I bought a Sony a100 in 2006 to replace my Minolta 35mm film camera, mainly because of the lens compatibility. At the time, Circuit City was going out of business and had a fire sale. I bought every accessary for the Sony a100 that they had, everything was 50-75% off. So, yes, I got a cutting edge DSLR with all of the toys for a bargain price. I still use it today. I'll eventually upgrade, but this camera has literally been around the world, and it took some incredible images that I still enjoy. I really appreciate this video and recalling my own digital camera journey. Thanks for a great post!
I thought it would be nice to share that I come from the opposite end of the spectrum.. started photography with a Sony A550 DSLR which I only recently upgraded to a Sony SLT A57. Decided to try out film photography, and bought myself a Minolta 8000i because of the lens compatibility. I have all the flash gear from my time with Sony and I am happily surprised that they too work with my Minolta film camera! I still cant bring myself to upgrade to mirrorless, but for what i am doing I am happy with the minolta/sony A mount system
Minolta is a brand that I'll forever hold dear to my heart. I started digital photography as a highschooler with a Canon 2.1 MP point and shoot, when I wanted something more more reach I went to a Minolta DiMage Z1. I used that for many years until I could afford a DSLR, because of my liking of Minolta, and the fact that they had IBIS and has a ton of cheap old lenses, I went against the popular Canon/Nikon line and got into the Minolta system with the KM 5D(not to be confused with the Canon 5D). From then on I pretty much stuck with that mount, got a A700 when I got my early paycheck for a real job, and all the way to Sony's A77 MK2. All of them great cameras. I still have dozens of A-mount lenses, still mostly Minolta branded. And only recently I've gotten myself a Sony A7IV, and a LA-EA5 which will let all of my Minolta lens live on....
I bought a Minolta XG1 in 1979 which I used up to 2008 when I upgraded to the Sony A100. The A100 came with two kit lenses and I purchased a 50mm f1.8 lens for portrait photography. The 50mm very quickly became my favourite lens. Eventually I upgraded to the Sony A7III which took me a while to become comfortable with and am now completely at ease with. I was able to get an adapter for the A7III to fit my vintage Minolta XG1 lenses, one of which is a 50mm f1.4. I still use the A100 regularly and often get comments when out shooting with it. Sadly the Minolta XG1 is a display camera now but sits proudly in my display cabinet. Good to see a video like this as it brought back some great memories of my early days in photography.
Although there is an inconsistency from lens to lens, the Minolta zoom 70-210mm f/4 “Beercan” lens is a gem. It has all metal construction. Of course, it’s not as fast auto-focusing as todays lenses, but the focus is tack sharp and the colors are beautiful. I’ve used it on both a Sony a57, and A7mk2(with a Sony A to E mount adapter). I have made some terrific photos with it. I bought it in 2015 for 1700¥($160 US), easily 1/10th the cost of a modern pro 70-200 f/4 zoom. The 50mm f/1.7 is a good one, too.
Minolta had the reputation of creating exquisite cameras. TLR’s and range finders were part of their lineup. I am the proud owner of two Minolta 35mm SLR’s. The XG-M and the X700. I bought them brand new when first introduced and both have MD-1 motor drives. I’ve shot over 100 rolls of Kodachrome slide film through them and the cameras still work perfectly today. It was indeed a sad day when Minolta stopped making cameras.
Hey there, I too use an XG--M. With that comes my X-500. The XG-M was bought at a flea market last year and I the X-500 off of Ebay a few weeks ago. I can absolutely attest what you say: four decades after their introduction they still work great. Mine have been owned by multiple people before ending up in my hands and the fact that after all that they still work perfectly says a lot about the build quality of the Minolta machines. I am confident they'll go for another 40 years without problems.
Great channel, I'm hooked. I'm very an absolute beginner and I bought a Pentax K7 after watching your vids because the lense system is great and affordable, even here in the UK. I'm rocking some vintage lenses now and having fun and learning lots.
My first DSLR was a Konica Minolta 5D. At the time I bought it for the stand-out feature of the day of having sensor based stabilization, which meant I could get cheaper lenses. I truly enjoyed using it for quite a while.
The A100 was my first DSLR, and I basically wore it out over the next 7 or 8 years, shooting everything I possibly could with it, learning everything I could about photography, and knowing everything on the body like the back of my hand. I'm so glad I learned on a camera with serious limitations, but in the right situation, capable of amazing quality. I eventually moved to the A700, which was a whole new world, but the ISO 100 quality was still not quite as good as the A100 (although almost everything else was an upgrade). I loved my A100, and all of the Minolta glass Is got for it, and I'm still to this day shooting A-mount, with 2 A99ii's and an A77ii giving me everything I need to be shooting semi-professionally. Excellent 'review'!!
I recently came into possession of a Minolta Dynax 8000i with a flawless Minolta A AF 50mm lens at about the same time I came into possesion of a Sony a7c. It was a real treat to learn that I can fit my Minolta lenses on this brand new Sony E mount camera with the help of a simple (but expensive!) adapter
Haha, video reminds off my dad. He uses a early Sony digital camera with his old Minolta telephoto lenses when we go birding. Does pretty good with it. Nice
Great video. I'm a bit of a Minolta nut, I've been shooting their cameras since the late 80's. I have a few older manual cameras and lenses but I also have a collection of Minolta and Sony A lenses plus some other greats made by Tamron and Sigma. I happen to have an A100 , it was my first DSLR and I have their last A mount Camera, the A99ii. In between I had the stunning A65 for many years. Another technological marvel for it's time. The later A mount cameras were very under appreciated for the level of technology they had. And you are right about the lenses, I have a lot of vintage Minolta glass and every one was a bargain. The later film camera's are also great if you want to get into film shooting, they can be found perfectly working for $10-$50. I have a Maxxum 5 and it can even use my much newer SAM/SSM/USD/HSM lenses. The 28-105RS is much better than the 24-105 but a little long for an APS-C sensor. I love using a 24-70 f/2.8 on a crop body. It gives you 36-105mm equivalent but the 28-75 from Minolta/Sony/Tamron (it's all the same lens except the Sony has a SAM motor) is much cheaper.
I'm a minolta head and I just picked up a sony a77ii . I have been shooting minolta x-700 then in 2021 I updated to a automatic minolta alpha 9 35mm then 2022 I stepped up to my digital camera. With the exception of 3 tomron lenses the all the rest are minolta. Just orderd the minolta f/8 500mm reflex lense tonight. Thanks for sharing.❤
Great video, James! Love the history lesson - really interesting and well presented. The fact is, if you were using technology in 2006, you were using mind-bendingly incredible technology. Truly the stuff of dreams. My laptop in college was small, fast and capable. My first pocketable digital camera made images that still hold up today. Easy to forget. I was born in '87 and camera tech, even on film, at that time was crazy. Phase detect autofocus!!! I looked into that recently. Crazy complicated tech in miniature that we tend to take for granted such that cameras made 5 years ago are somehow woefully out of date. Insanity!
Great video. The a100 was actually based on the Konica Minolta 5D body. It's certainly a better camera than the KM 5D. I recently blow the dust of my a100 for a project I'm thinking of doing. I forgot how loud the shutter sound was. I only wish it had the lens focus micro adjustment feature found on the later a-mount cameras to ensure focus accuracy with any lens. This is the main reason some lenses render images softer than they should be.
I've still got my (old?) Sony Alpha 350 with the two kit lenses that came with it. Before I became physically disabled, I used just these for weddings, proms, family shoots and all sorts. I was gifted a Minolta prime 80mm lens to use with my kit and they all work great even now. Only 14.3mp but doesn't need the Cray supercomputer to process the images. It's worth remembering that when digital first became mainstream, 5mp was magazine quality!
while I never experienced the A100 - I do have and LOVE my A200. Virtually the same but a few "improved" updates (higher ISO and better hand grip) - There is something in those CCD making true digital "film" pictures :) ( I have aton of Minolta premo lenses :) )
When people complain about AF on modern cameras (looking at you Panasonic), it's worth remembering the autofocus performance of cameras like the A100. Or my old Nikons. It's why some of us considered autofocus slower than manual with a bright split image fresnel screen, for many years.
