Need Advice!!! Minolta vs Nikon

[sykestang]

Hi guys out there... Don't wish to start a bombardment thread with stupid question, so try not to discuss too off thread. Ok here goes:

I current owned the following:
Dynax 5 with 75-300mm lens, 28-85mm lens (both kit lens)
50 f1.7 lens
Dimage 7HI + full accessories like batteries, power adaptor, etc
3600HS Flash

I do have a budget of ard $6k to upgrade. The question is do I purchase a Dynax 7 (my dream camera) with some really good lens like 80-200 f2.8 APO, 100mm Soft focus, etc with the budget. Then hope that Minolta comes out with a DSLR body soon.

OR

Should I take the opportunity to sell off all I have, maybe still can fetch around $2000+ so with a total budget of $8k and change all to Nikon stuff like D100 Body, F100 body or F5 body but ultimately only left with $1-$2k for lens which can't get a range of very good lenses as compared to Option 1 above.

Personally I was thinking of option 1 is because I like the Minolta's technology deployed in the Dynax 7. But as you guys know, Minolta do not have a wide rande of lenses to support. And to be frank, I don't quite like the Dimage 7HI due to the lens in-bulit is a f3.5/5.6 which makes it difficult when shooting in the dark without using flash. So to go with Option 1, the good lenses cannot be used for digital. Note that I need a Digital camera for my work cos my boss used to give me sudden events photography assignments without telling me in advance, so the digital camera comes handy without films. But I personally still into film photography. Sigh... how I wish Minolta can come up with a DSLR body soon...

So anyone have any suggestions or advise for me to make my decision, as I am really in a dilemma over the limited budget and choices. Please don't recommend Canon as I personally hate this brand, as a IT guy, Canon product never fail to fail me so I have made my own judgement not to buy and own any Canon products regardless of how good a review it has. So Canon guys out there, please respect my perception and don't flame me hor...

Thanks in advance.

I have posted this thread in the Technical Review Section but decided to repost this thread here as well as the Nikon section to hear the different views from the 2 different user group.

[Ah meng]

Hi

I do hav e same dilema as u.

I heard one of my nikon friends saying that 7Hi has slower autofocus & longer shutter lag than Nikon Coolpix 5700.That is critical.On e otherhand I bought a Nikon 885 before but e shutterlag is even slower though optical quality is good.

Personally feel that minolta took a much longer time to release her new lenses.Lots of guessing from us(especially minoltian) and no clear & definite direction from them.I once email to minolta USA abt e DSLR and "DS"(distance encoder with shock minimiser aka VR,IS,OS)lenses,they say Minolta dunt hav any plan on it yet.

Its a very impt decision to make cos once u set ur mind doing it,its even more difficult to turn back.U will b in Pain(someone nickname).If u can wait why not give Minolta some time to show e World what she is up to.Probably a 8MP & 16MP DSLR on its way to PMA/Photokina.

Finally,no one can tell u which path to take cos its ur path not ours.Opinions can b subjective. Just b happy and enjoy e thrill of photography

[Zerstorer]

If you feel that you really need a DSLR now, then go for Nikon or Canon and don't look back. IMO, you should not let what you own now hold you back as you still don't have a sizeable investment in Minolta gear and the only item that you are likely to keep even if u stick to minolta is that little 50mm f1.7.

I'm also stuck with a Maxxum 8000i and 3 lenses, 50mm f1.7, 35-105mm f3.5-4.5 and 100-300mm f4.5-5.6 and a 5200i flash. Apart for a wide angle this setup is sufficient for my film needs at present. I've been itching for a DSLR for sometime now and if Minolta doesn't come up with one by end of this year, I'll prolly dump everything and jump ship.

[Kevin]

Quote: Originally posted by sykestang Please don't recommend Canon as I personally hate this brand, as a IT guy, Canon product never fail to fail me so I have made my own judgement not to buy and own any Canon products regardless of how good a review it has. So Canon guys out there, please respect my perception and don't flame me hor...

