Sony Alpha 350 Lens Upgrade

Specifically for the discussion of the A-mount DSLR range
Forum rules
No more than three images or three external links allowed in any post or reply. Please trim quotations and do not include images in quotes unless essential.
Milky
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2013 3:12 pm

Sony Alpha 350 Lens Upgrade

Unread post by Milky »

My wife has a biggish birthday soon so I thought I would buy an extra lens.

She currently uses a 3.5-6.3/18-250 Sony lens predominantly for taking pictures of the kids and we literally have thousands of photos neatly filed away.

Her main use for the camera is unlikely to change in the foreseeable so as I am a complete numpty when it comes to technology can anyone shed some light on what would be a logical next lens please ?

My wife is a brand junkie so anything other than Sony might be a stretch but I would be interested in hearing your opinions please.

Many thanks,

Paul
agorabasta
Viceroy
Posts: 1198
Joined: Wed Oct 22, 2008 7:41 pm

Re: Sony Alpha 350 Lens Upgrade

Unread post by agorabasta »

You may consider a SAL35f1.8 for some low-light indoor shots. The lens is very inexpensive, yet optically is next to perfect.
User avatar
Birma
Tower of Babel
Posts: 6585
Joined: Sun Jun 29, 2008 3:10 pm

Re: Sony Alpha 350 Lens Upgrade

Unread post by Birma »

I agree on the prime lens idea - great for low light and getting a shallow depth of field.
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
User avatar
bfitzgerald
Subsuming Vortex of Brilliance
Posts: 3996
Joined: Fri Sep 26, 2008 10:48 pm

Re: Sony Alpha 350 Lens Upgrade

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

I picked up the 35mm f1.8, it's built like a toy but the optics are actually better than the Nikkor 35mm f1.8 I had (and that was pretty good)
I'd also broaden things up a bit, being a brand junkie is not a good idea, there are some excellent lenses out there from other makers too.
User avatar
Greg Beetham
Tower of Babel
Posts: 6117
Joined: Sun May 27, 2007 3:25 pm
Location: Townsville, Qld. Australia
Contact:

Re: Sony Alpha 350 Lens Upgrade

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

The choice of lens really depends on what specifically you want to accomplish with it, you already have a huge zoom range available with the lens you have so if you want to do a similar thing that it already does (only better) you would be looking at spending a lot of money on a more professional lens.

The problem is something like a 70-200/2.8G not only has a much less range it’s also hugely expensive and the chances are you won’t realize a whole lot of improvement either, it has the potential to be better, but that has to be taken advantage of by the way it’s used. (It’s also much heavier to use compared to the lens you have).

If you want to do quality set piece portraits then maybe the 85/2.8 SAM might be worth a look http://www.photozone.de/sony-alpha-aps- ... 28?start=1

Other than that I’m not sure what to suggest except maybe the 16-80ZA http://www.photozone.de/sony-alpha-aps- ... est-report but you have to be aware that lens has had a chancy QC history, some people have had no problems but others have had trouble with it. (with the construction, not optically)
The 16-80 isn’t very fast (light transmission) although it’s faster than the lens you have (with a lot less zoom range) but the optical quality/image quality is better.

The 35/1.8 is a great idea as well, that one will provide constant natural perspective in your photos when fitted to an APS-C format camera as well as being good quality optically. http://www.photozone.de/sony-alpha-aps- ... dt?start=2
Greg
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 24 guests