I was a Minolta shooter since the mid 80s. The 7d had IBIS while all the other manufacturers had stabilization in the lenses. Minolta used to be at the edge of technology and I really do miss them. Once Sony took over, it was the kiss of death. The only thing they were interested in was the IBIS, once they had it, Minolta users were left behind.
Great presentation! I've a Minolta SRT202 loaded for the first time sitting in front of me that my father-in-law rescued from a friend who was moving and had thrown it in the trash bin! I cleaned it up - works perfectly. I do wish it had been the Konica mount that'd survived that previous merger. The flange distance is shorter and that may have saved the Hexanons for future SLR use/adapting. Ah well. Moot now with mirrorless.
I'm gonna try this camera to learn more about lenses. Since for my current camera, lenses are super expensive and I want to experiment with others. Thanks so much for your hard work and research on these videos :3 you earned a sub my friend :3
So nice to find this video now, my mother just gave me her old camera, which is exactly this one. It's great to know the history behind it, thanks for sharing it. Are there any lenses you would recommand for absolute beginner?
@@snappiness The 28mm/f2.8 is a nice lens (I have one too!), as is the 50mm/f1.7 -- these lenses are cheap and effective. But on an APS-C camera, I don't use a 50mm lens much, as it's kind of narrow. It's great for portraits, and with a wide aperture, it can make great bokeh. I love it for that, and a bit of an old-style look. But it ends up being more of a "specialty" lens for me.
I haven't tried the 16-50 SSM on the A100, but this is one of the best bang-for-the-buck lenses. It's a bit bulky, but sharp, and good as a general-purpose lens.
I took my Konica Minolta 7D out the other day. 6.1 megapixels - but still takes beautiful pictures. I was lucky to snag a mint KM 7D for a steal of a price a few years ago and it is such a great thing to use.
I was working for the copier division of Konica-Minolta when they sold the camera business to Sony. They sent out a mass email to all employees saying they were getting out of the camera business, but didn't say what they did with it. I found that out a few months later through other sources. Kind of sad for me as both companies were first known to me as camera companies. I have to wonder if they sometimes regret selling it after seeing what success Sony has had with it since then.
Nice information and a great video. Some months ago I bought a couple of boxes of "old" cameras and lenses at a yard sale. In the boxes were a couple of Sony A100 and lenses .... with both Sony and Minolta AF glass well preserved. I usually shoot Nikon but the photo quality of these "vintage" cameras brought back a part of my 80's film photography in memory. The almost film like quality makes me really happy. In the box was even a Sony 300mm 2.8 telephoto perfect for my wildlife photography!! Hope the Nikon won't get jealous
wow super informative video! i have a small minolta collection and always wondered why they were sold as compatible with sony bodies. honestly the reason i looked up a video like this is cause an a100 popped up for sale near me with about 5 lenses and im tempted to go for it!
That would be fun to use some of your lenses on it! I think it's a very fun camera to use. AF is sluggish, stay at lower ISOs, but otherwise really pretty colors and nice lenses available.
My first Sony camera was a Sony 200 and not the 100 ,with the kit lens and later a tamron 18-200 lens. This was my kit for some years and y was very satisfied with the results(still have the Sony a 200). Later y bought the Sony A 58, which i still use today. Short time after buying the Sony a 58 ,i read in a forum about the compatibility with Minolta glass and i found a seller on Marketplace with a suitcase with a Minolta 7000 camera and some lenses ( 50mm,1.7 , a 50mm.2.8 macro and a 70-210mm, F4 ) for 100€. This is the kit that i still use and I´m very happy with the results .
A huge reason that Konica Minolta was acquired by Sony was for the folding lens technology, it made cameras unbelievably thin. At the time, more compact cameras was the trend, specifically thin cameras Folding lens technology found in the dimage xg/xt launched the folding lens cybershot T series. Which was very successful and lead the end of Konica Minolta point and shoot.
Good reminder of Sony's background. The A mount opens up the world of Minolta lenses, where many jewels are to be found. And they fit perfectly with the CCD sensor inside the A100 to the A330, for slow, carefully composed photography.
I actually had no idea that Minolta and Sony had anything to do with each other and just by coincidence I bought an old (40+ years) Minolta vintage lens and adapter a couple months ago to use on my Sony A7III camera. The lens still produces beautiful images and is nearly indistinguishable from my modern Samyang lens in sharpness. Idk just thought it was cool so wanted to share :) .
My journey with A-mount began in 2017 with Minolta dynax 7 and after that i bought sony A900 to keep same lenses. My glass set contains 50 1.7, 28 2.8 and a beercan and i'm more than happy with them. :D
Also i'm looking for good copy of dynax 7d with grip. Ergonomy of late dynax cameras are extraordinary. even slighty newer a900 pales here in comparison.
That IR cactus landscape photo, chef's kiss! And the shade on the absurd A1 price tag, at that point I'd invest in medium format. Excellent video, Minolta glass is so underrated. I lugged my MD Rokkor 28mm F3.5 & 50mm F1.7 to Seattle with me and adapted it on my Z50, so stinking sharp, they were my Dad's when he had an X-370 when I was young. He also had a Konica Minolta PnS bridge zoom, but it really struggled. Wonder if it's still in the attic back home. I'm torn between getting a Minolta/Sony A mount or a Sigma SD series DSLR for a next budget level acquisition. Are you going to be filming an upcoming vid on the Sony F828? It's such a fascinating camera.
Yeah the f828 will come soon ish. Maybe. I always change my plans. But it's an awesome camera. I like it even more than this camera, except for the Minolta lenses part.
I still got a Minolta x370. Those slr cameras style still holds today. I did use it a couple of years ago but the film is now a small niche. Hard to process eventually digital wins out for convenience in the digital age.
I bought a Sony A100 camera in a Sony official store. It was the very last one displayed in the display cabinet. It came with a 18-55mm kit lense. I then purchased two more lenses a 50mm f1.8 and a 55-200mm lense. What really shines was the 50mm lense paired with the A100. It produced very sharp and crystal clear images with iso 1600 under street lights conditions without using flash. I kept the camera set in a plastic container with a lip. One day it so happened that I was standing beside this camera set and I heard a very low buzzing sound came from the container it lasted for about 3 seconds. I took out the A100 to check it and it was very dead. Yes, the battery of the camera somehow damaged the camera. It can no longer be powered up. Luckily it was still within the one year warranty. I sold it online after Sony fixed the camera.
I always enjoy your videos, they are a wonderful change drom people flashing off the newest camera gear !!!! This was the first DSLR I bought , I loved it and captured lot's of wonderful memories with it. I would probably still be using it today had it not been for the fact that while wandering in the Scottish mountains I managed to drop my bag !!!!!!! It rolled down the hill and fell in to a fast flowing burn down the waterfall, thankfully it got stuck behind a rock at the bottom before it met the river. The humans ran down the hillside and managed to retrieve it but it was ruined ; ( The SD card was ok though ; ) Thanks for sharing your videos Take care : ) Teddy
Minolta Dynax 9 is my dream film camera while the time I owned the Nikon F5 for its design is very much into the user's shoes. After years I brought it with a wide range collection of the Minolta's lenses and rolls of negative films. To make the most of the lenses I brought, I brought a Sony A900 to bring more fun for irresponsible photography. haha.
Great video, I have 2 Konica Minolta early digital cameras, the A1 and the A2, they are great cameras, the EVF and rear screens are rubbish but the results are pretty good, thanks.
