So, it has been a long time, and I have a feeling that most of us have moved on from our Minoltas. What is everyone using now? My 7i still works, but I don't use it, I mostly use a Canon SD870, I'm into "portability" now and want to carry the camera everywhere. I'm considering the new Canon FX200 in a month or so when any initial bugs are worked out since the 870 is developing a power-on problem.
and my wife is using the Sony DSC-V3 still, and my son has the Logitech 810 a 2MP glorified webcam that disconnects from the PC and has a flash runs on 4 AAA, just like the VGA Logitech 510 he used from age 2-6 before it died...
Main lenses in bag for the 30D are the Sigma 15-30 Canon 24-105L and 50/1.4, then I decide to take the 75-300 or the 70-200/2.8L with Sigma 2X just in case. if I take the 70-200 then I don't take the 15-30 and will bring the kit lens as the just in case. I usually return and all I used was the 24-105.
I still have a few Canon Lenses that I should sell, but they hold value and are in great condition, so maybe after next Camera upgrade I'll have to make some decisions, but I think I'm good through this year- well maybe Nov/Dec?
Hi Bryan and all.
I'm still using my A2 with a sunpak 5000 flash and about every other accessory available for this camera. Also have a little 8 MP Canon P&S and even click on my 3MP telephone :) once in a while. The photography bug comes and goes....
I have a Konica Minolta A200 that I still use for eBay photos. The anti-shake, zoom range, and decent macro make it useful for eBay auction photos. For portability I share a Canon SD850is with my wife. It is tiny, has anti-shake, and takes great photos. For videos I have a Sanyo Xacti HD1000 digital camcorder that records HD 720p or 1080i video to an SD card. It also takes pretty decent 4 megapixel photos so sometimes I take only the Sanyo on family vacations. It's great to have an HD camcorder and digital camera that fits in your pants pocket! For more serious shooting I have a Nikon D300 with Nikkor 14-24mm, 24-120mm VR, and 70-200mm VR lenses. I wish I had time to use the Nikon D300 more often.
How's the Sanyo Battery life and low light recording?
March 13 2009, 3:34 PM
Was looking to replace my 9 yr old JVC miniDV camcorder. I've been using my Samsung S850's 720x480 20fps often as its in the pocket or bag or use my wife's Sony 640x480 30fps capability... The Sony can't change zoom while recording though. Last time I used the miniDV it shows I need a head cleaning, and considering age I better transfer all to digital I'm thinking.
While I'm asking- does the lens take add-ons well?- on the JVC I use that .42X all the time. For outdoors and sports I take it off, but indoors the wide angle with running toddlers is required or to take room shots without having to move the camera- ex. Christmas. It has 20X optical and the limit to 64X Digital is good, forget about the 64-400X though.
I see it has to 100X digital what would you put the limit at for decent/ok quality- hoping maybe 40X? and if I use a 2X add-on get it to 20X optically and 80X ok- thoughts?
Plus I have 2 extra 8GB SDHC cards sitting in my GPS case- I use a 16GB in it and haven't needed to really use the 8GB.
For a camcorder I'm using a DXG-595V, usually at the 720p 60fps setting. It was cheap! and works great for the money. I had a Sanyo CG6 previously but it has developed some problem with the aperture. I do still use my Canon 300D sometimes, but my favorate Sigma lens has a stuck aperture (see a pattern developing?) and I don't feel like replacing it.
I used to have a JVC miniDV camcorder also, and I before the Xacti HD1000 I actually had the Sanyo Xacti C6. The Xacti HD1000 has a very wide aperature f1.8 lens so it does better in low light than my old miniDV and my C6. I upgraded from the C6 to the HD1000 because I liked the "pistol grip" design and the pocket sized form factor. As for battery life, Sanyo rates it at 2 hours but in real usage I get between 1 to 1.5 hours per charge. I carry a spare battery. I've never really used the digital zoom, I keep it turned off in the settings. I just use the 10x optical zoom. My only complaint is that it has "digital" image stabilization versus "optical" (or sensor based like Minolta/Sony). It works but I think optical stabilization works better.
