The A-mount Lineup

Chris,

Post it...you know you want to :) I'm going to miss buying, testing and selling lenses. It's a hobby in and of itself. Maybe I'll offer my lens-hunting abilities as a service to the others on the board! My source on the 100/2 also has a 200/2.8 and a Tammy 300/2.8 SP...I charge 10% :)

damian.bradley wrote: Chris, Post it...you know you want to :) I'm going to miss buying, testing and selling lenses. It's a hobby in and of itself. Maybe I'll offer my lens-hunting abilities as a service to the others on the board! My source on the 100/2 also has a 200/2.8 and a Tammy 300/2.8 SP...I charge 10% :)

Bradley, I would like to add your 100/2 + the above 200/2.8 prices to my db. Could you e-mail me them. I keep them anonymous. Ta

Really well done on that 100/2. Hard to find. I've got a vague memory of the price you paid, and it was good bearing in mind current sales prices on that lens. My data was old, but I updated it.

300/2.8 - I really respect these things. Got one. As a kid I always always wanted one. Never thought I'd own one. And I missed a bargain Minolta one in Dec-04, right at the moment I was dumping Canon and going Minolta 7D. My 7D and first 4 optics (KM17-35/50f1.4/Tam90Di/Sig70-200EX) were all due to arrive in Jan-05 ... middle Dec-04 I found this superb deal on a Minolta 300/2.8. Hummmed, harred, thought. Then I jumped back on line to get the shops telephone number, they'd knocked 15% off the already good price. I'd already spoken to them about it the week before. Phoned them again, GONE! I was gutted. It was one of those chance in a life-time prices. Well, until the deal i got on my 300/2.8 which was the same price but for a battered model. hey, its got charm!

I've always wondered how the other 300/2.8s stacked up. not a test I want to do!

Wow MM....I would have to cut that 70-xxx lineup waaaaay down :) I see that you have uses for each...I guess we just have different styles. I feel guilty about having 5 lenses! Dcap and I both like relatively small lineups, which is why we spend lots of time pondering and testing (and writing) on the matter. It's as much about what you can give up as what you can keep ;)

Talking about lineups.. i think (ok I admit) that I have fallen foul of GAS...

I was really satisfied with the lineup of

17-35D (wide and holiday travel)
28/2 (walkaround general)
85G (portraits)
STF135 (anything and everything that I can use this for;) )
400G (birds)
M 1.4x and 2x

Then I suddenly got
28-75D (had this before but broke it...)
11-18D

So I am feeling uncomfortable about having too much glass once again....

I think I will likely end up selling either 17-35 or 11-18, and maybe selling also 28-75

OK, I guess I'll jump in, finally.

I guess I have alot of lenses, but much fewer than before. I traded of something like 7 AF lenses when I bought the 7D, and traded or sold others since then. So here's the line-up with a few exceptions and reasonings.

PRIMES

14/3.5 Sigma: needed an ultra-wide and didn't like the results/prices of the W-I-D-E zooms. It's been a good performer, especially for interiors

28/2 Minolta: Bought specifically for stage work, primarily dance. Needed something great wide open at the edges with no fall-off. Best lens ever for this purpose and has become my go-to walk around street lens.

28/1.8 Sigma: Nice lens with real advantages, especially because it's DG coated. But the 28/2 is better and the Sigma is currently for sale.

35/2 Minolta: This was the stage lens for film, as well as my favorite prime. Alas, it is a little long on digital for my style. This lens is currently the hardest for me to justify AND the hardest to let go of. My thinking is to sell it, but at an obviously inflated price so that I feel better about letting it go. Or, trade for a 35/1.4 G.

50/1.7-1.4: Seldom used with film, I now find a real advantage with the effective 75mm frame. Have 2-1.7's and will sell one very soon. The 1.4 is getting a lot of use for both stage and gymnastics work, as well as walk around, baby tele work.

50/2.8 Sigma macro: Nice lens, though an early AF version. I seldom use AF with it. Sharpness is quite good, even fairly wide. Yet I find I use an old, MF Tamron 90/2.5 more often. I will likely sell this one off as soon as I get a Minolta equivelant, likely the 3.5.

100/2 Minolta: Scores a 9.9 out of 10 in every area. The only draw-back is reflection from the chip onto the rear elements. This is a great, low-light street lens, but if there are lights in the scene, you will get reflections. That aside, I use this lens for work, play and experiments, even macro with extension tubes. I will never sell it. If I switch brands (unlikely!) I'd keep this lens and a film body to use it with.