True Story. When I and all us other 20something Canon snobs were on Photography on the net in 2006 and we heard the news of this camera. We mostly laughed. We thought it would be like when SHARP made video cameras. It would be something that Sony would abandon and not support (like Samsung did years later with their mirrorless cameras). BOY WERE WE WRONG! I started shooting Canon in 2003, I abandoned Canon in 2023 for Sony. And I have never once regretted it. This camera is essentially the ADAM camera of the Sony camera universe.
9/11/23 From film to digital I have owned 135mm film cameras from Konica that Became Minolta Maxxum to Sony with it's "A" mount lenses. Like told in your video getting a Sony "A" mount camera can extended the life of AF lenses from Minolta in the year 2023 and beyond even thou Sony has moved on with the "E" mount lenses. I own a Sony SLT "A" mount a-55 with a series of the Minolta fixed to zoom series of AF lenses, along when buying the lenses several models of Minolta Models film camera that still work. The Minolta beer can lenses are well built metal lenses that take amazing sharp photos and compared to some of the prices of Sony lenses can be gotten at bargin basement prices. The main issues that I have with the Sony digital cameras is the battery life per number of shots, it is good to purchase a couple of backups batteries when you go out shoting and turning the camera off between long times before shooting photos. I am a big fan of older name brand cameras that are still useable in 2023 for geneneral shooting that take great photos that don't cost you an arm an leg that were considered Pro Level when they came out, besides it is the person behind the digital camers that makes or breaks good to great photos.
Minolta is still kind of around in the camera world. They was making the glass for JVC higher end pro camcorders. Also I did read they made the glass for the Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8 for Micro Four Thirds.
If you get a chance and get lucky, I'd suggest getting an A700; back in this time, the flagship of Sony, but got pummled by the D200/D300 and 7D popularity. Finally got mine for $120, and I also have the D300 and the 7D; I can tell you the photography shooting experience of the A700 is much more pleasant because of the handling and form factor. All my cheap Minolta primes are vibration compensated. The autofocus is probably the biggest weakness if you compare it to the D300 and the 7d, but if you treat it or shoot this like a film camera it is awesome.
I bought a second hand sony A100 for my birthday back in 2010. I bought my minolta adapter and that way I could also use my Tamron lenses. I even found a leica summicron dr 50mm f2 that I quickly bought an adapter for. I enjoyed the camera and all its features. But honestly I hated the thing. Simply because of the fact that it was too heavy. Its like it was build out of lead. I sold it in 2015 and shortly after my sister gave me her A200. Which is much the same only lighter. I enjoy that one more. I enjoyed the system and despite the weight I am honestly interested in Minolta's dynax 7. I havent found one in the wild yet though.
See if you can round up an A700. That was the enthusiast step up model from A100. 12mp CCD (same as Nikon d200 I believe) I still have mine... shoots great
When it comes to image quality they will both do well. I think they have the same sensor. I liked the build of the D80 better, deeper and bigger grip. The lens lineup could be a deciding factor. Do you know what lenses you want to shoot? You could look up their equivalent lenses between the two systems and see which ones are cheaper/better regarded. Personally I don't think you could go wrong either way!
There's more to the story - Minolta also built the first film SLR with autofocus, which all these AF A-mount lenses actually come from. It was called the Minolta MAXXUM 7000 and it came out in 1985, leaving the big brands like Canon and Nikon in an absolute shock. It took them few more long years to catch up with their respective AF systems. Also, before Sony killed the Minolta A-mount, they managed to release some pretty awesome bodies, like the A900 - the world's first full frame camera with a 24mp built-in sensor stabilization and then the whole SLT range, topping with the flagship A99II released in 2016 - a stabilized 42mp full frame SLT which could still use the same old Minolta lenses from 1985 without adapters, all fully functional with metering and AF!!! This whole transition from Minolta to Sony however took a whole decade during which NOBODY in the photographic world was taking Sony seriously - they were more like the endless source of nervous jokes and ridiculing, something like a meme, before memes were a thing. I think in part this was caused by their poor ISO and autofocus performance at the time, but also it felt like the photo community was getting anxious and intimidated by them. And they weren't wrong - starting with the E-mount alpha series (A7 and up), Sony just took the world by storm, crushing all the big competition and so the Canon/Nikon fanboys gradually had to swallow their pride and convert to Sony. Those were some very interesting times to experience first hand, so many professional photographers were stubbornly sticking to their obsolete systems, until eventually surrendering to the Sony superiority. I still keep both my Minolta 7000 and the Konica-Minolta 5D as a homage to this legendary company that historically has managed to beat the giants several times in their own game and paved the way for Sony. I wished they did it themselves, but obviously they weren't even remotely in the same league as the giant Sony to be able to perform such a photo revolution... And since mentioning Konica, they were awesome once too - they have built the first ever autofocus camera, the rangefinder Konica C35 AF, hailing all the way back from 1977. Both Konica and Minolta were so ahead so many times and yet they were never able to properly gain the popularity they deserved. This whole story should be made into a movie, it's unbelievable...
Great channel. This the first time I watched your videos and I will give a new chance to my old Sony a300. Do you think this model is similar in capabilities to the a100?
having started with a DSLR-A200 and now with what is the third best consumer level camera in the world right now (the A7IV, right behind the Nikon Z6III and the Sony A1) I still feel emptiness with those CMOS colors. When I took jpegs with the a200 they had more room to manipulate than any of the 24mp A77II and 33mp A7IV snapshots I ever took. In my opinion, Sony mirrorless cameras of today are great, but would easily be outsold if there were no "sony artisans" that promote the brand on social media under the label "Dr." or "Professor". The greatest camera in the world in my opinion is the sony ILCA-99II, with the sony A7RIII's 42 megapixel sensor, 399 hybrid detection autofocus and up to 11fps 14 bit uncompressed, lossless raw for 50 frames in a full magnesium alloy body, with a 1080*720p viewfinder without resolution dropoff and a 1920*1080 fully articulated screen that laughs at the a7rV's current LCD.
i have a sony a500 dslr, commonly known as the first true sony designed dlsr, made in japan. the younger sibling of more capable a550. it's everything quirky to the max. it has two lv mode, no video, the native iso is 200 which is already grainy. everything on this camera is the underdog except sony's in house steadyshot straight from their industry dominating video camera line, it's a killer app for its time. i also have a minolta 100-200 f4.5 beer can lens. it's a wonderful close up shot lens, everthing is lovely except the rather limiting aperture size.
Still lots of good used Sony and Minolta A mount lenses on the used market although most of the prices have gone up-but the formerly expensive Zeiss/Sony 16-80 DT zoom seems to have actually come down in price over the last year or two. It was probably over priced originally. Don't forget that the older Minolta 35mm format lenses are full frame coverage so quite versatile as they work fine with apsc sensors too generally.
The Sony A100 was the first DSLR I purchased. I still like to use it occasionally. How did you take the IR images with this camera? Thanks for the video.
I passed up on one of these for a Canon XTI. Can you say whether Canons or Nikon's of similar age would be better, or as u said similar and which models would be similar. If possible. Thanks a million, your videos are a refreshing change from those " latest gear" videos. Bless.
The old Canons are also really nice, and it would depend on which year and models. I would say the Canons are a better camera earlier on, and then Sony starts closing the gap later which some really advanced stuff. Canon also has loads more third party lenses available, and more total lenses on the used market (more units sold). So, it's a tough toss up. I'd say either way you got a good system!
I have the A200 I got to use my Minolta lenses on. The only thing that I seem to find hard is getting a proper wide angle prime for it. I suppose this would be 17mm lens but not sure if there is such a thing out there.
Don't confuse decades old minolta lenses 9that are MC and MD mount) with the more recent (1990s) minolta AF mount (that became Sony A Mount). I had lenses for my Sony A200 and A57 and thought I try film photography by buying a Minolta X-300. Imagine my surprise when the A mount lens didn't fit. I recently started playing with a Nikon D200 that I suspect has a Sony CCD sensor in. The images look great, so would recommend getting any (dirt cheap) old digital camera so long it has that CCD sensor in. (I think Canon were the only one to straight to CMOS). Interesting video, thanks.
