A100 vs A350

I recently picked up a 350 to go with my 100. I do mostly travel photography and change lenses frequently. I was

having a big problem with dirt and dust getting inside the camera during lens changes. I'm hoping that by carrying

both, I will significantly reduce the need for lens changes when I am outdoors.

 

So far I have only two complaints about the 350. The 350 uses an fm500H battery while the 100 uses an fm55h. They

are the same size and use the same charger. However, they are grooved differently preventing use of either battery in

the other camera. This means if you want to carry a spare, you need 4 batteries rather than 2. Do the other A series

cameras have different batteries also? Is this a way to sell more batteries or are there technical reasons for the

change. A few years ago I had a Minolta Dimage A2 and an A200. They used different batteries as well. In fact. I

think they used different chargers also. So, I guess the problem is only half as agonizing as it used to be!

 

Second, in the A100 the front of the CF card faces the front of the camera. With the A350, it is just the opposite.

After activating the card release mechanism, I'm finding it much more difficult to pull the card out of the A350

because the little ridge on the edge of the card is closer to the compartment door and therefore, more difficult to

grasp. But this may be because my fingers, unlike most fingers, are closer to being square than oval.

 

I'll appreciate comments from those who understand these weighty matters.

Upon closer inspection, the 350 battery seems to work in the A100 but not visa-versa. But that is not much consolation if you already have two A100 batteries!

Yes, they turned the CF card around to orient it as other non Konica Minolta Sony cameras do, ya know, "Sony

like.no.other" ... except when marketing deems "like.every.other" gets fewer complaints in magazine reviews!

Think: $ale$ I have the Minolta DiMage A1 and like the CF card ridge under my thumb upon card removal.

 

And, as you noticed, the new camera depends on a smarter battery, so they deny using older batteries in the

newer camera. But, the old camera doesn't mind or even know it's got a smarter batter in. I suppose they would

have had to disengage the A350 smart awareness when using older batteries, making the camera features appear to

not work ... sometimes. That might confuse consumers, so they opted to just lock out older batteries

altogether. Dang. I hear that even modifying the old battery with a groove will make it fit but it still will

not work.

 

Otherwise, how do you like having them both? Share some pictures!