Hi, just out of curiusity, which type of Canon product fail you? The printer, photocopier, fax machine or SLR so that I can avoid it.

[sykestang]

Quote: Originally posted by Kevin Hi, just out of curiusity, which type of Canon product fail you? The printer, photocopier, fax machine or SLR so that I can avoid it.

Canon Scanner, D660, fails exactly after 1 yr, seldom used but when want to use that time, one of the colours seems to be missing, check with Canon Service centre, they claims that the scanning tube have a life span and needs replacing cost abt $120, but frankly speaking, I only scanned about 30-40+ times throughout the year.

Next I threw the D660 to Cash Convertor for $10, then purchase a Canon Slim Scanner, N636U, just over abt 1½ yr+, and now the same problem like the D660 happens but the funny thing is that, when I shake the scanner hard enough if the problems comes and it will work properly again, seems like something loose inside... funny... so only use it to scan B&W documents now... BTW anybody got good scanner to recommend??? Thought of getting a HP Scanner.

Then previously own 2 canon printer one desktop and one portable, both roller can't automatically feed any paper any longer as if the rubber roller become too smooth to grip any paper, life span abt 2 over yrs. Both of which I threw away long ago and have upgraded to HP since. BTW my HP DJ portable abt 8-10 yrs now still works fine and the remarkable thing is that the HP rechargable battery I purchased with the printer from day 1, so should by around 8-10 yrs now, still works fine and can still can hold power within, just tested 2 weeks ago when I bring the printer to SIM for report printing without the power adapter. The only thing abt the HP printer is the ink cartridges increases from $23(last time) - $45 now... very costly!!!

Please don't misinterpret my personal judgement on Canon as Canon gives lousy quality output, what I meant is, it does give good quality output, eg the D660 really give a very good colour scan (when new) but it just that it was not meant to last... as if it is bulit with a auto time bomb. Maybe Canon has poor QC or uses inferior quality raw materials.

Other past experience in canon product is:
i. Canon G2 Digital Cam (my office owned) hinge of LCD Crack after 1 yr
ii. Canon S40 Digital Cam (my office owned) lens cover door jam and the battery cover hinge broke off and already been replaced twice, once during warranty and now canon wants to charge as just over warranty.
iii. My sister Canon Fax machine, 3 yrs old, the hinge interlock for the cover that holds the thermal fax paper, broke off by itself one fine day without anybody touching it... cost $30 for a piece of a piece of plastic interlock... but my toshiba fax machine already 15 years now (bought by my dad), also using plastic interlock still works fine.

So conclusion, CANON SUCKS BIG TIME!!! My 2 cents of advise is, DON'T buy any Canon products unless you are damn rich and don't mind replacing your stuff after 1-2 yrs.

[chriszzz]

Sorry to hear your problems with Canon. Perhaps their consumer computer products are problematic because the profit margins are extremely low. I dunno coz I don't use them.

But I have been using their cameras for a while. I have a EOS 5 SLR since 1995, a short while after it was first launched. I have shot literally THOUSANDS of rolls of film with this, and I can safely say it is fantastically reliable. Never had a problem with it. I've taken it to the hot deserts of Nevada ( can you say Mojave Desert ? ), to the freezing colds of the snowy Rocky Mountains and Sierra Neveda mountains. Did it's job without missing a beat.

I also have a bunch of Canon lenses, and apart of a single incident of fungus ( my fault, coz I left my lens sitting in a enclosed camera bag for several months ), they've worked flawlessly. I also have a Canon G3, and it has been working fine although I've only had it for a few months.

Before that, I had a Canon EOS 630 for several years before upgrading to the EOS 5. Never had a problem with it either.

I think Canon did not become oneof the world's top 2 camera maker by chance. They are good.

I'm not suggesting you get a Canon. I just say that you should not be biased against it and close your mind to it. You might miss out on a truly viable option.

