LF: Minolta Digital Lens advice

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

Hi folks,
I have a Minolta Maxxum 7D digital SLR.
I have 4 lenses from my Minolta Maxxum XTsi 35mm camera that I use with the
7D. Three of these lenses are Minolta brand (24mm, 28-80mm and 100-300mm)
and one is a Sigma lense (28-200mm).
Of these lenses I like the 24mm fix lense the best. The 28-80 is a cheap
lens that came stock with the XTsi. I don't care for the 100-300 zoom as it
has a power manual fucus. The Sigma 28-200 seems to be a decent general
purpose lense but doesn't seem to do a great job at focusing to infinity
(even with a tripod).

So what I'm looking for are some opinions on the best general purpose
lense(s) I should be looking at for my 7D. I want a good quality, fast lense
that is known to work well with the 7D. Then if I don't get good results, I
only have myself to blame. I'd prefer a zoom lense that will give me the
most versatility and not require a case for of lenses everywhere I go, but
am open minded enough to consider using fixed focal length lenses instead.

Any constructive advice would be appreciated.

Joe

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

K/Minolta is coming out with three new lenses made specifically for
their digital cameras (Dynax/Maxxum 7D,5D) . I haven't been able to
find any for sale yet and K/M has not answered my request for sales
info. Anyhow the lenses are:
AF DT 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 (D)
AF DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 (D)
AF DT 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 (D)
You may want to wait and check these lenses out.
<<<Adam R>>>
********************************************************
On Fri, 5 Aug 2005 11:22:09 -0400, "stator" <fullcamo@gmail.comNOSPAM>
wrote:

>Hi folks,
>I have a Minolta Maxxum 7D digital SLR.
>I have 4 lenses from my Minolta Maxxum XTsi 35mm camera that I use with the
>7D. Three of these lenses are Minolta brand (24mm, 28-80mm and 100-300mm)
>and one is a Sigma lense (28-200mm).
>Of these lenses I like the 24mm fix lense the best. The 28-80 is a cheap
>lens that came stock with the XTsi. I don't care for the 100-300 zoom as it
>has a power manual fucus. The Sigma 28-200 seems to be a decent general
>purpose lense but doesn't seem to do a great job at focusing to infinity
>(even with a tripod).
>
>So what I'm looking for are some opinions on the best general purpose
>lense(s) I should be looking at for my 7D. I want a good quality, fast lense
>that is known to work well with the 7D. Then if I don't get good results, I
>only have myself to blame. I'd prefer a zoom lense that will give me the
>most versatility and not require a case for of lenses everywhere I go, but
>am open minded enough to consider using fixed focal length lenses instead.
>
>Any constructive advice would be appreciated.
>
>Joe
>

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital.slr-systems (More info?)

stator wrote:

> Hi folks,
> I have a Minolta Maxxum 7D digital SLR.

Congratulations. A great camera.

> I have 4 lenses from my Minolta Maxxum XTsi 35mm camera that I use with the
> 7D. Three of these lenses are Minolta brand (24mm, 28-80mm and 100-300mm)
> and one is a Sigma lense (28-200mm).
> Of these lenses I like the 24mm fix lense the best. The 28-80 is a cheap
> lens that came stock with the XTsi. I don't care for the 100-300 zoom as it
> has a power manual fucus. The Sigma 28-200 seems to be a decent general
> purpose lense but doesn't seem to do a great job at focusing to infinity
> (even with a tripod).
>
> So what I'm looking for are some opinions on the best general purpose
> lense(s) I should be looking at for my 7D. I want a good quality, fast lense
> that is known to work well with the 7D. Then if I don't get good results, I
> only have myself to blame. I'd prefer a zoom lense that will give me the
> most versatility and not require a case for of lenses everywhere I go, but
> am open minded enough to consider using fixed focal length lenses instead.
>
> Any constructive advice would be appreciated.

Just crack open your wallet as follows:

Maxxum 28-70 f/2.8 G (or the new 28-80 f/2.8 G D) -and-
Maxxum 80-200 f/2.8 G (or the new 70-200 f/2.8 G D, etc.)
Maxxum 100 f/2.8 macro -or-
Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro

If you're goung to be doing a lot of portraits, then consider the 50mm
f/1.4 or 85mm f/1.4. (Even the modestly priced 50 f/1.7 should do well
for most portraits.) You can do portraits with the 28-70/80 with great
care to keep the camera level/square wrt the subject, but your error
rate (poor perspective related distortion) will be higher.

Personally, I'm thinking of adding the Maxxum 17-35 (either the f/3.5
"G" version, or the Tamron (badged Minolta) f/2.8 - f/4 (D) version).
Or a Nikon Coolscan 9000 and used RZ67. Or... <sigh> Whatever, I need
an MF camera by September and the scanner to read it.

My SO has the 28-200 (Sigma) and she works hard with it to get very good
results (Maxxum 5). But I also know when she uses the 50 f/1.7 that she
gets great reults that exceed the Sigma in contrast and color.

Cheers,
Alan.

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