camera

I think sony? MIGHT

but unless they are some kind of super duper lenses Id go with new lenses
with auto focus, ant shake etc so wouldnt base my camera choice around just ordinary old lenses

Hi Barry

A number of years ago well before Sony introduced their DSLR Camera range, they invested lots of money within Konica - Minolta to produce a new joint camera for the retail market.

The down side of the market was that Konica-Minolta went broke and Sony acquired all their knowledge from the now defunct company, which in turn they used to produce their new to the market cameras.

I have been told by our Sony Rep, that the old Minolta SLR camera lenses will fit the new Sony DSLR Camera range. Weather this is correct or not I would still try your old lenses on a Sony body.

I know that old Pentax SLR lenses fit the new Pentaxt DSLR range of cameras. The only time that one of our customers had any issues with old Pentax lenses, was on a 30 + year old lens that did not have auto focus, but it was as simple as flicking the switch from auto to manual focus and all was fine.

Another factor is that there has been a quantum leap in lens quality and features in that time within the photographic industry and in most cases, you will get better quality lenses included with a camera package and even cheaper than buying a body only camera.

Happy camera hunting, as there are many top quality cameras on the market, all with different features and aimed at very type of camera market, weather it is the first time user and those that are upgrading to a better camera.


Seasons Greetings


Stephen

It appears your camera uses a MD mount, after a quick look with Google there are adapters to fit your lenses to other cameras.
I dont know how well these work.
Like others have said I would check with a camera shop first.

My son ha the latest sony NEX-7 and he uses all my old Minolta lenses,(macro,standard 50mm 1.4 and telephoto. All work fine.

Hi Barry,

The micro four thirds system cameras by Panasonic or Olympus can be used with almost all lenses using adaptors. It is preferable to have aperture rings on the lenses, which yours will. Many of these old lenses give great results, however the focal length will be double and will be manual focus. If you choose an Olympus camera, such as the fantastic OMD EM5, you will also have in body stabilisation.

Barry

I had a Minolta X7, I bought mine the week before Xmas in 1982, so yes it would be 30 years old. It and the Canon AE1 were the first "Program" cameras. It was a sad day when I was told "wasn't worth fixing" !
The lenses will not be autofocus, so you will need to focus manually.
Yes they were MD mounting, but sorry I can't tell you if you can use the lenses on new cameras.

I wouldn't worry about new lens developments too much if you are on a budget. Perhaps buy one lens to go with the new DSLR, then use other old lenses to compliment your "main one". You can always buy a new telephoto lens afterwards.
After having done a Photography course earlier this year, I was amazed how much the teacher kept telling us to "do things manually" as it offered you more control.

Good photography we were told was more about composition and lighting, than anything else, the main thing is to be actually doing it.

Barry Hi,

Great post, Thanks.

Mike.

My thoughts if they are of any help... Your lens will work with a digital camera. A lens is a lens. As others have said, you might have to buy (or have made) an adapter.

Are you asking this to save money or is the lens of such high quality that you want to keep it? This is an important question to ask yourself.

If it is to save money...you probably wont. Digital packages (camera and lens) these days are so cheap. If you had a buget of say $1,000, you would get a very high quality package. Take a look around at what $500 buys these days - you will be amazed. An adapter alone could cost hundreds and if you had to have one made, you wont get change out of $1,000.

If its because the lens is of very good quality and you are looking for high quality image results. Then you might want to consider replacing the old body with a newer film body. Have a look online, maybe eBay for a body.

Last question to ask is what do you want the camera to do? If you need high quality images for say publishing or posters etc. Then stick with your film body. Sure there is more cost but at the end of the day, there is no such thing as a digital camera with film quality. To give you an idea a 6x4 image from a 35mm film would take up about 64TB of hard drive space with original quality, if it were digital. A digital image of the same size from a high end digital camera would only use a few MB...millions of times smaller. And smaller means less info.

If you are after images of landscapes, portraits, snaps of your trip to post on the web or email to family etc, etc. Then digital is great.

I hope that is of help. Oh one last thing since you specifically say you want zoom. If you do decide to go digital, the MOST important thing to look for is zoom. You want optical zoom!! Digital zoom works by spreading less pixels over a larger area. It does this by trimming off the edges then expanding the center out to the edges. Optical zoom uses the lens so that all the info is still there.

Have a great Christmas.

I just recently bought an Olympus OM-D E-M5 which is a amazing camera for the price (plus I love the retro looks) and have bought a number of new lenses but also discovered this camera is ideally suited to my old 35mm film lenses.

one of the posters is not quite right, you can not use any lens on any camera, the adaptors, (if you could get one made) would bring the focal point too far in front of the sensor , great for macros but no infinity. The micro four thirds dosent have this problem as the thickness of the adaptors (readily available) brings the focal point onto the sensor in the correct spot as it would for a 35mm film camera,

Well said Going Bush. I too have the Olympus OM-D E-M5 which is fantastic. You can also use aperture priority on the camera and the camera adjusts the shutter speed and iso to suit the lighting conditions. This is explained fairly well here http://tysonrobichaudphotography.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/your-micro-43s-camera-your-existing-lenses-limitless-fun/

Sony is your answer.

Saying that I would not concern about old zooms - they are crap comparing to modern standards. You better start afresh and if doing so I would not suggest Sony. Go Nikon or Canon. If you happy to stick to small sensor you may consider Pentax - they do marvelous glass. If you like to shoot with stretched hands (please do not ask me what I think about this method) then you may consider 4/3 system from Olympus or Panasonic. If you after pocketable snap-camera (my impression that you after DSLR style) it is another whole story