A300 all the way, between the two, live view being excellent for candids.

For lenses, might want to think of a prime, perhaps a 50mm 1.4 for your candids and street photography, and the 55-200 or the 70-300 for all kinds of other purposes (both lenses I recommend).

Guess I would need to know a bit more about your photography habits, but I don't feel bad recommending any of those lenses from what you've told me so far.

Carl

Thanks Carl.

Filling in a little info....
I have and use a Pentax K20D for much of my local shooting. I have 21mm, 35mm, 43mm, and 70mm primes that I use with that camera.

But I fell in love with the H9's articulated LCD for waist level shooting and used that camera for both street shooting and travel, despite some significant limitations of the camera. But in the
process of thinking about the forthcoming H50 I decided that I'd rather use the A300 or 350 to fill the hole and for travel.

I like using a wide prime for street shooting (the 21mm) and sometimes the 43mm.

But I also think that the Zeiss 18-80 would be a nice complement (since I use the pancakes with the Pentax) and, with the 55-200 or 70-300, would nicely cover much of the Sony H9 range. But I might sacrifice the extra zoom for the lightness and quality of the Sony (as well as cost since it's part of the kit).

If over time I find that I fall in love with the Sony and don't seem to be using the Pentax much then I'll sell it.

Last, played with the 350 and the Zeiss at a local Sony store yesterday and fell in love with the handling of the camera and the live view.
I grew up shooting with a Richoflex and love the waist level operation.

Thanks again Carl for the input.
And if any of the rest of you want to chime in...great.

Mark

If the primary use is street photography and quick candids, I would think that the A300 was better suited to your needs.

You might consider the Ricoh GX100 or one of its brothers. It's very popular for street photography, and black and whites. It also does 24mm so no problem doing landscape. If you like having a viewfinder it does have an external viewfinder attachment. It's a bit expensive and a bit noisy but is very well made, I own one and love it.

http://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/caplio/gx100/

It's not as good image quality as a full SLR though, but thought I would at least mention it given its popularity as a camera for street photography.

If you think you'd like to consider it as a backup or whatever and are interested in some landscape shots, I can post a few.

I think the lowest cost effective option is A300 and kit. The kit is fine when you know its limitations. It makes fine around town pics with my A350. The extra res of the A350 shows it up in bigger enlargements so I will get CZ 16-80, is there a 12-60? Buy the best lens you can afford it will make more difference to your pics than 14 v 10 mps. Lenses are the key to IQ with most modern cameras IMHO.

My primary lens is the Zeiss 16-80 and I highly recommend it. The image quality is brilliant and simply stated exquisite! The second lens I would say to buy is the new 70 -300 G lens. I have the older 70-210 beercan and the 75-300 big beer can, and they are really hard to beat! However since you are buying new it is well worth looking at that new G series lens it is priced well below most G lenses and has the quality worth spending a few hundred more for. . .

If you go with any other manufacturer like Sigma or Tamron go for one of the APO lenses so you get their "best" quality. I have seen many excellent pieces from some of Sigma's long lenses and to be honest I am considering one of their extra long models for myself. It might be wise to bounce any of those decisions off of our members who are using them already.

Good Luck and shop wisely!

Many thanks for all the input, as well as some good private advice from Carl.

The dilemma I have is one that probably is shared with others.

One decision firm thanks to Carl. I'm going to get the 28mm lens for street photography.

The A300 is only available here in a kit. That complicates things a bit.
I could go with the upper level kit, sell the lower end lens which I don't want, and use the long zoom + either the Zeiss 16-80 or a Tamron 17-50mm.
I love the Zeiss but it's a few hundred dollars more than the Tamron and some think the Tamron is actually faster and sharper, quite good for street shooting.
But that's a hard call.

I could also go for the A350, non-kit, and again either of those two lenses plus the 55-200 or a Tamron 70-300.

Waiting for the 70-300G is less attractive to me right now, despite the fact that it will probably be a very good lens. It's heavier than I like for travel and that's what this set-up is all about. A 3 pound plus outfit goes beyond my portability limit. I'm also in the senior age range and lugging weight becomes less attractive with each passing year! I also prefer to put more money into the wide end since more of my shooting is street photography.

So which package would you pick, remembering the emphasis, street photography, landscapes (secondary), and portability?

A. A300 + Tamron 17-50mm + Sony 55-200mm

B. A300 + Zeiss 16-80mm + Sony 55-200mm

C. A350 + Zeiss 16-80mm + Tamron 70-300mm

D. Other combination (you name it!)

BTW, this is a great forum and you guys have all been great. If I wasn't sold on a Sony A mount camera before this alone would have sold me.

