Compatibilty - Minolta Lenses ( etc. ) to Sony Alpha 100 - the facts.

Sony Europe have published a compatability listing for Minolta AF lenses,

flashes, teleconverters and accessories with the Alpha 100 - www.sonydigital-

link.com and then you take it from there.

 

Apart from a few possible problems with focus limiters and macro switches it

seems that the lenses and for that matter teleconverters are pretty much OK.

There is an extremely long list for the flashes and I have not even looked at

the accessories yet.

 

Credit to Sony on this - it would seem that they do have some interest in the

Minolta legacy/heritage :)

Bill,

<br><br>

Thanks, that's very useful information.

<br><br>

For convenience, here are the various direct links.

<ul>

<li>

<a

href="http://support.sony-europe.com/DIME/digistill/alpha/compatibility/flash.asp?

l=en&m=DSLR-A100">

Flash Compatibility Chart

</a>

</li>

<li>

<a

href="http://support.sony-europe.com/DIME/digistill/alpha/compatibility/flashacc.asp?

l=en&m=DSLR-A100">

Accessory Compatibility Chart

</a>

</li>

<li>

<a

href="http://support.sony-europe.com/DIME/digistill/alpha/compatibility/lens.asp?

l=en&m=DSLR-A100">

Lens Compatibility Chart

</a>

</li>

<li>

<a

href="http://support.sony-europe.com/memstick/compatibility/compatibility.asp?

l=en&f=dsc&m=DSLR-A100">

Memory Stick Product Compatibility</a>

 

</li>

</ul>

&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp ...Tom M

The list also applies to the K/M 5D and 7D, as Sony did not make changes to the lens system. The 'few possible problems' are due to the fact that when the K/M/Sony Anti-Shake/Super Steady Shot function is used with a macro lens the system is less effective, and not because there is a lack of compatibility. The closer you are to the subject the more apparent any shake is.

 

Hope this lays to rest any doubt that Sony is using the K/M system and not just the lens mount. If you cover over the SONY on the front of the A100, it's a K/M DSLR.

I noticed that the Sony 50mm f/1.4 is ADI functional, whereas the K/M 50mm f/1.4 is not. This would indicate that some K/M lenses may have been upgraded during the switch over.

I haven't checked, but I seem to recall that all the lenses were upgraded to D lenses.

 

I could be wrong.

 

chad

Craig, according to the list, the 16mm, 20mm, and 28mm are not 'D' lenses.

Rupert - in Sonyspeak OK = No & OK(ADI) = Yes.

 

50mm f1.4 may have been WIP but we will never know unless Sony tell us and I doubt that they will bother.

 

Wonder if/when OMs such as Stigma, Tampon & Tonka will provide compatibility details ?

Bull Thorlimp, there is no need for any of the independent lens makers to post a list, as Sony is using the lens system that they bought from K/M exactly as it was developed. They did not make any changes. The reason that there is some limitation with the macro lens is due to the fact that AS/SSS/VR/IS is less effective the closer one gets to the subject. This is true of any system, be it Sony's, Canon's, or Nikon's.

"there is no need for any of the independant lens makers to post a list" - so why did Sony feel it necessary to do so ?

 

"The reason that there is some limitation with the macro lens ......" yes that is what the list would appear to say so where does this bit get us ?

 

It also appears that there is some problem with "focus limiters" if what I read is correct under "OK(*1)".

 

Personalisation - I am getting that deja vu feeling again.

.

 

Robert Paul wrote: "... Bull Thorlimp ..."

 

Um, Paul, kindly refrain from ad homonym (against the person) attacks on the Minolta list. We're all friends here and have and tolerate NO animosity between us. Canon? Nikon? Even Leica? Okay, if you wanna insult people, head over to those forums and join the fray.

 

But, please, Paul, pitch in, enjoy, make space for everyone to feel welcomed and invited to join in, make nice, and apologize to Bill and also to one and all here who are just trying to get along.

 

Thank you in advance for your cooperation and leadership in this matter.

 

 

Click!

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise peterblaise@yahoo.com Minolta Rokkor Alpha DiMage Photographer http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/

.

 

Bill Thorlin wrote " ... Wonder if/when OMs such as Stigma, Tampon & Tonka ..."

 

Since Tamron was a LICENSED builder of Minolta-style electronic lenses, and made NO auto-zoom, NO SSM or other specialty lenses, Tamron-brand Minolta-style electronic lenses are actually MORE compatible across various Minolta, Konica Minolta and Sony Alpha A/Alpha-mount auto focus cameras than even Minolta or Sony!

