Suggested lens for a Sony Alpha?

Paintball Jimmy

Ok I have been shooting a Sony Alpha with a 18-70 telephoto zoom lens, I figure I need something like 70-200 telephoto zoom lens or like a 200 or 400(ish) telephoto Prime lens
I mainly use my camera for paintball photography, which involves a lot of running and activity. As of now I am pretty much limited to only taking pictures of the people on the sidelines closest to me, I am looking to be able to take pictures across the field(about 60 feet) as well as close as 5 or so feet, so I'm not sure if the telephoto will be that great for that, but it might be better for what I am looking for price wise.
Any suggestions would be great:)
I have about a $500 budget
and I will talk with some other paintball photographers to help fill in the grey spots of info I am missing, and maybe to help inform you guys better about what I mean.
Thank you kindly.

Here are some of the pictures I have taken with my current lens.
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=563488#post563488

ziggy53

I think you are right to talk to other shooters to see what they are using.

Minolta made a great 80-200mm, f2.8 APO, and there is a Sigma 70-200mm, f2.8 DG as well as a Sigma 70-210mm, f2.8 APO that are pretty well thought of. (Only the Sigma 70-210mm, f2.8 APO is close to your current price range in new condition.)

For really long reach, under sunny conditions, the "Bigma" Sigma 50-500mm, f/4-f6.3 EX APO RF is hard to beat, but also above your budget.

I am not sure about focus speeds of these lenses versus your needs, but I would bet that the Minolta 80-200mm, f2.8 APO and the Sigma 70-200mm, f2.8 DG are your best bets.

Dee

An interim telephoto

Paintball Jimmy wrote:

Ok I have been shooting a Sony Alpha with a 18-70 telephoto zoom lens, I figure I need something like 70-200 telephoto zoom lens or like a 200 or 400(ish) telephoto Prime lens
I mainly use my camera for paintball photography, which involves a lot of running and activity. As of now I am pretty much limited to only taking pictures of the people on the sidelines closest to me, I am looking to be able to take pictures across the field(about 60 feet) as well as close as 5 or so feet, so I'm not sure if the telephoto will be that great for that, but it might be better for what I am looking for price wise.
Any suggestions would be great:)
I have about a $500 budget

Depending on how you plan to use your images, and the kind of light you are shooting in, you might want to consider Sony 75-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Compact Super Telephoto Zoom which sells around $200.

I say depending on light and use because if you have to shoot above ISO 400 you might not like the noise -- unless you shoot RAW and do some noise reduction on the ISO 800 images.

Since I'm only using the lens for personal photos and prints, I'm more than happy with the lens.

I live on the coast and we're in our dreaded summer fog pattern right now, or I'd post some examples. However there are many reviews if you do a search on the internet.