Best Travel Lenses for Sony a6400 (from a pro travel photographer)
Can’t wait to travel with your a6400 camera?
But first, you need to pick the right lens!
I’ve selected for you the best travel lenses for Sony a6400 available on the market, depending on your shooting style.
And as a pro travel photographer myself, I’ll also tell you what I personally use.
No Time to Waste? Here’s My #1 Favorite!
- Great focal range
- Fast f/2.8 aperture
- Light & compact
The Best Travel Lens for Sony a6400 – Comparison Table
It’s always hard to make the right choice when picking a lens, with so many good options available. While there’s 1 overall best lens, it might not be the best for everyone, depending on your travel style and shooting style.
To help you choose correctly, I’ve included a comparison table with the best choice, the most compact travel lens, and the best travel lens if you plan to shoot videos.
Product Reviews – The Best Lens for Sony a6400 Travel
Which lens to pack for travel is always a hard choice. In fact, I ask myself the same question over and over each time I pack my bags for my next trip.
Truth is, there isn’t really 1 single lens that will fit every situation.
It will depend on many things: what do you plan to shoot? Do you want only 1 lens, or can you carry 2 in your camera backpack? Will you be hiking a lot? Will you also shoot videos with the same camera/lens?
Based on the answers, you’ll be able to pick between the 5 best travel lenses for a6400 I’ve selected for you.
🥇 Overall Best: Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8
✈️ Most Compact Travel Lens: Zeiss 16-70mm f/4
🎥 Best for Travel Videos: Sony 18-105mm f/4 OSS
📏 Wide-Angle Travel: Tamron 11-20mm f/2.8 RXD
🔍 Telephoto Travel: Sony 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS
Let’s see the reviews!
The BEST Travel Lens for Sony a6400: Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8
- World’s first high-speed standard zoom lens for APS-C cameras with the focal length range of...
- Outstanding optical performance with 16 elements in 12 groups featuring two GM (Glass Molded...
- Upgraded VC effective in combination with Sony APS-C mirrorless cameras, leveraging AI for video...
Focal length: 17-70mm
Aperture range: f/2.8 to f/16
Weight: 525g (1.16 lbs)
Size (Ø x L): 74x119mm (2.9×4.7″)
Filter size: 67mm
Format: crop
Autofocus: yes
Image stabilization: yes
If you’re looking for the overall best travel lens for Sony a6400, look no further than the Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8.
It’s a great zoom lens, with a wide focal range that will cover most of your needs when traveling. With a 17-70mm focal length, this can totally be the only lens you bring with you on your trips.
The fixed f/2.8 aperture makes it great for action shots, portraits, and shooting in low-light situations (at night, indoors, at sunrise and sunset, …). And another key point, it has image stabilization, pretty important to have in a lens because the Sony a6400 doesn’t have it built-in.
Don’t care about image stabilization? (you don’t shoot videos, and always use a tripod in low-light?) Then get the Sony 16-55mm f/2.8 instead.
So what’s not to like about this lens? It has heavy image distortion on 17mm (but easily fixed in post-production), and at 525g (1.16lbs) it’s heavier & bulkier than other options.
Finally, the wide-angle part is “only” 17mm, so if you mostly shoot landscapes this might not be wide enough for you.
Great value for money
Fast f/2.8 lens
Great focal range
Image stabilization
Heavy distortion at wide angle
Bulkier than other lenses
👉 See price + reviews on Amazon or on B&H Photo
See for yourself the kind of travel images you can produce with this lens:
Most Compact Travel Lens for a6400: Zeiss 16-70mm f/4
- Carl Zeiss mid-range zoom lens; Compatible with E-mount Full Frame cameras and E-mount APS-C cameras
- Minimum Focus Distance : 1.15 feet (0.35 m), Maximum Magnification ratio : 0.23x, Focal Length :...
- High lens technology in a compact body. Filter Diameter (mm) - 55 mm
Focal length: 16-70mm
Aperture range: f/4 to f/22
Weight: 308g (0.68 lbs)
Size (Ø x L): 67x75mm (2.62×2.95″)
Filter size: 55mm
Format: crop
Autofocus: yes
Image stabilization: yes
When I think about travel, I think of small check-in bags, and lot of walking around, carrying the camera/lens on my back or in my hand the whole day. Sounds familiar?
If portability is the most important thing for you, then the Zeiss 16-70mm f/4 is your next travel lens for the a6400.
Just like the #1 choice, it has a great focal range, from 16mm to 70mm, and also has image stabilization.
But it’s way more portable; it’s 41% lighter, at only 308g (10.8oz), and 28% smaller.
The gain in portability comes at the expense of the max aperture, which is only f/4; if you’re planning to shoot a lot in low-light situations, or to take a lot of portraits when traveling, then it’s definitely a con to consider.
Great focal range
Image stabilization
Light & small
Only f/4 aperture
Softness on the edges of images
👉 See price + reviews on Amazon or on B&H Photo
Best Travel Video Lens for Sony a6400: Sony 18-105mm f/4 OSS
- High performance E mount lens with excellent contrast; Minimum Aperture (F): 22
- Minimum Focus Distance : 1.48 (Wide) 3.12 ft (Tele), Maximum Magnification ratio : 0.11x, Focal...
- Versatile 27 158mm (35mm equiv.) zoom range. Angle of view (APS C): 76° 15°. Number of aperture...
Focal length: 18-105mm
Aperture range: f/4 to f/22
Weight: 427g (0.94 lbs)
Size (Ø x L): 78x110mm (3.07×4.33″)
Filter size: 72mm
Format: crop
Autofocus: yes
Image stabilization: yes
I couldn’t end this guide without recommending the Sony 18-105mm f/4 OSS.
If you’re only going to take photos, then you can skip this part, the 2 lenses above are better travel lenses for the Sony a6400. But if you’re a travel videographer, and you want to use the same camera/lens to take photos AND videos, then this is the perfect lens for you.
In fact, I’ve rated it as the best video lens for Sony a6400; and with its huge focal range, it will also cover more situations than the 2 previous picks.
The main drawback is image sharpness; this has little impact on videos, but your photos will be less sharp than if you were using the other lenses.
Excellent focal range
Image stabilization
Smooth & quiet autofocus
Only f/4 aperture
Not as sharp as other picks
👉 See price + reviews on Amazon or on B&H Photo
Wide-Angle + Telephoto Lens Combo (this is what I do)
The 3 lenses above are the best choices for a Sony a6400 travel lens, if you want to carry only 1 lens.
But in some situations, it might be best to carry 2 lenses; this is what I do. When I travel, I carry a wide-angle lens, and a telephoto zoom lens. This allows me to have the best quality for my landscape photos (80% of my shots), and to have a big zoom when I need one (for wildlife shots for example).
I do sacrifice on portability; with 2 lenses it’s for sure a lot heavier, and I need a proper camera bag to carry them. But this allows me to be prepared in all situations, because one of the thing I hate the most is thinking “man I wish I had taken my big zoom lens for this shot”.
If you’re like me, then I recommend the Tamron 11-20mm f/2.8 (Amazon | B&H Photo) with the Sony 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3 G OSS (Amazon | B&H Photo).
Final Thoughts
So there you have them, my recommended picks for the best travel lenses for Sony a6400!
If you only want to carry 1 lens, then the best option on the market is the Tamron 17-70mm f/2.8.
It has a great focal range (from 17mm to 70mm), great image sharpness, built-in image stabilization, a max f/2.8 aperture, all while remaining light & compact to be carried around all day when traveling around the world.
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