Calling all Sony Alpha users! (Part 3)

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I'm using a SIDO branded one, £6ish from Ebay, seems fine. Battery life in the A900 has'nt been great but I think thats more down to the cold than the battery as nothing is lasting well at the moment.
 
Doubt it will be better than the 16-105mm Chris to be fair and you'd be losing your wide angle, I know your lusting cos its cheap!

I wish they'd drop the price on the Zeiss 16-80mm, doubt its going to happen!

On another note, I dont have any issues with LR2.2 or 3 Beta with my A200.
 
I know when I was looking for lenses from my A900, the 24-105 didn't have a good rep.

Not used one personally though.

On another note, I've just picked up a Minolta 80-200 f/2.8 HS APO on Ebay. Seller is in Cambridge, so I'm collecting it tomorrow. Hope its going to be good :)
 
bobiscuit said:
Think you mean 30mm f/2.8? Otherwise that would be very, very cheap ;)
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No, I mean the 20mm.

Marked on the shelf at £249, down to £149. :D


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Granty_ said:
Doubt it will be better than the 16-105mm Chris to be fair and you'd be losing your wide angle, I know your lusting cos its cheap!

I wish they'd drop the price on the Zeiss 16-80mm, doubt its going to happen!

On another note, I dont have any issues with LR2.2 or 3 Beta with my A200.
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Cheers Granty, think I'll keep the 16-105 for now.
 
Picking up a 24-105mm tomorrow :).

I needed a replacement for the 18-70mm. Was going to go for a Sigma 17-70mm, but this is £100 cheaper and bigger range. I think I can make do with my 11-18mm and this new one. Hopefully I won't miss the 19-23 range too much :thinking:

24mm at f/3.5 should be good enough for indoor group shots, and up to 105mm at f/4.5 should be good for portraits. If I desperately need bigger aperture I have the 50mm f/1.8

As long as quality is a wee bit better than kit lens (no massive blue fringing, etc.) I'll be happy :thumbs:
 
puddleduck said:
The Sony 20mm f/2.8 is down to £149 :nuts:

Just picked one up from Jessops in Cambridge. Seems to be £350+ on CameraPriceBuster.
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None in stock, or at least not on display, in either Jessops in Bristol today. I would have noticed at that price!
 
onomatopoeia said:
None in stock, or at least not on display, in either Jessops in Bristol today. I would have noticed at that price!
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It was the only one they had - it was £249 last weekend, as I was vaguely interested, so the reduction only happened within the last day or two.

Does seem very cheap, but its not mis-priced as the £249 to £149 reduction was marked on the shelf. Had a quick play today and it seems pretty nice.

I imagine it'll be this price in any Jessops that still have stock.
 
puddleduck said:
On another note, I've just picked up a Minolta 80-200 f/2.8 HS APO on Ebay. Seller is in Cambridge, so I'm collecting it tomorrow. Hope its going to be good :)
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I was watching that - it should be good & £650 is probably below normal market value.
 
heidfirst said:
I was watching that - it should be good & £650 is probably below normal market value.
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Wasn't sure of the going rate at all, I've read some good things about it. I already have a Kenko Pro 300 1.4x DG which seems to work with all my other lenses, so should with this too.

I was really looking for a Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 (maybe) a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 HSM so this is a lot more than I wanted to pay - and its actually more than a Nikon 80-200 f/2.8 which sort of sunk in after I'd won it :lol:
 
Been messing around with the anti-shake on the A900.

Never really been impressed with AS (was never entirely sure it worked on my first body as it seemed to do very little!), but the second body is the same.

Anyhow, it seems that once shutter gets over 1/200 for me, then A/S definitely degrades sharpness with a CZ 24-70 at 70mm.

Its measurable and repeatable.

1/200: Off, nice and sharp, On, sometimes sharp, but often not as sharp as I'd expect and its never as good as the sharpest "off"

With the CZ 16-35, AS needs to be off pretty much all the time, or distant objects gets a slight - but noticable blur.

Once shutter drops to 1/50th and below, I can see the benefit of A/S.
 
Still a fair bit of snow around here, couple from a quick (and very icy!) cycle a bit earlier today.



