Andy Collins

<p>Everything Matthew said, but I'll also add the Minolta XD11 (a compact but solid and capable beauty!), Minolta XE-7, the Canon F-1 (any of the three versions), and my favorite film camera of all, the Canon EOS 1V.</p>

<p>If you're interested in a great Minolta zoom lens, try the Minolta MD 28-85mm zoom. It's a pretty impressive performer and it covers a very useful focal range. I have mine mounted on my XD11 and it stays on much of the time.</p>

<p>The two matriarchs of the herd...I'm pretty sure the one on the left was talking about me!</p><div></div>

<p>"Caterpillar"</p><div></div>

<p>Levers...</p><div></div>

<p>I was concerned about the 16-50 from a lot of things I'd read about it, but it turns out that I actually like it much more than I thought I would. I find my copy to be pretty decent actually.</p>

<p>Welcome back, JDM! I'm so glad to see your posts again, as I enjoy them immensely. This one is no exception; that's a most impressive lens! Thanks for the detailed and informative narrative; I learn from posts like these.</p>

<p>I went from a 7D to an EOS-M, M2, and then a Sony a6000. The Sony is an amazing camera with IQ that I think is better than the 7D's, especially in lower light (less noise, and it has better dynamic range overall). The Sony is amazingly customizable, and its speed is incredible. I love it! That being said though, I find the 7D much more robust, and there are few cameras that can best the 7D/100-400 combination. One of my biggest gripes with mirrorless, specifically Sony mirrorless, is the lens selection. While the primes are nice and my copy of the 16-50mm was actually quite impressive, I haven't been able to find a long lens for the a6000 that compares favorably (in my opinion) to the 7D/100-400 combo. I most highly recommend the Sony a6000 for its amazing versatility and absolutely superb performance, but the 7D, despite its age, is still a phenomenal camera that I would keep if I were you, and use alongside the Sony. To me, that is a perfect pair and the best combo of mirrorless and dslr.</p>

<p><strong>Gus</strong>--I have to agree with the 1st choice being the XE-7 in terms of build quality and feel. It's a pretty special camera!<br> <strong>Jeff</strong>--thanks for the detailed explanation.<br> <strong>Bill</strong>--thank you for your response too. It's nice to hear that your experience over 25 years has been a really good one. I will have to acquire another 280px in the near future and work with it awhile.</p>

<p>Great, informative responses, everyone! I really appreciate the info.<strong> Jeff</strong>, why do you prefer the X-700 over the XD-11?</p>

<p>I've had numerous XE-7s over the years and have a couple now that I just love to use. The camera is such a joy to operate and feels perfect in the hand. I have also heard a lot of wonderful things about the X-700 and what an outstanding camera it is. I had one some years ago, but didn't use it much before selling it to acquire a different camera. I just acquired another one recently, which led me to wonder what others think about it in comparison to the XE-7 or even the XD11. I would really be interested in hearing your thoughts. I know this should probably be posted in Modern Film Camera, but most of you whose thoughts I'm interested in hearing post here much more frequently so that's why it's here.</p>

<p>Nice, Mukul! I <em>do</em> enjoy your family photos too, by the way.</p>

<p>With snow on the ground, lots of birds perch in the trees outside the window looking for food. Here's a blue-jay looking for a bite to eat...</p><div></div>

<p>One of three different types of woodpeckers I saw yesterday.</p><div></div>

<p>Nice shots as always, Rick. I echo Raghu's sentiment about cameras in your hands; I'm always envious of how you turn ordinary subjects into photographic art. And yes, some of us in the northern hemisphere are definitely making every effort to stay warm!</p>

<p>Tied up for the winter...</p><div></div>

<p>Winter has finally come to Indiana (the temperature is 16F compared to 65F a couple of weeks ago), but I thought I'd get out for a minute anyway to take a couple...here's a woodpecker bracing against the cold.</p><div></div>

<p>Beautiful shots, Tony! I <em>love</em> the beach shots and agree that those must be excellent prints. I just recently picked up another FTN from a flea market, a black, rather banged up example complete with a Nikkor SC 50/1.4 for a mere $35. The wear and brassing just add character to an otherwise wonderful camera to use. Thanks for the post!</p>

<p><strong>Brad</strong>, what a wonderful set of photographs! The color is still vivid and beautiful, and it's quite apparent that your father knew what he was doing when using his camera. Thank you very much for sharing these!</p>

<p>Hi David! I'll be happy to take the Minolta off of your hands and put it to good use!</p>

<p><strong>Louis</strong>, very nice shots with your new a6000! "Buck in the Snowy Thicket" is beautiful. I'm glad to hear how enthusiastic you are about the camera. I think it's an awesome amount of photographic capability packed into such a compact package. I'm looking forward to seeing what you'll do with it.</p>

<p>That's a really cool camera that I enjoyed using several years ago. Enjoy it!</p>

<p>Thanks for commenting Karim. Actually the camera is probably more capable at capturing the scene than I'm able to get it to do so, but I mainly wanted to see if I could get anything with this combo at all. This is the first night outing with the a6000, so I didn't expect a great result, but it was fun trying. Unfortunately where we live, there is growing light pollution that washes out what used to be a beautiful, very dark view of the night sky, Milky Way included. Now, as you can see, the Milky Way (all of the blotchy looking area in the photo) looks fairly dim and much less distinct, but I know that with the proper settings it can be captured in more detail and much more distinctly. It's a matter of learning what settings work best for this camera. I plan to mount the camera (this one or my dslr) on my telescope to shoot as it moves with the rotation of the Earth and see what result I can get with a longer exposure and with the telescope's movement in sync with the rotation, the star trails will be gone as well.</p>

<p>Here's one from a night of experimenting with the FD 24/2.8 on my a6000. Nothing special but a hint of what's possible using the camera for astrophotography. By the way, great photos everyone! Too many impressive shots to single out, but amazing and inspiring work from everyone.</p><div></div>

<p>A shot of the tops of some trees with all of their leaves gone...I've always been intrigued by how much trees can resemble our veins. It makes sense though when you consider that both supply us with vital oxygen in some form or another.</p><div></div>