How will the Sony Alpha work with my Minolta lenses, and what other lens should I buy

[tslice]

I'm inheriting a few good minolta lenses (35-70mm, 50mm, 80-200mm) and a Minolta 7000 Maxxum. I'm a huge fan with the ease of use of digital, and have been looking at the Sony Alpha.

From what I've read, the 7000 Maxxum uses the A-type mount, as well as the Sony. So my Minolta lenses should at least fit on the Sony, but will they auto focus with the Sony, and will the Minolta lenses focus near infinity?

I also understand there is the 1.6 crop factor, so I'm going to need to purchase a good wide zoom lens (mostly because I want to shoot skateboarders). I just don't know exactly what to look for. I want a lens that will blur the background nicely for close up shots, but will that kind of lens be capable of nice sharp landscapes as well?

I'm currently looking at the Sigma 10mm - 20mm f/4-5.6 EX DC but it seems a little "slow" when compared to the Sigma 18mm - 50mm f/2.8 EX DC Macro. Both are right around my price range.

Thanks, Tyler.

 

[AUZambo]

I've got the Sony A-100 as well as the sigma 10-20 mm lens.

Any minolta autofocus lens will work fine with the Sony A-100. I just bought a 20 year old 50mm autofocus minolta lens and it works like a charm. So....as long as the lenses you have are autofocus, they will work on the a-100 just like they do on the minolta cameras.

I thought it was a 1.5 crop...but that's not much different than a 1.6. Anyway, that will effectively turn the 10-20 into a 15-30 lens. I got the 18-200 lens with my camera, which is like having a 27-300mm lens.

To be honest with you, I wouldn't get the 10-20 if you're wanting to shoot any action or people in general. It does a good job of limiting distortion considering how wide it is, but it does still distort some. I use mine more for landscapes & buildings. I just got back from Italy a couple of weeks ago and I bought my 10-20 specifically for cathedrals, street scenes (when I didn't have room to back up), and other such "still" objects. However, I'm still pretty amateur at photography...you may want to get the opinion of a pro before making your decision.

I love my 18-200 lens and use it 90% of the time. Virtually all DSLRs have that 1.5 - 1.6 crop. If you can find someone who will let you borrow theirs perhaps you can find out if an 18mm or 35mm will be sufficient.

Hopefully this is some help for you. I've really enjoyed my camera. The only drawback I've noticed is that it has considerable noise at 800 & 1600 ISO compared to the canon & nikon models.

 

[tslice]

Do you have any suggestions then for what kind of lens I should get? I want to be able to get close so I can put my audience perspective where I want it to be.

 

[AUZambo]

Considering the lenses you have cover everything from 35-200mm, I would probably look for something like this 18-70 lens. Even though there's a general rule that any zoom lens shoots quality shots up the three times it's widest zoom, I've REALLY liked the 18-200. Following that rule, this lens would only be reliable from 18 - 54mm. Perhaps that rule came into play back when zoom lenses first were introduced and they were still somewhat unreliable??

The nice thing about the 18-200 lens is that you don't have to spend much time changing lenses, which lessens the amount of time that the interior of the camera is exposed.

Whatever you decide to go with, please talk to someone else with a little more experience before making the decision. I know more than your average SLR owner, but I still have alot to learn! Hopefully someone else will chime in here!

 

[Mad_Gnome]

Personally, I'd recommend the Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 zoom. It's the same speed as the Sigma, but the Tamron is much better at controlling chromatic aberration (the colored fringe sometimes seen in digital images) and at the wide end, every extra mm makes a big difference. Personally, I avoid wide-range zooms like the 18-200mm. To make a lens with that kind of zoom range requires a lot of optical compromises.

AUZambo is also correct in that the A100 has a 1.5 crop factor.