35mm to Digital conversion kit?

[Bob W]

i know that the leica R (their reflex cameras) had digital backs. you swung the film back with pressure plate off of the camera and put your digital module on it.

Minolta had something called a "digital back" for their SLR cameras as well, but it had nothing to do with digital photography.

-Bob

 

[wildmanh]

I'm still fence-sitting on buying digital. I've gotten all of this good-quality 35mm SLR equipment (Minolta X-700), and upgrading to digital would be an incredible expense. Plus, for backpacking and working outdoors if one of my cameras gets ruined, it's less than $100 to buy another just like it. Ruin a high-end digital, and it's a lot of money down the toilet.

Still, I would like to have a Nikon D-something at some point in the future.

-Bob

Bob W, the Sony Alpha A100K is a 10 megapixel camera based on the Minolta platform (Minolta was bought out by Sony a while ago) and will use Sony, Minolta and one other brand of lense that escapes me right now. Could be Pentax but don't quote me on it. I was reading about it in a magazine this spring and it was getting great reviews.

Here's a quote I just found online that might also help:

Enjoy the Sony á (alpha) DSLR-A100 camera with an amazing all-around lens to get you started. Included in this kit is the versatile new SAL-1870 lens. This standard lens easily handles the full range of shots you'll take most often - but there's nothing "standard" about its advanced optical design. In 35mm equivalent, it covers wide-angle 27mm to 105mm midrange telephoto for snapshots, portraits, interiors and more - an excellent all-around lens to travel with.

The Sony A100 is built on the foundation of 16 million Maxxum A-mount lenses dating back to 1985. These include such cherished Minolta glass as the classic 135mm Smooth Transition Focus (STF), the awe-inspiring 300mm f/2.8 G and the 500mm f/8 Reflex -the world's only AF telephoto reflex lens. Not only is Sony retaining a wide range of these well-loved lenses, Sony is also introducing Carl Zeiss ® A-mount optics, taking a proud legacy into the future.

Since you have a Minolta camera, there is a good chance that the Sony will work with all or most of your lenses. I have a Minolta 35MM SLR made before 1985 so my lenses won't work on it. Even so, if I was to upgrade my SLR to digital the Sony is the one I'd get.

Heber

 

[Bob W]

The Sony A100 is built on the foundation of 16 million Maxxum A-mount lenses dating back to 1985.

Since you have a Minolta camera, there is a good chance that the Sony will work with all or most of your lenses.

The Maxxum was an auto-focus camera that, to my knowledge, was not compatible with the traditional Minolta bayonet lenses.

I have a Minolta 35MM SLR made before 1985 so my lenses won't work on it.

Your camera is compatible with mine then. The X-700 was Minolta's last manual-focus camera and used the same lens mount as the XG-1, SR-T 102, etc.

-Bob

 

[wildmanh]

Hey Bob, I have the Minolta SR-7. A few years ago I looked up the serial number and if I remember correctly it was made in late 1967. Found some old Magazine reviews online and it seems to have been really populare. It's to bad your Minolta won't work with the new lenses and vise versa.

Heber