 

Sigma, Tokina, Cosina and Samyang/Phoenix/Vivitar never licensed Minolta designs and prefered to reverse engineer their lens electronics, thereby risking incompatibility across various Minolta evolutionary changes from camera generation to generation, the Minolta Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum 7 apparently being the most challenging body in production.

 

Many of us here have great success with Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Cosina and Samyang/Phoenix/Vivitar in that we find that they do exactly as promised and are priced acceptably and appropriately given their compromises, but it's good to frequently point out what those compromises are - new or used lenses from these suppliers may not fully function, or may not function at all on any one or more particular Minolta, Konica Minolta or Sony A/Alpha-mount auto focus camera. ALWAYS buy with a 100% return privilege and test thoroughly before accepting any lens (or any gear) from any source, right?

 

However, Bill, ad homonym (against the person) attacks are really beneath us and I think they drag the general demeanor of the discussions down - w-a-y down as Robert Paul illustrated in response to your posts. We're all friends here we're just tryin' to make the best of whatever gear we can get our hands on for a price. Can I ask everyone for zero tolerance on animosity, period? When I mentioned. "... Canon, Nikon, Even Leica ... if you wanna insult people, head over to those forums and join the fray ..." I was KIDDING and trying to be funny and make a point, but I apologize now and take it back - ridicule is inappropriate and demeans us all, I now see. Ooops, sorry, I'll try never to do it again, please forgive me, and please join me in trying to stop it and help each other to stop it.

 

Let's pitch in, enjoy, make space for everyone to feel welcomed and invited to join in REGARDLESS of their gear - Sigma, Tamron, Tokina, Cosina and Samyang/Phoenix/Vivitar or other - let's make nice and just trying to get along.

 

Thank you ALL in advance for your cooperation and cross-leadership in this matter.

 

 

Click!

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise peterblaise@yahoo.com Minolta Rokkor Alpha DiMage Photographer http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/

Peter, didn't you notice that Bill called me 'Rupert' FIRST??? Why is it acceptable for Bill to make fun of someone else's name and when I do so in return, I get blasted??? Do you see anyone named 'Rupert' in this question? I don't!!!

 

So, if you are going to blame anyone, make sure you place the blame where it belongs!!!

Peter, haven't you noticed that Bill has a habit of misnaming others. He calls 'eBay', 'fleabay'. Now he is calling Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina by some made-up names. He also is calling me, 'Rupert'. If there is any 'deja vu', it is due to Bill and his smug disregard and disrespect for others.

.

 

Thank you for pointing out disrespect and ridicule, and your point is well made -- that if we follow and emulate it, we defeat ourselves, but if we do not do it ourselves, and ask others to follow suit, we may enhance our experience here to everyone's satisfaction.

 

All we can do it try.

 

How about it everyone? Apologize, make nice, and let's talk MINOLTA!

 

Er, KONICA MINOLTA.

 

Er, SONY!

 

Er ...

 

;-)

 

Click!

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise peterblaise@yahoo.com Minolta Rokkor Alpha DiMage Photographer http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/

 

==========

 

Back to the discussion:

 

In my listing of caveats for lens compatibility, I accidentially listed Tamron in the list to be cautious about. Sorry. Tamron even more so than Minolta is SUPER COMPATIBLE across the entire Minolta A-mount line and is a safe bet, function wise. In order of compatibility:

 

- Tamron - all work everywhere

 

- Minolta, with some specialty models not fully functioning on all cameras

 

- everyone else -- Cosina, Tokina, Sigma, Samyang/Phoenix/Vivitar (any others?) -- Sigma having the most sales also has the most complaints, but any maker's lens might not work on cameras released later then the lens's date, and the maker may not have update chips for their older lenses.

 

Does anyone have details and tech support contact information to share for each maker?

.

 

Earlier in this thread: "... "there is no need for any of the independent lens makers to post a list" - so why did Sony feel it necessary to do so ? ..."

 

I believe that Sony released their own list to:

 

- BRAG about how many lenses support their new baby

 

- encourage legacy owners to upgrade their non-Sony camera bodies without fear

 

- responsibly caution those few situations where a feature does not function.

 

But the list shows essentially nothing new, surprising or revealing.

 

Now, I believe that other lens makers would definitely NOT like to publish a list where they admitted that they have Minolta-AF-style lenses NOT compatible! Nope, no one else is gonna publish a list that says "DOES NOT FIT OR WORK ON SONY ALPHA A100"!

 

However, many lists show what cameras their lenses DO fit and work on, and some lenses, expecially from Sigma, list Canon and Nikon only, ignoring Pentax and Minolta, and Olympus of course, and sometimes even their own Sigma cameras! But even then, they do not say "DOES NOT FIT ..." They just don't list Minolta et cetera in the offering for a particular lens. But, again, no list!

