So I’ve purchased my new Sony a6400 camera and am really happy with how it went. The a6400 combined with the Sony 16-50mm and Sony 70-350mm lenses will enable me to capture what I am planning – sport photos and some family photos.

But that’s not all you need when setting out to capture moments with the gear. Time to get the rest of what’s needed.

My goal was to be able to take rugby league photos and carry all I needed with me while photographing. So I had to be fairly minimal and light but still be able to have all that I needed on hand.

TL:DR

I picked up the following accessories:
• Camera bag – Ulanzi 10L Sling camera bag$59.99
• Spare batteries – Tectra NP-FW50 2 pack 1500mAh with type C fast charging $41.99
• Battery charger – Llano Fast 8W Dual charger with 2 pack batteries $99
• Screen protector – A6300 screen protector glass $10.88
• Spare lens caps – eMagtech 2 sets front body cap and rear lens cap $12.89
• Lens bags – Neewer lens bags S/M/L/XL $31.85
• Memory cards – Sandisk Extreme Pro 512GB SD Card $111.99 plus a Sandisk Extreme Pro 256GB microSD card $45
• Memory card holder – SmallRig memory card case $12.67
• Portable hard drive – Sandisk Portable 1TB USB-3 SSD $129
• Tripod – Vivitar 7.5″ Compact Tripod $9.95
• Card reader – USB-C SD card reader 3 in 1 – $29.99
• USB hub – Topeetek USB-C hub 8 in 1 splitter multiport adapter $22.99

Total cost of AUD$618.19

A bit more than I thought Id spend. The batteries that came with the charger added $50 that I didn’t need to spend. 

Here’s why I bought what I did.

Camera bag
I wanted a bag that would hold what I needed while I was walking around a rugby league field. That carried what I needed for 90 minutes of shooting and was easy to carry in an out-of-the-way manner. So I looked for an ver the shoulder sling style bag that I could also strap around my waist.

I figured that way I had a couple of carry options which BCE I started taking photos at the game I could see which worked best.

I found one that looked good with protecting the gear inside and provided some ruggedness from any weather or other outside wear and tear.
They offered a 10litre and 15litre option. I went with 10litre thinking that 15litre was just too much to carry around.

Once I had everything I wanted it’s a bit of a struggle fitting everything I bought in. But can leave the tripod out and only squeeze it in if I think I’ll be using.

Spare batteries
I went with two Tectra batteries. These can be charged using the charger or directly with a USB C cable. I though that would be handy with a portable charger to be able to charge during a game if I had to.

Battery charger
I watched a couple of YouTube video reviews on chargers and settled on the Llano twin charger. But when I bought it I made the mistake of buying it with the dual batteries. I didn’t really need them so ended up with 4 spare batteries. Maybe I’ll need them. We’ll see. The charger holds the batteries really securely with a solid closing magnetic lid. The digital display clearly shows the charge status of each battery.
It charges with USB-C so if I have to I can use a power bank to charge it while out and about if I need to. So far I’m really happy with the design and how it functions.

Screen protectors
I only bought these because when I was looking at a6400 second hand cameras I noticed three or four sellers saying the rear digital screen had scratches. I just decided to put a protection screen on to prevent that.

Spare lens caps
Just in case I lose the ones that came with the lenses and camera, I bought a spares to go on the back of the lens and front of the camera.

Lens bags
Again – just to prevent dings, dents and scratches I wanted to put the lenses in a soft case to prevent marking. The bags are made of soft, medium thickness neoprene. Happy with these.

Memory Cards
This needed a bit of research and I have to say after doing plenty of reading across forums I ended up buying a large SD card and also a microSD card. Opinions were mixed when it came to using a SD card or a microSD card. Some said they had problems with a microSD and others said they had no problem. I went with a 512GB SD card from Sandisk and a 256GB Sandisk microSD card.

Memory Card holder
This is quite useful – a credit card sized holder which cards can click into and then that plate slides into a cover. This means I can easily store and find cards in the camera bag.

Portable Hard drive
I wanted something that could copy photos onto from the SD or microSD cards if I had to. Particularly if I was somewhere without a laptop. With the portable SSD drive I think I can use the USB-C adapter and my iPhone to plug in an SD card then use the files app to transfer images from the SD card to the portable SSD so if needed I can format the SD card.

Tripod
I just wanted a small tripod in case I was wanting to shoot a starry night or long exposure photo. The Vivitar came with a phone adapter as well. Nuce and compact, I ve already used it in the forst week for a couple of selfies with the Bride.

