Sony/Minolta pictures of the week | 4 December

<p>This week I pounced and bought a used Minolta AF Reflex 500mm F8 lens; hitherto my longest AF lens was at the 300mm end of a zoom, and I sometimes miss that extra bit of reach.</p>

<p><a title="A good scratch" href=" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5790/30974521150_2891a57e1d_b.jpg" alt="A good scratch" width="1024" height="685" /></a></p>

<p>^ NEX-7 / LA-EA2 / Minolta AF 500mm F8<br>

On the crop sensor there is an effective focal length of 750mm which brought me nice and close to this pigeon on the local church tower (1/1000 s, F8, ISO 200)</p>

<p><a title="Thames reflections" href=" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5582/30989585310_f3706c4331_b.jpg" alt="Thames reflections" width="688" height="1024" /></a><br>

^ A100 / Minolta AF 500mm F8<br>

I put the lens on my old A100 and got this picture of reflections on the Thames at dusk (1/250s, F8, ISO 400)</p>

<p><a title="Spot the ball: North Leigh FC vs Bideford AFC" href=" data-flickr-embed="true"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5663/30589771713_ed14f251cc_b.jpg" alt="Spot the ball: North Leigh FC vs Bideford AFC" width="1024" height="685" /></a><br>

^ A7 / LA-EA4 / Minolta AF 500mm F8<br>

Yesterday I went to a football (soccer) match for the first time in ages and saw my old home team Bideford travel 200 miles to lose 2-1 against a local team, North Leigh (1/1000s, F8, ISO 12800)</p>

<p>As ever, please add your selection for the week below.</p>

<p> </p>

Howard that lens produces sharp images. I'm jealous. The A7 has well controlled noise at 12,800. Went to an event where my grandson was selling pottery and took some pictures with the A100 and 35-80 Minolta zoom.<div></div>

#2<div></div>

The display building had a bar which was closed during the event.<div></div>

<p>This hand operated ferris wheel can carry eight small kids.</p><div></div>

<p>Snowy shopping carts, Iowa.</p><div></div>

<p>Outstanding! A must-follow thread for me. Was an all-Minolta guy myself (XG-A, X700, 7000i) before switching to digital (Canon) and have been thinking of picking up a Maxxum 7, just to finally play with a Minolta digital (and for sentimental reasons). That AF R 500 purchase looks to have been well worth it!</p>