135/2.8 Minolta: My most recent purchase, bought for a specific purpose-keep me from buying a 200/2.8! Don't know if it will work however. Pocket 200mm with a fairly fast 2.8, it'll get a work out this horse show season.

300/4 G: Bought it because I had to! Found it, display-new, at ritz for $600 and could not let it pass. Never made such a good quick-buy decision in my life. Unbelievable quality in a hand-holdable lens. This will get a lot of work at horse shows, and was a truly fun travel lens, despite the hassle's at the airport.

1.4X SP tamron: Seldom used until I got the 300/4, now has a real place in the line-up.

ZOOMS

24-105 Minolta: Most frequently used zoom. Unbeatable at F8, acceptable wide-open. Works great with the 5600 HS, especially wireless, so this is my prime portrait lens when doing mixed individual/group portraits.

28-135/4-4.5 Minolta(x2): If I'm only going to carry one lens in daylight, this is it. It's heavy, the front element turns in zooming and focus, hard to find a lens hood that's effective with it, etc. BUT, it is so good. It is a Leica-like lens (say that five times fast!) and the breeding shows. I have two, one mint, one a beat-up user. The user still takes marvelous images and is going on sale within a few days at a reasonable price because of its condition.

24-70/2.8 Sigma EX DG: Bought this lens for, I hoped, stage work. While an over-all fine performer, it is too soft at 2.8 for dance work. It does very well with flash, since it is D chipped and the DG coating is good for digital. This is also going up on sale in the next few days, as I continue to try to reduce my collection.

35-105/3.5-4.5 Minolta: Years ago, I had a 35-105 as my first MF lens on my XE-7. A great focal length at the time. On digital, it's kind of lost. Not really wide anymore and have bought better lenses since. My wife used it for awhile, but she switched to the 28-200. So this will be for sale soon, as well.

28-200/3.5-5.6 Sigma: Took this to London for any situation where I couldn't take anything else. Good all purpose lens in the middle apeture range with a bonus close-focus ability. Will keep for awhile, but may replace with a compact digital.

70-210/4 Minolta "beer can": I think this is a keeper. I started using it more after the "accident" (see next listing) and decided it was much better than I originally thought. Some drawbacks; hard to use a polarizer, harder if you want to use the dedicated hood, slow AF in a lot of situations and a bit on the long-heavy side for regular, carry around use. Still, it makes a sharp image with good color, even wide open. Bokeh ok. (and say that 5 times fast.)

100-300/4.5-5.6 Minolta APO-D: This was my all-around horse show-vacation-always in the bag lens. Until I dropped it. Broke the mount. My local repair guys can't fix it, can't even decide where the should send it due to the KM-Sony switch. I'll try sending it in myself to see if it's repairable. If it can't be fixed, not sure what my next move will be.

200-400/5.6 Tamron: With the 300/4, I simply do not use this anymore. So it is also going on the block, very soon. Decent performer, nice to have the constant apeture and the weight is good for hand-holding with AS.But the quality cannot touch the G.

FUTURE

I see two lens choices in my near future.

17-50/2.8 Tamron. Waiting for some test reports, need to know what the performance is like wide-open. Having a fast zoom for dance work is still the holy-grail. Hope this one will do what i need.

200/2.8 G or 75-200/2.8 SSM: One or the other, it's gonna happen.

Hmmm....did I forget anyhting? Likely. Oh well, that's enough for noe.

Damian
Thanks for the comments and suggestions.. yeah part of the 'justification' (ahem.. ;) ) for getting the 11-18 is to try to see if it could replace the 17-35 (which i quite like). I really wish the ultrawide was a 12-24 f4 though.. that would make the decision easier.

Re macro - i actually had the minolta 100 RS version, but sold since my 'macro' needs often were 1:3 or less, which the STF+1.4x covers;)

Okay, so my line-up lasted, like, what, a day! Never ever say 'final' ... I bought a bargain zoom on eBay about 2 mins ago - for fun and for testing.

arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrh - I've got a zoom!

Also in negoitiations on eight other lenses! (mix of buy and sell)

can I honestly say this: I am not a dealer? I don't think I can any more, can I!?

Dealer/Tester!? Whatever. Just so you know, I am actually going to shoot some photos this weekend :>