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New to Sony, lens advice for new a77 user.

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I have been debating this swap myself. I am heavily invested in canon but like the idea of the a77. I can't get hold of the camera but not the 70-200 lens to try. I have always had canon but have been slowly falling out of love with them and the price of the new mark III, grip and flash, really anouys me. I have 5d mark II, 7d, 50d, 70-200 II, 100-400, 17-40, 24-105. I was again trying the a77 in the shop near me (has finally got one !!!). I like the 5d mark II iso performance though, it is good at 4000 (sometime need to shot). The idea of trying to run 2 systems is to rich for me. I need to take the jump, reading what you have put is interesting, how do you find the focusing, (also find the 7d is of extremes, either really good or really bad). How do you find the 12 frames (i know your doing video but must have done stills).

Arrrhhhh, need to change now 5d mark III is out of price range(if it was I would have bought a 1d mark 4 by now !!!), but can't bring myself to do it.

Anyone else done the change ??
 
I also leaved Canon because I did not like the direction the company was heading. I mean look at the new 5DIII; obviously, it is a joke of an upgrade! What Canon is thinking releasing that camera after 3 years. I looked at Nikon for a long time too, but the quality of their entry level cameras is just the same.

I guess you are right: admitting you were wrong is the first step. When everybody started using iPod, I had Sony mp3 players and made fun of them. iPod features was too inferior to Sony at that time. But, they won the popularity contest! I am a Windows person, basically because of my job. However, I love the quality of Apple products, and I bought an iMac and MacBook Pro, and installed Windows 7 on them! I try to use Mac OS every once in a while for developing apps with their programming language X-Code, but that's it. The quality is the major factor for me, and I like Sony's new line of cameras.

The only downside of Sony at the moment is their collection of glasses. I am sure with the money they are going to generate from the sales of NEX and new Alpha cameras, eventually they will invest on the new good quality glasses. They have the technology; so, they better as well use it.

--
take pictures to save your precious presents…

http://www.kooroshvaziri.com/gallery
 
I know nothing about the Canon 5DIII except that its the number 1 camera on Amazon (pre-orders). As with anything, some will be happy and some will be disappointed. The sales will tell the final story.

Cheers!
Koorosh 77 said:
I also leaved Canon because I did not like the direction the company was heading. I mean look at the new 5DIII; obviously, it is a joke of an upgrade! What Canon is thinking releasing that camera after 3 years. I looked at Nikon for a long time too, but the quality of their entry level cameras is just the same.

I guess you are right: admitting you were wrong is the first step. When everybody started using iPod, I had Sony mp3 players and made fun of them. iPod features was too inferior to Sony at that time. But, they won the popularity contest! I am a Windows person, basically because of my job. However, I love the quality of Apple products, and I bought an iMac and MacBook Pro, and installed Windows 7 on them! I try to use Mac OS every once in a while for developing apps with their programming language X-Code, but that's it. The quality is the major factor for me, and I like Sony's new line of cameras.

The only downside of Sony at the moment is their collection of glasses. I am sure with the money they are going to generate from the sales of NEX and new Alpha cameras, eventually they will invest on the new good quality glasses. They have the technology; so, they better as well use it.

--
take pictures to save your precious presents…

http://www.kooroshvaziri.com/gallery
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I can't say I've stereotyped anyone using a particular camera but as you revealed - it does happen. (You mention Mac users. A close friend/colleague recently switched to the Mac a month ago. He was kicking and screaming but his workhorse of a laptop died and decided enough was enough. Last weekend he started berrating me for not causing him to switch earlier. I said "I told you to do this back in 2004. You refused. I told you several times each year and you still refused." His response was "you failed. It was your duty to get me to stop using that PC bullsh!t."

I switched to Canon because: (a) video holds no attraction/relevance to me; (b) I use my DSLR for birding and sports; (c) I am not a fan of EVFs for (b); (d) the Canon lens line-up is superb and complete; (e) a full-service pro-shop is 1 mile from my office. A 400/2.8 is $100 for the weekend.

So far I am enjoying it. I hope you're enjoying the A-mount.

Cheers!
Patriot Missile said:
liquid stereo said:
What attracted you to the Sony side of things? I am moving the Canon side and am just curious.

The Sony 70-300 SSM G is my second favorite of the true Sony (as opposed to Minolta) lenses. The first being the Sony CZ 85/1.4. The SSM G is light, relatively compact and fantastic wide open.

Cheers!
Click to expand...
Honest? In the past when walking down the street and seeing someone with a Sony SLR, I would think "What a noob!". But I used to think the same about Mac users. I can admit when I'm WRONG lol

This a77 is absolutely amazing in what it can do. Last fall at an event I shot a bit of video with my 7D..... it was very difficult to manual focus, and i liked how the video looked and wanted to get into that more. This a77 makes it much easier.

