Good budget telephoto lens and wide angle lens?

[emma90]

Hi im looking to speed up to £200 on a telephoto lens and under £200 on a wide angle lens, its a sony alpha, iv been looking on jessops and they have some in my price range, i would be happy to buy elsewhere how ever, anyone got any recommendations?

 

[whitewash]

Sigma do the 70-300 DG for the sony range, its an good budget telephoto lens with macro function, i used to have one before moving up the ladder.

 

[emma90]

is the sigma better than the tamron?

 

[whitewash]

I have no experience with the tamron im afraid

 

[Faldrax]

Sigma do the 70-300 DG for the sony range, its an good budget telephoto lens with macro function, i used to have one before moving up the ladder.

The Sigma 70-300 APO Macro Super DG is generally considered the best of the 'budget' lenses of that sort of length (NB, make sure it is the APO, the non-APO version is cheaper but not as good)

Alternatives are the s/h Minolta 70-210 f4 'Beercan' - which will out perform any of the 70-300's, but is limited to max of 210.

Wide angle - more of a challenge. Assuming you have either the 18-55 or 18-75 kit lens then you already have as wide as budget lenses go - the next step up is nearly £400 for a 10-20 or 10-24. You are probably best looking second hand for this.

Since you're using an Alpha, it's probably worth looking at Dyxum (http://www.dyxum.com) which has a lens review section. It is compiled from reviews by site members, so you have to allow for peoples tendency not to be overly critical of things they own, but does still give a decent feel for what actual users think of the (many) different lenses.