Bought the A700 - Need Lens Advice

[scoocher97]

Thanks to everyone who responded to my thread abut the A700 vs the XSi. Just bought the A700 at BB and the sales person honored the 10% too. I also bought the extended warranty and the Sony 18-200 lens so we can get started with taking pics right away and not have to switch lenses too often. Just have to pick up a memory stick, any suggestions on a 4 or 8 GB? Also, I want to get another lens that will help with the soccer and cheerleading competetion photos. Any suggestions on a 75-300 lens that won't break the bank but will still giive us quality photos of the kids in their sports. Thanks for your help.

 

[Old Pirate]

Congratulations, first and foremost. You'll love it!

I think you'll find that 200 mm will do more sports for children than you think. It may not give facial expressions in midget football, but all other children sports it should cover since you'll have such good access to the sidelines.

If you can swing it I'd probably buy the new Sony 70-300 G that is to be out soon. It's more money, but it'll hold its value since it is a "G" and the IQ should be better than most any 75-300 you'll find used which of course will come with no warranty.

I own an A100 and A700, and while the A700 is an exceptional camera, I am still amazed at the quality of image the A100 can deliver in ISO's 100 and 200 with good light. The Alpha line is truly quite good!

 

[Kenneth B]

I shoot RAW mode and I've settled on 200-250 pictures per card being my comfort/convenience threshold.

Comfort in the potential of loosing X pictures if something catastrophic happens to the card. Convenience obviously not having to cary/change as many cards.

So a 4GB CF Card will hold 200 some odd photos so that is what I've just ordered form B&H with the Lexar rebate.

If you're going to shoot JPEG you might be able to get by with a 2GB card. Again it all depends on what format and how many pictures you're comfortable having in one basket.

Now for the lens.

I used to cheer so I know football is usually under mercury vapes at the statium, same for basketball and most competitions. Basicily I'm trying to point out that the faster the lens the better off you'll be. I'll rule out the $1800 70-200 G because you don't want to break the bank, not knowing how big your bank is I'd recommend either the

1) Tamron or Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 w/ 1.4 Teleconverters (Neither of which you can get yet, they're announced but not shipping)

2) Sony 70-300 G (Not as fast as the 2.8 but should give you excellent image quality)

3) Sony 70-300 (This is the cheapest option and you can get it at BB I think, but it is a basic kit lens)

I'll also say I'm at a point where I'm investing in the quality glass to go with my system now. I've got the ranges covered with good enough glass as I've called it. So I'm now looking at the Zeiss Primes 85mm & 135mm as well as the 24-70 and either the Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 or the Sony 70-200 (I'm waiting to see if the IQ difference between the two will warrant the extra $1000 in my opinion.)

Hope this helps you out some.

 

[scoocher97]

Thanks for the info, it helps quite a bit. The bank isn't quite as big as it was because of the camera and lens purchase. Is this the CF card you picked up:

4GB Professional 133x CompactFlash Card with Write Acceleration (WA) Technology
Mfr # CF4GB133380 • B&H # LECF133X4GB

 

[headofdestiny]

i've had great success with these, and some of them are UDMA:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2070070068+50001364+1053107923&name=Transcend

 

[Gregory King]

Thanks for the info, it helps quite a bit. The bank isn't quite as
big as it was because of the camera and lens purchase. Is this the
CF card you picked up:

4GB Professional 133x CompactFlash Card with Write Acceleration (WA)
Technology
Mfr # CF4GB133380 • B&H # LECF133X4GB

BH has the Lexar 300x UDMA version for $28 after $55 rebate. Heard about it on this forum.

Greg

 

[donedoc]

you will love the camera... I had an A100 which I gave to my daughter and now enjoy the A700 which can do far more than I know how to handle....

I have the SAL 18-250 and Iit is great.

I have two XcanDisk Extreme IV 4 Gig CF cards.... I strongly recommend buying two cards rather than one large one.... if the one card fails you have nothing. WIth two, if one fails, just go through your shots and delete the poorest ones.... I have always used ScanDIsk products and been quite happy with them. I shoot at extra fine JPEG, and the 700 just keeps shooting away at my grandson's ball games.... you'll have a fun time with this camera.
--
Bob, the Donedoc

 

[Gregory King]

I strongly
recommend buying two cards rather than one large one.... if the one
card fails you have nothing. WIth two, if one fails, just go through
your shots and delete the poorest ones....

I always have to argue with this. I've never had a card fail, but I've had them get lost or stolen (when out of the camera).

So I'd say have a backup, but hopefully your "main" card is big enough for all the shots you need to take. Unless you're a pro AND shooting raw, you don't need much unless you're going on vacation.

Of course, smaller cards can cost less per GB, so two small may cost less than one equivalent.

Greg

 

[Kenneth B]

I got the card listed in this thread.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1037&message=27724319