The Sony A560 is a terrific Single Lens Translucent camera. If you do not have a lens or are searching for another lens, this will go over the best 6 lenses to use with your Sony DSLR-A560.
Here are the best Sony A560 lenses:
- Standard Lens - Sony 50mm f/1.8 SAM DT
- Portrait Lens - Sony 85mm F1.4 ZA CZ
- Zoom Lens - Sony 28-75mm f/2.8
- Wide Angle Lens - Sony DT 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6
- Fisheye Lens - Sony 16mm f/2.8
- Macro Lens - Sony 100mm f/2.8 Macro
Below are the best Sony lenses separated by focal length. Also included are different alternatives ranging in cost.
Table of Contents
Standard Primes
Sony 50mm f/1.8 SAM DT
A terrific combo of lightweight and small size. The built-in autofocus motor is quieter and smoother than older lenses that rely on the physically coupled autofocus.
The rounded aperture blades allow you to close down to f/4 and keep close to a perfectly circular aperture. This delivers gorgeous bokeh and more versatility in controlling the depth of field.
Minolta Maxxum AF 50mm f/1.7
This design was released by Minolta along with the release of the A-mount. On account of how old the lens is, the autofocus is done by the built-in motor in the A560.
Coupled autofocus can be laggy and noisy. In the event that that's not a major problem for you, the image quality is terrific. The bokeh is attractive and you'll end up with a classic look.
Portrait & Telephoto Lens
Sony 85mm f/1.4 ZA
Sony wanted to exhibit what the A-mount is capable of doing with this lens. Zeiss produced this lens. The ZA (Zeiss Alpha) means that Zeiss created the lens specifically for the A-mount.
This lens is incredible. Corner-to-corner sharpness with brilliant color that produces outstanding portraits.
A potential downside is that the lens is a little on the heavy side because it's built like a tank and the autofocus can be slow at times. Keep in mind, that you'll run into those same issues with any 85mm f/1.4.
Rokinon 85mm f/1.4
The Rokinon is an inexpensive option that is easy to purchase. A lower price comes from the fact that it is a manual focus lens.
Manually focusing at f/1.4 will need practice. Closing down the aperture to f/1.8 or f/2 helps make focusing less difficult and you'll still get beautiful bokeh.
Minolta Maxxum AF 85mm f/1.4
In terms of price, this lens falls between the others. Acquiring a used lens in usable condition may be hard due to a limited supply available.
The lens does have autofocus, but it uses a mechanical coupler and is driven by an in-camera body motor. This makes it fairly loud and slow to autofocus.
The lens is an older 6 lens element Double-Gauss design. That is not a bad thing as the lens gives a unique appearance that is not able to be made with a contemporary lens.
Sony A560 Zoom Lenses
Sony 28-75mm f/2.8
If you want to shoot night events, travel, indoor shooting, and family photos, this is a superb fast zoom for that. It’s a well-constructed lens with quiet autofocus.
The lens is often compared to the excellent Zeiss 24-70mm lens, but it's approximately 1/2 the weight and costs less. Both produce pro images.
Also available at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Sony 55-200mm f/4-5.6 SAM DT
While still producing fantastic results, this is a cheaper alternative. It's not a pro lens, therefore as long as you don't require all the bells and whistles, it is a good lens.
For a mid-range telephoto zoom, it offers an excellent range for capturing images of wildlife, sports, and children outdoors.
The autofocus is fast and it delivers razor-sharp photos. The outer body of the lens is made of plastic, which will help trim down on weight.
Also available at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Sony 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6
This is a borderline super-telephoto lens. It is a great affordable choice for any time you need lots of reach.
The lens is 4.8 inches (12.2 cm) long, 2.8 inches (7.1 cm) in diameter, and comes in at 1 pound 2 ounces (510g). While not considered light, many pro telephotos are multiple times heavier than that.
For just a little better overall performance you can look for the Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 SSM ED G-Series, however, count on paying nearly twice as much.
Wide Angle Lens
Sony DT 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6
Impressive value for the price if you want to be able to take terrific wide pictures that a standard zoom cannot take. Distortion, especially of vertical lines is low or non-apparent unless you are intentionally trying to create a distorted perspective.
