As you may be gathering, I have been investing in camera stuff recently...
This is the 2nd lens I bought for my camera which is excellent. It takes very good and sharp pictures all the way through and is not prone to glare, possibly due to the very large hood it comes with!
The operation of the lens is very simple and fits on both the Sony a-mount as well as the Konica Minolta mount. Zooming is done through a large in the middle and if you are focusing manually it is through a front ring. Again there is no distance indicator for the focus ring but that is only useful for nerds as you will not be able to focus and measure distance at the same time unless you want to get a tape out to check!
The longest zoom is at 300mm. Now bear in mind that digital SLR cameras have a "crop" factor in the majority of cases and the Sony a-100 has a 1.5 crop factor, that means the lens is effectively a longest zoom of 450mm. With that you can take a good picture of a car number plate from about 450 meters away (500 yards in old money).
The zoom is fast enough for sports like football where you can take quality shots from all accross the field. It is also very good for the bird watchers out there! I never thought I could enthusiasticly put a a camera on a tripod and use the camera as binocular to catch some wildlife like birds, squirrels and field mice.
Bear in mind that this lens is quite heavy and you will need a tripod to use it after 100mm. After 100mm you will just get too much camera shake even if you are Arnie because the slightest will get amplified by the same magnitude. You should also remember that as 75mm is it's widest angle, this lens is useless to take photos where you are less than 4 metres from your subject (unless it is very small) so you need a good non-telephoto lens as well.
It comes with front and back covers as well as a lens hood almost as big as the lens itself!
Again this is a lens that for the price will open a whole new field of photogrpahy for you. I would reccommend it thoroughly.
If you are buying a new camera for the price difference it is well worth getting the double lens kit from Sony.
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The SAL-75300 is a compact and lightweight zoom lens with a wide focal range and the ... more
ability to adapt to all photography conditions. The perfect complement to your Sony digital reflex camera, this lens is built around 13 lenses divided into 10 groups....
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
The SAL-75300 is a compact and lightweight zoom lens with a wide focal range and the ... more
ability to adapt to all photography conditions. The perfect complement to your Sony digital reflex camera, this lens is built around 13 lenses divided into 10 groups....
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...