Sony Alpha, Cannon or Nikon

e999sam · Dec 10, 2006

Can any one perused not to buy a Sony Alpha. I have recently got into photography and have purchased a second hand Minolta Dynax 5 with 28-100mm and 70-300mm lenses. I have now decided I can afford a DSLR and the lenses from my Minolta will fit the Sony Alpha, but I also know that Nikon and Canon make the most popular DSLR with a better selection of lenses. What to do?

oCyrus55 · Dec 10, 2006

From what I here, the A100 is a very good camera. Why would you not want to buy the it?

Mad_Gnome · Dec 10, 2006

With the exception of extremely limited use lenses such as the tilt-shift, you will have no issues with a shortage of fine glass for the Sony A100. I'd recommend going to a camera shop and taking a good long look at all three possibilities and deciding which one you like best. Believe me when I tell you that glass availability won't really be one of the factors to be concerned with.

Personally, I own a Maxxum 5D DSLR. There were three reasons I bought it. First, I already had some Minolta glass, as my film SLR is a Maxxum 500si. The second reason was built-in anti-shake. This saves me from paying hundreds of dollars more per lens to get the benefit of image stabilization. That's a HUGE monetary savings. Just the money I've saved in glass will allow me to buy a strobe lighting kit. The third and final reason was that I simply found the Maxxum line to be far more ergonomic and user-friendly than the competition. Within two hours of picking up the camera, I knew how to access nearly every function quickly and easily.

Don't fall victim to marketing hype, and don't make your purchasing decision based on what's popular! Make the decision based on your preference, not on what someone else might try to tell you. Or sell you, for that matter.

Don Simon · Dec 10, 2006

I'll agree with what's already been said. Minolta made some fantastic lenses and some of the new Sony-branded ones look very impressive too. What I would say though is that there's been some criticism of the A100's noise at higher ISO levels. You might want to take a look at the 5D or 7D, both of which are also good DSLRs and which are available for less than the A100.

dgs · Dec 10, 2006

I bought my A100 in September and have been thrilled with it. The old minolta glass is quite good and pretty reasonable, but creeping up in price.

If you're happy with the performance of the lenses you already own, I'd stay with them. By reputation, anyway, the particular lenses you mention are in the middle of the Minolta glass pile . . . there are even better ones out there. To be fair, though, the value of these two lenses is not great in the larger scheme of things. . . . but they (and all the others you may acquire) are already image stabilized <huge grin>

Good luck.

brighteyesphotos · Dec 10, 2006

I have a Sony and I love it. I got it because I have a film Mintola and wanted to be able to use the lenses I have with it. Each time I play with it, I find more little things I can do and I love it more each time. I rarely use a tripod save for low light and long exposures. The image stablization is great. For me, how the camera feels in my hands is the biggest thing. And this camera fit just right.

Sw1tchFX · Dec 10, 2006

There is no reason for you to switch. You'd just end up shooting yourself in the foot if you do that.

bitteraspects · Dec 10, 2006

i have been a LONG TIME sony user, but after trying the alpha for myself i decided to stick with canon for my slr use. i think a lot of it has to do with it being their first slr, and they still have a lot of bugs to work out/perfect. f they come out with another slr, i may give it another shot. by then they should have a bunch of the new zeiss glass out for it.

e999sam · Dec 11, 2006

Thanks for the advice everyone I think I’m probably going to go with either the A100, 7D or 5D.First of all I will be going to my local shop to have a look at each one.