Must Have Accessories Sony A6000, A6300, A6500 – Updated 2018

With the ever-growing popularity of the Sony A6000, third-party accessory companies all over the world have been putting out some fantastic gear for this camera. From cases to straps, I want to share some of the best accessories I use every day for my cameras that will work great for this camera and now the A6300 and A6500.

Quite a few things have changed on the A6500 since the A6000. The camera overall has been redesigned to be a mini super 35mm 4k monsters. The body is a bit more ridged since it is now composed of magnesium alloy and there are some new changes to the overall dimensions, however most of the accessories, like batteries and screen protectors are still interchangeable. The only thing that’s not are body cases.

I’ll be collecting more accessories and gear for my A6300, but for now I’ll list some of the best and most essential accessories I’ve found and that also work great on the A6000.

Sony A6000 / A6300 / A6500 Accessories And Gear

Starting with the fundamentals, there are so many brands of batteries and screen protectors, it can be very challenging to know whom to trust.

I’ve tested a few batteries and I’ve gone through a ton of screen protectors, so I’ll share with you the brands I’ve found that can be trusted.

Best Screen Protectors – A6000 / A6300 / A6500

The A6000, A6300 share the same size screen so any screen that you find for the A6000 will also work for the A6300. The A6500 has a touch screen so the screen protectors are a little different.

The most important accessory every A6000, A6300 and A6500 owner should have is a screen protector. The screens Sony uses on their mirrorless cameras are fairly delicate. The main issue I see are the little bubbles that to appear under the glass and along the edges. This happens as the camera gets bumped and banged over the years. I’ve found screen protectors help stop this.

Expert Shield has been my favorite screen protectors, although I also really like the Sony semi-hard screen. It’s slightly thicker and provides a little more ding protection.

Best Battery For The Sony A6000 / A6300 / A6500

Third party batteries have come a long way over the years. I would say some brands like Wasabi and RavPower put out batteries that are close or as good as the Sony brand batteries.

My favorite kit out of all of these is by RavPower.

Extra Power Accessories

Memory Card For The Sony A6000 / A6300 / A6500

Sony Memory Card Speed Tests

I’ve put the Sony A6x00 cameras through the memory card speed tests. The A6000, A63000 and A6500 all perform about the same, except the A6500 has a huge buffer.

• Best Memory Cards For The Sony A6000
• Best Memory Cards for The Sony A6300
• Best Memory Cards for The Sony A6500

Sony A6000 Cases

I still like to put all my cameras in some form of a case. It adds a little weight but just helps them last longer. I personally like Gariz because they work well with a tripod because of the metal base. Otherwise Kaza Deluxe makes my favorite case combo.

Sony A6300 & A6500 Cases

The body has changed slightly between these cameras, so the A6000 cases will not for the A6300, but the A6300 and the A6500 have the exact same body.

Thumb Grips

I haven’t really felt the need for a thumb grip on this camera, but some people do like them. They provide you with extra grip of the camera and sort of help keep your thumb off the buttons. Lensmate really makes the best thumb grip.

Battery Grip

Sony does not make an official battery grip for the Sony A6000 or the A6300 / A6500. But there are a few third-party vertical battery grips available. Meike is one of the most popular third-party battery grip manufacturers.

Flash Diffuser

The flash on the A6300 and A6000 is a nice feature but it tends to generate too harsh of light. I recently purchased these diffusers designed for the A6000 and they also work for the A6300. They work surprisingly well when used indoors. 

Camera Straps

The Sony A6000, A6300 and A6500 are the right size to work great with a wrist strap, but you can also use a full strap. If you’re traveling around you might want a nice full strap just to let it hang, but if you use the camera as sort of sidekick / around the house type camera, wrist straps work great.

 Wrist Straps

Here are the wrist straps I’ve really liked over the years.

Full Straps – Leather

I personally have fallen in love with leather straps. Here is a list of some of the most popular leathers straps.

I don’t make any profit off these links. Hard Graft sends me stuff from time to time but that’s it. I’m listing these because these I’ve personally used straps from these companies and trust the quality. 

Non-Leather Straps

If you like straps that connect to the bottom of the cameras for a quick release, then C-Loop and Black Rapid make some nice stuff. C-Loop just put out a new strap that I haven’t tried yet but I’ll list it because it looks a lot more suited for the A6000 compared to their other straps.

Strap Accessories

If you’re looking to connect your strap to the bottom of your camera then C-Loop makes a few options as well as Black Rapid.

 Must Have Software For Sony Mirrorless

Aside from using the traditional Lightroom and Photoshop combo, if you’re a landscape, travel or HDR photography I highly recommend checking my Aurora HDR review.

It’s made my post processing workflow way faster and less of a chore.

• Aurora HDR Review
• Machphun Luminar

Must Have Cleaning Supplies

There are a few cleaning supplies everyone should consider having. Air blowers, micro fiber wipes and a sensor brush.

