Investment ?

Specifically for the discussion of the A-mount DSLR range
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classiccameras
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Investment ?

Unread post by classiccameras »

As most of you know I have an A57 and an A37, love both and they take excellent pictures, apart from the standard kit lens that came with the camera, which is OK but nothing special, I have the SAM 18-135, a KM 17-35 F/2.8 and Minolta 24-85 they take excellent pictures. The future of A mount still seems uncertain, is it worth investing in more 'expensive' A mount lenses. I'm toying between making a kit out of my Canon 550D from a huge used market or sticking with Sony. I don't want to move to E mount.

Pete
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Birma
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Re: Investment ?

Unread post by Birma »

I think good glass loses its value a lot more slowly than camera bodies do. If you're happy with what you've got then I'd stick with it. If you want to splurge on something exotic then I'd get it for which ever camera you enjoy using most.
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
classiccameras
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Re: Investment ?

Unread post by classiccameras »

Birma, that sort of makes sense to me. as you say bodies (only 2 years old) are a selling for peanuts but lenses do hold their prices much better.

Pete
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mikeriach
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Re: Investment ?

Unread post by mikeriach »

I've owned a Sony 70-400G since its launch day and it has seen 4 diffferent bodies strapped to it (A700, A580, A77, A99).
Lenses certainly outlast the cameras, having said that it is beginning to look a little rough around the edges now.
On my trip to Japan, I took 11,000 images and probably 70% were shot on that lens.

Mike
All my Sony SLT gear gone. Still got my RX100 though.
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pakodominguez
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Re: Investment ?

Unread post by pakodominguez »

I think your equipment is an investment only if you are working with it. Good 16MP is what you need for almost everything, unless you are printing murals (and even then....).
If you can wait until your next purchase, I believe we'll see new products coming this fall (make sense: nothing really new was introduced at the beginning of the year), other than an A9, we will see what Sony offer for A-mounters -or not...
Pako
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mikeriach
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Re: Investment ?

Unread post by mikeriach »

My A77 and A99 have been very good workhorses. It would need to be a significant improvement on these bodies to tempt me to move up. Apart from a few niggles I'm very happy with them. Every make and model has issues of varying degrees.
I've been tempted to swap on several occasions but not at the moment. The Nikon D750 is a tempting proposition and would be the likely target if a swap was impending.

Mike
All my Sony SLT gear gone. Still got my RX100 though.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Investment ?

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

I ran into an A99 owner at a car boot sale had a little chat about things he seems to have applied the same strategy as I have and was quite honest that he felt the body was overpriced and expensive, but he said he got some good deals on some Minolta glass and beefed up the gaps with selected Tamron offerings ie he saved quite a bit on lenses even though he wasn't too happy about the A99 price. It was an interesting conversation but it seems my "buy bargain glass" theory is one shared by some other A mount users.

In contrast I ran into another Sony user this time an A57 user who was considering moving to Nikon he's not overly keen on the EVF and said it "tires his eyes" but that he did like the camera he had a few lenses nothing too expensive but some OK budget primes and a few zooms, not a massive investment.

I still play with Canon bodies and the odd Nikon nothing grabs me much right now, Canon are very safe no question EOS mount isn't going anywhere soon. It might help if Sony put a bit more work into A mount they have a dated FF body, a dated entry one not much happening lenses wise still at least they brought out a new higher end APS-C. Depends what the investment is I have some of the lenses you do, and they are good lenses at that. Every time I think of moving to somewhere else I tot up the £££ cost of at least building up a moderate system and it scares the hell out of me! I think I'll stay put but really it depends how you get on with the Canon body if you really like it...well you get the idea.

Speaking for myself I would not invest in tasty glass right now but then I have no funding to do that anyway I'm maybe in need of a couple of lenses but I have a mostly fleshed out system including 3 flashes, 2 main bodies 2 older KM bodies and I think about 13 lenses it makes no sense to move not for me unless the carpet is pulled under my feet!
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