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RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

Va Va Voom — Mon, 12 May 2008 20:54:36 GMT

[quote][b]Jacksprat (08/05/2008)[/b][hr]What are pictures anyway ? just something your relatives throw in the bin when your dead.[/quote]

I can't agree with you on this Jacksprat.:)

I only wish I had more pictures from my families past, so I could have more of an understanding of who they were and what life was like for them.:)

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

Jacksprat — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:11:55 GMT

[quote][b]caretaker (27/07/2007)[/b][hr]I have big hands and I use the 400D / 350D no problem but I would advise anyone buying one of them to invest in the battery grip it changes the whole feel of the camera and will give you about 600 shots between charges.
caretaker[/quote]

Blimey! 600 shots, life is to short to sit through them surely?

I recall the tedium of sitting through a Kodak Carousel show with about 80 slides in it.

What are pictures anyway ? just something your relatives throw in the bin when your dead.

sorry about being OT its a nice day and I have just had a couple of pints of the amber necter

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

DaveyB — Thu, 08 May 2008 12:49:10 GMT

Sony DSLRs use Minolta fit lenses (Sony bought Konika Minolta), but be very careful - as previously posted, depending on your lenses vintage they may not fit, and if they do, they may not work properly (AF or metering). If you're thinking of buying a new DSLR, the Canon vs. Nikon "discussion" rages on and probably will never end, but for unbiased reviews, try http://www.dpreview.com/, they don't pull punches irrespective of manufacturer...

Dave.

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

caretaker — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 00:16:32 GMT

True prime lenses are best and as with all things you get what you pay for.
caretakeer

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

dpadmore — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:10:18 GMT

[quote][b]caretaker (05/08/2007)[/b][hr]No no problem but depending on how old your 35mm kit is modern optics will give better results and be lighter and do more, try the new Tamron 18 250 zoom, that sort of thing would not have been possible a few years ago
caretaker[/quote]

Modern optics will certainly be lighter, mainly because the consumer grade stuff is mostly made of polycarbonate rather than metal these days and a lot of modern stuff is designed to take advantage of the smaller image circle of the 1.5/1.6x crop cameras and thus can be made smaller but do not assume that a newer lens will always give better results. There are cheap and nasty lenses on sale today and there were bulletproof lenses capable of unbelievable results available 20 years ago and vice versa. I personally would not recommend a superzoom like the 18-250mm unreservedly as in producing an optic with such a large range to an affordable price, compromises have to be made (and are usually visible at extremes of zooming). Better results can usually be found by instead picking 2 quality lenses to cover a similar range, ie 18-70mm & 70-300mm. Best results of all, of course, are still found in the primes or smaller range zooms.

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

caretaker — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 21:28:54 GMT

No no problem but depending on how old your 35mm kit is modern optics will give better results and be lighter and do more, try the new Tamron 18 250 zoom, that sort of thing would not have been possible a few years ago
caretaker

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

Va Va Voom — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 17:54:01 GMT

[quote][b]Jason (18/07/2007)[/b][hr]The best-value DSLR on the market is the Canon 400D.[/quote]

I hope your right, cause I just ordered one. :D

Sorry hijack thread. ;)

I'm getting the 18-55mm lens with the package, which according to most people is rubbish, but I'm going to use the AF lenses I already have for my 35mm cannons as a temporary measure till I can afford new ones. :)

Is there any difference in the quality of the images using 35mm lenses as apposed to using the digital ones? Or is the only problem the magnification as pointed out in the above post? :unsure:

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

dpadmore — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:54:37 GMT

Many myself included find the right hand grip and gap to lens just a little too narrow for comfort but I guess you can get used to it. One thing Nikon did right with the D40 is that while they shrunk the camera, they kept a chunky grip. Obviously YMMV and if it the Canons feel right then there is no problem.

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

caretaker — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 00:05:04 GMT

I have big hands and I use the 400D / 350D no problem but I would advise anyone buying one of them to invest in the battery grip it changes the whole feel of the camera and will give you about 600 shots between charges.
caretaker

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

Jason — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 23:52:10 GMT

Really? My fingers are like sausages and I find both cameras a joy.

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

dpadmore — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 23:50:17 GMT

[quote][b]caretaker (26/07/2007)[/b][hr]Just for the record I have two Nikon bodies both 35mm an EL and an FT both classic early 70s vintage and with the lenses I have they are fantastic, heavy because there all made of brass and steel, and stuff that men in hard hats with sweat on there brow cast in furnaces before plastic took over the world. I also have a Canon 400D and it is very good at what it does, and I have gone totaly over now to Digital.
I have also used the D80 and it was very good in fact I think that at the top end the Nikon prime lenses are probably better than the Canon, but I prefer the way the canon range handles and the layout of the controls. My advise to anyone is go into your local big high street camera retailer and try both or all of them out after all you would not buy a car without driving it first. Then buy your choice online I always use cameras2u.com or warehouse express.com and save yourself a fortune.
caretaker[/quote]

The exception that proves the rule :) whatever the hell that means. You do need pixie hands for the 350D and 400D though...