It might already be on your watchlist but I suggest you to try the Fuji S3 pro, I have one and it is a blast! unique sensor, quirky design and Nikon F mount
Yes! I have been watching those Fuji's for quite a while. They still demand an unusually high price for their age - compared to their Nikon counterparts - I guess they must have a loyal following. But hopefully one day.
I actually liked the form factor of the NEX cameras. Especially how tiny and light the NEX-5 and NEX-5N were. The NEX cameras were my first Sony still cameras after using Nikon and I have never switched back. I like my Sony a7III, but I wish Sony still made a super light e-mount body like those, but with improved sensors and displays.
Yeah, I went from an A100 to the Nex-5, just because I wanted something lighter for trips and walking about. The APS-C bodies have good sensors and are still compact, although the the last model of the smallest Nex model was the 5100. Still, 24mp in the 5100, so you might take another look. The problem is that then you'll miss the EVF and want to upgrade.
I use a sony a65 daily. And super cool minolta lenses with swirly bokeh haha. It's great to nature photography. Not action though. Honestly an nex3 is better in terms of speed
I found lots of Minolta film cameras with those compatible lenses. I went nuts and bought lots of them at an online thrift shop. One of my favorites is the beer can lens with a constant F4 aperture. It takes sharp contrasty images, despite the scratches on the outer lens (I think I spent $30). I also have the 28mm f2.8 like you, which I bought on Ebay, however this might seem odd to you, if I put the aperture to f2.8 and take an indoor image, it's very dark. But, if I set the aperture to f22, all the images are blown out. It's as if the f-stops are reversed. Any ideas? Almost forgot, great job on the video, looks like you had to do a lot of research for this one.
It seems that the aperture has a problem. Have you checked if the blades are oily and if they are closing properly? Blown up images suggests that the camera is metering for f22 but the lens closes less than f22. The smaller the f-stop, the higher the amount of light hitting the sensor.
Hmm. They all are so fun, haha. I really liked my Nikon D80. It just all came together really well on that camera and felt wonderful. Only Nikon I've used to date. The Olympus DSLRs are very cool and work wonders - just a pity about the hard to find and limited lens selection. You can build a pretty cool and unique kit with them, though.
@@snappiness I’ve always preferred Nikon over Canon for the feel. Canon feels plasticy and tacky. But pentax and nikon dslrs feel like tanks. The K10D and the D7100 could be used as hammers
The Minolta “Beercan” 70-210 is a superb zoom, but the kit zooms are not great. I have a 7D, the last gasp before Sony, and basically the A100 at 6mp. Lovely camera.
Still shooting with mine. Always keep it in my bag as a backup. I always know it will turn on, after all the battery never dies 🤣Yes the auto focus has never been the best and It has bits missing off it, but the pics are still great, I would never part with it.
I hadn't seen that camera before - added to my list to keep an eye on ;) I'm going through an 8mp ccd kick right now with my Canon Powershot pro1, Nikon 8400, and Sony f828. I guess the equivalent there would be the Minolta A2!
While trying to sell my Olympus Evolt E-410 on Karrot, I ended up finding a Sony Alpha A230 just sitting around for $18. I gave the lady $20 CAD. I thought it was going to be ass because I had a crappy Point And Shoot for Sony from back in the day. Boy was I wrong, this is a Minolta and NOT a Sony from the modern day. Maybe it's jumping from a Micro 4/3 (which is not great at nightlight). I found the night performance to be pretty good. Better than my Olympus(s) (both Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds). I'll hold off in buying lenses for now, but they're really cheap. I just don't live in a good place where I can avoid shipping. Shipping most of the time is just as expensive as the lenses if not more for me. But yeah, despite having fast focusing, it is mostly incorrect and hesitant. But it's pretty good for how much I bought it for. Last but not least...the CCD. It's pretty cool. Though I still prefer the Olympus CCD...(R.I.P. E-300, mine died within a week. I don't recommend ppl buying the E-300. The E-500 seems to be more robust.)
My first camera was alpha 300 or 200, not sure. Its AF was unreliable, Sony zoom lenses were soft and auto white balance was all over the place. Later I bought A580, that was a gem until stopped to be usable due to problems with power on/off switch and shutter release (quite widespread problem with 500 and 700 series). AF was reliable, WB was great, basically everything I had problems with on that old entry level body was fixed. Great camera, would buy again if I would find one. I am still on Sony-A system with a68. EVF have its advantages (it have opened the world of manual focus lenses to me), but still prefer DSLR, especially in low light where EVF of a68 shows almost more digital noise than actual image. As for lenses, I have owned several Sony zoom lenses - those I have tried got good only after they killed off DSLR lineup, then i had several Tokina and one Minolta lenses, those were on par with worst Sony ones. Soft, bad contrast, problems with light smearing. But Sigma made lenses for Sony-A too and those were great. Currently I own only one Sony-A mount lens that isnt from Sigma (and that would be Sony DT 16-50 f2.8 SSM)
@3:52 The new owners of Olympus (since Jan this year) will not be able to keep the Olympus name indefinitely. Not known how long for, but I guess only for the inherited Olympus designs. I take that by _"most recently"_ you were referring to Olympus, not Pentax which has been owned by Ricoh for a decade now.
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I bought a Sony a100 in 2006 to replace my Minolta 35mm film camera, mainly because of the lens compatibility. At the time, Circuit City was going out of business and had a fire sale. I bought every accessary for the Sony a100 that they had, everything was 50-75% off. So, yes, I got a cutting edge DSLR with all of the toys for a bargain price. I still use it today. I'll eventually upgrade, but this camera has literally been around the world, and it took some incredible images that I still enjoy. I really appreciate this video and recalling my own digital camera journey. Thanks for a great post!
I thought it would be nice to share that I come from the opposite end of the spectrum.. started photography with a Sony A550 DSLR which I only recently upgraded to a Sony SLT A57. Decided to try out film photography, and bought myself a Minolta 8000i because of the lens compatibility. I have all the flash gear from my time with Sony and I am happily surprised that they too work with my Minolta film camera! I still cant bring myself to upgrade to mirrorless, but for what i am doing I am happy with the minolta/sony A mount system
A sony A7 with minolta lenses are the deal!
Fun fact minolta has made 4 DSLR!
Minolta is a brand that I'll forever hold dear to my heart. I started digital photography as a highschooler with a Canon 2.1 MP point and shoot, when I wanted something more more reach I went to a Minolta DiMage Z1. I used that for many years until I could afford a DSLR, because of my liking of Minolta, and the fact that they had IBIS and has a ton of cheap old lenses, I went against the popular Canon/Nikon line and got into the Minolta system with the KM 5D(not to be confused with the Canon 5D). From then on I pretty much stuck with that mount, got a A700 when I got my early paycheck for a real job, and all the way to Sony's A77 MK2. All of them great cameras.
I still have dozens of A-mount lenses, still mostly Minolta branded. And only recently I've gotten myself a Sony A7IV, and a LA-EA5 which will let all of my Minolta lens live on....
I still use an A100 with my dad's Minolta lenses. Glad to see this video!
I bought a Minolta XG1 in 1979 which I used up to 2008 when I upgraded to the Sony A100. The A100 came with two kit lenses and I purchased a 50mm f1.8 lens for portrait photography. The 50mm very quickly became my favourite lens. Eventually I upgraded to the Sony A7III which took me a while to become comfortable with and am now completely at ease with. I was able to get an adapter for the A7III to fit my vintage Minolta XG1 lenses, one of which is a 50mm f1.4. I still use the A100 regularly and often get comments when out shooting with it. Sadly the Minolta XG1 is a display camera now but sits proudly in my display cabinet. Good to see a video like this as it brought back some great memories of my early days in photography.
