Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently brought a Sony Alpha a100. I was going to get a point and shoot and the store had a special on the alpha for $350 with the 18-70 mm lens and I figured I couldn't pass it up.

The Sony lens that came with it does fine for macros of my snakes.

Now I am looking to add a 200 - 300 mm lens for out door wild life pics with out spending more then the camera itself. I know this will obviously be a compromise between price and performance, but any suggestions will help.

Thanks
Anthony

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"The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which ones pink?"

Anthony,

First off, you have to understand that lenses are an obvious case of "you get what you pay for". You won't get the same results with a $200 lens than you will with a $1200 lens. But then again, not everyone can afford or is willing to shell out thousands of dollars on lenses.

I have used Sony DSLRs, the Konica Minolta DSLRs and the Minolta film SLRs that created the system for about 20 years. I have been very happy with the system and have not switched even though I have had a number of opportunities to do so. The Alpha 100 isn't my favorite camera in the series, but it is a decent little camera particularly for the price you paid! I paid $800 for the same deal last July.

For a zoom lens that goes to 300mm there are a variety of choices. If you could afford it, I would recommend you look at the new Sony 75-300 f/4.5-5.6 G lens. Unfortunately, it runs around $800, but it should be a great lens as the G series are the top of the line lenses in the mount. There are lots of cheaper 70/75-300 macros on the market for much less money, but the trick is that there are significant differences in the quality of one lens over another and you can't simply rely on one brand to be the best. You have to do some research.

The best recommendation I can offer is to read the lens reviews at Dyxum.com. It is a great website devoted to the Minolta/Sony mount with lots of good lens reviews (go to the lens database). Just make sure you see what people are comparing the lens to. Some people buy a new lens having never owned any other similar lenses and give it great reviews! How could they know it was great if they had never used anything else?

Chris
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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Sorry,

I meant to suggest a couple of lenses as well as the link to the reviews (below).

Minolta - AF 75-300 F4.5-5.6 - this lens is no longer made, but you can find it on Ebay with some regularity. You should be able to buy it for under $200 for one in good condition. It is sometimes referred to as the "big beercan" because it resembles the Minolta 70-200 f/4 which sometimes gets called "the beercan" (due to its size and shape). Both these lenses are old, but excellent, but you want the all metal, smooth sided one.

(The sony lens with the same numbers is rated lower.)

If you can't find or aren'y comfortable with a good used Minolta 75-300, then I suggest buying a new copy of the following -

Sigma 70-300 f/4-5.6 APO Macro II - these sigma APO zooms are usually pretty sharp. Considering you can buy it new from Sigma4Less.com for $184, it is a pretty good deal. (Don't get the non-APO version - it is clearly inferior and not worth the $140 they charge for it, IMHO.)

Chris
dyxum lens reviews

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Chris Harrison
San Antonio, Texas

Chris thanks for your input. I have seen the minolta lens you mentioned on ebay and was considering Sony one (I didn't know it was rated lower).

Thanks Again!!
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"The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which ones pink?"