with a 300mm PF lens and TC. While the Nikon’s images needed considerable PP’ing for print, the TL2’s did not.

Another plus for crop sensor in 2024 is that some of Sony’s better (and lighter) E lenses that were produced when APS-C was still the dominant format are now dirt cheap and can be found in good condition on the second-hand market. It makes it easy to try them, keep the useful ones, and offload the others cost-effectively. The same can be said for some of Sony’s FF glass as well.

One caveat, though: Sony bodies and any lens that goes longer than 100mm should be bought new, as problems resulting from misuse, frequent among Sony users, can be hard to detect in second-hand gear until it’s too late.

Moving about these past few days with a body, two zooms with a combined 24-525mm reach plus a fast prime, all of which weigh in at under 1.8kg, has been a pleasure. Knowing that it’s usually after two or three weeks of using new gear that I start to find things I don’t like, I’m not going overboard just yet.

Things like bird AF, which looks to be better than with the a7 IV, the last Sony I owned before this one, have to be tested thoroughly as well. But, with such a light load to carry, and more lenses to explore, I expect a pleasurable learning experience.

a6700/55mm f1.8 ZA . . .