Need Help with Minolta lens for A330 Sony

[BBRoberts]

Hi Guys and Gals,

I need help buying a len or lens for my Sony DSLR A330. I know a lot of the Minolta lens work. I'm not totally thrilled with the Sony 330 for various reasons, but I think I can make it work for me by getting some nice lens cheap from Ebay. There are tons of them over there. I read the Beercan thread and that seems like a great one to try. I heard about the beercan before previously. The lens that come with the camera are crap, cheaply made, plastic and take crappy photos.

The smaller lens actually is not too bad at macro level, but the bigger one takes crappy photos. I miss the historgram and grid lines inside the viewfinder on the A330. My H9 had them, and there is so much more I liked about the H9 including the Carl Zeiss lens onboard. Also I could adjust the ISO, aperture and speed all inside the viewfinder along side the histrogram. Since I use glasses to read, the viewfinder adjustment put all that stuff into focus for me without glasses on the H9. On the A330, I am a slave to the LCD for adjustments which I can't read without glasses.

This makes real time work in the field a bitch now since with the H9, I never really used the LCD for anything. It didn't even show up well during the day. Also I miss the auto zoom, point and shoot. Now things are so much different and harder with this camera. However, I know with the right lens, this camera can sing. I just have to get the right lens. I shoot action sports, to be specific, bike races. I need lens I can zoom in on and shoot. I usually shoot at 1/1000th for the sports action shots. My H9 seem to pretty much cover whatever I wanted to zoom in on with its 15x zoom.

I usually shoot at F3, ISO-100, and 1/1000th always at criteriums. 1/500th was too blury usually. It would be nice to get a couple of Minolta lens for medium or longer zoom with AF built in I guess. I am not sure how hard it will be to focus in on action shots if I have to do it manually. Never done it before, since the H9 has the auto zoom with autofocus. I know I can set the range by turning the lens, and then the camera does the last little bit with autofocus, which has buttons both on the lens and on the camera. You could also recommend a good portrait lens by Minolta. My bag is actions shots and portraits. Stills and action. Also a reccomendation for a depth of field lens to shoot something at F6 with composition, mountains in the background of the bike races. Probaby I need three lens.

Let me know, thanks in Advance! I do like that beercan, will that work for me?

Best,
BBRoberts

[OldClicker]

Sounds like you would be happier with an H9.

Here is a cut&paste from a previous post (some comments might not apply). - TF

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The old AF a-mount Minolta lenses work with full use of auto-focus and aperture control.

The SR (MD, MC) mount lenses that came before those require an adapter. They work with as manual focus and aperture. Unfortunately the adapter has to set the lens a little bit forward of its design position and so acts like a short extension tube. This limits its ability to focus at distance. I have one MD lens and it will only focus out to about 6 feet (fine for macro though). Some adapters have optics in them to refocus and give you full range, but the glass quality is not up to the job. Minolta did make an adapter with good optics, but it was a 2x teleconverter. They can be found used. Bottom line - unless you have some old very nice SR glass it probably isn't worth it.

Another option is old manual focus lenses with the screw-in type mounts. They can be narrow enough so that the adapter puts the lens in the right position. The problem here is that everybody knows it and these lenses aren't really all that cheap.

Here is a cut & paste of some info that I posted a while back for someone with an A200:

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All of the old Auto-Focus (AF) Minolta lenses - also known as the a-mount or, now, the alpha-mount - will work on your A200. Older Manual-Focus Minolta lenses with the SR-mount (mostly labeled MD or MC) will not fit on the camera. Here is a data base of the AF lenses.

http://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/lenses.php

And this one has most everything for the Minolta Maxxum/Sony a-mount systems.

http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/index.asp

The kit lens is certainly capable of taking great photos, but it is not the best - even among the lower grade lenses. If you work with it, learn its limitations and how to get around them, you will have learned a lot about photography. Most alpha owners pick up a Minolta 50mm f/1.7 early on because they can be cheap and provide a good low-light start. Some used lens places:

http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/Produ...&GBC=&GCC=&KW=

http://www.keh.com/OnLineStore/Produ...&GBC=&GCC=&KW=

http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?o...us&cat3=Lenses

http://www.adorama.com/catalog.tpl?o...al&cat3=Lenses

http://www.photographyreview.com/Com...2847/KBID/3790

And, of course Ebay (but be careful).

