newbie needs lens advice

[wingless84]

hi i'm a newbie to photography and i recently got myself a dynax 505si 2nd hand (about $350 with kit lens).

can anybody advise as to what kind of lenses i can use with this camera? is it true that i can only use AF lenses and not MF lenses with the 505?

am also looking for a macro lens, around 100mm focal length. any recommendations?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Magnus Wedberg]

hi i'm a newbie to photography and i recently got myself a dynax 505si 2nd hand (about $350 with kit lens).

can anybody advise as to what kind of lenses i can use with this camera? is it true that i can only use AF lenses and not MF lenses with the 505?

am also looking for a macro lens, around 100mm focal length. any recommendations?

Thanks a lot!

Hi!

You can only use AF lenses natively. Older manual focus lenses (mainly Minolta MD mount and Pentax/Praktica M42 thread mount) may be used with adapters, but you may lose much functionality from the camera (exposure may be erroneous). It's best to stick to AF lenses if you you don't have special needs.

All Minolta AF lenses will work on your 505si, except the newest SSM lenses, which will not do AF on it. However, there are only two SSM lenses, and they are probably out of your price range.

Watch out for older third party lenses (Sigma!) as they may be non-functional on your 505si, or may not work on a future Minolta camera. This incompatibility problem is caused by Sigma.

The best macro lens is Minolta's own 100/2.8. There are three incarnations of it, I think; they are all of the same performance as they have the same optical design, but they have exterior differences and some added functionality in the newer versions. The next best alternative is probably Tamron's 90/2.8 -- it is legendary, too, even if the Minolta is a notch better.

Do also note that this is hearsay -- I own neither of the macros (even if I hope to own the Tamron pretty soon) but I think this is pretty much "accepted truth" in Minolta circles

 

[blurblock]

hi i'm a newbie to photography and i recently got myself a dynax 505si 2nd hand (about $350 with kit lens).

can anybody advise as to what kind of lenses i can use with this camera? is it true that i can only use AF lenses and not MF lenses with the 505?

am also looking for a macro lens, around 100mm focal length. any recommendations?

Thanks a lot!

I got a 28-85 3.5-4.5 from Cash convertor at $59 ;D ..... It is absolutely fabulous . sharp, constrasty

 

[wingless84]

28-85 3.5-4.5? isn't that very close to the kit lens specifications?

i find that somehow my pictures tend to be a little bit overexposed on auto mode. is it a characteristic of this camera?

btw, some pics from my first roll can be found here, scanned at low-res and not digitally edited.

Thanks very much to Magnus and blurblock!

 

[blurblock]

28-85 3.5-4.5? isn't that very close to the kit lens specifications?

i find that somehow my pictures tend to be a little bit overexposed on auto mode. is it a characteristic of this camera?

btw, some pics from my first roll can be found here, scanned at low-res and not digitally edited.

Thanks very much to Magnus and blurblock!

Spec is similar, but the optic quality is different , alot of difference . Don't think it is a characteristic of the camera to be overexposed, but more towards your metering.

 

[YuHsuan]

The spec of the kit lens is f4.5 to 5.6, one stop slower than f3.5-4.5 . The quality of the kit lens is also way below this lens.

Other lenses that you can look out for:
28-105,
24-85
24-105 D

These are all f3.5-4.5, and they're all better than the old kit lens. I heard that the newer kit lens (28-100) is better but I do not have any experience with it.

or if you can find this in decent condition:

28-135 f4-4.5

28-85 3.5-4.5? isn't that very close to the kit lens specifications?

i find that somehow my pictures tend to be a little bit overexposed on auto mode. is it a characteristic of this camera?

btw, some pics from my first roll can be found here, scanned at low-res and not digitally edited.

Thanks very much to Magnus and blurblock!

