Compatibilty and Zoom Lenses

[PZCOLO]

Hi Everyone:

I am new to this forum; I just signed up. I have lived in the 35 mm world until recently. My first camera purchase was a Minolta SRT 101, back in the early 70's, which I still have. Soon after our son was born in the mid 80's, I moved up to a Minolta Maxxum 7000 with 2 Zoom lenses. Then a few years ago, I went Digital with a Minolta Dimage Z1.
I guess, that makes me a "Minolta" owner but now, it's Sony time.

So much for background, now to my questions. I have read a lot of reviews about Sony's Alpha DSLR-A100 and most recently about the Alpha A700. Unfortunately, despite the really great initial comments about the new Alpha A700, I will have to stay with the A100 since the "body" can be had for about $700 (or less) which is half of the A700. In any event, here are my 3 questions:

1. Are my Minolta Maxxum Zoom lenses compatible with the Alpha100 body? The 2 lenses are: 28-85 mm F3.5-4.5 and a 75-300 mm F4.5-5.6.
2. Is my Maxxum Flash 4000 AF compatible with the Alpha 100 body?
3. In one of the reviews somewhere, I read that the 35 mm specs on the zoom lenses would be increased by maybe as much a 30% for a DSLR camera. In other words, the focal length of the 300mm zoom lens would be almost equivalent to a 400 mm zoom lens. Can this be true or did I misunderstand the info?

Bottom line, I want to upgrade to the Digital SLR camera world since the current Minolta Dimage Z1 just does not have the bells and whistles of my old SLR camera. I believe the Sony Alpha DSLR-A100 would be fine camera provided it works with my existing lenses (also, nice if the Flash would work but that is not so important).

Look forward to getting your input especially on question # 3 (I think the lenses should be compatible in view of the Sony "purchase" of Minolta Konica). So that is all. Thanks in advance.
PZCOLO

[pisco]

Hello and Welcome,
I got my A100 in Dec 06 and I am very happy with it. Here's a quick response to your questions:

1) Yes, all minolta AF lenses (A-Mount) can be used on both of the Sony's DSLRs. In fact, in fact I heard that when Sony presented the A-700 it had a Minolta lens.

2) I hope someone else can help you with this one. I think that your flash will work but only Manually (or I think that it only fires at full power) and maybe you will need to get a shoe adapter ($15 on ebay).

3) Correct, the sensors of the digital cameras are smaller than the 35mm film (except some very expensive DSLRs), so they don't "see" or record all of the area compared to what film can "see". In the end you can say that the lens has a "zooming factor" of 1.5 (for Sony & Nikon, 1.6 for Canon). I think that a better term is Field of view (FOV). If you want to read more about this, here's a link to wikipedia on APS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Photo_System

Looking forward for pictures with your A100,

[cr_mmurillo]

To answer number two, I don't Flash 4000 AF is compatible with the Sony Alpha. At the moment, there are only two flash models available for the Alpha.

[PZCOLO]

Hi

Thanks for the input so far. I guess, I forgot to ask one basic question and that is, should I indeed keep my old zoom lenses for the new Sony Alpha 100 or should I go with newer and better lenses (which ones?). Of course, if I were to drop my existing lenses, then I may consider other DSLR cameras as well (which one?).

The two "old" zoom lenses still shoot great shots but are big, heavy and bulky, especially, the 75 - 300 mm lens. So, presumably, newer lenses are better (less bulky, lighter) or is that not true?

Also, I have one other question re lenses for my first Minolta SLR camera (SRT 101). I still have two old Minolta lenses, a standard 55 mm lens and a 28 mm wide angle lens. In any event, with the introduction of the Maxxum line, Minolta dropped the original coupling device which meant that I could not use my older lenses (they only supported manual mode) on my Maxxum 7000 camera. Is there a converter or coupling device that would allow me to use these two lenses on the Alpha 100? I realize that I could, of course, only use these two lenses in a true manual mode but if the wide angle lens would work, that would be great.

Finally, I now have one last question on the 2 zoom lenses. I noticed that the Sony coupling device (for the electronics) shows 8 "electrical" connections. However, my two old Minolta Zoom lenses only have 5 such connectors. Does that maybe indicate that I may have a compatibility issue despite the earlier comments made?

Wait for some further input. Thanks in advance.

[Canuck935]

Hi

Thanks for the input so far. I guess, I forgot to ask one basic question and that is, should I indeed keep my old zoom lenses for the new Sony Alpha 100 or should I go with newer and better lenses (which ones?). Of course, if I were to drop my existing lenses, then I may consider other DSLR cameras as well (which one?).

No need to get rid of your current lenses, many a100 users are happily using 20 year old Minolta lenses (I am).

The two "old" zoom lenses still shoot great shots but are big, heavy and bulky, especially, the 75 - 300 mm lens. So, presumably, newer lenses are better (less bulky, lighter) or is that not true?

Sure, newer ones are generally lighter (more plastic, less metal) and smaller. It's up to you..

Also, I have one other question re lenses for my first Minolta SLR camera (SRT 101). I still have two old Minolta lenses, a standard 55 mm lens and a 28 mm wide angle lens. In any event, with the introduction of the Maxxum line, Minolta dropped the original coupling device which meant that I could not use my older lenses (they only supported manual mode) on my Maxxum 7000 camera. Is there a converter or coupling device that would allow me to use these two lenses on the Alpha 100? I realize that I could, of course, only use these two lenses in a true manual mode but if the wide angle lens would work, that would be great.

There's probably an adapter out there somewhere, but really it's not worth it. That 28mm is effectively a 'normal' lens on the a100 anyway, plus modern lenses are better and you get the benefit of AF and metering.

Finally, I now have one last question on the 2 zoom lenses. I noticed that the Sony coupling device (for the electronics) shows 8 "electrical" connections. However, my two old Minolta Zoom lenses only have 5 such connectors. Does that maybe indicate that I may have a compatibility issue despite the earlier comments made?

Wait for some further input. Thanks in advance.

No you won't have compatibility issues. The extra connectors are for 'D' and 'SSM' lenses.

[PZCOLO]

Hi

Thanks for all the input. Now, I only need to go buy the camera. A minor little detail. In any event, now I feel comfortable so thanks to all.

[pisco]

One of the most wanted lens for this camera is the 20 year old Minolta 70-210 f/4, aka beercan, the "built like a tank" feel, also the old 50mm f/1.7 it's a very good old lens.

Remember that there's a 1.5 "zoom factor" so your 28mm lens is going to be like a 42mm in a Sony DSLR. This is the reason why the kit lens is a 18-70mm (equiv to 27-105mm). And if you want a super sharp lens, you can get instead the Carl Zeiss 17-80mm (it will cost about $400 or 500 more), and there's a new Zeiss coming, I think it's a 17-105

I read a lot of bad comments about lenses made of plastic, like "they feel cheap". IMO, the glass is the important part of the lens. And if you drop it, the glass is going to feel it no matter if the outside is metal or plastic.