Your reviews broke the camel's back, but I had to wait a little more to get the
perfect camera for me. The Minolta A series cameras are truly masterpieces.
I was watching the Minolta product line for a looong time before I bought.
2001 was the year when Dimage 7 came out. I still have the color printouts in a
three hole binder...
But I couldnt affort a camera at the time. One day I am going to buy a mint
one for my collection.
I have been looking at something to add to my toolbag, but nothing that is out
now not covers my requirements. I havent looked at a viewfinder since the days
when I bought the Yashika D and refuse to do so.
The Lumix GH1 sounded interesting...but it looks like the Capitalists got a
hold of it and ruined everything. Why would you put IS in the lens? Yeah, I
know the answer, coz money is in the lens, not the camera...thanks a lot. I
can wait.
Boris
Subject:
[OM] Ah--reminders
From:
Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:
Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:29:32 -0600
Yesterday, during my period of convalescence, I did a bunch of test shots of
an IT-8 target with both the Olympus E-1 and Minolta A1. It is so easy, when
the "new shiny" comes out, to put the "old dull" away in the drawer. I will
admit that the poor little A1 has been neglected this past year. But, part
of that is due to the extensive shooting with film these days. I've used it
for a couple thousand pictures, but that's pretty much it. The E-1 has been
the muscle.
Nit-picking is easy. The foibles and failings of the older technology is
easy to focus on while the advantages are ignored.
Last month, Piers Hemy sent me a battery grip for the A1. Like an idiot, I
had sold mine and I never realized just how detrimental not having the grip
is. The battery grip transforms the A1/A2 cameras from dated wannabe cameras
to the professional tools they were intended to be. It's interesting in
looking back that my usage of the A1 dropped off when I sold the grip. I had
pretty much forgotten just how wonderful the camera is to use.
The A1 has slow response, low pixel count and is noisy at anything above
base ISO (which is almost a true ISO 160 at indiated 100). The EVF is gnarly
too. But beyond those things, I'm reminded of how sweet the camera really
is, the colors, the contrast, and the general usability of the camera. What
is interesting is that the A1/A2 were actually Minolta's "professional
cameras" at the time as well as new technology testbeds. As such, there is a
lot of very powerful aspects to the camera with features yet to be seen in
any other professional camera.
I know this is an Olympus list, but my sparking about this camera in the
past was responsible for several other listmembers buying them too. I find
it fascinating that such an "old" camera is still viable for many
applications and worthy of use. As raw converters continue to improve, the
raw files from these cameras get better too! I did a comparative test using
multiple converters yesterday and the image quality is better than ever.
AG
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