stupid question about lenses

[NewguyMd]

Ok I am stupid I admit it I am trying to decide which camera to buy and its confusing. My choices are between canon xti, xt nikon d50,d70, d80 pentax k10d and the sony A100, Since this is the Sony forum I will stick to asking questions about that.

just some fyi I am leaning towards the pentax or sony because of the "anti shake" built into the camera. Now here is my dilema lenses. I plan on shooting mostly waterfowl and some landscapes but this question is more towards the waterfowl. I am looking for a good zoom or even a fixed focal length at about 400mm for a decent price. I have been searching and searching. I went to beh.com and found a minolta 70-210 f/4 macro(55) lens at a very good price. Will this work on the Sony? Will it work with an extender? Any suggestions of other lenses or places to look? Thanks for the help

[MxMoney]

I had a Nikon N70 with 2 lenses and a flash. Wanted to go digital but waited and bought 3 or 4 point in shoots over the last 4 years. Last year, when Sony announced plans to by Minolta, I thought this would be a good time to buy. I really liked anti shake and was almost sold but waited again for Nikon (D80) and Canon (XTi) to release their update. After much reading over the last year I took the advise of several forums and went to the store with my own memory card and shot pictures with the XTi, D80 and A100. In the end the value of the Sony was too hard to pass up. Here is what I bought:
A100K Sony Alpha with 18-70mm kit lense at Onecall for $859.
56 series Flash from Onecall for $349 (which has built in wireless).
Than I went to eBay and bought
Tamron 70-300mm for $79
Minolta prime 50mm f1.7 $99
Minolta 70-210 F4.0 "beercan" for $175. I don't know any better way to get "in the game".
Good luck with your shopping and remember the lenses are 1.5 x the focal length on the APS size digital camera so the 70-300mm is 105-450mm on the Alpha.
One other point is when I was shooting with a non IS lense using the XTi it was very hard to get a clear picture at a distance. I was outside the Penn Camera store trying to take pictures of moving cars while panning. I shot about 30 times and less than 5 were good. I have used the Alpha at night to catch my daughter cheering at her high school football games and the pictures look very nice even at 400mm, anti shake is no joke!

[Canuck935]

Ok I am stupid I admit it I am trying to decide which camera to buy and its confusing. My choices are between canon xti, xt nikon d50,d70, d80 pentax k10d and the sony A100, Since this is the Sony forum I will stick to asking questions about that.

just some fyi I am leaning towards the pentax or sony because of the "anti shake" built into the camera. Now here is my dilema lenses. I plan on shooting mostly waterfowl and some landscapes but this question is more towards the waterfowl. I am looking for a good zoom or even a fixed focal length at about 400mm for a decent price. I have been searching and searching. I went to beh.com and found a minolta 70-210 f/4 macro(55) lens at a very good price. Will this work on the Sony? Will it work with an extender? Any suggestions of other lenses or places to look? Thanks for the help

The 70-210 f/4 is an excellent lens. As the other poster said, it is known as the 'beercan' and it has a cult following. What makes this lens so wonderful is not only the constant f/4 aperature but it has bokeh to die for as well. I have stopped shooting with the 75-300 now because of it.

[cr_mmurillo]

The 70-210 f/4 is an excellent lens. As the other poster said, it is known as the 'beercan' and it has a cult following. What makes this lens so wonderful is not only the constant f/4 aperature but it has bokeh to die for as well. I have stopped shooting with the 75-300 now because of it.

I am interested in this lens. Do you have an sample pictures? I am looking in ebay and it seems to be reasonable price.

[Canuck935]

I am interested in this lens. Do you have an sample pictures? I am looking in ebay and it seems to be reasonable price.

Yes the prices have gone up a little on them but if you can get one for under $200 I'd say it's a deal. I don't have any samples at this time. I will try to post some later this evening when I'm home.

[I got mine on ebay in near mint condition with origional caps, hood, box, instruction sheet, and even origional styrofoam packaging for $200]

[Canuck935]

Okay sorry it took me all weekend but here is one I took with it on Saturday. This was f/5.6 at 100mm. I will try to find another example at wide open f/4 to better demonstrate its bokeh. Even in this example you can see its quality though. It also has excellent color and sharpness IMO. I've heard reports of CA but I have yet to experience it with this lens.

[MxMoney]

With my lens 80-210 f4 "beercan" there is CA at wide open but as the picture above shows there are some amazing opportunties for under $200 eBay money.