Lenses for Beginner

[celery]

I have a dilemma, I am new to the DSLR world and also a Sony Alpha user (Shock-horror). I need advise on lenses for beginners please.
The camera came with the Kit 18-70 f3.5-5.6 Lens, and I have also purchased a Sigma 10-20mm (after reading so much about it on TP)

I have also been given the following by a friend who has gone from Minolta to Nikon
Minolta AF 70-210 F3.4-4.5 (suffers from zoom creep quite bad when tilted)
Sigma 55-200 4-5.6 DC
Sigma 70-300 F4.5.6 DL

They all work fine with the Sony, but I now have 4 different lenses that cover 18-300.

If I get one lens to cover the 20-300 range (Sigma or Tamron), would I notice much difference in picture quality (mainly landscapes and 'holiday' photography) or should I stick with the kit lens + the 70-300?
Do I really need up to 300 ?
Also with the above lenses I have 3 different diameters to buy filters for!

 

[fletch5]

personally, i would go out and use them, each day take a different one out, and see which you think is best. all lenses are manufactured to a budget, and there will be good ones and bad ones. plus you will also see what focal length you use the most and whether you need to buy another lens.

I think i would keep two lenses myself instead of the one, as zooms are a compromise on quality, so the smaler the range the less compromise there is. it does make your kit bag heavier though!

as for if you need 300mm long, you will have to find out for yourself, but do you know what you like taking pictures of yet?? i havent got anything over 150mm at the mo, but im sure when the budget allows i will go bigger. but the want list is still very long and im still learning.

 

[RobertP]

Don't think of DSLR like point and shoot where you might think a big zoom range in a single lens was the thing to have. Most people that buy a 20-300 type lens end up selling them.

Your kit lens covers most everyday type shooting and will good for landscape too at the 18mm end and you have your 10-20 if you need wider. Your 3 gift lenses are similar ranges and you should use them all to see if one is sharper than the others, focuses quicker... whatever that makes it preferable to use. Try them out on garden birds, local cricket etc.

 

[celery]

thanks fo the advise so far. Looks like I'll be using 3 lenses from the 5, the 10-20, the kit 18-70 and one of the 3 bigger zooms. Think I can rule out hte minolta lens due to annoying zoom creep. so will go out this week and test the 2 sigmas.

Anyone want a slightly dodgy minolta lens!!!!