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I find that second photo slightly disturbing because all I can see is what to me looks like a thin snowman standing in front of a cross, with one of his arms relaxed and the other pointing to the left, as though you need to go that way. And his buddy in the background is doing the same. :eek: :runaway:
 
heidfirst said:
I was watching that - it should be good & £650 is probably below normal market value.
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Just collected it, bloody hell the focus is F-A-S-T. When the A900 grabs hold of it, you can feel the motor torque. Picked it up just before it got dark but I can see I'll love it, surprisingly compact too.
 
DC2Z said:
Too right I'll have it, don't suppose they have an 11-18mm for £249 aswell?
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There was an 11-18mm at the Kendal (Cumbria) branch on Friday. It was shipped down for me from Glasgow last week but due too poor communication on Jessops part (I asked to be informed either way whether it was possible or not to ship between stores) & not wanting to miss a bargain I managed to get a friend to collect the one left in the Doncaster Branch. The ironic thing was that on Friday Jessops were trying to contact to inform me of its arrival as I was on the phone to the friend who was outside Jessops in Doncaster having just picked up the lens there.:bang::bang: So it may be worth a phone call to the Kendal (01539737735) store to see if they will ship it on if they still have it. Sorry I can't offer to pick it up as I am unable to get to Kendal this week (work commitments). Hope you are lucky.:thumbs:
 
Couple of test shots from the Minolta 80-200 f/2.8 APO HS. Just won it on Ebay from someone in Cambridge, so shot these walking back from his place to mine (only had 15 minutes before dark)


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Both wide open - I've only had the lens for 55 minutes, and taken 3 shots, but I think its going to be quite nice.
 
Hi fellow Sony users didn't notice we had our own little corner of this forum. Upon reading all these posts about the Jessops price drop could anyone recommend a good landscape lens that are cheaper than norm.

Many Thanks

Dave
 
DaveMartin said:
Hi fellow Sony users didn't notice we had our own little corner of this forum. Upon reading all these posts about the Jessops price drop could anyone recommend a good landscape lens that are cheaper than norm.

Many Thanks

Dave
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Konica Minolta or Tamron 17-35 f/2.8 - f/4.

Excellent lenses. (same lenses, the KM is a re-badge of the Tamron)
 
Thankyou very much for the reply puddleduck I am off in search for that lens now. I've been desperate for a good landscape lens for a while now and can't wait to get one.
 
DaveMartin said:
Thankyou very much for the reply puddleduck I am off in search for that lens now. I've been desperate for a good landscape lens for a while now and can't wait to get one.
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I rate it very highly - its amazingly close to the £1.5k Carl Zeiss 16-35! :eek:

It'll be way better than the 18-70 kit lens. I guess you might need something wider than 17mm at some point. I should also recommend the Tamron 17-50, I've shot loads of landscape with that.
 
I was just looking at the jessops web site and saw the Sony 28mm f2.8 wide angle lens for £179 would that not be good for landscapes.
 
DaveMartin said:
I was just looking at the jessops web site and saw the Sony 28mm f2.8 wide angle lens for £179 would that not be good for landscapes.
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I think its the weakest Minolta / Sony prime. I found my Tamron 28-75 outperformed it for corner sharpness, and vignetting control on the A900.

The Sigma 24mm f/2.8 Super Wide II is excellent, as it the Minolta 24mm f/2.8 (for some reason Sony never re-did this one)

I'd be inclined to buy a used Minolta 28mm f/2.8 instead of the Sony 28mm, I think £70-£85 will get you one on Ebay if you want 28mm.
 
I'm not sure what I'mgoing to want now I've just been looking at the Tamron 17-50 you mentioned and I feels spoilt for choice now :lol:
 
The tamron 17-50 is on ebay for a touch over £200 is that a good price?
 
Puddleduck again thankyou for your guidance and seeing those photos has just helped me make my mind up, they are amazing photos and if there done on the 17-50 then I'm sold. Again many thanks

Dave
 
DaveMartin said:
Puddleduck again thankyou for your guidance and seeing those photos has just helped me make my mind up, they are amazing photos and if there done on the 17-50 then I'm sold. Again many thanks

Dave
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A lot of them were - I still miss my Fuji S5 Pro, still the best camera out there for dynamic range, and it has awesome colours.
 
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