Replacement Sony Lens

[SwissJon]

There's not a lot on here for us Sony users.

I'm in the fortunate position of owning a Sony A55. It's a fantastic camera for the price, let down a little by the lens that came with it in the box.

I am looking for a replacement lens to build up my lens set. I already have my eye on a Sigma 10-20mm because I live in a really beautiful part of the world. And I already a 50mm prime lens and own the stock 18-70mm lens that came with the camera, and a 100-300 Minolta lens. I want to replace one or both of these last two with lenses that give me a contiuous range from 20mm through to 300mm. I'm looking for suggestions.

Can you give me some ideas please? And not unhelpful comments like "Should have gone for Nikon/Cannon" because for my budget, the Sony A55 has FAR more useful and useable features than the equivalents in either.

Thanks.

[BuddhaPi]

might want to llok here

I have the sigma 18-200 and am fairly happy with it, however the sony will soon become my back-up as I'm jumping ship to Nikon

[jml79]

Ok, maybe my third try at posting will be the charm.

Sony and Tamron make an 18-250 but they are slow and suffer distortion like most superzoom lenses.

Personally I would get a fast normal zoom like a Tamron 28-75 f/2.8. Sony and Sigma both make a 24-70 f/2.8 as well. For the long end you can get a 70-200 f/2.8 or if that is to heavy/bulky/expensive, one of the good 70-300 lenses would be my pick. I have the Sigma 70-210 APO which is a little older than the current 70-300 and it's got the best IQ of my lenses. Perfectly usable.

Word of caution - Used Sigma lenses need an upgrade before you can use it on an SLT camera. They are upgrading some for free but not all. It depends on the age of the lens. New Sigma lenses have an 'SLT Compatible' logo on them. I have not seen any reports of issues with older Tamron or Minolta lenses on an SLT and have tested 2 Tamron lenses (28-75 f/2.8 & 29-105 f/2.8) and 2 very old Minolta AF lenses (28-105xi and 50mm f/1.7) on an A33 without an issue.