 

[wingless84]

that's funny, because my kit lens is 28-100. i think it's fine

but thanks anyway for the advice

 

[deslim27]

that's funny, because my kit lens is 28-100. i think it's fine

but thanks anyway for the advice

Just stick with your standard zoom for a while, until you dislike the quality it produced? When? Its individual..

Do consider a cheap but excellent 50 f/1.7..

Generally, as you get more addicted to photography.. you will want,

1) Ultra Wide Angle Lens (Zoom/Prime)
2) Telephoto Lens (Zoom/Prime)
3) Standard Zoom Lens (Replacement)
4) Macro Lens (Prime)
5) More Primes!!! :bsmilie:

Cheers!
Des

 

[Minoxman]

You can't go wrong with a Minolta. Good lenses past and present.

 

[YuHsuan]

Interesting..... I've always thought that the kit lens bundled with the 505si was the 28-80mm. It was only til the Dynax 5 and 4 were released that the 28-100mm lens was bundled with them.

No offence to Brother Minox but the old minolta 28-80 kit lens is really no good. Soft, flares easily and vignettes a lot at 28mm

that's funny, because my kit lens is 28-100. i think it's fine

but thanks anyway for the advice

 

[The_Cheat]

Interesting..... I've always thought that the kit lens bundled with the 505si was the 28-80mm. It was only til the Dynax 5 and 4 were released that the 28-100mm lens was bundled with them.

No offence to Brother Minox but the old minolta 28-80 kit lens is really no good. Soft, flares easily and vignettes a lot at 28mm

There are two kit lenses bundled with Dynax 5, as far as i know. One of them is the 28-80/4.5-5.6 D lens, and the other is the 70-300/5.6-6.7 D lens. Don't think there's any 28-100mm lens bundled in...

 

[sulhan]

hi i'm a newbie to photography and i recently got myself a dynax 505si 2nd hand (about $350 with kit lens).

can anybody advise as to what kind of lenses i can use with this camera? is it true that i can only use AF lenses and not MF lenses with the 505?

am also looking for a macro lens, around 100mm focal length. any recommendations?

Thanks a lot!

Hi there,

Looks like you have got a great camera and a great kit to start off. That would probably bring you very far .....

The 28-80mm kit lens is good (or should i say very good)....for normal use provided you do take extra care on areas like flares and vignette problems.

TO answer your question - yes the 505si is an AF body and only accepts AF lens (fyi : the minolta mount is called A-Mount).

I have had experience with the 28-80mm and the only gripe is that the focussing element is a little wobbly and for close range portrait shots you may run into slight blurring etc. But seems okay for infinity focus type of images -landscapes etc.

For a start, you would probably want to understand you style of photography - which would influence your need for newer lens and the range to be covered.

Do consider the 50mm f1.7 - its cheap and good.

I'm personally using the 24-85m as my workhorse.

I used to own the 100mm F2.8 Macro, and its a great lens producing sharp images and also great bokeh for Portrait!!! Sold the lens away as i realised that i wasn't utilizing it much - as i normally do landscapes stuff.

So it all depends on your needs....2nd hand stuff may be a good start. Do Check out those 2nd hand shops in Penin....

Example : Range 24 to 400mm (On Zooms) :
==================
24-105 + 100-300 + 1.4TC
24-85 + 80-200 + 2xTC
35-70 + 70-210 + 1.4x TC


rgds,
sulhan

 

[wingless84]

Thanks people

actually i'm pretty keen on getting the 100mm F2.8 macro but my budget is a little limited (less than $500, i guess).

 

[deslim27]

Thanks people

actually i'm pretty keen on getting the 100mm F2.8 macro but my budget is a little limited (less than $500, i guess).

In that case, do consider Tamron 90mm. From the reviews, its a good lens too.

 

[NashVillian]

i dun see any problems with the exposure from the pics u posted, "correct" exposure is really sujective, as long as your intent is acheived, it doesn,t really matter wat ppl say, if u feel that the exposure is a tad over then you can also compensate it via the shutter or the aperture. otherwise, keep shooting!