Although there is an inconsistency from lens to lens, the Minolta zoom 70-210mm f/4 “Beercan” lens is a gem. It has all metal construction. Of course, it’s not as fast auto-focusing as todays lenses, but the focus is tack sharp and the colors are beautiful. I’ve used it on both a Sony a57, and A7mk2(with a Sony A to E mount adapter). I have made some terrific photos with it. I bought it in 2015 for 1700¥($160 US), easily 1/10th the cost of a modern pro 70-200 f/4 zoom. The 50mm f/1.7 is a good one, too.
Minolta had the reputation of creating exquisite cameras. TLR’s and range finders were part of their lineup. I am the proud owner of two Minolta 35mm SLR’s. The XG-M and the X700. I bought them brand new when first introduced and both have MD-1 motor drives. I’ve shot over 100 rolls of Kodachrome slide film through them and the cameras still work perfectly today. It was indeed a sad day when Minolta stopped making cameras.
Hey there, I too use an XG--M. With that comes my X-500. The XG-M was bought at a flea market last year and I the X-500 off of Ebay a few weeks ago. I can absolutely attest what you say: four decades after their introduction they still work great. Mine have been owned by multiple people before ending up in my hands and the fact that after all that they still work perfectly says a lot about the build quality of the Minolta machines. I am confident they'll go for another 40 years without problems.
Great channel, I'm hooked. I'm very an absolute beginner and I bought a Pentax K7 after watching your vids because the lense system is great and affordable, even here in the UK. I'm rocking some vintage lenses now and having fun and learning lots.
Dean, that's awesome! Sounds like you got a fun setup! Thanks for watching.
Great first camera! Rocked that one for years and recently re-purchased because I still love my old photos with it.
My first DSLR was a Konica Minolta 5D. At the time I bought it for the stand-out feature of the day of having sensor based stabilization, which meant I could get cheaper lenses. I truly enjoyed using it for quite a while.
The A100 was my first DSLR, and I basically wore it out over the next 7 or 8 years, shooting everything I possibly could with it, learning everything I could about photography, and knowing everything on the body like the back of my hand. I'm so glad I learned on a camera with serious limitations, but in the right situation, capable of amazing quality. I eventually moved to the A700, which was a whole new world, but the ISO 100 quality was still not quite as good as the A100 (although almost everything else was an upgrade). I loved my A100, and all of the Minolta glass Is got for it, and I'm still to this day shooting A-mount, with 2 A99ii's and an A77ii giving me everything I need to be shooting semi-professionally. Excellent 'review'!!
CCD vs C-MOS The Sony A-100 had a very good ISO 80 for the time.
I recently came into possession of a Minolta Dynax 8000i with a flawless Minolta A AF 50mm lens at about the same time I came into possesion of a Sony a7c. It was a real treat to learn that I can fit my Minolta lenses on this brand new Sony E mount camera with the help of a simple (but expensive!) adapter
Haha, video reminds off my dad. He uses a early Sony digital camera with his old Minolta telephoto lenses when we go birding. Does pretty good with it. Nice
Great video. I'm a bit of a Minolta nut, I've been shooting their cameras since the late 80's. I have a few older manual cameras and lenses but I also have a collection of Minolta and Sony A lenses plus some other greats made by Tamron and Sigma. I happen to have an A100 , it was my first DSLR and I have their last A mount Camera, the A99ii. In between I had the stunning A65 for many years. Another technological marvel for it's time. The later A mount cameras were very under appreciated for the level of technology they had. And you are right about the lenses, I have a lot of vintage Minolta glass and every one was a bargain. The later film camera's are also great if you want to get into film shooting, they can be found perfectly working for $10-$50. I have a Maxxum 5 and it can even use my much newer SAM/SSM/USD/HSM lenses. The 28-105RS is much better than the 24-105 but a little long for an APS-C sensor. I love using a 24-70 f/2.8 on a crop body. It gives you 36-105mm equivalent but the 28-75 from Minolta/Sony/Tamron (it's all the same lens except the Sony has a SAM motor) is much cheaper.
Loved hearing about the Sony and Minolta history that I new nothing about. Great video. Thanks
Thanks for stopping by :)
I'm a minolta head and I just picked up a sony a77ii .
I have been shooting minolta x-700 then in 2021 I updated to a automatic minolta alpha 9 35mm then 2022 I stepped up to my digital camera.
With the exception of 3 tomron lenses the all the rest are minolta.
Just orderd the minolta f/8 500mm reflex lense tonight.
Thanks for sharing.❤
Nice history review. I remember when Minolta quit. It was a shock as I bet it put the shivers in the whole industry.
I don't remember, because let's just say I wasn't paying much attention to the camera industry in 2005 ;)
Great video, James! Love the history lesson - really interesting and well presented. The fact is, if you were using technology in 2006, you were using mind-bendingly incredible technology. Truly the stuff of dreams. My laptop in college was small, fast and capable. My first pocketable digital camera made images that still hold up today. Easy to forget.
I was born in '87 and camera tech, even on film, at that time was crazy. Phase detect autofocus!!! I looked into that recently. Crazy complicated tech in miniature that we tend to take for granted such that cameras made 5 years ago are somehow woefully out of date. Insanity!
That's how I like to think about it :) makes it fun and makes you grateful.
My first DSLR was A100. The 10MP sensor was outstanding at low ISO. Still using it although now converted to IR shooting.
My very first digital camera was the Konica-Minolta Maxxum 5D. I loved that camera.
Great video. The a100 was actually based on the Konica Minolta 5D body. It's certainly a better camera than the KM 5D. I recently blow the dust of my a100 for a project I'm thinking of doing. I forgot how loud the shutter sound was. I only wish it had the lens focus micro adjustment feature found on the later a-mount cameras to ensure focus accuracy with any lens. This is the main reason some lenses render images softer than they should be.
I've still got my (old?) Sony Alpha 350 with the two kit lenses that came with it. Before I became physically disabled, I used just these for weddings, proms, family shoots and all sorts. I was gifted a Minolta prime 80mm lens to use with my kit and they all work great even now. Only 14.3mp but doesn't need the Cray supercomputer to process the images. It's worth remembering that when digital first became mainstream, 5mp was magazine quality!
while I never experienced the A100 - I do have and LOVE my A200. Virtually the same but a few "improved" updates (higher ISO and better hand grip) - There is something in those CCD making true digital "film" pictures :) ( I have aton of Minolta premo lenses :) )
Good deal!! Yeah the older glass and CCD sensors really do convey a nice aesthetic. Love it.
Still have this camera today, but have not used it in a while. During the film era, I used the Minolta Alpha 7. So nostalgia indeed to see this vid.
When people complain about AF on modern cameras (looking at you Panasonic), it's worth remembering the autofocus performance of cameras like the A100. Or my old Nikons. It's why some of us considered autofocus slower than manual with a bright split image fresnel screen, for many years.
It's a good point.
I was a Minolta shooter since the mid 80s. The 7d had IBIS while all the other manufacturers had stabilization in the lenses. Minolta used to be at the edge of technology and I really do miss them. Once Sony took over, it was the kiss of death. The only thing they were interested in was the IBIS, once they had it, Minolta users were left behind.
Great presentation! I've a Minolta SRT202 loaded for the first time sitting in front of me that my father-in-law rescued from a friend who was moving and had thrown it in the trash bin! I cleaned it up - works perfectly. I do wish it had been the Konica mount that'd survived that previous merger. The flange distance is shorter and that may have saved the Hexanons for future SLR use/adapting. Ah well. Moot now with mirrorless.
I'm gonna try this camera to learn more about lenses. Since for my current camera, lenses are super expensive and I want to experiment with others. Thanks so much for your hard work and research on these videos :3 you earned a sub my friend :3
So nice to find this video now, my mother just gave me her old camera, which is exactly this one. It's great to know the history behind it, thanks for sharing it. Are there any lenses you would recommand for absolute beginner?
