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

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