David, have you seen this thread re UK online lens sales?

[marktuma]

Hi David,

I wondered if you'd seen this over at Dyxum - http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/forum_posts ... ing-online

Any thoughts or information from Sony you can shed on this?

Cheers,
Mark

[alphaomega]

Looked at Park Cameras and they seem to have pick up in stores only, whereas Warehouseexpress did not appear to have any such restriction on their Sony DSLR lenses.
I discovered another interesting thing on the Warehouseexpress site. It was true, the rumour that Tokina would release their 11-16 for Sony A mount

Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 AT-X PRO DX AF Lens - Sony Fit
The new Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX (Sony fit) is an ultra-wide angle lens with a fast f/2.8 aperture for better photography in low-light situations.

You can have it for £539.00 I wonder if this is the first of many. I fancy the 16.5-135 zoom.

[mikeriach]

I should think he has since he has been posting on the thread.

And they wonder why people buy third party lenses!

I've been saving up for a 70-200G but maybe I'll look at the Sigma, the old version is less than half the cost of the Sony. The new version with OS is much more expensive (David, have you seen these yet?)

Mike

[David Kilpatrick]

I'm not bothered about the new OS version as it loses some of the close focus ability. I took the 70-300mm OS to the USA and regretted it, although the lens is excellent it also loses close focus. 1.5m instead of 1m. On the safari bus for 'Out of Africa' (Verde Valley, Arizona) we had the best seats, next to the driver/zookeeper. But, closer than 1.5m to the door of the bus, so when a giraffe put its head in - no shot, no focus. And two or three more similar incidents. I had to get out of my seat, get our of the bus and shoot back into the bus for one pic.

So, for me, close focus is the holy grail of any lens which goes as short as 70mm. Even changing the close focus by 20 or 30cm can lose shots. That's one thing I like about the NEX, with either lens you know it will focus if the subject is at least ten inches away.

David

[TallPaul]

Its a shame Tokina are half committed, I see the 16-28mm full frame is only for Canikon
http://www.dpreview.com/news/1007/10070 ... ncanon.asp

Sony do seem to have shot themselves in both feet and some other areas with the policy change, seems to be some dissent amongst the trade as well, be interesting to see where they go - discussion on Dyxum has run its course for now.

Park Cameras are nice people and will help you out by the way, if say you can't manage 100's of miles round trip to the store....

[mikeriach]

David,

So how does your Sigma compare to your old KM 70-200?
I might settle for one of those instead.
A lot less saving to do!

Mike

[David Kilpatrick]

I sold the Minolta 70-200mm to buy the Sigma. I wanted a lens I would be happier to knock around with, not too worried about damage or getting scruffy with use; I also wanted a flat field for close-ups, because I have always worked a lot in the studio and on closer subjects. The Minolta was terrible for this, and the Sony is the same design. It's fine at a distance but gets progressive worse at the edges as you focus closer.

The Sigma is never 'as good as the best' from the Minolta design, but taken on average across its working range, delivers a more consistent corner to corner image on full frame.

It was the A900 which persuaded me to do this; the M/Sony is considerably better on APS-C, the areas of the pic which caused me problems are cut off.

David

[mikeriach]

David,

I think I am likley to stick with APS-C for the future.
Even with recent reductions at Warehouse Express on the ff bodies, £1500 for an A850 is a bit too far for me.
We'll see what the next developments are like.
Are they stopping production of the macro version and going OS only?
It's apparently around the same price as the Sony!
Mike

[David Kilpatrick]

They are not stopping the non-OS version (at least, not yet).

David