The 28mm f2.8 and 50mm f1.7 Minolta AF lenses are great, and can be had for super cheap used on ebay :)
@@snappiness The 28mm/f2.8 is a nice lens (I have one too!), as is the 50mm/f1.7 -- these lenses are cheap and effective. But on an APS-C camera, I don't use a 50mm lens much, as it's kind of narrow. It's great for portraits, and with a wide aperture, it can make great bokeh. I love it for that, and a bit of an old-style look. But it ends up being more of a "specialty" lens for me.
I haven't tried the 16-50 SSM on the A100, but this is one of the best bang-for-the-buck lenses. It's a bit bulky, but sharp, and good as a general-purpose lens.
Fantastic video, the little editing touches you're adding are very nice! Great work 👍
Thanks for all the support :)
I took my Konica Minolta 7D out the other day. 6.1 megapixels - but still takes beautiful pictures. I was lucky to snag a mint KM 7D for a steal of a price a few years ago and it is such a great thing to use.
I was working for the copier division of Konica-Minolta when they sold the camera business to Sony. They sent out a mass email to all employees saying they were getting out of the camera business, but didn't say what they did with it. I found that out a few months later through other sources. Kind of sad for me as both companies were first known to me as camera companies. I have to wonder if they sometimes regret selling it after seeing what success Sony has had with it since then.
Nice information and a great video. Some months ago I bought a couple of boxes of "old" cameras and lenses at a yard sale. In the boxes were a couple of Sony A100 and lenses .... with both Sony and Minolta AF glass well preserved. I usually shoot Nikon but the photo quality of these "vintage" cameras brought back a part of my 80's film photography in memory. The almost film like quality makes me really happy. In the box was even a Sony 300mm 2.8 telephoto perfect for my wildlife photography!! Hope the Nikon won't get jealous
What a fantastic find! Thanks for sharing. Enjoy.
wow super informative video! i have a small minolta collection and always wondered why they were sold as compatible with sony bodies. honestly the reason i looked up a video like this is cause an a100 popped up for sale near me with about 5 lenses and im tempted to go for it!
That would be fun to use some of your lenses on it! I think it's a very fun camera to use. AF is sluggish, stay at lower ISOs, but otherwise really pretty colors and nice lenses available.
My first Sony camera was a Sony 200 and not the 100 ,with the kit lens and later a tamron 18-200 lens. This was my kit for some years and y was very satisfied with the results(still have the Sony a 200). Later y bought the Sony A 58, which i still use today. Short time after buying the Sony a 58 ,i read in a forum about the compatibility with Minolta glass and i found a seller on Marketplace with a suitcase with a Minolta 7000 camera and some lenses ( 50mm,1.7 , a 50mm.2.8 macro and a 70-210mm, F4 ) for 100€. This is the kit that i still use and I´m very happy with the results .
I am learning with this camera and i like it. Great to know the story with Minolta and you have some beautiful photos with this camera !
A huge reason that Konica Minolta was acquired by Sony was for the folding lens technology, it made cameras unbelievably thin. At the time, more compact cameras was the trend, specifically thin cameras Folding lens technology found in the dimage xg/xt launched the folding lens cybershot T series. Which was very successful and lead the end of Konica Minolta point and shoot.
Good reminder of Sony's background. The A mount opens up the world of Minolta lenses, where many jewels are to be found. And they fit perfectly with the CCD sensor inside the A100 to the A330, for slow, carefully composed photography.
I actually had no idea that Minolta and Sony had anything to do with each other and just by coincidence I bought an old (40+ years) Minolta vintage lens and adapter a couple months ago to use on my Sony A7III camera. The lens still produces beautiful images and is nearly indistinguishable from my modern Samyang lens in sharpness. Idk just thought it was cool so wanted to share :) .
My journey with A-mount began in 2017 with Minolta dynax 7 and after that i bought sony A900 to keep same lenses. My glass set contains 50 1.7, 28 2.8 and a beercan and i'm more than happy with them. :D
Also i'm looking for good copy of dynax 7d with grip. Ergonomy of late dynax cameras are extraordinary. even slighty newer a900 pales here in comparison.
I bought my A100 the week that it came out and I still have it today...
That IR cactus landscape photo, chef's kiss! And the shade on the absurd A1 price tag, at that point I'd invest in medium format. Excellent video, Minolta glass is so underrated. I lugged my MD Rokkor 28mm F3.5 & 50mm F1.7 to Seattle with me and adapted it on my Z50, so stinking sharp, they were my Dad's when he had an X-370 when I was young. He also had a Konica Minolta PnS bridge zoom, but it really struggled. Wonder if it's still in the attic back home. I'm torn between getting a Minolta/Sony A mount or a Sigma SD series DSLR for a next budget level acquisition. Are you going to be filming an upcoming vid on the Sony F828? It's such a fascinating camera.
Yeah the f828 will come soon ish. Maybe. I always change my plans. But it's an awesome camera. I like it even more than this camera, except for the Minolta lenses part.
I still got a Minolta x370. Those slr cameras style still holds today. I did use it a couple of years ago but the film is now a small niche. Hard to process eventually digital wins out for convenience in the digital age.
I bought a Sony A100 camera in a Sony official store. It was the very last one displayed in the display cabinet.
It came with a 18-55mm kit lense. I then purchased two more lenses a 50mm f1.8 and a 55-200mm lense. What really shines was the 50mm lense paired with the A100. It produced very sharp and crystal clear images with iso 1600 under street lights conditions without using flash.
I kept the camera set in a plastic container with a lip. One day it so happened that I was standing beside this camera set and I heard a very low buzzing sound came from the container it lasted for about 3 seconds.
I took out the A100 to check it and it was very dead. Yes, the battery of the camera somehow damaged the camera. It can no longer be powered up. Luckily it was still within the one year warranty.
I sold it online after Sony fixed the camera.
Production quality is just 👏🏻
I always enjoy your videos, they are a wonderful change drom people flashing off the newest camera gear !!!! This was the first DSLR I bought , I loved it and captured lot's of wonderful memories with it. I would probably still be using it today had it not been for the fact that while wandering in the Scottish mountains I managed to drop my bag !!!!!!! It rolled down the hill and fell in to a fast flowing burn down the waterfall, thankfully it got stuck behind a rock at the bottom before it met the river. The humans ran down the hillside and managed to retrieve it but it was ruined ; ( The SD card was ok though ; ) Thanks for sharing your videos Take care : ) Teddy
Oh no! Glad you were able to recover the photos, shame about the camera. Thanks for stopping by :)
Absolutely amazing intro!
Wow wowwww wowwwwwww! This is the first time I see such video on Sony camera history!
Tony Northrop has a series of hour long video on each camera compsny
@@unbroken1010 Omg yes I just saw them! And they are amazing. But since I am a Sony person, I was so amazed by the video. Thank you for your message!
Minolta Dynax 9 is my dream film camera while the time I owned the Nikon F5 for its design is very much into the user's shoes. After years I brought it with a wide range collection of the Minolta's lenses and rolls of negative films. To make the most of the lenses I brought, I brought a Sony A900 to bring more fun for irresponsible photography. haha.
Great video, I have 2 Konica Minolta early digital cameras, the A1 and the A2, they are great cameras, the EVF and rear screens are rubbish but the results are pretty good, thanks.
True Story. When I and all us other 20something Canon snobs were on Photography on the net in 2006 and we heard the news of this camera. We mostly laughed. We thought it would be like when SHARP made video cameras. It would be something that Sony would abandon and not support (like Samsung did years later with their mirrorless cameras). BOY WERE WE WRONG! I started shooting Canon in 2003, I abandoned Canon in 2023 for Sony. And I have never once regretted it. This camera is essentially the ADAM camera of the Sony camera universe.
Thank you! Great info! Very helpful!