Still using the A2 for travel but it is starting to show signs of wear. Have just bought a G1 which seems to have promise. Have used a Canon 20D and 450 D which are great camera but I miss the light weight, the live view as it is called now and compactness of the A2 so I keep using it.
Bryan, first off Hello. I havent looked here in some time,but its good to see some activity.I still use a D7ug for IR regularly and for impromptu shots at my club meetings where I set it down and dont worry about it.I still have an A2, but have purchased a G1 with both lenses.In looking back at past images taken, I still think the GT lens was a true milestone optic.As the weather warms for spring, I will be comparing a lot with the G1 lenses.The G1 is the only thing to approach the warm fuzzy feeling when shooting with Dimages.Its almost like being back home again, but the Panasonic forum will never equal what this place was at one time.True help, information,guidance, etc, augmented with friendliness.I remember Stephen Lau instructing on the beauty of using the histogram,and when the UG came out, well that lit the great lightbulb in my head about foolproof exposures and thats today how I work and why the G1 is now here for me.Thanks again to everyone,past and present, Dennis
I've got an E-510 with the two kit lenses (14-42, 40-150) and then I've got a 14-54 f/2.8-3.5 to go with it. For smaller, more portable work, I've got a Canon G9, which is a little bit to stick in a pocket but a lot smaller than hauling along the E-510 and both lenses...
The viewfinder is about the same size and brightness as the original Maxxum 7000 which was very good.
I've read the viewfinder is the biggest and brightest of any current DSLR except maybe the biggest Cannon. Hard to compare with the manual focus cameras such as the X700 because the screen characteristics are different being optimized for MF. I have no trouble at all manually focusing with my 58mm f/1.2 Rokkor. It is twice the size of 7D viewfinder of course because it's an APS camera.
As for size and handling, it compares very favorably with the 7D which I consider a bench mark in ergonomics. It's only 1/8 inch wider, just a little deeper and of course that honkin pentaprism is about a half inch higher. Not too much heavier either, though they are both heavy cameras.
The front of the grip has quite a "hook" to it which I'm getting used to.
Sony did an amazing job packing all this stuff into such a nice sized body.
A lot of the controls came over from the 7D such as the nicely placed MF/AF button by your right thumb.
Pete
This message has been edited by PeteGanzel on Mar 19, 2009 3:54 AM
I'm back to shooting with my trusty A2 in raw mode and with the 2x battery grip. The 'quality' of the raw files holds up well especially when processed through GIMP/DCRaw as long as I remember to apply USM (I'm too lazy to set up an actual action). Of course I'm pretty much limited to ISO 400 and slower but I don't do a lot of indoor/night shooting.
Bye the Bye, if anyone has a pre-made GIMP action for MRW raw files, I'd be Real Interested in getting a copy. Thanks!!!
But since I have a box full of Minolta glass I'll naturally be trying out the new Sonys over the summer. If that doesn't work out (I'm fearful that the new sensors are 'better' than the line-resolution of my glass) I will likely head to an Olympus 4/3 system camera.
I just like the smaller gear. Back in the dark ages (1970s) I started out with the OM-xx series and shifted to Minolta for the XD-11 and into the A mount with the Maxxum 7000/9000 bodies. My first digitals were the classic (and literally bullet proof) Kodak 760 and 720 built on Nikon F4 bodies so I've been spoiled for a while.
Lately I've been seeing from very good raw images from the latest Olympus 4/3 glass and bodies and want to see for myself how challenging it is to get those files for myself.
