Minolta Md lens to AF body adaptor and more

[muthukumar_nadar1]

Hello ! I am a new member and this is my first post. I have a minolta

sR 505 all manual camera and 3 nice prime lenses, 135mm rokkor, 58mm

rokkor and a 28mm sigma and a cheap 2x teleconverter.

I am thinking about buying a minolta auto focus body.

My questions are

1)What should I look for in an Autofocus camera. I am paticular about

metering options, multiple exposure and DOF preview.

 

2) Can I use my MD mount lenses on the AF body? Is there an adaptor

and if there is one, will it affect the image quality ?(cos when i use

my 2x tele convoerter with my 135mm I cant focus at infinity) Will i

have such or other such problems when using such an adaptor?

 

3) How about this Minolta MD Mount 500mm/f-8 Pro Hi-Def Telephoto

Preset Lens? Is it all glass elements and is it good? (I am mostly

interested in shooting the moon. Havent thought about wild life

shooting yet)

 

4) and one strange question. The meter needle and that loop in minolta

SRT models are black and I find it difficult to see it in low light

conditions. Can I ask my camera service person to paint it white or

some fluoroscent color for better visibilty? Is it possible and if so

will it affect the meter reading?

 

Thank you.

[michael_hohner]

<ol>

<li>Check out <a href="http://www.nefkom.net/miho/foto/minolta/bodies.html">this page</a>. It lists all Minolta AF bodies and their features.

<li>You can't use MD lenses on AF bodies directly. You need an adapter. These are rare items with the following restrictions:

<ul>

<li>Contain optical element to retain infinity focus. This means a reduction in quality and a slight TC effect.

<li>No electronics and no aperture actuator in the adapter. The body doesn't know the aperture of the lens, and you have to use stop-down metering. Some lower-level bodies also do not meter correctly when they don't know the aperture of the lens. You have to do some experimentation to find the correct compensation value for that effect.

<li>Still no AF, of course.

</ul>

Considering all these issues I'd say: use AF lenses on AF bodies.

<li>It's a mirror lens. The aperture is slow and fixed. You can't stop down. Like with all mirror lens, the contrast is lower than with comparable refractor lenses. Out-of-focus highlights are rendered donut-shaped, which many consider unpleasant.

<li>Can't say anthing about that point.

</ol>

[eskoufos]

Hi

I have been a manual minolta user for years and recently made a switch into the maxxum system; here is an attempt to answer some of your questions:

1. If you are using manual bodies, the AF bodies will seem much more "complex" and you will probably be surprised by their user interface (I was and took me a while to get used to it :) ). Maxxum/Dynax 5, is probably a good bet for a starter camera

 

2. Yes you can with an adapter, but there are several problems (see the answer above). The only MC/MD lenses I would mount on a Maxxum/Dynax are the lenses you cannot find readily in an A mount. You could buy the 28-135mm F4-4.5 zoon (less than $200 ebay) and would be an adequate (if not better quality) substitute for the lenses you have

 

good luck

[emr]

If you have the money, I would absoulutely go for the Maxxum/Dynax 7. It is a superb camera, and for around US$400, they are practically giving it away. I have the 5, and while it is a great camera feature-wise, ergonomically it is only so-so. On the other hand, it is small and light and only about $150 online these days, and it has almost all the features of the 7. The 70, the 5's replacement, is supposed to be an ergonomic improvement over the 5, although it is missing a couple of the 5's features (and adds a couple).

 

As far as lenses, there are great bargains to be had on ebay on Minolta AF stuff.

[fmueller]

<i>1) What should I look for in an Autofocus camera.</i></p>

 

I would say the first thing you should consider is if you want a igital camera or one that operates with film. There are good reasons to go either way. You should find out what they are and make an informed decision. If you are attracted by digital, but are held back by price (cheapest DSLR including a lens is currently around $900), ask yourself if you really need AF, or if you are just after a camera with some more features than your SR505. In this case, a XD series camera or a X-700 might do, and you could continue using your lenses, saving money for a system built around a digital SLR at a later stage. </p>

 

If you have your mind set on a new film SLR, the Maxxum 5, which is about to be discontinued, is currently an amazing value at about $100 - but you'd need lenses as well.</p>

 

<i>I am paticular about metering options, multiple exposure and DOF preview.</i></p>

 

Multiple exposures and DOF preview are no problems with your SR505. There is only one metering option, but if you are familiar with the CLC metering system and are getting good exposures, how would you benefit from matrix metering? If you want spot metering, consider buing a separate spot meter - much cheaper than an AF SLR and a new set of lenses.</p>

 

<i>2) Can I use my MD mount lenses on the AF body? </i></p>

 

You can, but I know nobody who is happy with that solution. If you buy an AF camera, you will need new lenses, regardless if the AF camera is from Minolta or another brand. If you buy a Minolta, your old flash units won't fit either, nor will a standard cable release.</p>

 