 

Anyway. The list at Sony Europe is OLD and is a copy of Sony Japan's early published list from April 2006, and is nothing new, just new to some of us. Thank you for sharing an easily accessible English version.

 

Click!

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise peterblaise@yahoo.com Minolta Rokkor Alpha DiMage Photographer http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/

Peter, Jesus would 'turn the other cheek' when struck, however, I believe in 'an eye for an eye'. I was demeaned by another poster and gave onto him as he gave me. It is the other poster who should apologize to me, then I would consider doing likewise.

If one were to go back through this thread one would see a posting addressed to "Craig" but no-one called Craig had posted, however Chad had in fact posted ( if memory serves me right this is not the first time ).

 

It appealed to my sense of humour to respond in like fashion and I consider the response light-hearted and not malicious. If you do not like my sense of humour you can - A) scroll over my postings B) hope for a blocker to be installed or C) take the matter further.

 

I call eBay fleabay because it does have elements of a flea-market about it. Sigma has often been called Stigma as their products are slightly looked down on by some who insist on only their camera manufacturers lenses. Tokina lenses are mostly built like tanks and there was/is a range of childrens toy vehicles called Tonka built to withstand very hard wear. As for Tamron I leave that for you to work out.

 

In the interests of further amplification I call easyjet - sleazyjet, Ryanair - lyingair and my daily paper is the Daily Bellylaugh. Perhaps it is peculiar to these islands and not to another.

 

It would seem that I am not the only one wondering about compatibility of other brands of lenses - it would be interesting to see if anything ever comes up or will it be caveat emptor. Perhaps it would be more likely if the Alpha 100 is successful.

 

I am still wondering what problem the focus limiters cause that reduces the effectiveness of SSS ( can we use SSS as that is the name of the ongoing system ).

Bill, I see that you didn't apologize to me, so don't expect one from me. And now that you know that I find your attempt at 'humor' at my expense not very funny and somewhat disrespectful, I hope that you will not do so again in the future. And tell me, why haven't you done it to Peter, Chad, or any other poster?

 

As for me calling Chad, Craig, it was a mistake, as I had posted another post to someone named Craig. And if Chad is offended, I do offer my apology, no disrespect was intended.

"I am still wondering what problem the focus limiters cause that reduces the effectiveness of SSS ( can we use SSS as that is the name of the ongoing system)."

 

This came from Popular Photography in their test of the Nikon 105mm f/2.8G VR AF-S (Sept. 2006 issue)-- "The Nikon's Vibration Reduction system (VR II) offered between three and four stops of extra handholdable shutter speeds (depending on the user) at 10 feet, as determined by DxO Analyzer blur factor tests. Because the increased magnification in the macro range magnifies not only the subject, but camera shake, VR effectiveness drops off significantly at close-focus distances. At 1:1.3 (the closest we could go using the DxO system), most users saw a one- to two-stop improvement in sharpness over non-VR shooting."

 

I believe this would also apply to Sony's built-in body SSS.

 

By the way, the same issue has a full test of the Sony A100 and the 18-70mm.

Did I ask for an apology ?

 

Focus limiter - this feature exists on AF200/f2.8 and upwards, on the 70-200/2.8 APO G and others that are not macro lenses or aimed at close focus use. It is a method of reducing the "travel" of a lens as far as I understand it so I am afraid I am not following this but it is not really of any major importance at present.

.

 

Earlier: "... why haven't you done it to Peter, Chad, or any other poster? ..."

 

Lemme guess -- because we've not been so obnoxious, such as suggesting (paraphrase) ".. if someone else is offensive then I get to be offensive too! ..." Eye for an eye crap -- GEESH!

 

Also earlier: "... Did I ask for an apology ? ..."

 

No, you were enjoying every minute of it, and you are thick skinned. However, considering the challenge of finding humor we ALL can enjoy, I an the one who asked for an apology:

 

- apology: in recognition of our connection to others and their harm / suffering at our behavior, (1) stop what we're doing, (2) fix what we broke, and (3) take steps to prevent it from happening again. An apology is the method by which the harm / suffering stops.

 

- Eye for an eye: method by which the harm / suffering is perpetuated.

 

Minolta / Konica Minolta / Sony in this? Oh, yes, these are forum meta threads -- threads about our threads. Posts about our posts. Unavoidable.

 

Anyone use an Alpha recently?

 

I shot some demo pictures and found I have no Sony RAW converter! I'm glad I set it for RAW+JPG so I can see something! I wish I had more than just in-store shots, though!

 

Is DRO+ really only JPG and there's NO transfer of the exposure information to RAW?

 

Is DRO turned OFF when capturing RAW, even RAW+JPG?

 

Too may topics in one thread?

 

Click!

