Lenses for Sony Alpha 300

[telecat]

My Daughter bought one of these early this year with the supplied 18-70 lens. Generally She's pretty happy with it but would like to obtain a new lens or lenses. She usually photos Friends or places and was looking at lenses suited to this type of work. I do know that Minolta lenses fit the Sony's but am looking for advice on which types to look at? Any ideas??

[Woza]

telecat said:

My Daughter bought one of these early this year with the supplied 18-70 lens. Generally She's pretty happy with it but would like to obtain a new lens or lenses. She usually photos Friends or places and was looking at lenses suited to this type of work. I do know that Minolta lenses fit the Sony's but am looking for advice on which types to look at? Any ideas??

Head on over to www.alphamountworld.com should be a good place to start HTH

Woza.

[SamHH]

A telephoto lens is the most obvious lens to go for after a 'normal' zoom, typically a zoom in the 70-300mm range. I'm not familiar with the Sony or Minolta ranges, but they probably have a couple of lenses in that range, one probably having more features and/or better optical quality than the other. There's probably an expensive 'professional' 70-200mm lens too.

Other options would be a very wide-angle lens, a macro lens, or a fast prime lens. Depends on she wants really. Most people will find a telephoto zoom lens useful at some point though.

Edited by SamHH on Friday 28th August 12:09

[Juicetin1]

I also recommend looking at www.dyxum.com and www.mhohner.de for excellent reviews and info.

I picked up a Minolta 28-80xi for £9 off Ebay recently and whilst the focal length is more limited than the kit lens, the build quality and picture quality knock it into a cocked hat.

A useful article I looked at when I bought my A300 was this one:

http://reviews.ebay.com/Top-Minolta-Lens-Picks-for...

Hope this helps a bit.
Justin

[tr7v8]

I use a Tamron XR Di 18-200 & a Minolta 70-210 which came from my 7000i kit. I also use a Sigma 2x converter for the really long stuff.
This is done on 210 & Sigma x2

Edited by tr7v8 on Friday 28th August 14:13

[onomatopoeia]

To complement the range of the existing lens at a reasonable price, consider the Minolta 70-210 f/4, also known as the "beercan."

It's not one of the old Minolta designs that is now being made new by Sony so second hand is the only option. Prices are on the up and have been for the last year due to the popularity of the Sony DSLRs, so they are going for £130+ on ebay these days.

If you have (a lot) more to spend, the Sony 70-200 SSM G f/2.8 is absolutely splendid. Also very heavy and very white.

[clonmult]

onomatopoeia said:

To complement the range of the existing lens at a reasonable price, consider the Minolta 70-210 f/4, also known as the "beercan."

It's not one of the old Minolta designs that is now being made new by Sony so second hand is the only option. Prices are on the up and have been for the last year due to the popularity of the Sony DSLRs, so they are going for £130+ on ebay these days.

If you have (a lot) more to spend, the Sony 70-200 SSM G f/2.8 is absolutely splendid. Also very heavy and very white.

The beercan isn't readily available though - I kept on looking over at ebay, and eventually gave up - traded in a couple of old SLRs and picked up a Sigma 70-300. It hunts a little on the autofocus, but have got some great shots. The macro isn't too bad on it either.

[Juicetin1]

There are quite a few beercans on Ebay at the moment, i'm watching a few, but prices for them are going up because of demand. They seem to be fetching around £150 in good 2nd hand condition. I really want one.

[Skodaku]

The Sony 18-250 DT seems to be getting excellent write-ups, especially as a "one lens fit all - almost" pick. The Alphamount site seems to rate it.

[Taffer]

I got the Sigma 70-300mm APO DG for my Alpha 200 - £140-ish from onestop digital (from Hong Kong, but the warranty is worldwide). Pleased with the results, especially for a relatively inexpensive bit of glass. If you get one, remember to go for the APO version and make sure it is the proper mount, as Sigma make lenses for all the major SLR players.


ETA Reduced in quality a bit and cropped for the 'net, but this was taken by hand-held panning from about 100m away with the Sigma:

Edited by Taffer on Thursday 3rd September 21:49