Zoom lens for a Minolta Maxxum 5

Hi,

A friend of mine is an amateur photgrapher and he's looking for a zoom lens for

his Minolta Maxxum 5 with auto focus. While he can take great pictures, neither

of us are camera experts so he's having trouble figuring out exactly what he

wants and what is compatible with his camera. We found the manual on line and

it says his camera has a Minolta A mount(metal), but we find little reference to

this mount on the web. It doesn't help that neither of us is up to date on the

vernacular. :)

Also he wants something that will let him get extremely closeup shots of birds,

deer, etc from a distance that won't scare them away. He's thinking 1000mm, but

I've seen some pages that imply these lenses are finicky and bigger might not be

better.

So my questions are:

1) When perusing for lenses online, what types of mount should he be screening for?

2) What are the pros and cons of 500mm vs. 1000mm (besides price) and what you

experienced photographers recommend for wildlife shots? Or are we way off base

and not understanding what he really needs?

Thanks for your help and I apologize for any ambiguity or omissions in my request.

Mike

Quality at that range you may as well take out a home loan to buy one of those lenses.

I have seen some long lenses on ebay at that range, but that is also taking into account the digital aspect.

Quality is usually ordinary with cheap lenses in that range.

<I>[Z]oom lens . . . he wants something that will let him get extremely closeup shots of birds, deer, etc from a distance that won't scare them away. He's thinking 1000mm . . . .</I><P>

There is no such lens for any regular camera system. Well, almost. I think Nikon made a 600-1200mm zoom lens that was as big as a small cannon (not a Canon camera--I'm talking about a cannon as in a half-pounder swivel gun like you'd see as on the rails of eighteenth-century warships). And it probably cost as much as a decent new car.<P>

Anyway, for a Maxxum 5 (or any Maxxum) he needs a lens for the lens mount alternately described as both (1) for "Minolta", "Konica Minolta", or "Sony"; <I>and</I> (2) "A-mount", "auto-focus", "AF", "Maxxum", "Dynax", or "Alpha".<P>

Realistically, he needs to either forget a zoom lens or accept a maximum focal length of 500mm. With 500mm as the long end, a lot of people seem to like the Sigma zooms, which I think come in 50-500mm and 170-500mm; Tamron makes a 200mm-500mm too. Yes, Sigma makes a 300-800mm f/5.6 zoom that I suspect is a good lens, but I don't think they make it in Minolta mount, it only goes to 800mm, and it costs about $6000 new. Minolta made a 600mm f/4 that has a great reputation, but they're rare, expensive (say, $7000), and not a zoom lens.<P>

I strongly suspect that what you seem to be talking about are lenses that often appear on eBay with descriptions like '600-1200mm lens for Minolta Maxxum'. These are not zoom lenses; they are fixed focal length lenses that come with a teleconverter. You get something like a 600mm f/8 and a 2x teleconverter, which together could give you a 1200mm f/16. But I suspect the quality of these lenses is pretty low.<P>

But if he really wants to shoot birds, he probably needs a telescope and a telescope adapter (T-mount) for the camera.

How much money has he got to spend ?

I have seen Vivitar, Quantary and Opteka lenses in the 500-1000 range. Not expensive and not much good either ( you gets what you pays for ).

The previous answers are pretty much on the mark. The longest Minolta zoom is the 100-400 f4.5-6.7 ( rumoured to be a new one on the way )and I guess you can add a teleconverter but it would be pretty slow. There are teleconverters for the longer Minolta primes but they are only ( I think ) Minolta ones and increase the price even further. If you want to know what lenses Minolta have produced go to - www.mhohner.de - for a comprehensive listing.

You might also like to ask the question on the nature forum - some pretty knowledgeable bird photographers there.

I don't shoot this stuff, birds/deer, but did try it once or twice just because they were there. Dismal results. Researched it pretty in depth, and found that the best animal shots, including birds, seem to be taken with shorter focal lengths....meaning still long telephotos, but of the 300 - 600 variety.....and with fast glass). The fast glass is to allow the shutterspeed to be set faster to stop ANY movement by the subject, and the not so long telephoto means setting up "blinds" and shooting what usually would be considered ridiculously close.

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On another Photo site, <a href="http://www.ddnaturephotography.com/"><u>Doug Dance</u></a>, and I refer to him only because on the site he used to list the lenses he used, does some amazing work with a 300mm (on a film camera) of animals. A good 80%, best guess, of what is on that website is shot with that 300mm and NOT cropped. Yeah, the wolf shots.....he used to comment on how close he was......totally crazy short distances.

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So, just to repeat an old photography addage.........if your pics ain't good enough, you're not close enough.......forget who said that at the moment. But, it ain't all about extreme telephotos.......

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There's a bird photographer on this site that does some great work with shorter lenses also.......forget his name at the moment.

Mike,

I think you will have to look at the Sigmas, and Tamron's as mentioned by the previous posters, or look for a used Minolta 100-300mm APO D or 100-400mm APO. Or wait and see what Sony offers.

Thomas, thanks for that link. So you know which 300mm lens he was using?

Robert

I would suggest to look for a 300 or 400 mm prime and a tele converter. Gives you better performance and still enough flexibility. Your friend should search ebay and decide how much he wants to pay. Actually I think the best you can do to get good animal photos is to buy a camouflage tent, a good tripod and a book about animal behaviour. Maybe an IR-Release unit and some good flashs. Then you have to get up very early and should be able to wait for hours, days or weeks to get your shot. Camera equipment is second important.

Good luck, Stefan

The 75-300 Maxxum lens is an adequate lens. I used one on my Maxxum 5. It's neither great nor expensive and readily available new and used. The 75-300 is about $135 new. What you won't get is really "extreme" close-ups. I think one thing to be aware of right now is that most of the real "bargains" in used lenses have been snapped up in the frenzy following Sony taking over the KM dslr camera business and the resulting concerns about what might happen as this resolves itself.

Another one to consider but it's a big step up in "investment" - the 100-400 KM. It's in at B&H but over $700. (And a 200-500 Tamron or the 50-500 Sigma - these are in the $850-$1000 range). I think I'd wait until the next shoe drops from Sony before plunking down that kind of cash to use with a body that's worth maybe $100 at most. There are good reasons for the differences in in price, the 100-400 is a higher quality lens. There are some other options in similar ranges from Tokina, Tamron and Sigma. For the most part, price is a good quality indicator. KEH is a good source for used items with less uncertainty than dealing with auctions.

300 is really about reaching the short end of popular focal lengths for animal shots. It is pretty useful though. 500 is very popular as a general nature lens length. Many of the 500mm lenses are still suitable for handholding. Beyond 500mm, use of a monopod or more likely, a tripod becomes more necessary. Inexpensive lenses in the 500-1000mm range are probably going to be disappointing for anything but very casual use.