In addition to being very good at capturing beautiful landscapes, it's also a superb lens to travel with. The angle of view is wide enough so when you come across something you'll be able to get everything in the frame.
Sony 20mm f/2.8
It's well-corrected and does a terrific job of minimizing lens distortion. Furthermore, a large amount of work has been put into minimizing internal reflections and flare.
The result is an impressive lens that is perfect for architecture, landscape, and astrophotography. The lens uses rear focusing which means the front is not going to rotate meaning you will not have any problems using a polarizer or another filter.
Tokina AT-X 11-16mm f/2.8 DX II
It does not have very fast autofocus, but the manual/auto focus clutch makes it a great choice for manual focusing. A pull or push of the focus ring switches the lens from MF to AF.
The Tokina has a larger aperture when compared to the Sony 11-18mm, which will not be a large deal for landscape or architecture photography. Where you'll notice an improvement is with astrophotography. That's a situation where you'd want to take advantage of the 1-2 stop advantage the Tokina offers.
Fisheye
Sony 16mm f/2.8 Fisheye
Built-in filters are a very good addition due to the fact the lens has a fixed petal-style hood which means a lens filter can not be mounted to the front of the lens.
- 056 - Accented contrast for black and white photos.
- B12 - Correct color by eliminating red tones.
- A12 - Correct color by eliminating blue tones.
This lens has almost everything you could require from a fisheye lens. You can obtain the exaggerated distortion, but the image will be tack sharp from corner-to-corner without vignetting.
Also available at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Rokinon 8mm f/3.5 Fisheye
The lens features a bulbous front element which means filters can not be attached. It comes with a snap-on petal-type lens hood that you will want to ensure that it is included if you purchase a used lens.
Construction quality is often somewhat hit or miss on account of the very low price. A majority of owners are very pleased with the pictures they get. It's still important to carefully check out the lens when you receive it to make sure the lens is not a bad copy.
Also available at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Macro Lens
Sony 100mm f/2.8 Macro
An excellent balance of working distance, cost, and size for the Sony A560. The autofocus can be a bit loud, but for b taking macro pictures, manual focus is the way to go.
For good output at 1:1 magnification, the lens needs to be stopped down by 2 or more stops. Doing that will also give you a greater depth of field, which is very useful for macro.
Also available at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Sony 50mm f/2.8 Macro
The 50mm focal length isn't that great for 1x magnification as a result of the limited working distance. At 1:1 magnification, the front lens element will have to be approximately 2 inches (5 cm) away from the subject.
This lens performs well at close-up, copy work, and tabletop photography. It enables you to get closer to a subject than a standard 50mm, and that is ideal for nature photography if you want to fill the camera frame with a smaller sized subject, like a flower.
Also available at: eBay, KEH, Adorama
Tamron AF 90mm f/2.8 Di SP A/M 1:1 Macro
In addition to having autofocus, the focus ring feels great when manually focusing. Stopped down a couple of stops and you will get razor-sharp shots.
Also, be mindful when shopping for this lens as it's produced for a number of lens mounts.
Used A-Mount Camera Lens Prices
Pricing is frequently in flux. During the past handful of years, participation in film photography has been rising. As there are Minolta 35mm film cameras that use A-mount lenses, some additional demand is put on the cost of lenses.
The Sony A-mount also doesn't hold a huge market share. Consequently, a smaller amount of third party options can be found and the lenses manufactured by Sony are quite often on backorder.
To get the cheapest price on what you want, check a few websites. For pre-owned lenses, be prepared to make a purchase when you see a great deal as they usually do not last very long.
What Lens Mount Does the A560 Use?
The Sony A560 uses the Sony A-mount. It's also identical to the Minolta A-mount. This is due to Sony purchasing Konica Minolta's imaging division in 2006.
Minolta developed the A-mount for the intro of interchangeable lens cameras with autofocus in 1985. It's still Supported by Sony.
Standard Lens Cap Size
Generally 55mm, but in reality, the sizes vary widely. Older Minolta lenses tend to have 49mm filter threads.
There are quite a few lenses that have larger filter threads than 55mm. It isn't rare to see 72mm or 77mm. It would have been helpful if Sony made use of only 2 or 3 different filter sizes.
