RaydancePhoto wrote:
Doing research is one of my strong points, for months I read reviews on many different cameras and was really interested in the Sony Alpha series camera with the translucent mirror. Beach Camera was running a promotion for the Sony a57 on a 45 day trial, no questions asked money back. So, what the he** I got one. After using the Sony for 2 weeks I was convinced I needed to switch to Sony. BTW, I got 2 Minolta lenses locally for 200.00, 70-210 f/4 and 50mm 1.7 to try on the new camera. The combo is fantastic, wonderful color, sharpness, and contrast. The 70-210 I swear is sharper than my Canon 70-200 L f/2.8 Is.
I sold all my Canon gear, 50D, & 7d, and T2i, all my lenses, had 2 L lenses, and bought Sony Alpha and Minolta. I put a few thousand back in the bank as well.
The A57 has features I never even dreamed of and are really nice to use. In camera HDR that really works. HDR painting that has a very interesting effect with some subjects. Zoom feature that adds a 1.4x or 2x extender electronically that does not degrade the image, I am a techie and I can not figure out how they do this. Night feature that takes up to 6 frames and stitches them together, hand held, the results are very good.
The ISO of up to 3200 is usable in a single shot, up 2 ISO 6400 in 6 burst shot HDR. I do a lot of low light photos, so this is important to me to get such good results from such a high ISO.
The focus with the Minolta lenses are very fast, not much different than what I was used to with Canon, and they are very light weight.
One of the best things about the switch to me is the weight. Selling 35 pounds of gear, and replacing it with the same range of gear weighing 10 pounds. I can carry the a57 camera with the 70-210 all day with no problem. The flash I bought weighs more than the camera and the lens.
Can you tell I really like my switch?
Doing research is one of my strong points, for mon... (
show quote)
Sure 'nuf, whatever floats your boat is what you ought to go and stay with. However, all that weight you lost was not in only the glass. So to ensure long life even with less durable bodies and lens barrels, treat your gear even more carefully.