Question Frank:

Was that the Original Minolta AF 75-300mm "Big Beercan", the Restyled 75-300mm "Plastic Beercan", or the Konica Minolta 75-300mm "Silver Beercan" lens?

TRUE!

papa, move your cursor BENEATH the quote so people will know to whom and what you are responding.

Otherwise they read your response... THEN read what you are responding to...... in reverse order.

Be CAREFUL who you defend around here.

They may show their "gratitude" by turning on you...

Bless your wife.

You BOTH are onto something and I'll tell you why.

When Sony bought the photo products division from Konica Minolta, it took EVERYTHING; inventory, patents, factories, personnel, R & D, and sales staff. It even brought over management. With the purchase it had a relatively mature A mount DSLR system that offered a LOT of cutting edge features. The first Sony A mount... the A100, was just the re-badged replacement of the Konica Minolta 7D, and it was so good that it was named Popular Photography Magazines Camera of the Year in 2006.

But remember; Sony already HAD it's own line of digital cameras... mostly point and shoot, but also a fairly mature technology... totally and completely different from what it had just acquired from Minolta.

The company philosophy was, the A mount would be for professional/semi-professional/enthusiast market... and the other stuff would be for casual and consumer grade users.

But the visionaries that were responsible for some pretty advanced technology in a number of product lines for the electronics giant read the trends... why not; they were making and selling a substantial percentage of imaging sensors, both CCD AND CMOS and KNEW what their sales numbers were... and made the decision to have a specialty line of cameras that offered MORE features and better image quality than the typical point and shoots of the day. They also decided to make them ILCs.

Thus was born the NEX line.

NEX cameras for the most part WERE feature rich... though quality control was inconsistent as it was and had been with other Sony camera products that did not descend directly from the Minolta line. Remember; Sony at the time was putting MOST of it's photo product R&D into the A mount line up.

Know who developed the first camera with in body image stabilization? Well, Sony continued that technology. Just like they continued the movable LCD screen tech... and they perfected DSLR cameras capable of autofocusing and shooting in live view.

In 2010 when the NEX line was introduced Sony had a FULL line of DSLRs, from the entry level A230, A330, A290, A380, and A390, the mid level A450, A550, A560, and A590, and the professional level A850 and A900 Full Frame Cameras.

BTW, the A900 was the first camera with a 24 mp sensor in a FF format, and it was a HIGHLY underrated, with exceptionally good all-around performance for a digital camera at the time. The A850 shared MOST of the same tech, but was geared towards enthusiasts and semi-professionals.

But in 2010 Sony also introduced the A33 and A57 cameras, the first in their line of so-called "SLT" (Single Lens, Translucent mirror) cameras utilizing Canon's old 1960's Pellicle Mirror technology, and in the process, spelled the end of the company's production of traditional DSLRs because they got that technology to work.

EVERYTHING changed. SLT cameras allowed TRUE live-view shooting as opposed to the "live view preview" available since the early 2000's and in common usage by 2008. SLT cameras ALSO allowed true autofocus while shooting video using live view... pretty innovative for the DSLR style format of consumer cameras.

Meanwhile the NEX series of E mount cameras began to gain in popularity, offering DSLR image quality and control in cameras not much bigger than the point and shoots of the day for a VERY reasonable price.

The problem for the company was however, that REGARDLESS of the technological advances of their traditional DSLR style cameras or their image quality and features, it just could NOT rise above that #3 sales position, or put a dent in the number of units Canon and Nikon were moving as #1 and #2 respectively in this market.

So once again the boffins broke new ground and introduced the RX1 in 2012... a full frame sensor with a professional quality lens... in a compact body.

It was an engineering success even if it was too expensive to be a commercial one, and was a portent of things to come, serving as presage for a revolution in consumer cameras; Full Frame, interchangeable lens, mirrorless cameras in a small, compact, light body.

In 2014 Sony released the 24 mp A7 and the 36mp A7R. It also merged the NEX line with the Alpha line calling all their interchangeable lens stills cameras going forward "Alpha".

The BIG plus with those cameras was the very short "flange" distance between the lens mount and the image sensor... theoretically enabling you to use a wide variety of lenses from multiple manufacturers with those cameras provided you could find an adapter that would provide the proper spacing between the rear element and sensor for infinity focus.

By offering an APS-C version with outstanding image quality, frame rate, and HD video capability at a bargain basement price... the A6000. When it was introduced in 2014 it offered a whopping 179 af points covering an unheard of at that time 92% of the sensor. It also shot 11fps, HD video, and could be had for LESS than $650.00 USD.

It offered all this performance in a compact size and again, because it is an E mount camera, allowed people vested in other mounts and camera systems the ability to us their existing lenses.

