miguel_rodriguez3

well, I don't know where you can get the 8x10 for a quid in UK. I moved to Mexico this year and in Costco Club (american supermarket) a 7x5 print from digital costs the equivalent of 10p, a 10x8 90p. All in a choice of matte paper or glossy paper.

Printing is way cheaper here, however used and new film cameras are way more expensive.

Well, it is clear that they want to sell their 7D's. In countries like mine (Mexico) Digital is still not very popular with most people due to the prices of cameras. What I think is that film will be available for quite a while but not the wide variety of it. Perhaps they will keep producing certain popular speeds (ASA 100, 400, 800) but will stop producing special emulsions, at least, not as much as now.

I have found myself re-discovering new pictures in old negatives shot in colour film by playing with a film scanner and an image editor and converting some to B/W.

Just to summarize, in most countries digital is still very expensive for most people and film is the way to go there, for the time being. In rich countries, people can just buy a point and shoot digital and send their pictures over the internet and get the pictures back home. In poorer countries it is way cheaper to continue using that old SRT with a 36 exp film roll than buying a compact digital...

Hey, I am also a hobbyist and hobbies are expensive, aren?t they? how much money one can afford to spend on the hobbie is a complicated question.

First of all, the digital bug is a tough one to defeat. I couldnt resist to get a digital compact, the first 2 months I used it a lot. Now I mainly use it to prepare lecture notes, copying diagrams and that kind of stuff. But it doesn feel the same as holding a 'true' camera (my 600si with vertical grip, for instance).

If I hadnt tried digital before and was with the 'urge' to try it, I'dgo for the little brother KM Z3 with anti-shake. Or even the A2. But to have the maxxum 7d as first digital camera requires a lot of money and honestly, unless one is a professional and spends a fortune on film, it is not justified. I made my minolta bodies antishake for $20 (go to your photo shop and get a monopod, that'll do the job). I also got a $150 2400 dpi film scanner. In total I didnt spend more than $200 and I enjoy both worlds. Yeah yeah.. I know, I spend money on film and printing, but it still feels like real photography, with that uncertainty of not knowing how the pictures will come out just after picking them up from the chemist.

I will wait at least a year or 2 before even thinking of buying one 7D or 5D whatever is available then. Too much money for what I still can do with my MF minoltas(according to my needs).

I read in PP that the price in the US will be between $1300 and $1400. That is good news, so maybe in a year-s time it will be under $1000 but I guess in a year time they will have the second generation with 8MP or more. I could use my savings on a 7D for Xmas but my fiancee might break up with me if I even think about it...

I sincerely doubt that KM will come out with something above the Maxxum 7 (speaking of film cameras) in the future. I am thinking myself of getting a 7. The price in the US seems to be a bargain, in the UK, for your information, the price of the Dynax 7 (maxxum 7) is 489 pounds body only, which equals aprox, 950 dollars.. so, what are you waiting for?

go for the 7, while stocks last.

the only way they can introduce a second surprise is with the price. At the moment, thinking of $1200 USD seems a bit overpriced for the 6MP. A good suprise would be to see this camera at the same price with the D70 from Nikon. An unpleasant surprise'd be the price at $1,500 usd or more.

Don?t use P mode. I dont know why that mode works in that way but I realized when learning that instead of really working well 100% of times, it doesnt in most of times when shooting with the 50mm f1.7 indoors. I guess you should be trying A mode and manually set the aperture to, let's say F5.6 or F8. Point and shoot cameras dont have F1.7 lenses and generally they have f5.6 or so. Even when shooting with flash and the 50mm f1.7, DOF seems to be a problem with P mode. It is a mode supposed to be for begginers but from my point of view, it is useless for learning. If you really want to learn how to take good photos and control the DOF yourself (not a software inside the camera) then switch to A mode and you will notice the difference straightaway. Even with a 5200i Flashgun the camera seems to like the f1.7 and then, the photos have very shallow DOF.

I would put it this way, if you didnt switch away from minolta, doing it now when we are to see the D7, it'd be too litle too late. Imagine having A/S in all your existent lenses. My 50mm f1.7 would become more of a portrait lens, and with all that AS technology, and let's say ISO 1600 and f1.7.... !!