This message has been edited by newsposter on Mar 19, 2009 4:21 PM This message has been edited by newsposter on Mar 19, 2009 4:19 PM
I jumped ship to Nikon when it was taking Minolta so long to introduce a DSLR. I still have my D70, but it rarely gets used now. I gave my 7i to my brother several years ago. He still has it, but doesn't use it much any more. I'd like to buy the new D300, but the D200 is such a great camera, I don't really "need" it. Like that really makes any difference! Of course, with this economy...
The A200 still in the familily. The 40D set is very large and heavy. Still longing for the highspeed interchangeable lens that minolta could have made.
I like the A200 but I think I generally got better quality pictures with the Maxxum 5D, which died. I still have my 7Hi,but hardly ever use it. Still think that was a great camera for its time. The Canon is handy for carrying around. I am very pleased with this purchase. Works well in almost all situations. No complaints about it.
I use mainly my A2, but also love shooting with my olde D7i and a second hand D7hi I bought off a marlet stall for very little (takes great pix, but it has no popup flash).
For fast motor sport I now use a Sony Alpha100 and 500mm lens, and for extreme Birding use a tiny Fuji F11 through a telescope.
My A2 is still my favourite camera though and the one I use for all my professional work.
and the various lens from 17 to 500mm, sometime this year I will upgrade it to a Sony a700 or 900 or something in that range depending if any new models come out. I also have a little Nikon Coolpix L11.
I think the old D7i is still working in a friend's hands, though when I last saw it there was glue holding one of the dials together,
I'm still using a K-M 5D which I am hoping won't be dying any day soon. If it did I'd almost certainly get something "Sony" due to exisiting lenses and accessories.
A Fuji 9100 (9600) fills in the 'bridge camera' role. There's one of yesterday's shots here:
http://www.pbase.com/johnfr/image/112064220/large.jpg
And the little old Canon s400 is still going for pocket camera days.
I use a D200 for most things, with the 18-200 lens (27-300 equivalent). I've used the Canon 500D diopter on that lens with great success. I've borrowed the 12-24mm lens, and it's great for some things, but certainly nowhere near general-purpose.
For closw-ups, I still use the A2. For EXTREME close-ups, I use the A2 with the DP-10.
So far, I like it a lot. The camera has some design choices that make it "not for everyone". But for me, the fun level is like back when I first had my Minolta D7; a camera that is small enough to take and takes great pictures, but has enough professional and quirky features to make it fun.
As I said, it is a quirky camera, but one that is good enough to replace a digital SLR in a lot of cases with a lot smaller footprint. Just touching on some points...
One of the main differences is... there is no flash! Yup, a camera with no built-in flash. There is a standard flash shoe, and you can buy a flash for $100, but there is no built in flash and some people will not be able to get over that. The high ISO performance is good though, as good as my Canon SLR so far. It starts to break down at ISO 1600, and by ISO 6400 is prety horrible. The fact that 200 and 400 and pretty much 800 look good though carries you through a lot of dim light situations where you would have used a flash.
There is no viewfinder! Not optical or EFV. You have to shoot this holding it out and looking at the rear screen... which is what I mostly do these days even on my small cameras that have an optical viewfinder.
The styling is completely "retro". I happen to like it.
Interchangeable lenses. Unlike the D7, you can change lenses, and they are making adapters for other lens systems including Canon. All the advantages of an SLR but without the size.
The kit zoom lens (giving 28 to 90mm) is a bit big, the lens unit is about the size of the unit on the D7. In fact, the entire camera size is similar to the D7. If you took off the D7 lens hood, chopped the EFV and LCD screen bump out off the back, and chopped about 3/4 inch from the height they would be almost identical. You can get a smaller prime lens that is a lot smaller and allows you to jam it in a pocket. I plan to buy an M42 adapter for it, opens up a whole world.
Manual focus ring. Love it. The LCD is far better than the D7 EFV is. Still wish for more resolution, but it is good enough for focus. The camera has a magnify focus area.
The images are really outstanding, once you get the camera adjusted. I like lower contrast and more color and less sharpening than the default settings. I'm really happy with them, and the larger CCD size really helps.
