A friend of mine has just bought herself a new Sony A37 camera, which came with the standard lens. I understand this camera can use the old Minolta lenses, so I said I would buy her a couple for her birthday.

Any recommendations for which lenses to look out for? She is going to South Africa in the near future and would like something with a long focal length for wildlife etc, but doesn’t want to carry a whole bag full of lenses around.

First on the list has to be the quite wonderful little f1.7 50mm

On my thread here, I was recommended the 70 210 f4 ‘Beercan’ lens http://www.ffordes.com/product/12121013580881

Found one for £70 on Ebay and it is fab for the price.

TheArtist..STR fella also recommended a 70-300, which I would think would be great for a safari.

Dyxum has lens reviews for all alpha fit lenses, including (or especially) Minolta.

As mentioned above the 70-200f4 and 50mmf1.7 are good value (although a new Sony 50mm f1.8 can be had for little more).

At the longer end there’s the 75-300 f4.5-5.6 Big Beercan but things get expensive after that. The Tamron 200-500 is about the best value long lens you can get.

As mentioned above the 70-200f4 and 50mmf1.7 are good value (although a new Sony 50mm f1.8 can be had for little more).

It can although the Sony is plastic bodied

TheArtist..STR fella also recommended a 70-300, which I would think would be great for a safari.

That was a new Tamron – don’t think they are much over a ton

The beercan mentioned above is lovely although its fame has increased the second hand price a little.

I have one of these just before xmas, the 1st lens I got was the F1.7 50mm Lens. Paid £57 inc postage and its in cracking condition. I also have a 70-300 Tamron lens but the zoom is a little stiff so thinking of changing to a 70-300 Minolta is I can find one. Still, it takes a great picture and you can pick these up for a really low price.

I picked up a F1.7 50m minolta mount for my sony a390 last week on ebay for about £60, just played about with it in the house so far but its great.

The beercan mentioned above is lovely although its fame has increased the second hand price a little.

It had, but they’re now half the price of what they peaked at.

Anything up to 300 will be great. I picked up a Sigma 70-210 for about £35. It about doubles the weight of a Sony camera as it is proper old school camera heavy. Make sure you get the A fit lenses – Minolta did a couple of different fits.

Thanks for the suggestions folks.

What about the MINOLTA AF ZOOM 70-210MM F4.5-5.6? It seems a bit cheaper than the F4 model.

quite wonderful little f1.7 50mm

To add to the chorus, this is a cracking lens. I’ve had some really nice results using it.

What about the MINOLTA AF ZOOM 70-210MM F4.5-5.6? It seems a bit cheaper than the F4 model.

I wouldn’t.

A good cheap lens in that range is the Sony 55-200 f4-5.6 or the Tamron 55-200 f4-5.6 (basically the same lens).

Or… the Minolta 100-200 f4.5. Excellent but the range is a bit cumbersome.

I’ve got one of these F1.4 lenses I bought a few years back when digital was flying in and there was no demand for old Minolta lenses.

http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/detail.asp?IDLens=15

Looks like they’re worth a fair bit of dosh now?

Yeah, £140+