I am new to this forum, to photography in general (but not the theory of photography), and to digital photography specifically. I have been taking pics only for a couple of months, and so far have been doing this with a combination of intuition and reading. I'm cetain that there are faster ways to learn, but for now I am comfortable - joining this site is a sign of my patience wearing thinner as the learning curve grows steeper.
I cannot help but notice that everyone here seems to prefer Either Nion or Canon. OK, that's great. But my wife in her shopping wisdom boght me a Minolta 5D for my birthday back in November. I am absolutely ecstatic with this camera - It does everything I have asked it to do. So, what's the difference? Why no more Minoltas out there? Did she make a hasty choice? Aside from the 6.1mp, will I eventually (as in soon) ask this camera to do something it can't do well or at all?
Brian: The main reason you don't see many Minoltas is that they got in the digital game really late. The 5D and 7D are excellent cameras. There are a handful of folks on this forum shooting the 7D. I'm a long time Minolta film shooter with a small fortune invested in their lenses. They are excellent and will continue to be available in the future under the Sony badge. Your wife may have done you a long term favor since the Minolta/Sony DSLRs have the anti-shake mechanism in the camera and not in the lenses while Canon and Nikon stabilize the lenses, which drives the cost up on each unit that has IS/VR.
Minolta always had fine products coupled to a brain dead marketing department. The Maxxum 7 film camera is the finest camera I have ever owned and was a huge bargain compared to the competition.
I think the future looks bright with Sony in the picture. Sony has the marketing and development resources to impact the DSLR market in a big way. I expect that it won't be long and Sony will put out a full frame DSLR to complement the Alpha A100. I'm pulling the trigger on the A100 and looking forward to no longer being a film dinosaur. Keep shooting and thank your honey for getting you a very competent camera. >=))>
I expect that most beginning nature photographers choose Nikon or Canon because most nature photographers shoot Nikon or Canon.
The primary reason for selecting a camera brand is for the system, i.e.the lenses. Nikon and Canon both have extensive stables of lenses available. For wildlife photographers, the super-telephotos are the reason for the choice.
Minolta has announced that it is quitting the camera market. Sony has just announced a new DSLR, the Alpha A100, that accepts minolta lenses and some new Sony Alpha lenses.
Posted by Kent Staubus on June 24, 2006 at 11:36 PM
With Sony now in the picture, I think you'll be OK. Don't worry so much about the camera anyway. If it does what you want it to do, it's the right camera.
Since I switched from Pentacon film cameras 15 years ago I use Minolta gear. First the 600si than the Maxxum7 and now the 7D. I had now trouble with that gear and I had not one better image with Canon or Nikon. Not my gear takes bad shoots, I do it.
Discussion
4 repliesI am new to this forum, to photography in general (but not the theory of photography), and to digital photography specifically. I have been taking pics only for a couple of months, and so far have been doing this with a combination of intuition and reading. I'm cetain that there are faster ways to learn, but for now I am comfortable - joining this site is a sign of my patience wearing thinner as the learning curve grows steeper.
I cannot help but notice that everyone here seems to prefer Either Nion or Canon. OK, that's great. But my wife in her shopping wisdom boght me a Minolta 5D for my birthday back in November. I am absolutely ecstatic with this camera - It does everything I have asked it to do. So, what's the difference? Why no more Minoltas out there? Did she make a hasty choice? Aside from the 6.1mp, will I eventually (as in soon) ask this camera to do something it can't do well or at all?
Thanks for the comments!
Minolta always had fine products coupled to a brain dead marketing department. The Maxxum 7 film camera is the finest camera I have ever owned and was a huge bargain compared to the competition.
I think the future looks bright with Sony in the picture. Sony has the marketing and development resources to impact the DSLR market in a big way. I expect that it won't be long and Sony will put out a full frame DSLR to complement the Alpha A100. I'm pulling the trigger on the A100 and looking forward to no longer being a film dinosaur. Keep shooting and thank your honey for getting you a very competent camera. >=))>
The primary reason for selecting a camera brand is for the system, i.e.the lenses. Nikon and Canon both have extensive stables of lenses available. For wildlife photographers, the super-telephotos are the reason for the choice.
Minolta has announced that it is quitting the camera market. Sony has just announced a new DSLR, the Alpha A100, that accepts minolta lenses and some new Sony Alpha lenses.
Here's a link you might find useful: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/sonydslra100/
Kent in SD