jamesdak

I have two 7 bodies and use a VC-7 on both. I have fairly small hands but the grips make it so much nicer to holder. I also do a fair bit of vertical shooting and the controls on the grip make it very nice.

As cheap as SRT are in the used market I would think you could buy a replacement body cheaper that the probable cost to have someone fix yours.

Yeah, I got lucky. I bought a 300mm f/4.0 from KEH a couple of years ago when everyone was dumping thier Minolta Gear. It actually came with a polarizer installed in it. And the total price was a fraction of todays price!

I believe the Minolta takes a 42mm drop in. It to is externally adjustable via a thumbwheel. They are also very costly!

How sharp is the 17mm though? I have two other Tokina lenses and one is quite qood while the other is pretty soft when compared to my primes.

Chad, how well do you like the Tokina? My current widest is the Minolta 24mm f/2.8 and I've been thinking of finding a used 17mm Tokina to get me by with the 7D until I can afford one of the high quality other options.

All this talk about a full frame sensor! I for one could care less right now. I'm still trying to master the art of photoshop. But, even my meager skills are providing me with prints up to 13x19 inches which is larger than I ever printed from my 35mm slides. In fact I'll be doing a show next spring with images I'm printing at home on my Epson R1800. So, just image what an individual who can really use photoshop can do with an image from a 7D.

First off, in my experience Ritz never means a cheap price. Case in point the 7D i bought a few months ago. $999 at Ritz, $799 at a local Jewelry store that also sells camera gear. They actually normally rival B&H on price. The other posters are on the money too about the new product equals premium price. I bought a Maxxum 7 when they first hit the market and paid a premium price for it. Then as production wound down I got one of the last Dynax 7s from Aodorama for a fraction of the price the original Maxxum 7 cost. Bide you time, the prices will come down.

As was this:<div></div>

This was shot with only the 300mm f/4.0 lens!

I love working reflections in all the lakes up in the mornings when the light is great and the wind is still. A good split ND filter will go a long way to help even out the scenes and give you some really nice mirrored reflections. I like shooting the reflection of MT Baldy in Mirror Lake as the morning rises. You might want to check lake levels before you go though as some of the shallower ones do dry up late in the year.<div></div>

I just got back from Glacier and it wasn't that bad. Since the best times to shoot are morning and evening your average tourist is still in bed or headed back for dinner. Nothing over 21' is allowed on the Going to the Sun road and yes one section is under construction. One lane it totally gone so be glad they are fixing it!! There is a ton of things to see there. I've been there 3 times now and still have only scratched the surface.

Jane - I shoot birds with Minolta gear so I might be able to help. I'll agree with what everyone has said about a big telephoto, you will always want more reach. That said though, I do fine with a Minolta 300mm f/4.0 lens and it's matching 1.4x teleconvertor. But this combo is being used on a digital Maxxum 7D which gives a narrower angle a view from a given lens combo than I would see on a film SLR. Go for the highest quality lens you can afford as that combined with other factors will give you some leeway on cropping and such. Pay attention to the backgrounds, your shutter speed and use a steady tripod whenever possible. Minolta's prime big lenses are hard to find now and you will pay for them. Your choices are a 300 f/2.8, 300 f/4.0, 400 f/4.5 and 600 f/4.0. One other option I have been considering myself is the 500mm f/8.0 reflex or mirror lens. It has some limitations but can be used effectively in the right situation. I just starting concentratinf on birds myself this past spring but am having a ton of fun doing it. Check out my webpage to see some of my bird images: www.pbase.com/jhuddle/birds

Tony, Hello again. I believe you helped me before I made my last trip there with conditions updates and I appreciate the offer again. I've got to balance this trip with other obligations to include the college classes I'm taking at night. So, it looks like the best time for me will be the 13th to the 15th of July. Is that too early for good flower shots? If I come those dates it will be the earliest I've ever been there. If I get in around 3-4 pm on that Thursday do you think I'll still be able to get a campspot out a St. Marys? Thanks, Jim

I'm planning a trip back to the park in mid to late July. There used to be a

website up that had an active forum discussing current park conditions and

such. Does anyone know if it's still up and what the link is? I want to

concentrate on wildlife and flowers this trip and am open to any suggestions.

The only stickler is I'll have my 10 year old with me so between him and the

blown discs in my lower back the long hikes of previous trips are out of the

question.

 

Thanks, Jim<div></div>

I can sorta answer that! I remember the post but not which owl I had up. But, since then I've become very adept at distinguishing between the Short-eared Owl and the Burrowing Owl. I did not see the article you are talking about but I can say with certainty that both owls are out during the day at Antelope Island. I've not captured plenty of images of both between the hours of 6:00 A.M to at least 12:00 P.M. The burrowing Owl is out even later it the day. If you go the the Visitor's Center and look down the hill in the direction of Syracuse you will almost always see a pair of Burrowing Owls hanging out on the rocks there.

 

Go to my Pbase site for some more Owl pictures:

www.pbase.com/jhuddle/birds

You might try a program called Qimage. It's what I use to interpopulate my images for large prints. It'll cost around $50 but comes with free lifetime upgrades. I recently printed my first 13x19 inch image from a 6.3 MP Minolta 7D image that was cropped slightly. The print looks great.

I second John Shaw's books. Very imformative and written in terms us average joe's can understand.

Now this one is more typical. About a 50% crop of the original image.<div></div>

I've been concentrating on bird photography this spring with my Minolta 7D which has an APS size sensor. My main lens is a 300mm f/4.0 combined with a high quality 1.4x t-con sometimes. It takes patience, hunting skills, and luck to get close to wild birds with this combo. You can crop later for good results for images to post digitally but prints around 8x10 will suffer the more you crop. Full frame birds are the exception, not the norm in my case. Here's an example of the exception. This was captured with the 300mm & 1.4x t-con at an unusually close range. I was also handholding the gear but the built in anti-shake of the Minolta 7D saved the shot. The image was cropped very litte.<div></div>

I'll agree with the others, bid your time. By the end of the summer at the latest we should have a clear picture on what Sony is going to do. As a long time Minolta shooter it's really hard to beat the wonderful gear they developed over the years to include the Maxxum 7 and now the 7D. Such well laid out cameras don't come along that often. I too debated my choices but when the price of the 7Ds kept dropping the debate was over. It is an awesome camera and even if Sony drops the ball I will be shooting it for years to come. I also shoot film and have not intention of retiring my Maxxum 7s!

Minolta did make that, that's for certain. I got outbid on one on Ebay about 2 weeks ago. You hardly ever see them.

I do collect 7 series Minolta bodies and have just recently bought a 7000. I would not expect to get much for it even with the crossed xx's. To me I look for something that is in really good physical condition and which functions properly.

Bob - the XG-7 I just won off Ebay has a perfect appearing cover too. But a lot I looked at are dried up and shrinking. Can you tell me who you maintained yours over the years? THanks,

Jim

My understanding is that it is common thoughout the production and on. I've been searching for a XG-7 for my collection and they are prone to the same problem. It really is a minor issue though. Replacements are cheap and easy to put on. I got a kit from cameraleather.com and replaced mine with no problem and I've never done that sort of thing before. The XD cameras are great so don't avoid them for this reason.<div></div>