Lenses for A200 + A200 Settings?

[mandwa]

Hi all,

Long time Canon user, new Sony User on a budget!

I've just picked up a used Sony A200 with a 18-55mm lens which is actually quite good but i'd like somthing with more zoom.

The 18-70mm would probably be ok but the reviews seem horrible, i used to use an 18-135mm which was perfect in the Canon world but i'm clueless with Sony lenses.

Something like an 18-200mm would be good but i guess they'd be expensive and i do prefer somthing a little shorter.

I don't know what lenses are available from Sony and third party companies but would love to know.

Also i'd like some advice on the best in camera settings as i'm not familier with the dlight thing and such stuff. I also hate the way it strats focusing all the time, any thoughts on users settings for best jpoeg results would be great. I don't want to shoot RAW and would love to hear any thoughts on which settings work best for you folks!

Thanks in advance.

[blaireau_photo · Accepted solution]

Hello mandwa - Welcome to the Sony Forums

Regarding the lens first of all, you may be interested to know that there are lenses available from third party manufacturers that are compatible with Sony which should work out a little cheaper than the official ones that you may have already looked out. For instance, Sigma produce a 70mm-300mm lens that I have seen for sale online for under £100 that seems to get pretty good reviews and there is more information on the Amazon review page for this product:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B000B8T6DI/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

There are some alternatives manufactured by Tamron as well such as their 55mm-200mm option which is reviewed here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B000CEAOCS/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

If you wish to have more control over the focus (i.e. trying to stop the constant focusing) first of all you have the AF/MF switch which can be found just below the lens. Other than that, you may wish to leave the camera in Auto Focus mode and just adjust the settings for this which are described in detail from pages 67-71 of the manual which can be found here:

http://www.docs.sony.com/release/DSLRA200.pdf

As you mentioned that you are not a fan of the camera automatically starting to focus, I think that you may have the Eye-Start AF set to 'On' - this function automatically starts to focus when the camera viewfinder detects that you are looking through it. To turn off this feature, press the MENU button and then select the 'Cog' with a 1 next to it. Select Eye-Start AF and set this to 'Off'.

Regarding general shooting settings, this would natually depend upon what sort of images you are trying to shoot and also how satisfied you are with the shots taken by leaving everything set to 'Automatic'. Is there anything specific that you have in mind?

Thanks,

Simon

[mandwa]

Hey Simon, thanks for your detailed response!

That's sorted the focus issue - cheers!

I'm off to Edingburgh for the weekend and will look hopefully look at lenses in caamera shops as i only have one where i live with limited stock.

I like the idea of the 55-200 but i also found a 16-105mm and 16-80mm which are focal lenghts im comfortable with, i just widh the stock 18-70 was a bit better!

I will post back after the weekend and hopefully with some nice shots.

Thanks again.

[mandwa]

Hi simon,

Got the hang of the a200 thanks to your advice. I have purchased a couple of Sigma lenses, 18-50mm HSM OS F2.8 and a 55-200mm and both are producing great reesults, way better than i expected!

Thnaks again.

[blaireau_photo]

Hello again

It's always a good idea to look at these third party lenses as well - I'm glad you are enjoying your camera!

Simon