[Sony A65] A lense for closer distances indoors than the SAL18135

Note: This message is a repost of a message I posted on the Dpreview
(www.dpreview.com) forum for Sony A65 cameras. I see no way to access
that forum as nntp protocol so thought I'd try this forum too. I much
prefer discusions with newsgroup (nntp) access.

Please bear with my dialog for a moment:

(The A65 camera is one of Sony's Translucent mirror style cameras)

The kit lense I got with my A65 (SAL18135) is not able to shoot well
indoors unless in a cathedral or gymnasium. Trying to use it, for
example, to record the look of every room in a house for sale, is not
working out.

Even when telescoped tight into the camera at its closest it is only
able to resolve a smallish portion of say, a bedroom.

But more often, its a problem when trying to shoot people indoors in
regular houses.

(I realize this camera has a panorama function that would allow me to
capture a whole room at once but it requires some messing about that
I'd prefer not to have to do.)

I need a lens that captures a fuller array of objects within 5 or a
bit farther feet of me.

I'm way to much the amateur, and these lenses are way to expensive for
me to just jump out and try something else. Also reading specs on
lenses is singularly useless until I gather enough experience to know
what any of it means.

===================================

In short, can I get some advice on lenses to do the type of tasks
mentioned above?

I'd like to stay in at least a similar quality range as the kit lens
mentioned, and not go crazy on price. But also a lens that will be
useful in a wide range of applications but still good for the jobs
described... like shooting several people in a 12x12 room, not
necessarily grouped.

 

For what you want to do you need a lens with a shorter focal length; that
will give you a wider field of view.

B&H says the lens 18-135mm lens you have is equivalent to 27-202.5mm on a
35mm camera. That is wide but not super wide; the next 35mm step wider is
generally 24mm which would be 16mm in digital speak. You can get even wider
lenses but they aren't going to be cheap. Also, keep in mind the
"distortion" from wide angle lenses (close objects will seem insanely
large).

Here's a bunch of wider lenses.
http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/results.asp?IDLensType=3&offset=0
--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out... http://www.floridaloghouse.net

 

To clarify, the 27 (18)mm setting is wide. The 202.5 (135)mm is not...it is
about 4X the normal focal length and enables one to make distant objects
larger.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out... http://www.floridaloghouse.net

 

[...]

If the 16mm wide-angle setting on your lens is not sufficiently wide-angle
for your purposes, you'll need what Sony call a "super-wide-angle" lens -
with a focal length of about 10mm.

But super-wide-angle lenses are tricky to use without getting very
odd-looking results near the edge of the picture, and they usually need
more light than less extreme lenses of a similar price and quality.

Are you sure that you're using the "widest" zoom setting on your existing
lens?