<i>3) How about this Minolta MD Mount 500mm/f-8 Pro Hi-Def Telephoto Preset Lens?</i></p>

 

If it's preset (as you stated), it can't be a mirror lens (as Michael stated). These generic preset lenses with a simple optical constuction are often surprisingly good optically, considering the low price, but are very slow. You would probably have good fun shooting the moon with it, but for wildlife it's not a good solution. If you plan to get seriously into wildlife, you will probably need at least a 300mm 2.8 with a set of 1.4x and 2x teleconverters in the long run. Minolta never made a 300mm 2.8 for the manual focus system, and third party options are rare as hen's teeth and tend to be expensive. If you want to go that way, you might want to try and get a good deal on a 300mm 2.8 and buy a camera to match - be that a Minolta, Canon, Nikon, or Pentax. For the less serious wildlife shooter Minolta has a very nice 300mm 4.5 for the manual focus system that would work with your SR505 and isn't very expensive second hand (about $200). There is also a nice Tokina 400mm 5.6 available in that mount (about $150).</p>

 

<i>4) and one strange question. The meter needle and that loop in minolta SRT models are black and I find it difficult to see it in low light conditions. Can I ask my camera service person to paint it white or some fluoroscent color for better visibilty? </i></p>

 

I don't think it would cause metering problems, but it might be tought to see under bright conditions if painted white - actually, just looking through my SRTs, I wonder if you wouldn't see a black sihouette no matter what color these things are painted. Also, this could cost a few dollars to implement.

[muthukumar_nadar1]

Thank you.

 

 

Thank you Micheal for the web site, was very usefull. And thanks for the info on MD lens to AF bodies. But I dont think that lens is Mirror lens, it looks like a foot long ! Thanks a lot anyway.

 

Emmanouil and Eugene Thank you for the suggestions, was very helpfull.

 

 

Frank Thank you. Yes, as u said its not a mirror lens. I wanted to know if its all glass elements and if its sharp. I can sacrifice the speed of the lens (f8 is ok) as long as the lens is sharp, thats why i dont own any zooms. I love my MD/MC primes. and by the way, will the T mount adaptor and stuff like that also cause focussing at infinity problems?

 

I need one more body and actually I was planning for an XD 7/11 but since the the reason I was looking for a AF minotla is that I find it hard to focus with the split image focusing screen esp while using my 135mm rokkor esp while shooting peoople ( prefere focusing the eyes and that makes me slow with that split image screen)

Any suggestions?

 

Well I will forget the painting the needle !

 

Spot meeter !! hmmm I wil have to think about it. I thought it would be nice if i had one built in my camera.

 

I am very happy that i got many inputs in my first post .Well thank you all for your suggestions ! If you have mroe please do post it.

Thanks again.

Muthu.

[Mike Gammill]

With regard to the 500mm preset telephoto you can get a simple Maxxum T-ring to adapt it to any Maxxum except the 2xi, 3xi, and SPxi. Versions later than the i-series do require you to "turn off" the setting that does not allow a Maxxum shutter to fire without a proper lens attached.

I have such a lens and have used it this way, but beware of vibration due to mirror slap. Below 1/125 or 1/60 of a second camera induced vibration from the mirror may degrade your images. An old SRT 101 with mirror lock-up works best with this lens or a camera that locks up the mirror when you activate the self timer.

If you stop the lens down to f11 it will do okay for moon photos if you're interested in a large moon in your photos. Just for the moon itself it may not provide enough magnification to reveal much detail.

[fmueller]

There is no camera system on which you can directly mount a T-mount lens. These lenses were designed to be used with an adapter, so there is no problem with infinity focusing. For more details on how the whole adapter business works see:

 

http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/mounts.htm

 

This preset lens is likely to be an ok lens, but it is not a very high quality lens like your Minolta primes. After all, brand new generic 500mm f8 lenses sell on eBay for about $100, and I bet with a bit of luck you could find a used one for less than half that price.

 

For more details on lunar photography see:

 

http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/howtophoto/

 

I don't care much for the split image focusing help either. I find it much easier to focus with the outside of the screen - if it look sharp there, it will be sharp in the picture. In one of my XD-7 cameras I actually had the plain matte focusing screen installed that lacks any focusing aids, and I really like that setup a lot. In my other cameras I simply ignore the focusing aids.

[fmueller]

Oh, one more thing, mirror lockup is nice, but IMHO it's more important to use good long lens techniques as described in the following articles:

 

http://www.moose395.net/howto/longlens.html

 

http://www.naturephotographers.net/ejp0801-1.html

[muthukumar_nadar1]

Thank you Mike and Frank, Well then I msut think about a body first. I want an xd 11 then later think about AF bodies for serious bird shooting. And Frank, is the plane matte focusing scree good for people potraits? I mean I am used to focus th eye with the split image screen and found it difficult, will the plane matte screen work fine while shooting face shots with the lens wide open?

And thanks a lot for the sites.