Photoclubalpha

regp wrote:hello from Philadelphia,Pennsylvania---i have both an A700 and a A350.I am an avid photographer of 12+ years.i also have a minolta qtsi!

REGP

Hello REGP and welcome to this wonderful forum.

hello

glad to be joining the forum... am a bit of a novice really but i've always been interested in cameras/photography

always had a soft spot for Minolta as a brand... i still have a Minolta AFE2 compact which my mother bought me in the late 80s... I got a Nikon F90x in the mid-90s (i was going to get a Minolta Dynax 5, can't remember why i changed my mind) which i still use for serious photography... haven't committed to digital SLR photography yet (i am a luddite) although i will probably do so one day but i don't think i will ever give up using traditional film; i think i like the reassurance of negatives.

also owned:
a manual Cosina SLR (my first SLR, actually)
a manual Seagull SLR (Chinese-made, diaphragm shutter)
an Olympus hybrid-SLR (when they went through that weird phase in the early 90s)
an Olympus mju compact
a 110 cartridge camera...a Halina, i think it was... appalling picture quality but i still have some prints.
a Casio Exilim digital P&S.
oh... and for casual snaps i tend to use my SonyEricsson K800i Cybershot camera phone, just because i carry it around with me all the time

Hi Celloboy! Welcome to the forum! If you're interested in the A mount, you might go get yourself a Sony a350 while they're still available. It's a preferred second-camera even to the guys toting a900s and a700s for its great skin tones and dynamic range. They can be had now for $500-600 and they're about to be replaced with a similar but more poorly equipped model (Sony guys are groaning all over the world right now, so you picked a helluva time to join the forum).

Well - the Nikon F90X was a cut above the Dynax 5, even if bigger. Hard to get any camera like that now. The Seagull company (Shanghai Optical) bought the rights and the machinery to manufacture the old Minolta manual-focus mount system, and actually contracted to make the final run of the Minolta/Konica Minolta X-370s. Depending on the date, the Seagull actually IS a Minolta unless it is one of their other spin-offs. Even if fitted with a K-mount (like the Cosina probably is) the camera behind the mount was made using ex-Minolta tools and jigs.

Agreed with the A350 comment - this camera is bit of a sleeper, its colour and 'look' is not like any other DSLR and it can be persuaded to give perfectly smooth Reala-like ISO 100 or crisp grainy film-like ISO 3200 - without losing very acceptable IO 400 to 800 quality. To give you an idea, when our daughter wanted to swap her Canon kit for Alpha kit (a couple of holiday weeks shooting with both convinced her) I needed the Canon outfit myself, to have something around for lens testing in Canon mount. I also had an Alpha 350 not being used much, but I did not want to part with it - so I bought another body cheaply (£299 I think, at Focus on Imaging) and let her have an unused example, keeping mine. Even with the A700 and A900 around, the A350 has advantages to offer.

David

oh, i remember why i got the F90x now... i was impressed by the platitudes about it in the major camera magazines at the time...

that was before i realized that camera reviewers in those magazines seem to have a bias for certain manufacturers (with names beginning N and C...)

after i bought it I was pretty shocked by how loud the lens motor and the shutter slap action of the F90x are. But it's still my pride and joy though, although used prices for it has certainly come down a lot from the £950 that i paid for it in 1996.

i haven't invested in a lot of lenses, which makes it easier for me to contemplate switching to another system, ie Sony, when i do get a digital SLR. Thanks for the recommend... the A350 does sound very appealing.

Hello,

I'm glad joining this forum. I owned Minolta 5D and Sony A200. Thanks David for activated my account, photo is just a hobby for me but I always want to learn something new or to improve my knowledge.

Costel

A warm welcome Costel. I am sure you will find many interesting things on the site. I think we have a good spread of hobby-ists, such as you and I, through professionals, and on in to the discussion on quantum theory (well nearly!) I am sure we all look forward to seeing some of your pictures.

I second Birma on welcoming you. Enjoy the forum.

Hi there!

Just joined via Kevin Barrett and his link to this great forum, from the soon to be gone Sony 101 backstage forum. I have gone through only a small portion of what is here. I am a novice compared to most of you here. So I am amazed and will be looking forward to learning more. Thank you for the opportunity and to be a member here. My current camera is a new A500, with a 50mm Minolta and Minolta macro lens from our deceased Minolta Maximum 3000i. We loved that 35mm, I was able to take such great portraits of our children, and of my flowers in 800 film. I have found it hard to go from film to digital and get the same results, so I am still learning to use my camera with all of the functions and white balance.

Rosearodoe wrote:Hi there!

Just joined via Kevin Barrett and his link to this great forum, from the soon to be gone Sony 101 backstage forum. I have gone through only a small portion of what is here. I am a novice compared to most of you here. So I am amazed and will be looking forward to learning more. Thank you for the opportunity and to be a member here. My current camera is a new A500, with a 50mm Minolta and Minolta macro lens from our deceased Minolta Maximum 3000i. We loved that 35mm, I was able to take such great portraits of our children, and of my flowers in 800 film. I have found it hard to go from film to digital and get the same results, so I am still learning to use my camera with all of the functions and white balance.

Welcome Rosearodoe. I'm sure you'll get all the help you need here.
And much more sure that you'll enjoy your stay (surf) here.

Rosearodoe wrote:Hi there!

Just joined via Kevin Barrett and his link to this great forum, from the soon to be gone Sony 101 backstage forum. I have gone through only a small portion of what is here. I am a novice compared to most of you here. So I am amazed and will be looking forward to learning more. Thank you for the opportunity and to be a member here. My current camera is a new A500, with a 50mm Minolta and Minolta macro lens from our deceased Minolta Maximum 3000i. We loved that 35mm, I was able to take such great portraits of our children, and of my flowers in 800 film. I have found it hard to go from film to digital and get the same results, so I am still learning to use my camera with all of the functions and white balance.

A big welcome from me as well - I'm sure you will find opportunities to learn things here as well as contribute. Please do feel free to contribute pictures to any of the threads already going, or to start your own.

Hi Rosemarie, glad to see you made it!

Welcome Rosemarie! Good to see another Sonystyle ex-pat here! John aka Juanito aka juanito200!

Thanks everyone!

Sincerely,

Rosemarie

Hello ALL. SteveBon from the UK here. Didn't want to start a new thread for one hello, so am sticking my 'Hi' at the end of this thread.
I purchased the Sony Alpha 200 a couple of years ago and haven't really given it the full work-out as yet. And having joined another couple of photography Forums recently, following an a55 article link brought me here. Which as it's dedicated to all things Sony Alpha, should make me feel right at home.