i have just upgraded from a minolta 7000 to the sony a350,
my query is this, are my old lenses good enough or should i get another instead they are all minolta af, 50 x 1.4, 28-85 x 3.5-4.5, and a 70-210 x3.5-4.5 also my flash unit is a miranda maf-32 can i get an adapter for this or should i replace this
50mm f1.4 is still a killer lens. The others, well, what was a wide zoom on film, now becomes equivalent to a 42-123mm, and the 70-210 could give a bit of use to start off with. Doubt the flash would work without damaging the body, and even if it did, probably require manual metering.
thanks carl, can someone explain as i dont understand how the size has changed when put on digital body, is there a chart out there to show the difference perhaps
The size or "Focal Length" of a lens is given in MM and relatesto 35mm film cameras. The lenses were designed to give a good sharp image on the 35mm film. On a digital SLR body the size of the sensor is smaller than 35mm, this smaller size is like a crop from the 35mm and thus looks like it is enlarged. So depending on the size of the sensor the focal length is multiplied by 1.5X for Nikon and Sony and by 1.6X for Canon.
When you have loads of money you can buy a full frame camera and you will not get this cropping effect.
We keep the original "focal length" on lenses and have to multiply according to our sensor size.
Your 50mm is on your Sony a 75 mm lens. This is still an excellent lens will be hard to beat for portraits and low light (f1.4).
28-85 becomes as Carl has said 42-123. This is an important focal range, and there are plenty of good choice lenses available for this range. But....
For now I would stick with these lenses and learn more about your camera and digital photography. If the photo bug gets you, you can always splash out on some faster lenses.Like Carl already said, I would not attempt to use that Flashgun. It is possible that the high voltage in the old guns can fry the inners of your Sony!!!!
that helps, so my 70-210 becomes 105-315, when you saw a quick lens is this a lower f# as all zoom seem to be starting at f 3.5 the same as mine or am imissing something, also i want to shoot indoors without any flash or daylight using my zooms and possibly a 2x converter, is any of this possible
Paul, you'll need to be willing to push the iso up to 800/1600 in lower light to handhold, though the supersteadyshot helps.
Take a peek at the dyxum link and click lens - there are numerous zooms with apertures starting at f2.8 - latest release is a Tamron 70-200mm f2.8, which unlike your zooms, will retain autofocus with a 2x converter. Anything slower will have to be manually focussed as the maximum aperture becomes higher than f5.6 which is the limit most cameras have for autofocussing (though Sony/Minolta did manage an f8 AF Reflex lens!).
