Photoclubalpha

Well, Worcester-shire, anyway. I haven't been in to a camera shop in my home town of Worcester for some months. Never much to interest Sony dslr types. Today I found my self at a lose end for a few minutes in town and popped in to Jessops first and then LCE. I was pleasantly surpised in both. In Jessops they had a whole cabinet dedicated to Sony, at least the same shelf space as Canon and Nikon. They also had a Sony sale on with around £50 off many lenses - still more expensive than the internet, but better value than normal. Only A200, 300 and 350 bodies on display. The shop itself was very busy as usual on a Saturday; mainly people being confused by young sales-people extolling the virtues of the latest P&S, and people queuing to use the photo printers.

I then headed over to LCE and was even more surpised to see one of the Sony CoE stands in the shop - wow. Lots of lovely Sony gear to drool over, and A200, 350 and 700 bodies free to be handled. Had my first hold of an A700. Not as big as I expected, but seemed "thicker" than the A100. Lovely solid feel. Anyway, the shop was quiet and I chatted for a few minutes with the staff. They sold an A900 on Monday - they will not stock them, but can get them in a couple of days usually. They had all been impressed by the camera when they tried it out. (They also finally had a lowepro case big enough for my beercan - hooray!)

Anyway - thought you may be interested in the increasing profile of Sony dslrs in this part of the UK. If I had been new to the camera market I would easily have left town with the impression that it was a big three, rather than a big two. It is also rather scary to think all of that tempting stuff sitting a few short miles from my house, where in an insane moment of gear-lust a CZ35/1.4 could be mine!

Do you know something I don't or is the 35/1.4 marketed as a CZ lens rather than a G in the UK? I've got my big temptation center pretty close by, Arlingotn Camera. I live immediately across from a Wolf (Ritz) Camera store (all they carry are the a200, a350, and a handful of lenses you wouldn't settle for if you knew better), but Arlington Camera, a little further off, carries the a200-a900, 16-80, 16-105, 24-70, 85/1.4, 11-18, 50/1.4, 50/2.8 Macro, 100/2.8 Macro, 18-200, 18-250, and 70-300 G.

Hi Birma,
Good to see that major stores no longer seem to ignore the existence of Sony DSLR's as much, makes one think confidently about the future at least.
I think you're talking/lusting about/after the 35 f1.4 G, or is there a Zeiss equivalent now?
If it's the G version, I'd save your money because the reviews give it a bad rap for strong CA and softness between f1.4 and f4, really surprising when one considers the price of the lens.
Greg
http://www.photozone.de/sony-alpha-aps- ... 14?start=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It was a mistyping guys. Birma meant 85/1.4 CZ. And I perfectly understand what he means.

Sorry guys,it was late - I think I meant the CZ85, but I could get pretty excited about the 35 G as well

Well I'm with you on that one Birma, the 85/1.4 is a darn sweet lens! If I were ever able to rationalize a lens purchase over 1000 USD, that would be the first one I'd go for!