One thing all Canon users will know : once you've used a Canon with the ultra-quiet USM lenses and ultra-quiet film advance, you never want to go back to normal noisy lenses and bodies.

[Kevin]

Thanks for the sharing! Good thing I am using Epson printer!

I have a G3 though, it perform quite well but I don't think it will last very long as the built quality is lousy. Hope the DSLR is better built as I hope to upgrade to it in the future!

[sykestang]

Quote: Originally posted by chriszzz Sorry to hear your problems with Canon. Perhaps their consumer computer products are problematic because the profit margins are extremely low. I dunno coz I don't use them. But I have been using their cameras for a while. I have a EOS 5 SLR since 1995, a short while after it was first launched. I have shot literally THOUSANDS of rolls of film with this, and I can safely say it is fantastically reliable. Never had a problem with it. I've taken it to the hot deserts of Nevada ( can you say Mojave Desert ? ), to the freezing colds of the snowy Rocky Mountains and Sierra Neveda mountains. Did it's job without missing a beat. I also have a bunch of Canon lenses, and apart of a single incident of fungus ( my fault, coz I left my lens sitting in a enclosed camera bag for several months ), they've worked flawlessly. I also have a Canon G3, and it has been working fine although I've only had it for a few months. Before that, I had a Canon EOS 630 for several years before upgrading to the EOS 5. Never had a problem with it either. I think Canon did not become oneof the world's top 2 camera maker by chance. They are good. I'm not suggesting you get a Canon. I just say that you should not be biased against it and close your mind to it. You might miss out on a truly viable option. One thing all Canon users will know : once you've used a Canon with the ultra-quiet USM lenses and ultra-quiet film advance, you never want to go back to normal noisy lenses and bodies.

Sorry still can't change my thinking over Canon Products!!! Imagine if you were to spent something like $6000 in one single purchase to upgrade your equipment and jolly well suffers past bad experiences on a brand be it cameras or other imaging products... would you still wants to take a chance??? Not being biased against it, but the fact is majority of my group close people also have similar comments.

I life, if we hear from 1 person, we can say that it is biased but if a group of different people (they may not know each other) have similar comments, this is a fact.

Frankly speaking, I own a 2nd hand FM2 + lenses abt 13 yrs ago during my Sec 4, drop a couple of times, used for abt 2 years, functioning perfectly, in fact at that time I was help a old man taking wedding package photos as a assistant. After that I sold my whole set to the old man who's willing to pay me almost the same cost as I bought it. And the thing is, I last contacted him last year, I still saw my camera there and according to him, it is still working. This is what I call reliable and really live up to its name.

Canon got their world 2nd in camera manufacturing, frankly do you know how much money they spent to get this name? Be reminded, this amount of money is spent on advertisments, promotion so that they can be popular (maybe lowering profit margins to gain affordable popularity), ISO9xxx (be reminded this depends on the xxx factor behind, could be only given in service, speed in production, etc not in reliability of products). Japanese are always well known in packaging, pls don't believe in such crap.

If Canon is the world 2nd, where are all the Germany makers gone to??? Leica, Bronica, Mamaya, etc. I still remember the last time I have a gathering with some friends and photographers when we took slides, everyone was using a different gear, some Nikon, Canon EOS, Pentax, etc. After which all gathers at a club using slides projector to preview all their work. At first, the Nikon users delivers the best colours combination and the 'Whooo Haaaa' from all those people present, until one guy presented his, fantastic shoots and colours, pictures taken at the same angle, same time, can have look a total different look from the previous. The leica delivers a rich combination of colours which makes the object stands out as if you are really looking it the object itself. Then we later found out that he is the only one using a Leica. Subsquent guys presented their work after him was never interesting anymore.

