Prima lens for small money

You get in this price range nothing better. This glass is way better than this unspeakable bottle bottom of SAL 1870 the Sony mitliefert as kit lens for its Alphas.
The AF is sufficiently fast and the lens for a Zoom also knackscharf (of course not be compared to the Tamron SP 90). But that also plays in a different league.

I suppose with the 55-200 happy for walks on snapshots and have to say it has not let me down.
A comparison with the vielgeruehmten stovepipe has revealed that the Tamron is a tad better (my Tamron and the stovepipe an acquaintance). It is also 1/3 small and only half as heavy (subjective!). For this I take the plastic tube also happy to accept. The pictures you do not looks so later on, if the objective lenses were embedded in brass, or not.

Of course there is always something better. But not at the price.
I: A300, 50 / 1.7, Tamron SP 90, Tamron 55-200, SAL 1870