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise peterblaise@yahoo.com Minolta Rokkor Alpha DiMage Photographer http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/

Such is life.

 

PBM - may I ask why you use ad homonym ? Homonym usually covers words of a like sound or spelling and does not relate to the person. Ad hominem covers the area of "against the person" and would appear more correct - in the interests of full and correct information being provided of course ( for those of a nervous disposition this last point is of course very much tongue in cheek ).

 

Hope that at least some found the original information helpful.

.

 

Dung spill chicker.

 

[ad hominem] it is!

 

Definitions of ad hominem on the Web:

 

appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect

http://ww2.aps.edu/users/apsedumain/CurriculumInstruction/glossary.htm

 

A fallacy that attacks the person rather than dealing with the real issue in dispute.

http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/007256296x/student_view0/glossary.html

 

attacking your opponent personally rather than her/his argument. Ad hominem is fallacious argumentation.

http://www.tmsdebate.org/main/forensics/glossary.htm

 

an argument "against the man" or person. This is a device employed to attack not the issues but rather the one you are arguing with, especially on a personal level or basis. It is usually employed by those whose arguments are weak.

http://library.sebts.edu/smadden/cross/terms.htm

 

when people can't find fault with an argument, they sometimes attack the arguer, substituting irrelevant assertions about that person's character for an analysis of the argument itself.

http://home.olemiss.edu/~gbrown/reserve/fallacies_and_causes.htm

 

appealing to personal considerations (rather than to fact or reason); "ad hominem arguments"

http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

 

An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin, literally "argument [aimed] at the person", but usually translated as "argument to the man"), is a logical fallacy that involves replying to an argument or assertion by addressing the person presenting the argument or assertion rather than the argument itself or an argument pointing out an inconsistency between a view expressed by an individual and the remainder of his or her beliefs.

 

Definitions of homonym on the Web:

 

A single attribute name that is used for two or more different attributes.

http://www.cbu.edu/~lschmitt/I351/glossary.htm

 

... et cetera.

 

My bvad!

 

Cluck!

 

Pioter Blades pewterblaze@yourwho.comm ...

.

 

At this end (and PLEASE let it be the END) of the thread, perhaps it's appropriate to bury this thread with an epitaph such as this - an attempt to make a humorous aside:

 

==========

 

How many photo.net group members does it take to change a light bulb?

 

1 to change the light bulb and to post that the light bulb has been changed

 

14 to share similar experiences of changing light bulbs and how the light bulb could have been changed differently

 

7 to caution about the dangers of changing light bulbs

 

27 to point out spelling/grammar errors in posts about changing light bulbs

 

53 to flame the spell checkers

 

41 to correct spelling/grammar flames

 

6 to argue over whether it's "light bulb" or "light bulb" (I'm one of them!)

 

another 6 to condemn those 6 as anal-retentive

 

2 industry professionals to inform the group that the proper term is "lamp"

 

15 know-it-alls who claim *they* were in the industry, and that "light bulb" is perfectly correct

 

156 to email the participant' s ISPs complaining that they are in violation of their "acceptable use policy"

 

109 to post that this group is not about light bulbs and to please take this discussion to a lightbulb group

 

203 to demand that cross posting to hardware forum, off-topic forum, and lightbulb group about changing light bulbs be stopped

 

111 to defend the posting to this group saying that we all use light bulbs and therefore the posts *are* relevant to this group

 

306 to debate which method of changing light bulbs is superior, where to buy the best light bulbs, what brand of light bulbs work best for this technique, and what brands are faulty

 

27 to post URL's where one can see examples of different light bulbs

 

14 to post that the URL's were posted incorrectly and then post the corrected URL's

 

3 to post about links they found from the URL's that are relevant to this group which makes light bulbs relevant to this group

 

33 to link all posts to date, quote them in their entirety including all headers and signatures, and add "Me too"

 

12 to post to the group that they will no longer post because they cannot handle the light bulb controversy

 

19 to quote the "Me too's" to say "Me three"

 

4 to suggest that posters request the light bulb FAQ

 

44 to ask what is a "FAQ"

 

4 to say "didn't we go through this already a short time ago?"

 

143 to say "do a Google search on light bulbs before posting questions about light bulbs"

 

1 forum lurker to respond to the original post 6 months from now and start it all over again....

 

... I've lost count.

 

==========

 

(The above is going around the fax machines in my high tech areas at the moment.)

 

;-)

 

Click

 

Love and hugs,

 

Peter Blaise peterblaise@yahoo.com Minolta Rokkor Alpha DiMage Photographer

http://www.peterblaisephotography.com/

Peter, Congratulations, that was a very funny (and oh so true) post and worth the fifteen minutes it took me to read it. : ) Well done!!!