Telephoto prime for a Sony

[amtaylor]

My old man is after a cheap 400 or 500mm prime for his Sony a200 at some point. When I say cheap, less than 300 as an absolute max really. I'm not overly familiar with the Sony range but they seem to be harder to find cheap lenses. However he is fine with a manual only focus or an adapter to use a different fitting which opens it up more. Any ideas??

 

[Starastin]

nothing good though. quick search in ebay says that all of them are in usa.

should definitely forget about 500mm .. and the minolta MD or MD lenses will not fit his sony.

 

[Faldrax]

Sigma made 3 different 400mm primes for the A-Mount, I have the basic 400 f5.6, which is Ok, the 400 f5.6 APO is better, the 400 f5.6 APO Telemacro is better still!
The various versions appear on ebay from time to time, you should be able to get one for £100-200 (less for the basic model if lucky)
Check on http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/index.asp to get more info on them.

The alternative is the Sony /Minolta 500mm Reflex - around the £300 mark s/h I would guess, it's a constant f8, and has the 'distinctive' circular bokeh which many do not like, but can produce stunning results and is extremely lightweight for 500mm.

Sigma and Tamron also make zooms in the 150-500 range - but these are probably out of budget.