The Cheap Lineup

This is my 'cheap', though I prefer 'value' lineup, all bought used.

In purchase order :-

Tamron - AF 55-200 F4-5.6 Di II (Carmarthen Cameras)

Sigma - 18-50 F2.8-4.5 DC OS HSM (Ebay) Mine has no OS switch.

Minolta - AF 35-70 F4 (Ebay)

Minolta - AF 28 F2.8 (Ebay) Occasionally sticky blades

Minolta - AF 70-210 F4 (beercan)
                                        } (Ebay) Both from the same seller.
Minolta - AF 28-85 F3.5-4.5

Minolta - AF 28-105 F3.5-4.5 RS (Ebay)

Minolta - AF 50 F3.5 Macro (Ebay)

Sony - AF DT 55-200 F4-5.6 SAM (Ebay)

Sony - AF DT 30 F2.8 Macro SAM (Ebay) Boxed

Tamron - SP AF 90 F2.5 macro (52EM) (Harrison Cameras)

Sony - DT 35 F1.8 SAM (Ebay) Boxed

Minolta - AF 100-300 xi F4.5-5.6 (Ebay) Faulty (Auto zoom broken)

Minolta - AF 50 F2.8 Macro (Ebay)

Tamron - SP AF 10-24 F3.5-4.5 Di-II LD Aspherical IF (Ebay) Boxed

Minolta - AF 100-200 F4.5 (Ebay)

I also have 2 x 18-55mm SAMs (came with my 2 x a57s), an 18-55 SAM II (came with my a58), a Minolta silver 28-80mm (came with my daughter's Dynax 5) and a Minolta silver 28-100 (came with my Dynax 5).

These ranged in price from the Minolta 28-85 at £14.99 to the Tamron 10-24 at £99.

I really should sell/trade the 2 x 18-55 SAMs plus the Minolta 28-80 and maybe the minolta 28-100, though my daughter could maybe use that when she wants more wide/tele than the 35-70 f4.

Some of these were bought almost by mistake, where I was the only bidder or put in a cheeky offer, expecting to get knocked back.

I just need to get out and use them more now!










Edited by AsD - 29 August 2020 at 20:12

onsplekkie wrote: These 3 lenses should give you lots of BangForBuck IQ on APSC sensor. Tamron - SP AF 90 F2.5 macro (52EM) (Harrison Cameras) Sony - DT 35 F1.8 SAM (Ebay) Boxed Minolta - AF 50 F2.8 Macro (Ebay)

Yes, they're three nice lenses for not a lot of money.

Sigma 50 macro is read as a Minolta macron by DXO (I use DXO for all images prior to printing). I have replaced mine but found it very sharp.

Tamron 90 macro is still one of my favorites on crop and also FF (via la-ea4).
Sony 30mm macro. Very sharp and light lens.
Sony 50 f1.4 for aperture and still AF (easier than manually focusing on the fly but you have both options available).
Tamron 28-200 if-xr (smaller non stabilized version, not the older lumpy ones) is surprisingly sharp and except for wide angle vignetting meets or surpasses my Sony FE 28-70 in many cases (but not every time).
The 28-300 is similar.

All of the above are fairly cheap to buy.

For wider aperture telephoto-zoom I have a Sigma ZEN 70-210 f2.8.
This is a very sharp lens, even at f2.8
These suffer from sticky exteriors (you can wipe it all off and are left with a smooth exterior but no characters) and often from foggy inner element at the rear grouping. A bitch to disassemble. If you find an optically clean one for under $100 grab it.
I find this equal to or sharper in many cases than my Sony 70-300 G.

For fisheye, find a Bower-Samyang 8mm for under $150 (cdn). You may have to reset infinity as they are sometimes off but that is a simple adjustment.Much better than the Ukranian 8mm fisheye version that is available under a few names. That lens is softer and dimmer at the corners.

For normal travel zoom/kit lens, the Sony 18-55 is sharper than the 18-70.

I also find the Tamron 18-200 a decent lens (again, not the older lumpy ones, the xr-di2) is decent and I found this better than the Sony version....although I also read that they are the same optically so it may be an consistency issue).

Either way, between spending a grand on a new lens or less on an older version and using DXO, I find the latter makes more sense.
I have tested a few, new lenses (expensive) and am always a bit disappointing at the image quality, especially at the edges, and find that a lower-cost lens, when the images are cleaned up a bit, produce similar or better results and still leave me with money to actually travel. That's just an opinion.

So: Sony 30 macro. Tamron 90 macro (af), Tamron (newer version) 28-200/28-300, Sigma 70-210 ZEN, Sony 50 f1.4, Bower 8mm

I'm known for cheap so here we go.

The FF lineup.

A99 at a hot price. (mint)
17-35D (not the G - mint)
28-70G (mint)
80-200 HS (cosmetically challenged but works well).

28-135 as a walkaround lens. (mint)
28-85 for those times I want an image in the way only this lens can render.

All in not a lot spent to assemble this lot. Vintage A mount lenses are very affordable at the minute, other than the 17-35G which is holding its value well. I will have one at some point.

After having asked a few pages ago for help, here my current lineup:

28-105 for CAD 20+shipping
50/1.7 (don't remember the price, but wasn't much)
Sony 85/2.8 (don't remember the price, but wasn't much)
70-210/4
28/2.8 (both the 70-210 and the 28 together with a MD mount Vivitar 90/2.5 Macro with unfortunately a tiny bit fungus and the wrong macro 1:1 adapter for all together CAD 120...)

The later two I basically bought only since I wanted the Vivitar 90/2.5, but have used the 70-210 already a bit and like it!

Yeah, haven't tried it yet, even though Minolta SR is my main system with an XD7, X570, XE11, and a new SRT102. But right now I have films loaded in the Maxxum 7 and a Pentax 645n...

QuietOC wrote: I would like to find one of those "Bokina" 90mm F2.5 macros. It is too bad there wasn't an A-mount version.

The original Vivitar, or the Tokina that came later?