I just think that after the D7, maybe Minolta will introduce its D8 or D5 with AS in a more affordable camera. I can see myself getting a Minolta DSLR in a couple of years. Maybe I went the wrong route, instead of switching to Canon or Nikon I spent around $300 getting a 24mm and a 105mm macros in Minolta AF. At the moment I am ok with my 600si and a digital compact, but can't wait to use my faithful 50mm f1.7 on a digital SLR...

I agree with Douglas, the 100mm macro is very good. In fact, there is the Tamron 90mm f2.8 which is supposed to be a 'must' for macro work. The advantage of a 90-105mm macro lens is that it can also work as a nice portrait lens, throwing the background out of focus. For 50mm I use the cheaper 50mm f1.7. But I dont have experience in macro shooting. The only thing that I can say is that the 105mm lens that I have, has a longer 'barrel' distance, I mean, for focusing it might be easier than with a 50mm, in macro shooting... but maybe I am not making any sense... for sure the 50mm macro has its own uses.

You can get a working XG1 on ebay for less than $50. A repair would probably cost you the same or more. You could get a body for parts or repair and try to change switch between the 2 cameras. It is just a matter of removing the top cover, a couple of screws and then you will see the problem. THere is actually a tiny little metallic ball that gets in bewtween the switch blades and the plastic dial and it is the one that makes the switch stay in place in a given position. It might have fallen out of place or it's missing. If it is something like that you need a broken xg1 with working switch. There is a repair manual somewhere on the internet, can't remember the link, it'd show you how to remove the top cover.

One thing to consider, in low light the autofocus might struggle with slower lenses and then you will have to use the auxiliary light either from flash or the camera to focus which can be disturbing in certain situations. I would buy the 24-105 since I've heard lots of good stuff about it. Dont know the price new, but the convenience of just one lens makes it a good choice. If you are in low light (concerts, performances, etc) changing lens can be tricky, I guess. I have got 3 primes on ebay, a Sigma 24mm f2.8(which I like a lot), a minolta 50mm f1.7 which is excellent value for money and a Sigma 105mm macro f2.8, which seems to be very sharp. You can get the same sort of kit for about $300 in mint condition. THe big inconvenience with having primes instead of a zoom is that you need a good bag to carry them (and its weight). If you really need a faster lens, go for a 24-70, 28-70 f2.8 zoom. I think that as long as you avoid the 28-200, 28-300 zooms, there are new zooms that deliver excellent results. One more advice, if you are really used to manual focus minolta, try to get a minolta 600si classic, they are quite inexpensive on ebay and they are as simple to use as the MF cameras and you probably can get one in mint condition for a third of the price of the maxxum 60/70. You will love it.

Luke, all the advice is valuable and obviously you can't compete with professionals that have years of experience shooting weddings. I am an amateur and although my sister had hired a pro to do her photos in her wedding, some of my pictures, that technically might be crap, are the ones they like the best. I shot the wedding with 2 old minolta bodies, a big flash and 28-200 and 35-105 zoom lenses. I tried chromogenic film in one (ilford xp2) and colour in the other one. With basic gear and no much time to learn, probably you could take advantage that you are friend to the bride's sister and get to her house the day of the wedding while she is still preparing, shoot some photos of make-up, children watching, her leaving her bedroom, stuff like that, all this on top of the formal group photos they want. Keep fresh batteries for both, the cameras and teh flash. Get a stofen diffuser for your flash and you will see, although your photos will be nowhere near the quality of the professional ones, at least you did your best and chances are that you might capture some moments that the couple will like more than the formal posed ones. Well, this is the advice of an amateur. I didn't receive money for the photos and now see that they could've been better if I had only known a bit more, unfortunately the moment can't be repeated but I managed to get several snapshots that my sister and brother in law liked a lot. Good luck.

Peter, did you manipulate the image? what lens did you use?.

Yes, I agree that dust can be a pain in the neck wish they produced minolta scan dual V with ICE, i.e. under $300.

Believe or not, a friend of mine after seeing my scans 2 days ago went to a car boot sale today and bought a manual zenith with 50mm and 135mm f2.8 for $12. Ironically the same guy had tried to convinced me to go digital when he had just bought his digital compact for $400.

well, I was tempted to sell my minolta film stuff and jump into the

digital photography thing when I checked prices and then thought it

didnt make sense to pay $400 for a point and shoot 5Mp camera. I

bought a 2700dpi scanner and I am amazed with the 10MP files it

gives from old negatives. All for less than $200, including

photoshop elements. Yes, I will keep on spending on film and

processing, but feel glad that my old MF minoltas are able to work

and still can get a 15MP equivalent out of their negatives and can

go on holidays without worrying about memory and batteries...

