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Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

Started Jan 11, 2022 | Discussions
tbcass
tbcass Forum Pro • Posts: 57,147
Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?
1

Since both involve obsolete cameras and are devoid of activity and both use A Mount they have a lot in common. I'm still heavily invested in A Mount and have no interest in giving it up.

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Tom

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neilt3
neilt3 Veteran Member • Posts: 3,008
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

Why not ?

It started as one forum , might as well go full circle and remerge .

Especially seeing as folk are asking about Minolta A mount film and digital cameras on there , as well as Minolta lenses .

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MichaelSolna Veteran Member • Posts: 3,474
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

tbcass wrote:

Since both involve obsolete cameras and are devoid of activity and both use A Mount they have a lot in common. I'm still heavily invested in A Mount and have no interest in giving it up.

Sonds like a good idea.

Hike Pics
Hike Pics Senior Member • Posts: 2,917
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?
1

I guess I'm ok either way with it, just as long as the forum is well named. I have a lot of gear from both now and post in both forums from time to time.

The problem will be getting DPR to do it. I know they are busy but they still haven't corrected an error I caught in an article years ago, or a question I asked recently. However, they did eventually remove "EasyShare" from the Kodak forum. So, I guess it could happen. Eventually.

Jody Bruchon
Jody Bruchon New Member • Posts: 3
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

Personally, I don't think so. Better to have a separate area for discussing separate cameras. Sony acquired the A-mount but Sony A-mount cameras are not Minolta cameras. All that merging will do is make it unnecessarily harder to find information. I came here because someone gave me a Maxxum 5D. It would be so much worse browsing the forum if it was slam full of Sony posts too. The logic for merging the two boards would also apply to just merging every camera board into one giant board--as would the logic against.

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neilt3
neilt3 Veteran Member • Posts: 3,008
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

Joining the A mount Dynax 5d & 7d wouldn't be an issue , but there again being a Minolta , Konica Minolta and Konica forum combined , most of the posts on this forum are about the Minolta and KM bridge cameras , the DiMage 7 series , A1 , A2 , & A200 with a bit of Minolta Vectis chucked in .

non of which has any place on the Sony A mount forum .

So yes , It does need to be kept separate really or maybe a partial split ?

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ibbz
ibbz Regular Member • Posts: 192
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

I think no, because this forum includes all other KM cameras.

And sony own the A Mount.

Now if there was an A Mount forum…

tbcass
OP tbcass Forum Pro • Posts: 57,147
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

Jody Bruchon wrote:

Personally, I don't think so. Better to have a separate area for discussing separate cameras. Sony acquired the A-mount but Sony A-mount cameras are not Minolta cameras. All that merging will do is make it unnecessarily harder to find information. I came here because someone gave me a Maxxum 5D. It would be so much worse browsing the forum if it was slam full of Sony posts too. The logic for merging the two boards would also apply to just merging every camera board into one giant board--as would the logic against.

While what you are saying may seem logical the fact is hardly anybody posts in either forum anymore. Combining the two would at least increase the traffic to a greater number than each one separately. Your fear of the forum being full of Sony posts is unfounded because the number of people posting in a combined forum would still be extremely small. The Sony Forum sees 5 or fewer posts a week while this forum sees even fewer. You alone have posted more in one day than the whole KM forum does in an average month. Add to that both cameras use the same lenses and much of the same tech. The early Sony DSLRs were 100% KM tech.

In conclusion, your reason for not combining the 2 forums doesn't wash because even combined there would be very few posts

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Tom

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tbcass
OP tbcass Forum Pro • Posts: 57,147
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

ibbz wrote:

I think no, because this forum includes all other KM cameras.

And sony own the A Mount.

Now if there was an A Mount forum…

Then how about combining Sony and KM A mount and keeping the fixed lens KM cameras in this forum? Both Sony and KM A mount cameras have a lot in common while A Mount and the KM fixed lens cameras have nothing in common. Sony Cybershot, A Mount, and E Mount are all in separate forums.

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Tom

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ibbz
ibbz Regular Member • Posts: 192
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

My own personal opinion is that the Konica and Minolta brands should stay apart from the Sony.

Looking at the forums there's a Sony Alpha A Mount Talk one, I guess that name could be changed to Sony/Konica Minolta SLR/SLT A-Mount talk but that would take people away from this KM specific group.

tbcass
OP tbcass Forum Pro • Posts: 57,147
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

ibbz wrote:

My own personal opinion is that the Konica and Minolta brands should stay apart from the Sony.

Looking at the forums there's a Sony Alpha A Mount Talk one, I guess that name could be changed to Sony/Konica Minolta SLR/SLT A-Mount talk but that would take people away from this KM specific group.

