ramin m

This was my first digital camera for which I paid C$2000 brand new. I really liked it but eventually it became obsolete and Konica Minolta couldn't survive. I am using a Sony mirrorless system now.

<p>FF sensor is not twice bigger than a m4/3 sensor. It has in fact nearly 4 times more area (it is precisely 3.84 times larger). Two 'stops' of more light actually means 4 times more light hitting the sensor! Light stops (EV) are defined to have a logarithmic curve not a linear one.<br /> The exposure is not directly a function of the total amount of light the sensor receives. It is in fact about the intensity of light per unit of area and that is not affected by the sensor size: larger sensor receives more light but that light is distributed over a larger area so for the same scene and level of available light, exposure is not affected by the size of the sensor. People who say to the contrary of the above, have simply come to believe a fallacy.<br /> If for the same ISO, aperture and shutter speed settings (a certain given exposure setting), you have still observed a difference in the brightness level of the pictures taken with your m4/3 and and with your FF camera, it simply means the manufacturers have not followed the same standard when they were setting up the exposure levels of their camera models. They may do it for their own reasons speculating of which is not the point of this discussion.<br /> Your Sony FF camera has better low light performance than your m4/3 camera which means in high ISO settings you will observe noticeable difference in the noise that is present in the picture. That is the advantage of your FF camera.</p>

I don't get what it means when someone says D300's AF system is not designed for portraits and weddings. On the contrary, I think it is as much designed for portrait and wedding type of work as it is designed for sports. In my opinion, it's currently the most superior AF system in the market among all cameras for all sorts of applications.

I recently switched to Nikon with purchasing D300 mainly because of its 51 AF points. After about a month, my experience with the new camera strongly confirms the 51 AF points covering nearly %40 of the viewfinder display does actually work in practice to provide me with more in-focus pictures and less out-of-focus pictures comparing to any traditional system with dispersed 7-16 AF points or so.

 

 

I am coming from KM 7D and I have to say D300 is much less intuitive to use. This means there is a rather long learning curve while with 7D interface, I was at home in about half an hour, with D300 and now after about a month, I think I will need another three months or so to learn the camera: in my humble opinion, controls on D300 are not alway intuitive, sometimes quite counter-intuitive; ergonomics is weak at certain points and menus are not always organized in a rational way. I admit 7D didn't have as many features as D300 so partially explains its easy and quick to learn menu system. But this is not all the story. Many features and functions of the camera are not easy to guess or learn without the instruction manual. on 7D, I barely needed to read the instruction manual.

 

Despite this, it is certainly an amazing camera: Viewfinder is very good and bright (as good as my KM 7D); User interface can be greatly improved by moving away from some default settings; AF fine tuning is so useful,

the enormous number of other features is also great (such as detailed WB tuning); and the bulit-construction is more than enough for me (7D was almost as solid but not quite as weather sealed).

 

I also see and vote for a necessity to ban cameras with high MP to discourage camera manufacturers to boost MP. It's not about Canon, Nikon, Sony or else; it's not about brand but about this prevalent market trend which I find absurd. Unfortunately, camera manufacturers try to take advantage of and feed this false market trend instead of providing a proper education for people. The truth is that %99.9 of us, don't need these high MP's.

By the way, how come do some say D700 has a good dynamic range? From the review at dpreview.com, I read D700 has particularly a low dynamic range. So what's the explanation for this conflicting information?

Are you sure SB-28 works on D300? I read it has to be the digital version SB-28DX. I don't own either but I have read SB-28DX works with D300 only in manual mode. SB-28 may not work at all or may even damage the camera because it has a higher voltage. Am I right?

To Brian Southward. Brian, KM 7D is in a different league than The camera you mention. The differing factors are build quilty, and feature advantages. The main competitor to 7D is Canon D20 and they are priced very closely. They both use extensive amount of metal in their bodies. D20 is 8mp and has a higher fps, while 7D has AS (anti-shake) system built into its body plus excellent user-interface Extensive use of dials and knobs and buttons dedicated to specific tasks) plus a true spot metering. AS alone guarantee that you will save a lot on lenses, if you need this technology (i need). If i was with canon or Nikon, i had to pay extra for each lens to be IS/VR.

Anyway, i ordered my 7D two days ago for almost US$1350 tax and shipping included which is great bargain. I am already a Minolta user so already have Minolta lenses which now all turn into IS without paying an extra penny. Though i think even if i was not a minolta shooter, i would have still gone for 7D because i just love its interface: so easy, quick and intuitive to operate comparing to other designs. That?s why i actually switched from EOS system to a maxxum 7

three years ago.

I am eagerly waiting to receive my 7D. This is my first digital camera so i need to learn a lot. Ramin

The specifications that are given for maxxum zeus do not match those of dimage A1 and Z1. Very different indedd. Besides that table in]http://www.swissarmyfork.com/dslr_table_1.htm

is about comparing lens interchangeable DSLR's not lens fixed ones such A1. If you look at there all other models in the table are so.