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

Jason — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 23:39:55 GMT

Solid advice. :)

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

caretaker — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 22:37:18 GMT

Just for the record I have two Nikon bodies both 35mm an EL and an FT both classic early 70s vintage and with the lenses I have they are fantastic, heavy because there all made of brass and steel, and stuff that men in hard hats with sweat on there brow cast in furnaces before plastic took over the world. I also have a Canon 400D and it is very good at what it does, and I have gone totaly over now to Digital.
I have also used the D80 and it was very good in fact I think that at the top end the Nikon prime lenses are probably better than the Canon, but I prefer the way the canon range handles and the layout of the controls. My advise to anyone is go into your local big high street camera retailer and try both or all of them out after all you would not buy a car without driving it first. Then buy your choice online I always use cameras2u.com or warehouse express.com and save yourself a fortune.
caretaker

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

dpadmore — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 21:00:24 GMT

[quote][b]Jason (18/07/2007)[/b][hr]The best-value DSLR on the market is the Canon 400D. If you can get a substantial discount on its predecessor, the 350D, that's worth considering, too.

I have no idea whether your old lenses are compatible, but I doubt it. Best to sell them and start again.[/quote]

Well you know what they say about opinions but I shall offer mine anyhow. I consider the Nikon D40 to offer the best performance to price ratio of any DSLR at the moment. The cheapest 400D kit is £429.79 according to http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/cat1.html but the D40 kit can be sourced for £309, granted the 10MP D40X is £432.02 but unless you are a pixel snob the D40 is a hard deal to beat. Obviously someone with legacy lenses needs to consider carefully where to spend their cash, and Sony are committed to offering Konica-Minolta folks a clear upgrade path for many years to come but at the moment at least, someone coming new to the DSLR world could do much worse than go Nikon.

Caveat (non Emptor): No-one in the digi-DLR world is both a Nikon or Canon fan, it is a bit like AMD-Intel, you take a stance, so take my opinion as just that, Jason and 100 million other Canon fans (made up figure) may argue strongly the other way with just as much justification.

nb: as noted in the articles be aware that your film lenses have a field of view multiplication factor of (usually) 1.5x or 1.6X on consumer models and even 2.0x on Olympus DSLRs

Just for the record, my DSLR is a Nikon D50 which is superb and if you can pick one up cheap is still a fantastic buy...

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

caretaker — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 00:22:08 GMT

There have been some problems with using older 35mm lenses on newer Dslr bodies, its to do with the sensor size in relation to the elements in the lens, thats why most manufactures make lens especialy for Dslr's, also lens technology over the past 5 to 10 years has jumped ahead and optical quality has gone up dramaticaly as weight etc has gone down. Use an old lens you have left over by all means but you will not be getting anywhere near the potential of the new digital kit. Also as mentioned before the 400D ( Canon) is a great bit of kit but shoot in RAW format it transforms it and bin the kit 18/55mm lens it is very soft around the edges and nasty and cheap to use and lets the body down badly.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattphotos
caretaker

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

RonC — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 19:23:01 GMT

Many thanks for those comments: I'll think again/.....................

RonC

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

franksinnott — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:48:31 GMT

if your lenses are auto focus then the konica minolta 5d or 7d will be ok though finding either will not be easy. You can also have the Sony alpha which has the minolta fit. Though not all Minolta or sigma lenses are guaranteed to work with the camera. I myself in the same situation as yourself bought the alpha and all the lenses bar one a sigma 600mm mirror lens didn't work

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

Jason — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:12:54 GMT

The best-value DSLR on the market is the Canon 400D. If you can get a substantial discount on its predecessor, the 350D, that's worth considering, too.

I have no idea whether your old lenses are compatible, but I doubt it. Best to sell them and start again.

RE: Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

Dwynnehugh — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 20:09:22 GMT

Hi,

Being a Nikon man myself, I believe that Minolta is now sold as Konica-Minolta (I could be wrong - no trace on Jessops for K/Min, but CameraKing selling Minolta lenses and other brands that will fit - no mention of converters though) but I think that Vivitar make (or did make) conversion adapters across makes but I think you will sacrifice any AF/auto metering etc. With modern AF lenese etc. it may no longer be worthwhile to stock them. Have you tried Ebay?

Is the Minolta mount specific to Minolta - the old "K" mount for Pentax was also used by Ricoh I remember etc. etc. What actual mounts do your "old" lenses have and what body do you intend (or hope) to use them on in the future?

In my experience when I switched over to Nikon from Pentax - my old stuff - body x 2, lenses etc. were almost worthless. Unless you have a modern camera - sometimes the cost of converters etc. is prohibitive compared to newer modern lenses/bodies.

All the best in your search.

Just Ebay'd this:-

http://photography.search.ebay.co.uk/minolta_Lens-Mounts-Adaptors_

Digital SLR body for Minolta-fitting lenses

RonC — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 10:27:26 GMT

Thanks, Micromart for the new series on digital Photography which started today - 18th July, and the suggestion to re-use film camera lenses with digital SLR body in future.

Does anyone have information on suitable bodies to reuse MINOLTA-FITTING LENSES now that Minolta is gone, please ? I have a Sigma 35 - 70 mm (not used often), and a Minolta AF 75 - 300 mm, which worked very well with film and slides.

Finally, anyone have experience of using a converter to re-use lenses with other body fittings, please ?

Many thanks ! RonC