Here are a few Guides - take them for what they’re worth.

http://reviews.ebay.com/The-Best-Max...00000000911239

http://reviews.ebay.com/Maxxum-70-21...00000000751723

http://reviews.ebay.com/How-To-Detec...00000001005542

http://reviews.ebay.com/Top-Minolta-...00000007572656

http://reviews.ebay.com/LENSES-amp-A...00000001549787

http://reviews.ebay.com/Sony-Alpha-M...00000004652715

[pisco]

The kit lens is pretty good for a $100 lens. I used it for 1.5 or 2 years before buying the CZ16-80, and I would still use it.
If you don't like it, then you might not like the beercan either...

Try renting a lens that you might think you would like to try it.

[PWhite214]

The beercan is f4 through out the zoom range, a little slower than you have been using. With a 70 to 210mm range, on my film camera, it requires me to get close to the action, and lots of light to shoot at 1/1000 or less. I love the lens! Of course, on my A200 it is equivalent to 105 to 315mm. I am not familiar with the A330 specs, but think it has the same size sensor.

Remember that the beercan was produced for many years, some are wonderful, some, I hear, are not so great. Make sure you know what the return policy is, and have the time to test it. I have bought several lenses on Ebay, but I am careful what I buy, and who I buy from. I want a good return policy, just in case.

Good luck in your quest.

Phil

[BBRoberts]

Thanks guys, but does anyone know which lens would be good for action sports? Sounds like the Beercan doesn't have enough zoom range. I have seen one on Ebay at 300mm.

thanks,
BBR

[Anbesol]

The A330 comes with hte Sony 18-55 SAM, which is actually a *very* good lens. Its very slow, but its very good. Further - you CANNOT get a histogram reading in the viewfinder in ANY DSLR, considering the tradeoff is an organic real live view through the lens, I don't think you're at a loss. Certainly the Sony 18-55 performs much better than the Zeiss on the H9. If you want grid lines, there are stickers you can place on the mirror that gives you those grid lines, I cant remember where you can get those, I think BHPhoto might have them. You may just be acclimating to the difference between DSLR and Point and shoot, when coming from point and shoot to DSLR, things are VERY different, the DSLR will do little to no processing of the image and you have a mostly organic and real color view, whereas point and shoots add saturation and boost contrast and such.

You can adjust ISO aperture and shutter speed through the viewfinder, why do you think you cant?

Unfortunately a strong telephoto zoom at an f/2.8 aperture is *EXPENSIVE*. You'd be better off with a variable aperture lens, or an f/4 constant, unless you have the $2k-$6k for a super telephoto f/2.8 lens. The beercan might do fine, depending on how close to the action you are. I wouldn't be afraid of f/4-5.6, with the Sony A330, you'll be able to shoot at much higher ISOs than your H9.

[BBRoberts]

In what sense do you mean slow?

Yes, I said here or elsewhere, that the Sony 18-55 SAM wasn't bad, but the other one it came with seems to produce crappy photos. I think it was 80-200. However they seem to be cheaply made. I do see a few of the settings in the viewfinder, but no where near as complete as what you could see in the H9. The reason I liked that was because I didn't need to wear my glasses in the field. The viewfinder allowed eye ajustments which made it clear for me to see all the settings that way. On the LCD, I can't see anything without my glasses.

On the action, with the H9 15x zoom got me as close as I needed to be, either at both the wide angle or telephoto end. In distance, shooting anywhere from as close as ten feet away to 50 or 100 feet away, but then I could just zoom in and reduce shutter speed. With F-4/5, that gives better depth of field to include more action. I can use that or F-2/3, even F-5/6 but I usually set it around F-3 at the criteriums. Its true, I don't like DSLR cameras. I hate them because they are so bulky and you have to carry around all those lens, as with a point and shoot, its much lighter, and the 15x autozoom lens with AF allows for a lot of fun hassle free shooting. I haven't seen a great bridge camera yet, perhaps the Olympus E3, but I went with 330 because I can share my memory sticks, and I like Sony products. I have my own ideas about what Sony could do to build a awesome point and shoot camera, but I doubt they will.

