Minolta Maxxum XT si

<p>Evening all,<br>

Earlier this year my sister brought a Minolta Maxxum XT si 35mm camera over to put in a yard sale. It didn't move so she gave it to me. It appears to be low miles and very clean, I doubt there have been a dozen rolls put through it and it still has all the original packaging. The lens is a Minolta 28-80 3.5/5.6 zoom. It appears to be a typical consumer grade camera but a nice one. Since I grew up on Nikons I don't know this product line very well but after adding new batteries it seems ready to go. I think that with a smallish bag and one or two other lenses this might live very nicely in the car along with one or two Nikons I always keep handy. After all one never knows when there will be another UFO sighting. So here are my questions finally. What are one or two other decent enough lenses in maybe 135, 200 and 300mm ranges? They would need to be AF I suspect and compatible with the camera system. Second, what would be a decent flash unit? Would this be compatible with something as old as a Vivitar 285 or something similar?It has a pop up flash but I don't get along with those. A few years ago I would not even have bothered with this as I was shooting everything digitally. Since I've gotten out of publishing I find myself getting bored with it and am using more film these days. I even just bought a large darkroom set to build my new B&W darkroom. What should I add to this set to make it more useful and still uncomplicated. If I like it I'll probably add a second similar body to this set. After all two of anything is barely enough. <br /><br />Rick H.</p>

<p>Minolta 5400HS was <i>the</i> flash of the time for the AF system. The camera's built-in flash can trigger it wirelessly but the normal sync speed is measly 1/45 s. I don't remember the sync speed if 5400HS would be triggered by 3600HS or another 5400 HS.

<p>Some of the (decent) AF telephoto lenses are: Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 macro; Minolta 85mm f/1.4, 100mm f/2.8 macro, 135mm f/2.8, 200mm f/2.8, 200mm f/4 macro, 300 mm f/2.8 & f/4, 400mm f/4.5. Then there is the excellent Minolta 80-200mm f/2.8 (black; "HS", for high speed, designated one in white).

<p>(You may like to liberate me from my Minolta 80-200mm f/2.8 HS (with another XTsi as the lens cap) and Minolta 50mm f/1.7 in lieu of reasonable compensation.-)

<p>If you want another autofocusing Minolta film camera, get a Minolta Maxxum (aka Dynax) 7 or 9.

<p><strong>Second, what would be a decent flash unit? Would this be compatible with something as old as a Vivitar 285 or something similar? It has a pop up flash but I don't get along with those.</strong><br>

<strong> </strong><br>

Most of the Minolta Maxxum cameras (including the XTsi) have a proprietary flash shoe and won't accept standard hot shoe models like the Vivitar 285 directly, but inexpensive adapters are available. Check the trigger voltage, though, as some 285s are over 100v, which might be excessive on an electronic camera like this.</p>

<p>Minolta's own flash units for these cameras include several models in the i and xi ranges. Some of these from the 3500xi upwards include the useful wireless feature for cordless off-camera flash, triggered by the camera's built-in unit.</p>