Sony Lens upgrade

[jameslongstrong]

My dad is buying a 2nd lens for his Sony A290. He has aksed my opinion on this and as a Canon user I have no idea about Sony lenses. He wants a longer focal length as he only has the kit lens (18-55mm). I have looked at the choices and think the best choice is between the

Sony 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 DT
and
Sony 55-200mm f4-5.6 DT SAM

Apart from the difference of focal length I was wondering what advantage SAM is? Which one would be considered the better lens?

TBH this would just be so the camera can be used at a longer focal range. They are pretty similar in price so I'd ideally be looking for something else to help him make the choice of lens.

Cheers for the advice in advance.

James.

 

[lexie]

check out dyxum lens review database for a-mount lenses

http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/index.asp

the 55-200mm seems to get better reviews and the sam means the focusing will be quieter

 

[jameslongstrong]

Cheers Keith. I want to give advice but I know nothing about Sony lenses so thought I'd have an ask here.

 

[Stewby]

When I looked around at a telephoto zoom for my A200 the Tamron 70-300 generally got better reviews than the Sony 75-300. I purchased the Tamron and have been well happy with it. Jessops did have it in their New Year sale for £99 as well, they still might

 

[chrism_scotland]

I suspect that the Sony 55-200 is based on the excellent Tamron 55-200, it was very cheap a year or so ago with excellent imagine quality if you can find one.

 

[andycallaghan]

Why not get the 18-250mm and get rid of the other lens? Then you have one lens to cover that range.

 

[cobwebscavern]

My dad is buying a 2nd lens for his Sony A290. He has aksed my opinion on this and as a Canon user I have no idea about Sony lenses. He wants a longer focal length as he only has the kit lens (18-55mm). I have looked at the choices and think the best choice is between the

Sony 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 DT
and
Sony 55-200mm f4-5.6 DT SAM

Apart from the difference of focal length I was wondering what advantage SAM is? Which one would be considered the better lens?

TBH this would just be so the camera can be used at a longer focal range. They are pretty similar in price so I'd ideally be looking for something else to help him make the choice of lens.

Cheers for the advice in advance.

James.

Not sure if you are aware that the Sony can use Minolta autofocus lenses?

An option that no one has yet mentioned would be the iconic "beercan". This is a Minolta 70-210 with constant f4 through the range. You can pick them up for around the £100 mark on evilbay.

If you decide to go for this make sure to try and find one with the lens hood as these can be hard to find on their own.