Even though both Sony mounts shared the Alpha name, it was CLEAR that the company made a LOT more money with the E mount, and the A mount offerings dwindled from 6 to just 3, while the E mount ecosystem was expanded to offer 3 different APS-C cameras and 3 full-frame E mount cameras.

The E mount cameras represent the culmination of the non-Minolta Sony digital camera lineage, separate and distinct from the A mount line. The DNA is definitely different....

Thanks DG!

YEP!!!

EXACTLY!!!

ESPECIALLY with knock-offs and made-in-china low cost alternatives.

As sooooooo many others have said, you get what you pay for.

Please be so kind as to point out in the post you referenced where I said ANYTHING about battery type.

I'll wait.......................



Couldn't find it? Thought not. You must have just assumed that.

But I WILL say this; I DID say that I won't be buying anything but OEM gear. I did NOT however say that YOU or ANYONE ELSE should EXCLUSIVELY buy OEM gear. If 3rd party stuff works for you good; knock yourself out.

As my late lamented mother-in-law used to say with a Dolly Parton twang; "Honey, if you like it, I LOVE IT!!!!"

I REALLY like Sony products but I'm also a scientist who is TRAINED to be unbiased when observing data and collecting facts.

Most of the time... at least over the past 50 years or so... I've been pretty good at that.

^^^Seems to be what MOST people have experienced; generic and 3rd party batteries don't last as long, hold as much charge, OR have the same level of quality control.

A few say they can't tell the difference and while I think SOME of them are correct, I think others that make the claim just haven't really paid close attention to the differences.

If one battery gives me 700 shots and another that cost less gives me 500, that might not be a big deal to some people. But if the OEM battery gives you 1000 shots then you can see the difference... ESPECIALLY if the OEM battery effectively lasts for 10 years while the others stop holding a charge after 5 or 6.

No... I won't buy generic ANYTHING ever again. You wind up having to spend the same amount of money or more if you have to replace the item anyhow.

It's what Sony is claiming in it's product literature for the new A7RIII and what the pre-production articles are reporting... 15 stops of dynamic range:

https://www.thephoblographer.com/2017/10/25/sony-a7r-iii-announcement/

https://petapixel.com/2017/10/25/sony-unveils-a7r-iii-42mp-10fps-15-stop-dr-5-5-stop-4k/

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/10/25/16543326/sony-a7r-iii-specs-price-images

It should be noted that there is one article out by a group that supposedly tested the Dynamic Range of the A7RIII and showed it to be essentially the same as the A7RII with it's 13.95 stops of Dynamic Range.

Problem is... THERE AREN'T ANY PRODUCTION MODELS AVAILABLE FOR TESTING YET!!!

So I don't know WHAT they checked... but in my cleanest redneck vernacular; "it darn shole weren't no A7RIII!!!"

Well, without TRYING to sound argumentative, let me say that the sensor in the D850 IS designed by Nikon... but it's architecture looks a HECKOVA LOT LIKE THE SENSOR IN THE A7RII/A7RIII/A99II!!!

It was actually built by a "new" company in Israel... someone posted the link here a couple of months ago:

http://www.funtechtalk.com/makes-image-sensor-nikon-d850-camera-not-sony/

Towerjazz is a Panasonic subsidiary... Pany owns 49% of the company. According to the article, Nikon and FORZA Silicon Corporation got together to design the chip and Towerjazz built it.

But it's BSI sensor looks a LOT like the one Sony uses... reverse engineering maybe? THAT'S a practice that USED TO BE COMMON in the business... with just enough tweaking to the design to keep the patent police off their tails.

So has that Nikon Chip reached it's full potential?

Folks Nikon was in DIRE FINANCIAL STRAITS and NEEDED the D850 to be a "HOMERUN" to help get the company out of hot water. So I think they gave it ALL THEY HAD and the performance shows that fact. So with that in mind, is there room to bump the performance up? Well, if that were the case, wouldn't Nikon have done it already... you know; to save the company?

SERIOUSLY. I think Nikon gave it their BEST SHOT with the future of the company on the line. I mean... that's logical right?

All that said, I think that to improve on the D850, Nikon will either need to design a new chip... or go BACK to buying SONY CHIPS.

^^^My thinking as well.

15 stops of dynamic range?!?!

Let's see now; the human eye/brain combination is good for how many?

http://wolfcrow.com/blog/notes-by-dr-optoglass-dynamic-range-of-the-human-eye/

So... the new Sony covers 3/4 of the range?

YEAH!!!!

ONLY Sony gear for me. I don't buy knock-off batteries, vertical grips, or flash guns.

Had REALLY bad luck with ALL of that stuff and will never do it again!