9/11/23 From film to digital I have owned 135mm film cameras from Konica that Became Minolta Maxxum to Sony with it's "A" mount lenses. Like told in your video getting a Sony "A" mount camera can extended the life of AF lenses from Minolta in the year 2023 and beyond even thou Sony has moved on with the "E" mount lenses. I own a Sony SLT "A" mount a-55 with a series of the Minolta fixed to zoom series of AF lenses, along when buying the lenses several models of Minolta Models film camera that still work. The Minolta beer can lenses are well built metal lenses that take amazing sharp photos and compared to some of the prices of Sony lenses can be gotten at bargin basement prices. The main issues that I have with the Sony digital cameras is the battery life per number of shots, it is good to purchase a couple of backups batteries when you go out shoting and turning the camera off between long times before shooting photos. I am a big fan of older name brand cameras that are still useable in 2023 for geneneral shooting that take great photos that don't cost you an arm an leg that were considered Pro Level when they came out, besides it is the person behind the digital camers that makes or breaks good to great photos.
Wonderful video thank you for this lesson
Fantastic video. Thank you.
There is a Minolta digital point and shoot camera for sale now called the Minolta mnd20.
Minolta is still kind of around in the camera world. They was making the glass for JVC higher end pro camcorders. Also I did read they made the glass for the Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8 for Micro Four Thirds.
If you get a chance and get lucky, I'd suggest getting an A700; back in this time, the flagship of Sony, but got pummled by the D200/D300 and 7D popularity. Finally got mine for $120, and I also have the D300 and the 7D; I can tell you the photography shooting experience of the A700 is much more pleasant because of the handling and form factor. All my cheap Minolta primes are vibration compensated. The autofocus is probably the biggest weakness if you compare it to the D300 and the 7d, but if you treat it or shoot this like a film camera it is awesome.
Great 👍 video...love minolta lenses and my A77 sony body.
Did you convert the camera to infrared at some point?
Obrigada pelo vídeo! Sou do Brasil 🇧🇷, e foi difícil encontrar review sobre essa câmera.
I bought a second hand sony A100 for my birthday back in 2010. I bought my minolta adapter and that way I could also use my Tamron lenses. I even found a leica summicron dr 50mm f2 that I quickly bought an adapter for. I enjoyed the camera and all its features. But honestly I hated the thing. Simply because of the fact that it was too heavy. Its like it was build out of lead. I sold it in 2015 and shortly after my sister gave me her A200. Which is much the same only lighter. I enjoy that one more.
I enjoyed the system and despite the weight I am honestly interested in Minolta's dynax 7. I havent found one in the wild yet though.
See if you can round up an A700. That was the enthusiast step up model from A100. 12mp CCD (same as Nikon d200 I believe) I still have mine... shoots great
Nice video and I agree. My A100 is the go to camera for me. Great battery life compared to the new cameras, simple controls with minimal sub menus,
I love my A100. Yes it has drawbacks; iso and slow focus. But it still takes some of the bests photos.
Great video, made me consider buying an old camera. Which camera do you think is better the nikon d80 or the sony a100
When it comes to image quality they will both do well. I think they have the same sensor. I liked the build of the D80 better, deeper and bigger grip. The lens lineup could be a deciding factor. Do you know what lenses you want to shoot? You could look up their equivalent lenses between the two systems and see which ones are cheaper/better regarded. Personally I don't think you could go wrong either way!
@@snappiness thank you, I finaly deciden on a Sony a100
There's more to the story - Minolta also built the first film SLR with autofocus, which all these AF A-mount lenses actually come from. It was called the Minolta MAXXUM 7000 and it came out in 1985, leaving the big brands like Canon and Nikon in an absolute shock. It took them few more long years to catch up with their respective AF systems. Also, before Sony killed the Minolta A-mount, they managed to release some pretty awesome bodies, like the A900 - the world's first full frame camera with a 24mp built-in sensor stabilization and then the whole SLT range, topping with the flagship A99II released in 2016 - a stabilized 42mp full frame SLT which could still use the same old Minolta lenses from 1985 without adapters, all fully functional with metering and AF!!! This whole transition from Minolta to Sony however took a whole decade during which NOBODY in the photographic world was taking Sony seriously - they were more like the endless source of nervous jokes and ridiculing, something like a meme, before memes were a thing. I think in part this was caused by their poor ISO and autofocus performance at the time, but also it felt like the photo community was getting anxious and intimidated by them. And they weren't wrong - starting with the E-mount alpha series (A7 and up), Sony just took the world by storm, crushing all the big competition and so the Canon/Nikon fanboys gradually had to swallow their pride and convert to Sony. Those were some very interesting times to experience first hand, so many professional photographers were stubbornly sticking to their obsolete systems, until eventually surrendering to the Sony superiority. I still keep both my Minolta 7000 and the Konica-Minolta 5D as a homage to this legendary company that historically has managed to beat the giants several times in their own game and paved the way for Sony. I wished they did it themselves, but obviously they weren't even remotely in the same league as the giant Sony to be able to perform such a photo revolution...
And since mentioning Konica, they were awesome once too - they have built the first ever autofocus camera, the rangefinder Konica C35 AF, hailing all the way back from 1977. Both Konica and Minolta were so ahead so many times and yet they were never able to properly gain the popularity they deserved. This whole story should be made into a movie, it's unbelievable...
Great channel. This the first time I watched your videos and I will give a new chance to my old Sony a300. Do you think this model is similar in capabilities to the a100?
Yep, that should be even better!
having started with a DSLR-A200 and now with what is the third best consumer level camera in the world right now (the A7IV, right behind the Nikon Z6III and the Sony A1) I still feel emptiness with those CMOS colors. When I took jpegs with the a200 they had more room to manipulate than any of the 24mp A77II and 33mp A7IV snapshots I ever took. In my opinion, Sony mirrorless cameras of today are great, but would easily be outsold if there were no "sony artisans" that promote the brand on social media under the label "Dr." or "Professor". The greatest camera in the world in my opinion is the sony ILCA-99II, with the sony A7RIII's 42 megapixel sensor, 399 hybrid detection autofocus and up to 11fps 14 bit uncompressed, lossless raw for 50 frames in a full magnesium alloy body, with a 1080*720p viewfinder without resolution dropoff and a 1920*1080 fully articulated screen that laughs at the a7rV's current LCD.
I shoot the A1 for wildlife, you've got me considering getting the A100 for the rest.
i have a sony a500 dslr, commonly known as the first true sony designed dlsr, made in japan. the younger sibling of more capable a550. it's everything quirky to the max. it has two lv mode, no video, the native iso is 200 which is already grainy. everything on this camera is the underdog except sony's in house steadyshot straight from their industry dominating video camera line, it's a killer app for its time. i also have a minolta 100-200 f4.5 beer can lens. it's a wonderful close up shot lens, everthing is lovely except the rather limiting aperture size.
I got my Minolta Maxxum 7 brand New, I still go out and shoot with it. Never went with Sony in the Digital era though.
Still lots of good used Sony and Minolta A mount lenses on the used market although most of the prices have gone up-but the formerly expensive Zeiss/Sony 16-80 DT zoom seems to have actually come down in price over the last year or two. It was probably over priced originally. Don't forget that the older Minolta 35mm format lenses are full frame coverage so quite versatile as they work fine with apsc sensors too generally.
My A900 still going strong
+1
The Sony A100 was the first DSLR I purchased. I still like to use it occasionally. How did you take the IR images with this camera?
Thanks for the video.
I passed up on one of these for a Canon XTI. Can you say whether Canons or Nikon's of similar age would be better, or as u said similar and which models would be similar. If possible. Thanks a million, your videos are a refreshing change from those " latest gear" videos. Bless.
The old Canons are also really nice, and it would depend on which year and models. I would say the Canons are a better camera earlier on, and then Sony starts closing the gap later which some really advanced stuff. Canon also has loads more third party lenses available, and more total lenses on the used market (more units sold). So, it's a tough toss up. I'd say either way you got a good system!