99% of time if you’re sensor gets dirty you should use an air blower to clean it. If you find that a piece of dust is stuck to your sensor then I really have had great success with a sensor brush. I wouldn’t use anything else. Those are the “dry methods” for cleaning your sensor. I wouldn’t recommend using the wet method unless you’ve really done something bad to your sensor, like tried to blow dust off it with your mouth and got spit on it. I’ve done that and if that’s the case, you can get it cleaned at a camera store or for a similar price, buy all the supplies to do the wet cleaning method.

I buy Micro Fiber cleaning cloths in bulk now because they always get dirty and need to be replaced. It’s also nice to just grab a fresh cloth to clean your lenses.

Lenses And Adapters

A list of all the available APS-C lenses and Lens Adapters designed for the Sony E-Mount – Sony APS-C E-Mount Lens List

Lens Adapters

I’ve listed a few of the best lens adapters here, but I recommend checking out the E-Mount lens list above.

Canon

For Canon I was using the Metabones for a long time but it slowly began to diminish to the point where it would only work on manual lenses. I could have sent it in for repair but the shipping to Asia alone would have cost at least $50 dollars.

Now I use the Fotodiox. For a fraction of the price the Fotodiox is just as good in my opinion. And considering Metabones only has a 1 year limited warranty that does not include shipping fees, you might be better off with the Fotodiox.

• Metabones EF to E Mount T Smart MK IV – Amazon
• Fotodiox – EF to E Mount – Amazon

Nikon

I don’t use Nikon lenses but my friend does. He has the Fotodiox on his A7sII, I messed with it for a while and it seemed very solid and well-built, no play. He also has zero complaints.

• Metabones F to E Mount – Amazon
• Fotodiox F to E Mount – Amazon

Leica

I love using my Leica mount lenses on my Sony cameras. Just keep in mind that they are full manual and your 35mm lens will have the field of view of 50mm with the A6000 APS-C sensor.

There are a few adapter options, I personally use the Voigtlander and love it. Novoflex makes some really high-end stuff, but it might be overkill for this.

There are also adapters with close focus controls. Many Leica and Voigtlander lenses have pretty bad minimum focus distances, so having a close focus adapter that can extend might come in handy.

• Voigtlander M to E-Mount Adapter – Amazon
• Voigtlander M to E-Mount Close Focus Adapter – Amazon
• Novoflex M to E-Mount Adapter – Amazon
• Fotodiox M to E-Mount Adapter – Amazon

Carrying Cases & Backpacks

If you’re looking for the best bags for the Sony A6000, A6300 or A6500, or even a simple bags that just work, here is a short list of what I use regularly.

For higher end bags, Ona makes some great stuff as well as HardGraft, but they can get really expensive, really quick.

Calibration And Color

I almost never talk about color calibration, but I really should and I encourage you to seriously consider it. It’s a game changer and an absolutely must have item for any photographer that’s halfway serious. Even if you don’t have great monitors, it does wonders. This is a must have accessory for any photography!

I’ve used two color calibrators. The Spyder, and the i1 Pro.

I personally like the i1 Pro more, it’s a little faster and a little easier to use, however, they both produce very good results. At my work I use the Spyder3Elite at home I use the i1 Pro.  The i1 Pro was producing more consistent results between various monitors, but again I am using the older Spyder 3. The new Spyder5 has had some major improvements.

X-Rite i1 Display Pro

There are a few bundles, and a few other options. This is the basic version. I bought the one that comes with the color checker passport that I was using to help me with lens review and other tech stuff like that. It’s also handy if you’re shooting something like wedding with two different cameras, or by two different brands. You probably don’t need the passport color checker unless you know you need it. If that makes sense.

• Amazon

Datacolor Spyder5Pro

They have a few types, the Pro, Elite, and Express. But the difference is actually just in the software. Some allow you to calibrate your whole studio to match ambient light; express is geared more towards home use with simple color correction. The Pro model is probably your best choice if you’re serious about your colors. Otherwise if you just like to shoot for fun and want to make sure your monitor is properly balanced, the Express will be fine. I personally would use the Pro.

• Amazon

Best Accessories A6000 / A6300 / A6500 | Conclusions

This is a basic list of some of the best accessories I’ve found that I trust. I’m always testing new gear, new cameras and new technology and I’ll continue to update these lists with the best stuff. 

If you’ve found something you really like that you feel like it will make shooting with the A6000 a better experience for other photographers, please let me know.

Many of these links are affiliate Amazon links but also many are not. If something is good, I’ll list it even if I don’t get a commission. Ultimately, I want to make these lists the best, most complete lists of great accessories that make shopping for photographers a much easier and better experience and I will continue to expand the technology that powers this site to make things cleaner, simpler and faster. But it all takes time and money so buying your next accessory though one of these links does help me a lot.