What people are those? Hardly anybody posts in the KM group so are you saying it would take away the 5 or 10 people that still post here? Both the KM and Sony A mount forums are dead. Combining them might revive them somewhat. Not one of you has given a logical reason for not combining the 2 forums. It seems that the people objecting are doing so for primarily nostalgic reasons.

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Tom

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neilt3
neilt3 Veteran Member • Posts: 3,008
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?
1

tbcass wrote:

ibbz wrote:

My own personal opinion is that the Konica and Minolta brands should stay apart from the Sony.

Looking at the forums there's a Sony Alpha A Mount Talk one, I guess that name could be changed to Sony/Konica Minolta SLR/SLT A-Mount talk but that would take people away from this KM specific group.

What people are those? Hardly anybody posts in the KM group so are you saying it would take away the 5 or 10 people that still post here? Both the KM and Sony A mount forums are dead. Combining them might revive them somewhat. Not one of you has given a logical reason for not combining the 2 forums. It seems that the people objecting are doing so for primarily nostalgic reasons.

Combining all the A mount talk in one place would be logical , some threads started on the Sony A mount forum have been asking about Minolta A mount cameras anyway . Both film and digital .

The non-A mount talk could just remain here , though it cause a bit of confusion.

People that use this form are people that still use Minolta gear , but not necessarily as the main system .

Most Minolta A mount lenses in use today are used on Sony bodies anyway .

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ibbz
ibbz Regular Member • Posts: 192
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

Each to their own opinion and ultimately it’s a decision which DPReview will choose to make.

the logic is that Konica and Minolta have their own forum for all their cameras of all types - whether 5 people use it or 50.

I see there are two Kodak forums and no Contax forum. Quite lucky to have a KM forum I think.

what’s to stop anyone posting Minolta A Mount stuff in the Sony forum?

Hike Pics
Hike Pics Senior Member • Posts: 2,917
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?
1

We grumbled enough to finally get the Kodak EasyShare forum name changed to Kodak Talk because most of us also have PixPro cameras. I was honestly surprised when DPR did it.

I just don't see DPR merging Sony A with KM forums, just not that great a need or worth the time. For me, I post my Sony A DSLR threads there and all my M/KM threads here. As for lenses I put those threads in the Sony A forum. Or in the film forum since the ones I have are from my Maxxum days.

ibbz
ibbz Regular Member • Posts: 192
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

I agree. as I said I think we are lucky to have a forum dedicated to a legacy and dead camera brand.

id like to see a Contax forum but as you mentioned, such would go in the Film forum as I doubt many people own Contax N Digital or compacts (which are now stupidly high priced on eBay)
Sensible approach with using the Sony forum for KM 5D 7D stuff.

tbcass
OP tbcass Forum Pro • Posts: 57,147
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?
1

neilt3 wrote:

Combining all the A mount talk in one place would be logical , some threads started on the Sony A mount forum have been asking about Minolta A mount cameras anyway . Both film and digital .

The non-A mount talk could just remain here , though it cause a bit of confusion.

People that use this form are people that still use Minolta gear , but not necessarily as the main system .

Most Minolta A mount lenses in use today are used on Sony bodies anyway .

I agree 100%.

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Tom

 tbcass's gear list:tbcass's gear list
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Jody Bruchon
Jody Bruchon New Member • Posts: 3
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?
3

tbcass wrote:

Jody Bruchon wrote:

Personally, I don't think so. Better to have a separate area for discussing separate cameras. Sony acquired the A-mount but Sony A-mount cameras are not Minolta cameras. All that merging will do is make it unnecessarily harder to find information. I came here because someone gave me a Maxxum 5D. It would be so much worse browsing the forum if it was slam full of Sony posts too. The logic for merging the two boards would also apply to just merging every camera board into one giant board--as would the logic against.

While what you are saying may seem logical the fact is hardly anybody posts in either forum anymore. Combining the two would at least increase the traffic to a greater number than each one separately. Your fear of the forum being full of Sony posts is unfounded because the number of people posting in a combined forum would still be extremely small. The Sony Forum sees 5 or fewer posts a week while this forum sees even fewer. You alone have posted more in one day than the whole KM forum does in an average month. Add to that both cameras use the same lenses and much of the same tech. The early Sony DSLRs were 100% KM tech.

In conclusion, your reason for not combining the 2 forums doesn't wash because even combined there would be very few posts

No, my logic is perfectly fine. These forums are not just for post traffic, they're for reference as well. The rate of new posts is frankly irrelevant. Also, merging forums will potentially break external search indexes that make finding the information through general search engines easier. This is a classic case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." The case for merging needs to be compelling and significant and no one has presented any rationale for a merge with positives that outweigh the huge negatives.

As for the fear of Sony posts...uh, you do know what MERGING means...right? The entire forum post back catalog will be flooded with Sony body and other irrelevant Sony posts.

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ibbz
ibbz Regular Member • Posts: 192
Re: Should the Sony A Mount and this forum be combined?

Agreed 100%

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