Mark

I have recently bought the Alpha 700 as a replacement for my 5D. I had previously bought the 16-80CZ, which is great on the 5D but is awesome on the 700. So I'd recommend you go for that lens option to start with. I have just ordered the 55-200 today; I looked at the new 70-300G but can't really justify or afford the price, as the camera account took a bashing with the purchase of the 700 recently! You won't regret buying the 16-80, I can assure you!

Hi Mark, thanks!

hmm personally, I like option A

A. A300 + Tamron 17-50mm + Sony 55-200mm

I'm partial to the A300 so far, over the A350. And I'm biased towards the Tamron too so (and I'm cheap!) :-D

Not to add fuel to the fire but if you didn't already exclude it, there's also the 18-250 of course.

;)

Boy the 17-50mm debate is a beauty, both here and on DP Review. I give the edge slightly to the Tamron based on the feedback I've gotten but it sounds like a too close to call win-win.

Do you have any info on the 18-250 or a good URL or two where I can get more input from users and reviewers?

I would not use it instead of the wide end zoom, but it could be a travel lens and then useful here for the telephoto end in concert with the Tamron......or Zeiss :-)

Thanks again.

Mark

Boy the 17-50mm debate is a beauty, both here and on DP Review. I give the edge slightly to the Tamron based on the feedback I've gotten but it sounds like a too close to call win-win.

hehe yah, at least though I don't think the sharpness of the CZ 16-80 is really much in debate. There are MTF figures out there to support that as well, though I don't really recall it being by a completely huge margin over the tamron.

Do you have any info on the 18-250 or a good URL or two where I can get more input from users and reviewers?

Sure, you might check out this one for the Tamron 18-250. In particular the comparisons to 16-80.
http://photoclubalpha.kilpatrickmedia.net/2007/05/16/tamron-18-250mm-%c6...

Also Dyxum of course should have a bunch of info on each, I think on this page
http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/results.asp?IDLensType=3&offset=20

And last but not least our very own on the Sony 18-250 SAL-18250

Sony 18-250 Review
http://www.alphamountworld.com/reviews/sony-18-250mm-f35-63-review

You weren't just kidding re adding more fuel to the fire. Just what I needed! Carl's review was great and laudatory.
Too many win-wins.
A new image of my package and what do you think?

A300 + 17-50 (for most of my local street shooting and limited landscape work) + 28mm as a maybe for low profile local street shooting + 28-250 as my only long trip travel lens

The 55-200mm is still cheaper and lighter so it is a close call, but it would mean 2 lenses for travel. The other question is whether it's a better lens and that seems like
a marginal call.

Your earlier question re the GX100 & Co. Well as a matter of fact I use the GRDII as my pocket camera for street shooting when I just want to make sure I have a camera with me and my wife has the new Sigma DP1.
We're deciding which to keep since I don't think we really need both. The GRDII is perfect for unobtrusive street shooting, especially black and whites. I'm not sure about it for landscape work given the noise level but would love to see your shots and also hear any recommendations for settings. The verdict is still out on the Sigma, although the colors are great and noise level also amazing.

And now off to my paying work!

Mark

Tamron 17-50mm, Sony 28mm and 18-250 :)

I was thinking 2 lenses but if you want to add a 3rd that keeps you under 1500.00 for all 3.

I use the 18-250, a lot. For a travel lens, it is the swiss army knife of lenses.

I have no real complaints about it given its range. (its 18mm at wide end, not 28 fyi, probably a typo, but just in case).

Carl

Continuing the Ricoh discussion Mark you mentioned:

The GRDII is perfect for unobtrusive street shooting, especially black and whites. I'm not sure about it for landscape work given the noise level but would love to see your shots

I have a few, and I do love that camera, but I think I may have something on the sensor and haven't used it much at all lately due to that. I just drag the A700 all over the place with my 17-50 eheh. I notice what looks like a piece of lint on many of the pics now. I take great care of it and it's essentially new, I hope that it's under warranty I suspect not. If it isn't at the moment I'm not inclined to spend another $600 or whatever it is to get a new one. I think it must have had the lint on the sensor from the factory I just never noticed until really started using later.

Anyway here are a few of the landscapes from a ride when we actually got some SoCal snow. As you well know it's quite noisy.

Just for fun

I'll have to post some Sony images now in the photo forums ;)