DSLR Advice Wanted - Looking For Compatibility with 1990's Minolta Lenses

[ken_c3]

<p>Hello All<br>

<br /> I am looking for advice on using 12 - 15 year old lenses with a modern DSLR body.<br>

<br /> A friend has a Minolta Minolta Maxxum XTsi and these auto-focus lenses: 28-80 mm, 80-150 mm, and 300 mm. I believe the lenses are Minolta lenses. He is interested in moving from film to digital, and asked me my opinion about the Sony A57 DSLR because it is compatible with the lenses he owns for Maxxum XTsi. I don't have any experience in mixing old equipment with new, so I really do not know what to tell him. Does anyone have any experience they can share about whether the Sony A57 is a good unit for these lenses? How well do the Maxxum's lenses perform on the Sony A57 body vs lenses that were made specifically for the Sony DSLR?<br>

<br /> Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.</p>

[John Seaman]

<p>I've not used an A57, but in general. all Minolta AF lenses (and most third party Minolta AF fit lenses) will work on the Sony DSLR's and SLT's.<br>

The 28-80 was designed as a kit lens for film cameras. Its not going to be ideal on digital, the crop sensor 35mm equivalent focal length range being 42mm - 120mm. The 18-55 kit lens which would come with the A57 would be a better bet.<br>

There isn't an 80-150mm Minolta zoom as far as I know.<br>

There are a number of 300mm Minolta lenses, I have no experience of them but I guess they will give good image quality like most prime lenses.<br>

Your friend needs to think carefully about what digital system to buy into. Much as I like Minolta, I would say the lenses described aren't a compelling reason to stay with Sony.</p>

[starvy]

<p>Depending on what your friend really wanted to photograph there are a range of options within the Sony Alpha mount. All of these Minolta branded AF lenses work very well with Sony. I have, however read somewhere that older third party lenses, particular Sigma models may struggle with certain translucent mirror bodies.</p>

[paul_de_ley]

<p>Advise your friend to visit dyxum.com and especially to consult its <a href="http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/topic24857.html">lens database at the bottom of this page</a>. As John and Starvy wrote above, all Minolta AF lenses will work on Sony SLR and SLT models. As far as coatings and colors are concerned, some of the earlier Minolta models will perform equal to or better than the later entry-level lenses produced for alpha mount by Minolta, and even than some of the much more recent offerings by for example Tamron or Sigma.</p>

[paul_de_ley]

<p>wow the servers really misfired here - moderator please delete this and the two subsequent posts!</p>

[paul_de_ley]

<p>please delete!</p>

[paul_de_ley]

<p>And this one too!</p>

[james_f6]

<p>I have a 28-70 xi series lens, this was the ones with the motor in them that is used to zoom. I would be careful of these lenses, I have issues with focus and zooming at random times using these lenses</p>

[ken_c3]

<p>Thanks for the advice. I'll follow up with him re: the manufacturer of his lenses, and pass along the lens database website. He depends on me to translate camera specifications, so I will probably be the one going through the lens website on his behalf.</p>

<p>I tried to steer him toward a super zoom camera, recommending the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200. I think he feels that 1. he's already got high end lenses just sitting there, it would be a waste not to use them, and 2. if you want high quality images an SLR is the only way to get them.<br>

<br>

He's got a major vacation planned for fall of this year, and I think that's what's given him the camera bug, and why he wants the SLR quality photos. My take was a super zoom style camera would be a better fit for vacation travels: no extra lenses to carry or choose from, and at least as advertised with the FZ200, a fast lens wide through telephoto. But, to each his own. I'll pass along what I learn and let him decide how he wants to proceed.<br /><br>

<br />Thanks again for the help.<br /><br>

</p>

[Member69643]

<p>Sony has kept backward compatibility on their bodies but has moved "forward" on lenses. They now offer several SAM lenses which will not autofocus on any Minolta body except the 7 (and 9 with special mods) so if he goes down the Sony path, newer Sony lenses won't AF on his Xtsi. They sill work and take great pics, just won't auto focus.</p>