The range of adjustments and the thought that the designers put into this is just tremendous. You name it, it has it. Remember how we used to make our own tone curves for the D7? You can select tone curves right in this camera, inducing an auto mode. Take the white balance for example, there are far more presets, you can set it manually, you can set the color temperature, and you can set the white balance parameters A and G directly; all the bases are covered. Each of the parameters, from the focus mode, to the white balance, to the noise reduction (2 modes) to the image stabilization has over the top adjustments and multiple ways to get into the menus and multiple menu systems to use. You can tell that the designers really love this camera and put their best into it, I had the same feeling with the D7; they really wanted it to succeed.
The camera has a similar philosophy to the D7 as regards noise reduction. I prefer more noise and less smearing in my images and let me fix it myself later if I want to. The trend lately is towards extreme noise reduction and very steep tone curves to hide the noisy shadows and over-sharpening to compensate for the smeared images. While you can set this camera that way if you want to, you don't have to.
It has hot pixel mapout, thank G*d finally.
It has ultrasonic dust cleaning for the CCD.
I keep coming back to the D7, although I have not used mine in years, the fun that I had with that camera has been unmatched. I feel that this is the first camera that I can maybe see as a "replacement" that gives me the same feeling of having complete control and SLR features in a small package. I'm not an Olympus fanboy, this is my first Olympus in fact.
This message has been edited by brachiopod on Jul 24, 2009 4:52 PM
I remember the first camera I bought, a Pen FT back in 1967 and remember the joy of shooting with this little package. Good to see the image quality is comparable to the Oly DSLRS.
The similarity with the original Pen series (both in appearance and function) is uncanny.
The zoom lens finish almost matches the knurling on the original lens series.
From reading the review it appears that other lenses such as M42 should be no problem to use.
Well, sort of! When I called the shop about it, I asked for the E-P1, but the guy sad "uh, what? oh, you mean the digtial Pen!". On the top of the camera, along one not very apparent edge, it says "Olympus PEN Since 1959". Personally I think that they should have just gone and called it exclusively the "Digital Pen 1" and been done with it. I love the styling, and the shots that I've been getting are just so much better than the ones that I'd seen on line; some of those that people were calling "good" had me scared to buy the camera.
The adapters are a bit steep now, the cheapest M42 adapter is $50, but I expect that the prices to fall to the range of the regular 4/3 adapters shortly. I've seen adapters for Leica, EOS, Canon FD, Nikon? and M42, but I'm sure more are coming. You have to shoot them in aperture mode with manual focus, which suits me fine. The regular 4/3 lenses can also be mounted, and they work fully.
By the way, If you have any of the lenses left from that kit, there is apparently an adapter to use them on the E-P1. This guy talks about it http://www.biofos.com/cornucop/omz_ep1.html
Wow, I've not been on this forum in many months. Glad to see it isn't in the cyber-dump.
Anyway, I went out to the beach last night for sunset. Trusty A2 and monopod in hand, the more I used it, the more I got really, really angry there isn't ever going to be an A4 or B2 or whatever. Lordy, so versatile!
I set it on Manual exposure and focus, no post shot pic view. In the rapidly changing lighting conditions, some with severe back lighting, it was just a matter of turning those wheels, or a quick contrast adjustment. No exposure delay, bird wings stopped in flight. No noise like an SLR. Discreet. Often got camera ready aiming towards nothing and then a quick pivot on the monopod when someone did what I was hoping for. No one the wiser. I found that I could look at the EVF with one eye and the scene with the other and make quick, perfect exposure and contrast matches with the real world.
Being lighter and smaller than the typical DSLR's I've seen means it does fine as a carry along family photo camera. The video function means I use my video camera a lot less.
I've owned the D7, D7UG, the A1, and the A2. Best cameras ever made, for me.
![[linked image]](http://www.pbase.com/image/110376188.jpg)