The award World 2nd is just a name given maybe to the most popular, best among the same class, etc. It don't mean a thing to me, like I own a Dynax 5, World no 1 fastest focusing camera in its class. Does that mean thats the best??? No, reason why I buy it is because it the cheapest and have the best package with the functions that I want at the point of time when I buy. But I believe in most of the people out here knows which is the best, and dream camera that he/she wants to own ultimately.

In term of professionalism, among all the Japanese makers, Nikon is the best. Their professional models, the F series only have one model in every 10 years. Eg, FA, F4 now F5 etc. This is what I call professionalism, took 10 years to research and refine. Unlike Canon, their professional can disappear 2-3 yrs after it launch, imagine they face out what they used to call their 'professional' and best model to make way for their next model. In this regards, I call them 'Money Grabbers' cos they are all out to grab our money, as they've got no pride of what they produced. Frankly I find even Minolta is better than them, took time to research and refine the software and firmware.

So to me, if I want reliable, go for Nikon... if I need features and be hi-tech, I go for Minolta as I find them the most advance in technology. Likewise, for lens technology, I'll look into Leica or any germany brands. Like recently, I help my father to get a Leica Digilux 1 digital camera, believe it or not, the pictures taken is far much better than my Dimage 7HI cos I have done a comparasion with pictures taken in the same angle and time. But frankly I will not carry the Leica Digilux, as it look very ulgy like a black square coffin, thats the same comment given by my dad who doesn't know much about camera, but I told him, it suit his age.

Hope this have given you guys a better idea on choosing cameras and I do agreed that some part of this message I've added a little biased against Canon stuff, but then this is a free world rite, just my 2 cents worth of opinion... cheers.

[EiRiK]

chrizzz....
pronounce.... Mojave desert - Mo-ha-vi....
i been there too... hoover dam... red rocks....
too bad only brought along a sony 505....
pic quality sucks.... wasted...

Hello,whatever you buy,the purpose is the same right?you are buying to shoot pics.like i always say,follow your heart.

Hello sykestang,longtime no see.how's life??

[sykestang]

Quote: Originally posted by andylee Hello sykestang,longtime no see.how's life??

Still surviving... waiting paitently for the big $$$ to come in... remember? Anyway will call you up when I'm ready to buy the stuff be it minolta or nikon, would still need good advice from u...

How's things from your side? Any new 'toys'? Still wondering when we can meet up for another 'chio bu' studio shoot . Any idea?

eh,no new toy at the moment.latest is the Dimage F-300.take your time lah,anyway we got to wait until the 'D' day.right?wow,we juz finis reno the showroom leh.me v tired,need to shift a lot of things.so next time the repairers will be with me @ the showroom.as for the shoot,you can arrange with your work friends loh,ask them if they wanna shoot pics.when i first start shooting porfolios,i shoot for free.juz print the pics for my friends loh.4R lah.if they wanna enlarge,they pay themself.

[sykestang]

Quote: Originally posted by andylee eh,no new toy at the moment.latest is the Dimage F-300.take your time lah,anyway we got to wait until the 'D' day.right?wow,we juz finis reno the showroom leh.me v tired,need to shift a lot of things.so next time the repairers will be with me @ the showroom.as for the shoot,you can arrange with your work friends loh,ask them if they wanna shoot pics.when i first start shooting porfolios,i shoot for free.juz print the pics for my friends loh.4R lah.if they wanna enlarge,they pay themself.

Good idea... but my work place all are lau auntie or married woman who is not interested in getting their pic taken already unlike young sch. girls. Even if they want, I'll always think twice, cos I believe you'll agree wif me if the model is cute and sweet, you'll have more inspiration and be motivated...

Anyway do keep me informed if you got good lobang, be it good lenses, good buys, or photo shoot... do let me know! See ya...

HaHa,i always believe it's a photographer's jog to make even aunties look nice.they are not pro models,so we wiil have to teach them to pose.we are making money from them mah.think of it this way,if you can make a old aunty look nice on photo,u are already something loh.cheers man.