First Post, Camera and Lens opinion

[mjweber2]

Hello Everyone, I've always loved photography, and I really enjoy trying to take interesting pictures, but I feel that I've reached the limitations of my little Sony Point and shoot, and I'm ready to enter the real world of DSLR. Having said that I've done some research and Ive come up with what I think is a good start up package for someone who has NEVER seriously used a DSLR (I've played round with my dads old Canon A1). Please share your opinions.

Camera: Sony A350, I will either be buying the camera without the lens that comes with it or using the lens that comes with it as a paper weight, since the reviews I've read say it is absolute garbage. Also i've heard very good things about the minolta Maxxum lenses which are affordable on sleaze bay.


Lens: I've read that since the sony A350 is not a full frame camera I do not want the standard fixed 50mM lense and I should look at a 32 mM.

The lenses i'm looking at for low light indoor shots:
Minolta Maxxum AF 28 mm 28mm f/2.8 Lens or Minolta Maxxum AF 50mm f/1.7 lens


And for a general purpose lens:
Minolta 70-210mm f/3.5-4.5 Lens or


Minolta Maxxum 28-85mm Macro Zoom Lens


I'd like a suggestion for a 1X macro lense (I love taking pictures of insects and interesting up close things)

What does everyone thing.

I have a reef tank and I am totally addicted to the reef bulliten board. Suggestions by the reef community have saved me Thousands of dollars. I am so excited there is a photography board so I can do it right the first time. Thanks in advanced!!!

 

[mblanton]

Camera: Sony A350

The lenses i'm looking at for low light indoor shots:
Minolta Maxxum AF 28 mm 28mm f/2.8 Lens or Minolta Maxxum AF 50mm f/1.7 lens

And for a general purpose lens:
Minolta 70-210mm f/3.5-4.5 Lens or
Minolta Maxxum 28-85mm Macro Zoom Lens

In 2004 my wallet and I went totally digital to the tune of $3000. I purchased a Canon 10D, 17-40L, 28-135IS, 70-300IS, and 420EX flash. The new equipment quickly elevated me to a new level of photography, but soon became quite unhappy with my major investment.

Overall the 10D is a good DSLR and at 6.3mp it is capable of producing 16x20 inch prints that look great. The first thing that I became unhappy about was the sensor size. Since its smaller than 35mm it magnifiys the focal length of your lenses by 1.6, so my 17-40L ($900) became a 27-64mm, which is not very useful. I sold it a year after I bought it and used the money to buy a new laptop and 50mm lens.

The 28-135IS is my walk around lens, but lacks sharpness, and soon became the kit lens which is being sold with newer version of the Canon D series of cameras. The 70-300IS is not bad on a sunny day and you gain 180mm with the sensor, effectively giving you a 480mm lens.

The 50mm lens (got on ebay for $50) has been the best performer out of them all. It's the sharpest lens in my bag.

Now let me pass down some wisdom that I didn't know when I spent my money. You can buy a Nikon DSLR and use Nikkor manual focus lenses with it. You could buy a series of prime lenses and save a ton of money. Do yourself a favor and read about these incredible lenses before you make a decision.

Mike