Sony DSLR and Minolta AF Lenses?

[Mitica100]

OK, I have a friend who is about to ditch his Minolta 7000 plus 50/1.7, 28/2.8, 35-70 (all Minolta) and Sigma 400/5.6 AF lenses since he has a small P&S camera. I told him that the Minolta AF lenses fit nicely on Sony DSLRs and his eyes went big. Since I am not a well read person when it comes to the newer stuff, i.e. DSLRs and their compatibility with other lens makers, I thought I'd throw this in here, fishing for an answer, as to whether I'm right or wrong. I read in some websites that all Minolta AF lenses fit nicely on the Sony. True or False?

Thanks in advance!

 

[dxqcanada]

You are correct.
All Minolta manufactured lenses will work on the Sony Alpha DSLR series.
The Sigma AF 400 will also work (as I have the APO version).

 

[dxqcanada]

The Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 is an excellent quality lens.

Makes for a nice portrait lens on my Sony a100

 

[MBasile]

The one thing I'd suggest he gets is an 18-50 or 18-200 lens in addition since, due to the sensor crop factor, the shortest focal length he'll now have is 42mm (the ratio for the Sony Alphas is 1.5x).

 

[dxqcanada]

Unless he gets the Sony a850 or a900 ... full frame sensor.

 

[Mitica100]

Thank you! Thanks all for the info. I will pass it on tomorrow and I know he'll be a happy fellow when he finds out for sure.

 

[skieur]

Unless he gets the Sony a850 or a900 ... full frame sensor.

Or he waits for the Sony A750 which is supposed to be out very shortly. It will be an even less expensive full frame sensor.

skieur

 

[dxqcanada]

Hmm, I was actually hoping that the Sony A750 will be APS-C using a new CMOS sensor.

I really do not think that they need another Full Frame sensor camera ... unless they make a more advanced A900.

 

[MBasile]

Unless he gets the Sony a850 or a900 ... full frame sensor.

Or he waits for the Sony A750 which is supposed to be out very shortly. It will be an even less expensive full frame sensor.

skieur

Ah, that explains why when my new photo teacher was asking what camera I have we couldn't find the a700 on any online store. I can kind of see going full frame for the a750 so that you have full frames at three different price points, covering a larger market. However, since the model has gone from a700 to a750, I would only expect a slight upgrade, not as drastic of a change as going full frame.

And yes, I assumed he'd be going for one of the lower models. Given he didn't know enough about the brand to know that the minolta lenses are compatible, I figured he wasn't a $2k+ camera body type of person (unless he has a ton of disposable income of course).

 

[skieur]

The Sony A750 will apparently be a full frame 14.2 megapixel camera with ISO up to 12000, less noise, and a burst rate of 15 frames per second. It may have HDR built in and it is not known whether it will have liveview or video. Price will be less than the A850 of course, which means the mid area around $1,600.

There is also talk of a Sony A950 and a move by Sony to go to the new 3D chip before any of the competition.

skieur