I would like to 'upgrade' to the minolta dual scan iv, or should I

go the elite 5400 or wait for the d7 price to fall? Anyone comments

are welcome..

I'd get a used x-570 from ebay or if you prefer bigger cameras, a SRT-series camera, they can be found for less than $50. One thing, I started with MF minolta cameras and then my father passed me his AF camera. Perhaps it is the lack of practice or whatever but after 2 years, I still haven't got used to AF Minolta, and I get more dissapointments than I used from MF cameras. In your case, I'd keep the glass and buy a good x-570 and maybe 1 SRT as backup. By the way, what is wrong with your x-700. There is a common capacitor failure in these cameras that it's not difficult to repair.

Larry, that sounds like good news. I was stopping myself of getting a Z2 since I wrote to minolta asking if I could use either my 3500xi or my 5200i with the z1,z2 or a1 cameras in manual mode and they replied 'the compatible flashes are 3600hsd,5600hsd and the new one 2500hsd'. I didnt want to buy the camera and then frying the electronics with a flash that is not supported even in manual mode. have you got any news about this or you just tried it?

It seems that you need an ADI compatible flash for digital minolta cameras. The approach I thought of was using a simple flash meter and then set the camera to Manual mode. Obviously this might require experimenting and might not be suitable for most situations but at least one could use older flashes. I haven't tried it though I can tell if it'd work or not.

I read somewhere in a magazine a similar question but they replied that the Ilford film is not an infrared film but a special effects films that give results similar to kodak infrared. If this is the case then I might suggest that you shoot with this film in the 7 and then see the results.

Keep your zooms and get a 50mm f1.7 used on ebay(maybe $50 or less). Alternatively, you could try to get the vertical grip for your camera. Some people suggest that there is nothing better than a fixed length lens to learn (50mm is a good one) so you learn to move around to really find the best picture and those people say that zooms can make beginners lazy since one could just try to zoom in/out without really moving the point of view. I started taking photos with a manual camera and a 50mm lens. Some of my best shots are taken with the 50mm lens. Another advtange of the 50mm is that it gives results that are very close to how we see things, without changing perspective (?), i.e. no wide angle or telephoto effect. Well, that is my opinion and I am also a beginner, so maybe someone else could give more advice on this question..

I found the same problem with my 8000i and the 3500xi flash. It is all caused by a fooled meter, I guess. I got the bracketing card 2, which includes flash bracketing too and can shoot a series of bracketed shots. As the previous post says, it might be that you are shooting a subject with very dark background. Maybe a spot metering would help but again it'd be difficult to spot-meter in dark conditions. Try bracketing until you get to know the proper combinations. In my 8000i the Highlight/Shadow program card does the appropiate bracketing for difficult subjects but without any sort of bracketing the shots can be really overexpose. Perhaps I am doing something wrong.

It seems your camera doesnt have rear sync, check this site (http://www.nefkom.net/miho/foto/minolta/bodies.html) and it doesn't list that function for your camera.

Just to mention that I tried the lens on my old 8000i and with it the camera would not even switch on, nothing appears on the LCD. So I guess there is something wrong with the lens. I'll try to contact the seller and complain...

I dont have a 5 but a 600si and this lens is one of my favourites. Very good value for money. Thumbs up for it.

What is your budget? $300 for a used 800si seems to be on the higher side of price range. Does it comes with lenses? Keep in mind that a NEW Minolta 7 costs around $400 and it's a newer model.

Hi there, I just got a lens that is a sigma 400mm f5.6 . I intended

to use this lens with my 600si. However when I put the lens in the

camera, the camera doesn't seem to 'see' it. The lcd shows "--" for

the aperture and there is no sign of life in the lens. The seller

said he was using it in manual on a 500si. This version is in a

metallic dark grey color and has 72mm filter thread. I would like

to know whether it doesn't work because the lens is old and the

body is newer or because there is a problem with the lens. Are old

lenses from third party manufacturers compatible with newer Minolta

cameras? I know there are some issues with new cameras like the 7,

but the 600si is not that new. Anyone has got any experience with

this lens? If it is not compatible, can I re-chip it or at least use

it in manual mode? Thanx for your help.