Buying advise. Sony DSLR and Zeiss lenses

[Lotus54]

Hi,
I've been looking at the 'new' Sony DSLR cameras for awhile now.
I started looking at the A100, then the A700 and cheaper ones came out.

Is the A100 a 'good buy' now since it is discontinued? Or am I better to spend considerably more cash on the 700?

I was looking at buying the SAL-1680Z - Carl Zeiss® Vario-Sonnar T* DT 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 lens.
They are fairly expensive (at just under $700 street).
I know from my experience that the lens makes a huge difference. The film cameras I've had with excellent lenses produced considerably better results.

I'm not locked into the Sony, but I did like the A100 when I tried one and would like to have a great lens. That is one reason I was considering getting an A100 now (seems to be around $300-$350 used) and spend the extra on the good lens.

Thoughts?

Oh yeah, types of photography I like. Along with the 'general' pics I'll take- what I really like are fairly small vignettes of nature. Not huge scenics that much, but rather I like to pick out a smaller feature and explore that.
I was using a 4x5 view camera, but it just takes too darn long and is too big for me to carry around. I really liked the control that those give but I don't have the time right now to invest that would receive the benefits.

Mark

 

[deudeu]

If your two choices are:
1. a cheaper body with Zeiss glass
2. a more expensive body with kit lens or some other cheaper lens manufacturer.
I would defenetly buy the cheap body. The only thing that would make me change my mind is if
1. i am going to be printing out very large pictures since newer body usually have more pixels.
2. i am going to be shooting quite often in low light since newer bodies tend to deal with high ISOs in a less noisy way.

I wish Zeiss made K-Mount zooms... Nah, actually i wouldn't have the money to buy them!