Posted on 01/20/2010 12:22:27 PM PST by SWAMPSNIPER
Back in the 80s Minolta was making an excellent series of 35mm cameras they called the Maxxum. Minolta is gone from the camera business now, but Sony bought the camera designs and carried on. The Maxxum lenses fit and function perfectly on Sony DSLRs and are a source of high quality lenses at great prices.
I've had a 70-210 f4 Minolta "Beercan" for a while and I just picked up a 75-300 "Big Beercan" for some more reach. They are better than my newer "kit" lenses. They are rugged, you could probably drive tent stakes with them, but I don't mind some extra weight. They got the beercan label because they are about the size of a 16 oz. beercan.
I caught this male Osprey on my first trip out with the 75-300.
Pinglist
Will the Rokkor lenses from a Minolta 101 fit the Sony DSLR?
Oh, SWAMPSNIPER, those are lovely photos. Thank you.
Great osprey shots! I used to see some occasionally, on platforms in the shallow areas of the Albemarle Sound, when my parents lived on the North Carolina coast.
On a side note, I still have an old Minolta SRT-201 35mm camera, that I guess I have had since the 70’s. Still works fine. Minolta made quality stuff!
Only the AF lenses fit directly but you can get an adapter for the older lenses and use manual functions.
I would not bother trying to use old manual focus Minolta stuff. You can find excellent Minolta AF (autofocus) lenses used on eBay. Minolta AF lenses are every bit as good as Canon and Nikon. Some of the new lenses from Sony are great also, but rather expensive.
But you can often get a MF lens for 1/5 or even 1/10 the cost of the equivalent AF.
Check these guys out -
I have the Minolta SRT 101 that shot thousands of pictures
and never a problem.Used an Olympus half frame camera,70
pictures on a roll while in VN.
Never took pictures as good as Swampsniper tho.
You’re right about the AF goodies. They are excellent, widely available, and it seems like most everybody goes that way these days.
I guess I am just a nostalgic old coot, but there was something about selecting shutter speeds, F-stops, and manually focusing that made me feel involved in the process. I never will be any great wizard as a photographer, but I like playing around with the old camera.
Yes, I loved old manual photography. I even used view cameras. But it became impossible to find decent processing for film locally, and digital cameras became so good that film was no longer worthwhile. Each digital shot costs almost nothing, so I can shoot many times and increase my chances of getting a winner. That was not practical with film.
Hey SWAMPSNIPER:
Thanks for the info. I have a big camera case with a Minolta Maxxum and at least 3 lenses in it sitting in a closet gathering dust since going digital. The info that those lenses would fit a Sony DSLR is good news, and will definitely influence how soon I upgrade, and which brand of camera.
I probably knew that—i.e., that Rokkor lenses wouldn’t fit the Maxxum cameras, either. My 40-year-old 101 is just fine, and I get a roll of film developed for $2, and scan the negatives with a Canon scanner.
It’s a shame that nobody really came up with a digital “databack” for all those older SLRs. There was a vaporware product that would’ve fit inside like a roll of film; nothing ever came of it.
Beautiful!!!
With a name like that, you should join the appleseed project.
Last trip to Alaska, I brought 3 cameras:
Canon A1 with 400 lens
Minolta Maxxum with a 35-80 lens
Kodak 10mp with 3x zoom.
The film developer wrote “Incredible Pictures” on the envelopes. They were prize winning, otters, eagles, glaciers (w/calving) etc...... Film still takes great shots. I was told film is about 20mp.
Which lenses do you have?
Thanks for the ping and for taking the time to post these great shots for us.
As always, thanks for sharing these fine pictures with us.
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