Minolta 28-105 mm F3.5-4.5

[fos]

For my new Alpha I've bought old Minolta lenses. No complaints, au contraire, these old lenses from Minolta are great, I mean excellent. Sharp, great color, bright. With every purchase I made my love for Minolta lenses grew bigger and bigger.
For some weeks now I have been shooting with my new toy, and by new I mean BRAND NEW Minolta 28-105 mm F3.5-4.5 lens and all I can say is WOW:eek: The perfect replacement for the kit. Fast even indoors, sharp, clear... I mean bright!!! I am shooting at 105mm F4.5 (compare that to the kit;) ) Excellent color rendition. Now it is the official all around/stay on the camera/on the go lens. Despite being a zoom and not being a prime, is an excellent lens for portraits. Granted, it is not the fastest lens, especially for sports, but for everything else, what a lens:) . Its 62mm filter size makes me feel, well, like a pro:p. But the killer point was the price. Like I said it was brand new, warranty and all, for a 100 bucks.
I know, I know, it is not a G lens or anything like that, but it fits me perfectly because that was the kind of range(both in price and focal range) I was looking for... and for the price!
Regarding its macro I must say that is quite decent...more than decent is good, I'll even dare say excellent. I do not own yet the Minolta or Sony 50 mm F2.8 Macro (1:1) but amongst the lenses I own I have a couple of macros (not 1:1) and I must say that perhaps the 28-105 is the best of the macros I have.
Now it is official: "the kit" is the lens for the sand-dust-water situations:p

[DonSchap]

28-105mm is a good range, because when you place it on the A100, it goes to 42-157.5mm, because of the SONY's DCF of 1.5x.

Unfortunately, that offers you nothing to shoot with in the wide angle area ... and indoors ... well, it can get kind of tight.

I suggest you get your hands on a Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 or 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 (Minolta-mount) if you can, then you will have a decent indoor wide-angle optic to shoot through (effectively 28.5-52.5mm). These are popular and can usually be had for a really good price on ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/Tokina-AF-19-35mm-f-Minolta-Auto-Focus-AF193M-F3-5-4-5_W0QQitemZ270112235981QQihZ017QQcategoryZ3342QQrd Z1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem). <- click here

Just a thought, in order to really let go of that awful, sand-level kit lens.

[fos]

I suggest you get your hands on a Tokina 19-35mm f/3.5-4.5 or 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 (Minolta-mount)


Got you on that Don. But that is going to have to be put on hold for a little while as I am waiting for my new Sigma 105 mm EX DG macro) my mouth is watering, just to mention it:p . Let's see how good that lens is. I'll let you know once I have it on my hands.

[cgl88]

I like the versatility of kit and zoom lenses, but one of the tradeoffs is that the smaller aperture makes indoor shots difficult. Lenses with wide aperture are nice, zoom lenses with wide aperture are nicer! They also cost more and are heavier.

Everything in photography is about trade-offs.