mas24 wrote:
Great Eagle captures. I remember seeing a photo post of your 600mm lens on a tripod. It appears you have it mastered now. All the way from Hong Kong it came from too. You're right, Sony is going to be around for awhile. Both A-mount and E-mount. I own Nikon digital now, but I can still remember the awesome photos I took, when I borrowed my father's film Minolta SRT-101, with only a 50mm prime lens. He sold that camera, and finally went to Canon digital.
A few years ago when I first moved into the location I now live, I was looking to meet new people and make new friends. I joined a local camera club where a man approached me after he found out I owned an A-Mount camera, and made me an offer. He was a big Minolta fan and had a nice collection of lens, but he had jumped ship when Minolta got out the SLR camera business and prior to Sony picking up the A-Mount line. He ended up going to Canon, like your father. He handed a big box full of various A-Mount lenses. He told me to go through them and and make him an offer on any lens I was interested in owning. I pulled out all the Minolta primes, looked up the going price on e-Bay and made him an offer. He accepted the offer and threw in every other lens that I had not considered. He also gave me a "like new" Minolta Maxxum 9 film camera body, still in the original box! Since then I have picked up even more A-Mount lenses. They would all fit on the film body, if I ever decided to buy some film and a battery for it. I love my A99II so much I can't imagine ever using that film body. It's a collection item now.
My friends tease me about my large collection old lenses. Many of my older Minolta lens are favorites of mine. I love the color and almost "3D" look I get from the Minolta lenses. I have a guest room in my house with a wall full of lenses! They become like friends that we can't bear to part with. It's hard to pick a favorite lens but I can tell you that they would be my Minolta's. My current favorite is the 600mm f/4!