Going digital

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I've used Minolta Dynax film cameras for almost 20 years and now want to go digital. I've collected a few Minolta lenses along the way and this will influence my decision.

These lenses will work technically with the Sony Dslrs but what will the image quality be like? Would I be better off buying bodies with made-for-digital lenses to get better quality? (in which case I might have to look more closely at brands with asteriks in them).

Or would the film lenses be ok, despite the limitations on wide focal lengths etc?

All answers gratefully received......

David

[Omega892]

Or would the film lenses be ok, despite the limitations on wide focal lengths etc?

All answers gratefully received......

David

Well I am sure that David will be along and correct any wrong assumptions I make but I have found that all the AF lenses I had in use on Dynax 7 work OK on the Dyanx 7D and Alpha 100. Of course the effective focal length is shifted up a bit by a factor worked out by dividing the diagonal of the 35mm frame by the diagonal of the effective sensor area. I am not sure how one factors in the sensors anti-shake movement.

As for limitations with wide focal length are you thinking of that effective focal length increase so that say a 14mm equals 21mm this with a 1.5 factor. Of course we do not suddenly gain focal length because what we are actually getting is a crop with respect to the full frame 35mm.

Also is it true to say that lenses designed for 35mm could perform better with the smaller sensor by only using the centre of the lens where aberrations are at a minimum?

I have Minolta, Konica Minolta D series lenses (24-105mm, 17-35mm, 75-300mm and 100mm Macro) and Sigma EX including a 14mm and 50-500 and a 70-300mm Macro. A recent second hand purchase of a Minolta f8 Reflex 500 has proved worthwhile on both D7D and Alpha 100.

The f8 Reflex 500 aside I do not have any lenses older than 6 years.

[Pat]

David, I have several Minolta, Konica/Minolta lenses ranging from 17mm right up to 400mm, some primes, to which I add the 1.4x or the 2x converters and others are zooms. These have all been used on the Dynax7, Dynax 7D and the Sony A 100 cameras to great effect as witnessed at the late 'Minolta Club' meetings in Edinburgh, especially this year when our website mentor David K. was really impressed with one of my bird photos. I do not claim to be an expert but others at my photo club have also been very impressed with the quality that my equipment can produce film or digital.

Enjoy your Minoltas to the full,

Yours Pat

[marktuma]

Just to add that some of the digital-designed lenses are rubbish IMO, most notably the 18-70 kit. Having said that it seems I got a particularly bad one, and others have been impressed with theirs - this just makes me sceptical of the quality control being applied at Sony in the early days of the Alpha range!

Until this week I was using exclusively pre-digital Minolta glass, and not the expensive G stuff either. The combination of a 28-85, 50mm, and 70-210/f4 served me very well. This week I got a CZ16-80, which is not a cheap lens, designed for digital (and won't be useable with film or full-frame sensors), but is fantastically sharp.

Mark