Regards, Ramin

A simple geometrical vision should clarify the situation: The spatial freedom for camera positioning without having to use the panning knob, in both cases is specified with a cone whose center is the center of the ball. In arca swiss the main axis of this cone is the up-down axis (let's call it the z-axis), while in acratech the main axis is an axis which makes an angle with the z-axis which i think is 45degress (i haven't precisely measured it). The angle of the cone (the angle that the limiting border makes with the main axis) determines the amount of apatial freedom. For arca swiss this is 45degress (as i have read) while for acratech i think it is slightly more than 45degrees perhaps 50degrees (i haven't precisely measured it). This means without using the panning knob, one has more spatial freedom with acratech than one has with arca swiss. However since these two cones differ in their

main axis too, one may be more convenient than the other depending on which spatial directions are of more frequent use which is determined by what one is photographying. If one need to have instant access to above directions (without having to use the panning knob) then arca swiss is a more convenient choice. If one need instant action to front side or front downside, then acratech is a better choice. So for example for bird photography arca swiss should be abetter choice as birds are often at a higher lever than the camera.

I have my own questions that i hope i will get some answers:

I recently purchased a used one from ebay that i ended up returning it to the seller. Thanks to the seller for compensating for shipping costs on both ways. However i also paid some duties though it was a used item (i live in Canada). Despite this i am still considering this ballhead mainly because of its light weight, the lightest in its class and perhaps the one that i got was a faulty unit. I would apprecaite if you enlighten me on your experience using this balhead on the following problems:

1- I needed an extreme amount of force to tighten the ball! Though this is the ballhead that i have had but i have already tried other ball heads from say Manfrotto, novoflex (maginc ball), etc. (that i don't remeber the names) and they were all much better in htis regards. One needs very little effort to tighten the ball by rotating the main knob. With acratech one has to apply an increasing force to tighten the ball many times more than other ballheads.

2- The main knob's feeling when tightenning was also very non-smooth. All other ones i tried had pretty smooth silky feeling to them.

3- As i has to apply a lot of force to tighten the main (and also the tension knob), they felt like being stiff when i was trying to untighten them.

So do you think the particular unit that i got was faulty and generally the ballhead should not feel like that?

I want to be better sure of these problems before buying as it will cost me duties/brokery/tax when the item passes the border.

Thanks, Ramin

I recently purchased a used one from ebay that i ended up returning it to the seller. Thanks to the seller for compensating for shipping costs on both ways. However i also paid some duties though it was a used item (i live in Canada). Despite this i am still considering this ballhead mainly because of its light weight, the lightest in its class and perhaps the one that i got was a faulty unit. I would apprecaite if you enlighten me on your experience using this balhead on the following problems:

1- I needed an extreme amount of force to tighten the ball! Though this is the ballhead that i have had but i have already tried other ball heads from say Manfrotto, novoflex (maginc ball), etc. (that i don't remeber the names) and they were all much better in htis regards. One needs very little effort to tighten the ball by rotating the main knob. With acratech one has to apply an increasing force to tighten the ball many times more than other ballheads.

2- The main knob's feeling when tightenning was also very non-smooth. All other ones i tried had pretty smooth silky feeling to them.

3- As i has to apply a lot of force to tighten the main (and also the tension knob), they felt like being stiff when i was trying to untighten them.

So do you think the particular unit that i got was faulty and generally the ballhead should not feel like that?

I want to be better sure of these problems before buying as it will cost me duties/brokery/tax when the item passes the border.

Thanks, Ramin

In the similar situation i purchased a maxxum 9 to work alongside with my maxxum 7. Minolta says it is weather proof (dust and humid resistant). I have heard great things about its rebustness and weather resistance up to even getting somewhat wet while still working! I don't know how much these stories are true. However one certainly feels mre relaxed about his/her camera if it's a maxxum 9

than a maxxum7.

Another much less expensive alternative is maxxum 9xi (my initial choice as a back-up body before getting a maxxum 9). It is also a very solid and weather proof camera however it has a different user interface than that of maxxum 7.

Make sure you are not missing any details in the information. To me they just sound odd! They might be just the same package.

I went for Maxxum 7 and i love this camera. It is so easy, quick and intuitive to use. Then i added maxxum 9 which has the same user interfcace less advanced but with a robust body.

Canon, Minolta, Nikon and Pentax all make good to bad lenses with varing prices. You can find a minolta lens better than the rest in its leaque or a canon one or a nikon one or a pentax one.

The only advantage of canon and then nikon in lens area, is their IS(VR) lenses. If you can afford their price you might better go off with one of these. Otherwise minolta and pentax are a bit as good options as the first two. USM(AFS) in my opinion is not important. I was a canon user before and USM lenses were not an advantage for me.

Maxxum 7 is already a pretty quiet camera. It has an excellent AF, metering and flash metering system. Its exposure data saving is what i have always dreaming about when i was using another brand. And as i said before its user interface is just fantastic.

Ramin

This is very subjective but to me it sems N80 is easier to use than N65 despite having more features. It has separate buttons/dials for functions that helps one to understand the camera more quickly.

If you feel secure about purchasing from www.ebay.com, you can find good deals there. I have purchased many items from ebay and i think it is a good source for getting goods at low prices. Of course there is a risk in it (which i think is pretty low). I always check the seller's feedback beofore bidding. On expensive items the seller should have many feed backs all positive.

I have 100macroD form minolta and i like it very much. You can find macro lenses from sigma or tamron at lower prices. The non-D minolta lens has also lower price.

Ramin