[Mimi111]

deleted by poster

[OldClicker]

Its true, I don't like DSLR cameras. I hate them because they are so bulky and you have to carry around all those lens, as with a point and shoot, its much lighter, and the 15x autozoom lens with AF allows for a lot of fun hassle free shooting.

Then why did you switch???? - TF

[Anbesol]

In what sense do you mean slow?

Yes, I said here or elsewhere, that the Sony 18-55 SAM wasn't bad, but the other one it came with seems to produce crappy photos. I think it was 80-200. However they seem to be cheaply made. I do see a few of the settings in the viewfinder, but no where near as complete as what you could see in the H9. The reason I liked that was because I didn't need to wear my glasses in the field. The viewfinder allowed eye ajustments which made it clear for me to see all the settings that way. On the LCD, I can't see anything without my glasses.

On the action, with the H9 15x zoom got me as close as I needed to be, either at both the wide angle or telephoto end. In distance, shooting anywhere from as close as ten feet away to 50 or 100 feet away, but then I could just zoom in and reduce shutter speed. With F-4/5, that gives better depth of field to include more action. I can use that or F-2/3, even F-5/6 but I usually set it around F-3 at the criteriums. Its true, I don't like DSLR cameras. I hate them because they are so bulky and you have to carry around all those lens, as with a point and shoot, its much lighter, and the 15x autozoom lens with AF allows for a lot of fun hassle free shooting. I haven't seen a great bridge camera yet, perhaps the Olympus E3, but I went with 330 because I can share my memory sticks, and I like Sony products. I have my own ideas about what Sony could do to build a awesome point and shoot camera, but I doubt they will.

I mean the 18-55 is an f/3.5-5.6 lens, as slow as it comes. An f/2.8 lens is 2/3rds to 2 stops faster.

If you hit the 'DISP' button, it will change the number of functions displayed on the LCD, one of those displays will show just the most important functions much larger, you may not have problems seeing that one. The viewfinder may not be totally tuned, there is a diopter adjustment on the right corner of the viewfinder that can adjust the vision, if thats what you need to do.

DSLRs are a lot bigger, a lot more impractical, a lot more difficult to use, etc, yes. But - they produce much MUCH better image quality (if used properly).

[BBRoberts]

"Then why did you switch???? - TF"

I switched because I didn't want to wear out the H9. I prefered to get another super hybrid point and shoot, something like a cross between a DSLR and Point and Shoot, bridge camera. I liked the Olympus E3 in that regard, but it does crappy raw from what I read. Without knowing enough about bridge cameras for Nikon and Cannon, I went with Sony bottom line DLSR cause the image quality would be better, and I could test one to see if I could live with it. I would much prefer some kind of brillant hybrid point and shoot that does great raw, and has an excellent zoom build in with auto focus. I prefer lighter, smarter, faster, and the H9 sure was nice, and when you hit the sweet spots of that carl zeiss lens, it make some nice photos which could even be made nicer with LR-2. I probably would of bought the Olympus E3, if it was not for the fact I read their raw was crappy.

[NoKnees]

Interesting post and concerns... Obviously there is no lens that is going to make this camera the H9... Anbesol gave some good tips on basic usability to help in this area...

So, let's look at the lens topic... The f/stops and resulting DOF/available light you reference from the H9 don't translate 1-1 to the larger APS-C sensor camera's like the a330... I've never had the need to figure out the technical conversions here, so I won't even try now... But basically an f2 compact zoom lens is not comparable to an f2 35mm based lens... DOF is different, exposure/light is different, etc..

Anyway, there really aren't any single lenses to get you great speed and 15x+ zoom range. If you want a single lens solution, go with the current favorite of the Tamron/Sony 18-250mm. It's not the fastest, but it's not bad, performing better than all of the kit lenses with a possible exception of the 18-55mm.. Definitely better than the 80-200mm..

It does seem like you are kinda stuck here... Hopefully you find something that makes you happy...