<p>I use a first-generation Minolta AF lens on my a37 all the time, without issue, so your friend's lenses should be fine.</p>

[ken_c3]

<p>Thanks for sharing your experience with the old lens on a DSLR, Patrick</p>

<p>I got some clarification from my friend re: his lenses. Of the three he has, one is damaged, so he is down to two lenses: a Minolta 80 - 200mm and a Sigma 70 - 300mm. I checked out dyxum.com that Paul recommended above, and if I am reading it correctly, it appears that only the Minolta 80 - 200mm lens will work with a Sony a57<br>

<br>

If that is the case, he's got a lens that is offered on Ebay for $50. My take is a 12 year old lens that sells for $50 should not be driving your decision making when shopping for a new camera - at least that is what I plan to tell him.<br /><br>

<br>

Thanks again<br /></p>

 

[randy_cooprider1]

I agree with your recommendation for a superzoom camera. I have DSLRs but the convenience of the longer range and lighter weight are powerful incentives to use the superzoom. My ancient Lumix DMC FZ 20 has a max aperture of F2.8 all the way through the zoom range (Leica branded lens) and its 5 megapixels work very well up to 8x10. Maybe he could try one out to see if it is up to his needs.

[ObiWon]

<p>For travel, unless you plan on carrying a load of extra lenses then a compact can be the answer. For light traveling I take a Fujifilm f600EXR compact. 15x optical zoom, RAW option, GPS if you can stand the battery drain and with a couple of SD cards you can take days worth of photos and a little bit of HD video, just don't use the zoom too much as the noise gets too much.<br>

But if you want to up the quality a tad, then I recently bought a great condition Olympus Evolt 510 kit on your favourite auction site. Only cost me £130 with two batteries, two lenses and a couple of CF cards. 14-42mm & 40-150mm lenses which double up to 35mm equivalent on the 4/3rds system. Whole kit and caboodle fits in a small bag so great for travels and the quality of a 10megapixel DSLR from a mainstream manufacturer.<br>

<br />I still have a couple of Sony DSLRs and a bunch of Minolta high end glass, which does the business, but the other two options are my travel companions. The other thing is the whole lot fits in the common size of hotel safe, which for travelling has to be a consideration.<br>

For your friend I would favour a high end Superzoom or a compact, unless he wants to try my eBay route.</p>

[ken_c3]

<p>Jim<br>

<br />Thanks for passing along your experience with the smaller cameras. The issue my friend was grappling with was the idea walking away from his investment in his SLR lenses and the better quality image of an SLR. I asked about his plans for the images he will be taking, he said the largest print he wants would be 8" x 10". I think a good quality Superzoom or compact would be able to handle that print size.</p>

<p>My buddy is gearing up for a major vacation, and wants to be able to capture quality images. After a few conversations about his equipment options, he said he's starting to think perhaps something smaller than a DSLR will meet his needs. His best move now would be to visit a camera store and get the cameras in hand to see the portability of the smaller cameras. And I hadn't considered the hotel safe issue, so thanks for mentioning it.</p>

[ObiWon]

<p>Ken</p>

<p>To be honest the 16Megapixel FujiFilm F600 EXR would produce a good 8X10 print. For the money that you can pick one of those up then your friend could pretty much make the money he needs by selling his existing SLR lenses! Fuji in the UK do this great refurbished camera deal. You can pick up an ex-display or returned camera that has been checked and re-boxed by Fuji for sometimes less than 50% of the retail price. I am sure that they will be doing this in other parts of the World too.</p>

<p>If you are not using the camera for state of the art commercial stuff, then to be quite frank you don't need the top level professional equipment these days. But I must confess that yesterday I did a very quick job that were head and shoulder portraits of five people that were only ever going to be used on a website. Now I could have/should have, used the Olympus camera for that, more than adequate - but no, I dragged out a Sony with the wireless flash and the whole nine yards and made a production of it. Yes the client was happy, but did moan about the image sizes. I shot straight to jpeg as they were going to compress and crop them and the time/money factor did not justify the extra work to use RAW. </p>

<p>We live and learn I suppose :-)</p>