(Also, yes again I was wrong about the stabilization I mentioned earlier, I wasn't aware that the video is cropped to help with stabilization. the thing is, I haven't had time to install my new Premiere Elements to actually LOOK at the final results yet)

I used to own a 5DMII, but had focus issues with it, great quality, but not good if the focus is bad (I know 2 other people with the same issues!) So I moved on to the 7D for the last 2 years.

This a77 looks very much like my 5DMII IQ (if not better!), full frame! At this price, and still the zooming capabilities (1.5x)of a smaller sensor. Great fast focusing video..... amazing exposures, so many more unique settings.
(I was playing around with the ISO stacking last night. WOW!)

I think Canon and Nikon have become complacent after seeing all this a77 can do. The 5DMIII is coming out, and shouldn't it have been the MII? The main thing they are upgrading is the focusing, it just gets me mad I guess lol

I still feel I'm getting more with this $1400 camera than that $3500 camera. I'm sure if Canon or Nikon were to release the a77 the price would have been a lot more.

I'm not a fanboy however, I've owned Nikon (D40, D3), Canon (5DMII, 7D) and now Sony, i think they are all good and all have their strong points and weaknesses. Canons lenses are great, the best I think. I will admit i don't know a lot about Sonys yet, but so far I'm not too impressed, at least with the selection! hopefully.... I'm wrong...... again :)
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I'm leaning towards this Minolta 70-200 f/4, its got some weight to it, but I like its compactness and internal zoom compared to the 70-300G

And of course its about $200 vs $900.

I was just wondering if anyone has any opinions of a Minolta 1.4x teleconverter. Would it work well with this lens?
its not something I need to use a lot but occasionally.

My thinking is I might as well go the cheaper route first, see how the Minolta is, I can always resell it and get the 70-300G if I need to.
Of course being very low on cash greatly influences this decision lol
 
Sony SAL70400G 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G SSM Lens What about this one, looks fast enough for what it is.
--
May you always have work for your hands to do.
Rick Clark
 
The 70-210/4 Beercan is a very nice lens. The colors are absolutely fantastic, the AF is relatively fast and the build quality is quite good.

There are two problems:
(1) The AF is not lighting fast and its a bit noisy.
(2) It needs to be stopped down to get rid of some of the CA.

But given the price, and the fact that Sony refuses to create a modern version, its hard to beat. Here are some images. (After getting the 70-300 SSM G, I stopped using the Beercan.)






Patriot Missile said:
I'm leaning towards this Minolta 70-200 f/4, its got some weight to it, but I like its compactness and internal zoom compared to the 70-300G

And of course its about $200 vs $900.

I was just wondering if anyone has any opinions of a Minolta 1.4x teleconverter. Would it work well with this lens?
its not something I need to use a lot but occasionally.

My thinking is I might as well go the cheaper route first, see how the Minolta is, I can always resell it and get the 70-300G if I need to.
Of course being very low on cash greatly influences this decision lol
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Koorosh 77 said:
Are you talking about this lens: http://www.amazon.com/Minolta-Maxxum-70-210mm-Telephoto-Zoom/dp/B000XYIIP2

I can see in the picture that it extends, so there is no internal zoom.
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Those pictures are not pictures of the Maxxum AF 70-210 f/4 "Beercan" -- they are of an older manual-focus lens with push-pull zoom/focus.

The beercan is indeed an internal zooming lens. It isn't internal focusing , and the front element rotates during focusing, but it is internal zooming.

Greg
 
Its a beast of a lens. Better — by far — than anything Canon or Nikon offers. Its not cheap, its somewhat heavy, the focus is not lightning fast, but that's par for the course. And the build quality is amazing.


Rick Clark1 said:
Sony SAL70400G 70-400mm f/4-5.6 G SSM Lens What about this one, looks fast enough for what it is.
--
May you always have work for your hands to do.
Rick Clark
Click to expand...
 
That is the beercan.
http://www.google.com/search?q=minolta+beercan
copejorg1 said:
Koorosh 77 said:
Are you talking about this lens: http://www.amazon.com/Minolta-Maxxum-70-210mm-Telephoto-Zoom/dp/B000XYIIP2

I can see in the picture that it extends, so there is no internal zoom.
Click to expand...
Those pictures are not pictures of the Maxxum AF 70-210 f/4 "Beercan" -- they are of an older manual-focus lens with push-pull zoom/focus.

The beercan is indeed an internal zooming lens. It isn't internal focusing , and the front element rotates during focusing, but it is internal zooming.

Greg
Click to expand...
 
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