Great system. Still using some of this on my sony a7 IV. Where could you find af 500mm mirror lens, that weighs under kilo)
Could you please review one of the Minolta Dimage cameras?
I have the A200 I got to use my Minolta lenses on. The only thing that I seem to find hard is getting a proper wide angle prime for it. I suppose this would be 17mm lens but not sure if there is such a thing out there.
Do the A100 and A300 have the same output?? Cause I'm thinking of what am I gonna get between the two. Thanks!
I bought this Camera 10 years ago and still work.
I am still a Minolta man. Even with a Sony a99,I exclusively use great Minolta lenses.
The a100 natively (not mod) can shoot IR?
Don't confuse decades old minolta lenses 9that are MC and MD mount) with the more recent (1990s) minolta AF mount (that became Sony A Mount). I had lenses for my Sony A200 and A57 and thought I try film photography by buying a Minolta X-300. Imagine my surprise when the A mount lens didn't fit.
I recently started playing with a Nikon D200 that I suspect has a Sony CCD sensor in. The images look great, so would recommend getting any (dirt cheap) old digital camera so long it has that CCD sensor in. (I think Canon were the only one to straight to CMOS).
Interesting video, thanks.
You have to try the Minolta AF 70-210/f4 "beer can".
I keep hearing about the beer can. Is it good?
@@snappiness For $30 it's amazing lol. It's sharp enough, good bokeh. Nicest thing it is the constant f4 aperture.
It might already be on your watchlist but I suggest you to try the Fuji S3 pro, I have one and it is a blast! unique sensor, quirky design and Nikon F mount
Yes! I have been watching those Fuji's for quite a while. They still demand an unusually high price for their age - compared to their Nikon counterparts - I guess they must have a loyal following. But hopefully one day.
I actually liked the form factor of the NEX cameras. Especially how tiny and light the NEX-5 and NEX-5N were. The NEX cameras were my first Sony still cameras after using Nikon and I have never switched back. I like my Sony a7III, but I wish Sony still made a super light e-mount body like those, but with improved sensors and displays.
maybe try an a6400, those are pretty small and light.
Yeah, I went from an A100 to the Nex-5, just because I wanted something lighter for trips and walking about. The APS-C bodies have good sensors and are still compact, although the the last model of the smallest Nex model was the 5100. Still, 24mp in the 5100, so you might take another look. The problem is that then you'll miss the EVF and want to upgrade.
Enough megapixels, IBIS and a range of good and cheap vintage glass.
Must resist buying into yet another camera system.
😄 my thoughts, exactly 😅
You're tellin' me, lol.
I use a sony a65 daily. And super cool minolta lenses with swirly bokeh haha. It's great to nature photography. Not action though. Honestly an nex3 is better in terms of speed
I found lots of Minolta film cameras with those compatible lenses. I went nuts and bought lots of them at an online thrift shop. One of my favorites is the beer can lens with a constant F4 aperture. It takes sharp contrasty images, despite the scratches on the outer lens (I think I spent $30).
I also have the 28mm f2.8 like you, which I bought on Ebay, however this might seem odd to you, if I put the aperture to f2.8 and take an indoor image, it's very dark. But, if I set the aperture to f22, all the images are blown out. It's as if the f-stops are reversed. Any ideas?
Almost forgot, great job on the video, looks like you had to do a lot of research for this one.
It seems that the aperture has a problem. Have you checked if the blades are oily and if they are closing properly? Blown up images suggests that the camera is metering for f22 but the lens closes less than f22. The smaller the f-stop, the higher the amount of light hitting the sensor.
Oily aperture. In case of a simple lens as is 28, it can be cleaned easily by someone experienced. Much harder to do that with beer can.
Out of the old DSLR's other then Pentax ones which has been your favorite? I think I enjoyed the Olympus E-450 video the most.
Hmm. They all are so fun, haha. I really liked my Nikon D80. It just all came together really well on that camera and felt wonderful. Only Nikon I've used to date. The Olympus DSLRs are very cool and work wonders - just a pity about the hard to find and limited lens selection. You can build a pretty cool and unique kit with them, though.
@@snappiness I’ve always preferred Nikon over Canon for the feel. Canon feels plasticy and tacky. But pentax and nikon dslrs feel like tanks. The K10D and the D7100 could be used as hammers
The Minolta “Beercan” 70-210 is a superb zoom, but the kit zooms are not great. I have a 7D, the last gasp before Sony, and basically the A100 at 6mp. Lovely camera.
Still shooting with mine. Always keep it in my bag as a backup. I always know it will turn on, after all the battery never dies 🤣Yes the auto focus has never been the best and It has bits missing off it, but the pics are still great, I would never part with it.
The autofocus in mine is getting a tad lazy. Was there ever a firmware update for that, I wonder?
I still have my Minolta A1😁
I hadn't seen that camera before - added to my list to keep an eye on ;) I'm going through an 8mp ccd kick right now with my Canon Powershot pro1, Nikon 8400, and Sony f828. I guess the equivalent there would be the Minolta A2!
Cool video
How do you hook this up to the PC? I can't see a usb connection on it.
There's a little USB port where the SD card goes. It's the mini USB, whatever that's called. An older cable.
@@snappiness Thanks
Still use my KM A-1 and A-2, Sony A300 A57 A77ii
While trying to sell my Olympus Evolt E-410 on Karrot, I ended up finding a Sony Alpha A230 just sitting around for $18. I gave the lady $20 CAD. I thought it was going to be ass because I had a crappy Point And Shoot for Sony from back in the day. Boy was I wrong, this is a Minolta and NOT a Sony from the modern day. Maybe it's jumping from a Micro 4/3 (which is not great at nightlight). I found the night performance to be pretty good. Better than my Olympus(s) (both Four Thirds and Micro Four Thirds). I'll hold off in buying lenses for now, but they're really cheap. I just don't live in a good place where I can avoid shipping. Shipping most of the time is just as expensive as the lenses if not more for me. But yeah, despite having fast focusing, it is mostly incorrect and hesitant. But it's pretty good for how much I bought it for. Last but not least...the CCD. It's pretty cool. Though I still prefer the Olympus CCD...(R.I.P. E-300, mine died within a week. I don't recommend ppl buying the E-300. The E-500 seems to be more robust.)
My first camera was alpha 300 or 200, not sure. Its AF was unreliable, Sony zoom lenses were soft and auto white balance was all over the place. Later I bought A580, that was a gem until stopped to be usable due to problems with power on/off switch and shutter release (quite widespread problem with 500 and 700 series). AF was reliable, WB was great, basically everything I had problems with on that old entry level body was fixed. Great camera, would buy again if I would find one. I am still on Sony-A system with a68. EVF have its advantages (it have opened the world of manual focus lenses to me), but still prefer DSLR, especially in low light where EVF of a68 shows almost more digital noise than actual image.
As for lenses, I have owned several Sony zoom lenses - those I have tried got good only after they killed off DSLR lineup, then i had several Tokina and one Minolta lenses, those were on par with worst Sony ones. Soft, bad contrast, problems with light smearing. But Sigma made lenses for Sony-A too and those were great. Currently I own only one Sony-A mount lens that isnt from Sigma (and that would be Sony DT 16-50 f2.8 SSM)
@3:52 The new owners of Olympus (since Jan this year) will not be able to keep the Olympus name indefinitely. Not known how long for, but I guess only for the inherited Olympus designs. I take that by _"most recently"_ you were referring to Olympus, not Pentax which has been owned by Ricoh for a decade now.
I just read about that! Going with OM Systems or something like that. Interesting.
hello, i can get a sony a200 with a standard 28-80 alpha lens for 20 bucks from work, only thing it is missing is a charger..... buy?
Yeah, great buy! You can always flip it for more on eBay if you decide you don't like it. Buy an off brand charger for $10.
Model work 2024 year. No bad camera. 😂😂😂😂 👍😎