Switching from 35mm to digital

[callyolson]

I currently use a Minolta Maxxum xt si 35mm film camera. I am looking to make

the switch over to digital and wondering if one of the Sony Alphas would be

the best. My thinking is that if I switch to the Sony I can keep my lenses and

accessories. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

Thanks

[jcuknz]

Not sure if there are any wrinkles about your plan but I personally feel that one misses much of the point of changing to digital* if one uses lens that do not fully couple with the camera automatics. I did it for financial expediency some time back but since I also use 'full digital' cameras I miss their features when using my older lens manually with DSLR body. I subsequently bought a 'coupled' lens and quite enjoy working with it though overall prefer to use my pro-sumer cameras.

 

* This maybe less for DSLR users since the pro-sumer is THE digital camera, a 'camera type' which was not available back in film days.

[godfrey]

Cally,

 

The Sony line of Alpha DSLRs are derivative of their purchase of the Konica Minolta camera

division and use the same Minolta AF lens mount as your Maxxum XT si. Your lenses will

work perfectly on it.

 

Some, if not all, of your accessories should too, depending upon what kind of accessories

you have. There may be differences preventing compatibility of dedicated flash units or

remote release, for instance.

 

Godfrey

[ilkka]

You should wait for a few weeks until Sony introduces their new A-700 DSLR even if you do not want to buy that model. When it comes, it is likely that the older A-100 is sold for discount and there may be more Minolta 5D and 7D bodies available second hand as well.

[jimstrutz]

The only downside is in having to deal with Sony. They haven't exactly been the poster child of great service for their consumer equipment. The new A-700 looks like a nice camera though.

 

The other issue is the lack of a full frame sensor, so all your lenses will behave like they are 1.5x as long. Unless you have some *very* wide lenses for your film camera you won't have anything reasonably wide for the digital. To get what I wanted, I had to buy two good/expensive lenses when I switched to digital. You might find the same.

[fmueller]

It would be interesting to know what kind of lenses and accessories you have to see if they are worth binding yourself to Sony. In my opinion the only thing they have going for themselves so far is in-camera anti shake, which is great, but they only have one DSLR on the market so far, and I find it still difficult to judge where they are heading, and if in the long run they will be able to compete with Canon.

[mike_pallas]

Be careful with Sony as far as service is concerned. I've been without mine for 3 months now and still no word of when I will get it back. Maybe they dont have the spare parts but Sony also farm out servicing to independant companies whose reliability is dubious.

[._._z]

Sony is still getting up to speed on DSLR service and repair.

 

The A700 uses the same (or almost identical) sensor as in the upcoming Nikon D300, but the Sony has built-in antishake (while the Nikon has other advantages irrelevant to this thread). It appears to be a high quality sensor that offers real competition to the likes of Canon, et al.

[jcuknz]

If you want a wide view remember that with digital in the computer it is very easy, once you have reasonable editing skills, to stitch two or more shots together for a wide view with narrow angle lens.

[kyle_mahaney]

I love my A-100