sam_chapman1

Ok, we'll just have to agree to disagree on this point.

Ha ha ha! You must be kidding about the UK being unsafe! If you do wish to 'politicise' what the UK's like, maybe you need to chew over these figures: Comparing the Uk to the US, per 100,000 people, in 2011, the UK had 0.06 homicides, whilst in the US, in 2016, there were 4.62. per 100,000 people. There are 89 gun-owners per 100 people in the US, whilst in the UK, the figure is 2.8 per 100 people.

Being a Brit and a wheelchair user, the kind of personal protection some Americans feel they need when out on the streets, I just don't need; indeed you are likely to be collared over here if you did! Generally, I don't have any problems toting around my E-M1, 7-14mm,14-40mm, 75mm, a collapsible 50mm Summicron and maybe 60mm macro, because I have a bag which is QD attached underneath my manual wheelchair seat and can be very rapidly accessed. It seems that disabled photographers and what they use rarely gets any coverage on this website, or other websites and photo magazines world-wide unless these 'publications' are targetted specifically for disabled people. Let's face it, photographers get incapacitated by age or injured, leading them to use wheelchairs or scooters, at which point these people probably feel 'left out in the cold' because no-one else like them seems to exist as far as the media in general treats them. Well, that's my rant on the subject concluded! Maybe it's time for me to post a thread on here, covering my 'situation' where other like me, can contribute, so they don't feel 'left out in the cold'?

You've also reminded me of something else, which is that Sony also produce the Alpha A9, that enable you to use the original Minolta mount lenses, directly onto a digital body without the bulky Minolta to Sony adaptor. Mind you this is an expensive bit of kit, but at least it indicates that Sony hasn't forgotten it's Minolta roots.

I bought one of these about a year after it first came out, but one way or another, it didn't have the impact on Canon and Nikon cameras that Minolta was hoping it would. Some said that it wasn't a 'proper' Pro camera because it had a built-in flashgun, (even though this also acted as a slave for Minoltas other flashguns) and that whilst it's AF system pretty-well always 'nailed' what it was focussed on, it wasn't as fast as their competitors AF systems. Big and heavy, using a stainless steel body, it also offered via large, ergonomically positioned dials and levers (great when you need to use gloves) offering a wide range of functions such as data recording, daylight and flash +/- exposure compensation, auto-bracketing, time-lapse, red-eye, front and rear curtain flash sync and eye-start. In short, this was to be Minoltas' swan-song camera. I've still got and use mine, it's a big brute, built like a brick latrine and still utterly reliable. The thing is, I've often wondered how many Minolta actually made, how many around here have used one and with the benefit of hindsight, was this a 'better' camera than people at the time made it out to be?

The concept camera as outlined in this project, seems overly complicated; I don't quite understand why the back needs to be removable, as when bulk film backs were available, very few were actually sold, probably due to people seeing the cost of buying and paying for the processing of up to 250 images! Over the past decade there have been many attempts at getting the funding to produce a digital back with a FF sensor to cover the 35mm film format, so I suspect this will fail in a similar manner.

Back in 2005 I bought Olympus's iconic E-1 which was generally looked down on because it's 5.6Mp sensor size was so small. I stuck with the 4/3rds format, still own and use this camera, even though I have progressed to the m4/3rds E-M1. The sensor in this was one of the last designed for consumer cameras by Kodak. The colour rendering it delivered, was exceptionally good and to be honest, at 200 ISO, the image quality from this, (unless you are doing a fair bit of photoshopping) are really darn good! I also much prefer the ergonomics of the E-1 body, especially the locating of the On/Off switch on the right-hand side of the body, behind the shutter release. The optics Olympus made for this, were, and still are superb, especially the 50mm macro and f4.0 7-14mm ultrawide zoom. In fact on the latter, I'd say whilst the new Olly f2.8 7-14mm is a stunner, the previous lens with the 4/3rds to m4/3rds adaptor, is an absolute bargain S/Hand nowadays and used on the E-M1, you will be hard-pressed to see any difference between the two.

<p>Firstly, I think the type of book you are writing, deserves publishing, especially since there is a raft of books about becoming pro, and written in that American 'Evangelical' style much used by those producing books on things like managing businesses, give readers a rose-tinted view of how businesses operate. I'm tempted to suggest if you called, or subtitled it, 'The Pitfalls of becoming a Pro', it may well get an even bigger audience, as that type of advice, is not often seen well, over here in the UK. <br> I love the cartoon cat, reminds me of Ronald Searle's work, (mainly a satirical cartoonist) and I hope your Kickstarter funding, is successful. Have to own up to being a Brit, and back in the early 70s, vividly remember encountering what was called 'The US way) of selling goods, which after a few years, those Brit stores which used it, dropped it like a hot brick, because 'pressure selling' put customers off! </p>