With all my snakes being venomous, there is a limit to how close i can get to them. What type of lenses give good clear zoom from say distances of up to 1m/1.5m? Are there good websites that explain everything there is to know about lenses?
Yeah, I did kind of wonder about getting too close
I kind of thought they might either be non venomous and/or used to you. (I know almost nothing about snakes though as you can tell).
If you are photographing them indoors, the kit lens might be okay to start with - the main thing is you need decent light as the maximum aperture is not that wide. A good upgrade would be the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 which costs around £260 new (not sure what your budget is?). The Sony has image stabilisation in the body rather than the lenses, which means any lens you use will be stabilised, which can help in low light if the subject is fairly still. Longer fast zooms (f2.8) will be expensive and might be too restrictive indoors anyway due to lack of space.
Almost all lenses will have a minimum focus distance of 1m or less (usually telephoto lenses have the longer minimum distances). Sony make an 85mm f2.8 prime lens which is a decent lens and cost around £120 at the moment after cashback. The 50mm f1.8 Sony lens is also okay and costs £70 to £100 new. Both will focus reasonably close if/when required (much much less than 1 metre).
You can also use Minolta AF lenses (they will all be
second hand of course as they are no longer made)- the 100-200mm f4.5 zoom is good if you want something longer and costs around £50, the 35-70 f4 macro is small, good quality and costs around £30 to £40.
The A57 is very nice but aside from being bigger and heavier than the A37 it's essentially the same camera inside (same sensor same processor), so if budget is limited you may want to get the A37 and spend the difference on lenses. You can pick up the body only for as little as £260 after cashback. I chose the A37 because I actually prefer the smaller body (I also have a Nex 5 and Panasonic G3 which are small cameras) and it was almost half the price of the A57 so I could not really justify the difference in cost.
These are the A57/A37 differences anyway:
Main ones are the lcd screen (3 inch 920k swivel vs 2.7 inch 260k tilting) and the size/ weight:
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/SonySLTA57/images/sidebyside1.jpg
(A55 [same size as the A37] next to A57)
http://camerasize.com/compare/#326,313
If you are going to use the screen and live view a lot definately get the A57 because the screen on the A37 is a bit carp in comparison (I use the evf mostly so I don't really mind).
Other differences:
Higher frames per second rate on 57 - 12 vs 7
Bigger buffer A37 18 JPEG, 6 RAW vs A57 25 JPEG, 21 RAW)
(Both the above not an issue if you don't use burst mode shooting).
horizon level in A57 but not A37 (Virtual Horizon)
(Useful for landscapes and architecture etc but not essential - easily fixed in post)
ir remote in A57 but not A37 (but both will take a corded remote: ie: Sony RM-L1AM or a cheaper generic equivalent, try ebay/amazon)
(I am fine with corded (£3 on ebay) instead of ir no biggie)
Longer battery life on A57 (bigger battery)
(Just buy a generic spare or two) on amazon for £10 each
Different top button layout I think?
(Zoom button on A37 is useless if you use raw and cannot be set to anything else grr!!)
Video: A37 has 60i and 24p
(I hardly ever use video)
A57 body being bigger and heavier obviously can be an advantage (ergonomically for some, also for balance with heavier lenses) or can be a disadvantage (more bulk and weight to carry around)
Some of the A37 customer reviews on amazon.com (US) are quite useful:
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SLT-A37K...dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
Not nearly enough however! 