Card reader
I bought two USB-C card readers – by mistake. I was researching and ordering so many things I forgot what Id ordered. So I ended up with a USB-C hub which has USB A, SD and microSD card reader slots on it. And also a USB-C reader witn a SD, microsSD and USB-A slots in it. Time will tell which one I find best to use.

The last time I bought camera was 1985. From an Australian duty free shop in Surfers Paradise I bought a newly released Minolta 7000 autofocussing SLR with a 35-70mm lens. Autofocus SLR – it was a brand new concept..  Such modern tech. I used it for about 12 years before my sister borrowed it, eventually taking it to a local op shop…… 🙁

Last week I made my second camera purchase. Here’s what I got and what I went through in working out what to buy.

The TL:Dr is I picked up a Sony a6400 camera body which came with a Sony 16-50 OSS lens for $1399 and also a Sony 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 E Mount OSS camera Lens – JB Hi-Fi $1169

I know the Sony a6400 has been superseded since coming out in 2019, 6 years ago, and I was quite concerned about buying “old tech” after being recommended this setup. But my priorities were to take photos of our boys playing rugby league and to keep to a budget of under AUD $2500.

So here’s a bit of my purchasing journey.

Sony a6400 and 70-350mm lens recommended

I was recommended the setup Sony a6400 and Sony 70-350 lens after talking to a professional photographer about wanting to get some decent photos of my boys playing rugby league. After years of buying Apple Pro iPhones I wanted to spend some money on a good camera setup. Knowing my budget he got back to me with his recommended setup and I started looking for deals.

I started to address my first concern – that this camera was an old release model.  Despite committing to buying a new camera (I def didnt want second hand) my fear was that it would date really quickly and I’d not be able to achieve what I wanted because of age limitations of the technology. There was no way I wanted to buy a second hand camera – I just like to know the history of expensive technology that I buy.

YouTube Research

I watched a bunch of YouTube videos talking about the camera and will add my favourites to a list at the end of this post. Most were at least 5 years old and talked about the features and setting up the Sony a6400. These gave me a real education of the capabilities and features of the Sony a6400. I started to understand what it could do.

Reddit Research

I found a bunch of posts on Reddit where people had the same concern with buying old technology. The responses were really helpful. Again on YouTube people were doing recent comparisons with the newer version the Sony a6700. As I learned more and more and could weigh up the differences on offer I decided that for what I wanted to do for probably the next five years the Sony a6400 would suffice.

After locking in the camera body and lens I started looking around for where I could make the cheapest purchase. As you can imagine there was a lot of variety of pricing and options around.

Decision Made

I found my first good deal with Sony a6400 body and 70-350mm lens on sale with a price of $1249 for the body and $1169 for the lens (total of $2418) which fitted my budget perfectly.

But then I saw the 16-50 lens on sale half price at AUD$267 and decided I’d also pick that up because surely I’d want to take other photos not using the larger lens!

Camera and lens confirmed, budget limit confirmed and slightly raised, again I started worrying about buying a new – old camera.

I was just about commit to buying from one retailer when I thought I’d take a look at JB Hifi and see what they had on offer. This turned out to be a great decision.

JB Hifi had the Sony a6400 with a 16-50mm E3.5-5.6/PZ OSS lens as a kit for $1249 and would price match the 70-350mm lens. Id found what I wanted at a price I wanted and was happy to lock it in. But I still had a nagging feeling about buying a camera that was released in 2019 – until reminding myself it was what I needed and kept me within my budget.

Australian Tourist Refund Scheme

Bonus – I just happened to mention I was heading to NZ in a week and the guy at JB Hifi told me about Australia’s Tourist Refund Scheme. As long as I had everything on one invoice totalling more than AUD$300 I could claim back the 10% GST as a refund on the way out of Australia. This ended up saving me another AUD$237.

Total purchase for lenses and camera body

• Sony a6400 body with Sony 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS II Power zoom lens $1249
• Sony 70-350mm f4.5-6.3 OSS lens $1169

Total Purchase price AUD$2418

Less TRS refund AUD$237.27

Total cost AUD$2180.73

So I’m really excited about where I ended up with camera body and two good lenses which for now will probably enable me to capture whatever I’m after – footy games and general family events.

I ended up (naturally) having to buy some accessories as well – read this other blog post to see what I bought and why.

Links to camera equipment bought.

Camera body and 6-50mm lens – Amazon link

Sony 70-350mm f4.5-6.3 OSS lens – Amazon link

Helpful YouTube videos