What camera/lens should i buy?

[pilotgolfer]

What would you guys recommend for an inexpensive but decent camera? I really need one and the one I have right now is messed up.

[Kwashiorkor]

Yep, you can still buy one new but I'll get one used as I don't want to invest so much money. I even heard they are still producing them!

The Dynax 9 you can also get new . At least here in Germany. I think with the 9 they are selling the cameras they have in stock.

[KiwiRob]

Can you still buy new Dynax 7's I thought they stopped making them the same time they discoutinued the Dynax 9. I really wanted a 9, it was either a 9 or go digital with the 20D.

[Kwashiorkor]

But there are enough stories of Canon malfunctions over the web.

As I said: no digital for me in the near future. Had to be bad luck with your 700si as the analog models of Minolta never had the slightest hint of anything going wrong.

But my Dynax 60 feels too small with my Tokina AT-X 2.8/300mm . So I go for the Dynax 7 which is nearly the exact same size as the Dynax 7D.

Will be hard to upload photos, though, as the DSLRs are the reference. But I neglected my slide collection badly in the time I had the D7D, time to put that up again .

[KiwiRob]

I'm very happy with my 20D, 5000 picturers so far without a hick-up. I know a guy who's taken over 60,000 images on a 20D in the past 6 months and she's still running like a new one. I'm pretty impressed with Canon quality. I went through 2 700si bodies before Minolta supplied me with one that worked, so my opinion of KM quality isn't to crash hot. I must admit it was a tough decision to move to Canon, I'm now glade I did, the 20D made it worth while.

[Kwashiorkor]

Heard that announcement with Sony and KM already, sounds interesting!

@Kiwi: as for digital SLRs you are right, they are 5th, but I was talking about the whole company placement.

But nevertheless I take everything back I said over KM. Had my D7D repaired twice because of backfocus (UPS even broke my Sigma 2.8/70-210 APO on the second transport) and now it appears that the sensor is tilted. I don't want to have this sh** anymore so thursday I take all this digital crap back to the store where I bought it and get an analog Dynax 7 instead.

By reading in the internet for a long time it appears that digital technology is still at its beginnings and there are lots of problems with every manufacturer (not as many at Olympus as it seems) and therefore I'll just wait and see what happens. But the digital track has lost me for a long time. I don't want to be a tester but I want to have a reliable camera where I can spend most of the time thinking about the picture itself and not about how I can get the camera to work!

[avro_arrow_25206]

Very interesting development....

I wonder if Sony will ditch Carl Zeiss for Minolta lenses in their Cybershot line as a result of this

[KiwiRob]

you'll find this announcement from KM and Sony interesting.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0507/05071902kmsony.asp

[KiwiRob]

I'd probably list KM at number 5 becind Oly and Pentax at the moment, Oly have had to 4/3's models for a while now and Pentax have a 3 model range (I've heard a replacement for the ist D is due anytime now) KM have been pretty, most of the early adopters have too much invested in a system to change over yo KM and I believe they lost alot of there existing SLR users due to the long wait for the D7. Also when the D7 came out it was too expensive, they needed to launch the D5 at the same time IMO.

[Kwashiorkor]

Yeah, doesn't look good for Leica in the moment. We'll have to see how finances turn out. The digital back is finished as it was tested in a photography magazine here in Germany.

But 4500 Euros!

[avro_arrow_25206]

Ya, it's too bad most of the current DSLR market is a two-party system. I really hope KM as well as Pentax can do well so there is more variety.

It's also too bad that the likes of Ricoh, Leica (except in Panasonic digicams) have gone pretty much extinct

[Kwashiorkor]

The RD-175, the first DSLR of Minolta (and as far as I know the first DSLR EVER!) used the standard Minolta-AF mount. It had a 3MP-sensor and crop factor was 2x.
The RD-3000 was the one based on the Vectis-system and this one actually wasn't compatible.
Why they just dropped the development and didn't do anything out of it I can't understand. I mean, they were the first!

In this point I agree with you: Minolta made many mistakes in the past and therefore fell back to third place although many technological breakthroughs have been invented by them.

But with the 5D coming and Minolta actually updating their G-line (the 1.4 / 35G is going to be updated) I finally see a little bit of hope for them.

It eventually wouldn't be too smart for Minolta to bring out the 5D and launch some new high-end lenses. I think that when the potential 9D gets launched (next year is a very likely timeframe) then there should be some new G-line lenses around. I hope that there will be some SSMs under them!

All in all the biggest mistake Minolta made and still makes is their information policy: you actually don't know about anything beforehand until it is in the shops.

[KiwiRob]

Those first DSLR's used a lens mount that wasn't compatible with the AF mount used on all the SLR's for sale at the time, the advantax system was a failure so why waste time and money making a digital version! Minolta have made some very stupid decisions.

I've read about the new digitally optimised zooms, they are cheap consumer ones, they need to refresh the G lens line up, especially if they want to attract pros back into the fold. That's why Canon and Nikon are so successful, punters like knowing that they are using a brand used by professionals.

I hope KM get there act together, I really do, they were just too late to get my dollars.

[Kwashiorkor]

Yes, the new SSM are really way too expensive! But second hand market for Minolta booms and there are so many good lenses for affordable prices everywhere.

That subject is to change, though, as I can see that many people now will be attracted by the 5D as this is the mass seller which we waited for so long.

Regarding the 4/70-210: big mistake they don't build it anymore but you can get one everywhere used and the price is hot .

Concerning wideangles you are right but in fall Konica releases some new digital optimized wideangle zooms and I am curious to know how good they'll perform.

Minolta didn't wait too long with a DSLR, they were actually the first to bring one out . The 7D is their third DSLR but I must say that they didn't do anything out of their leadership for many years.

[KiwiRob]

MInolta

I was a long time Minolta user, first with a 5000i, then 7000i and finally a 700si, all good cameras especially the 7000i. I really wanted a DSLR, Minolta buggered about for too long before releasing the 7D and they lost me to Canon. I'm happy with the 20D and the range of lens I currently have, 17-40 F4.0, 24-70 F2.8 and 70-200 F4.0. KM don't make any lens that can compare with this selection in my opinion. The current 28-70 & 28-75 F2.8's are slow focusing, they don't make the 70-210 F4.0 anymore (a big mistake) and the the 17-35 is way too expensive (I think it's been discontinued). I also would also like to trade in my 70-200 for the 2.8 IS version, and get a 300 F2.8, the new KM SSM 70-200 and 300 are really nice lens but seriously overpriced compared to the competition, KM need to get real with pricing.