Maxxum 7D price

"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...

I wonder why Minolta went with a 6.1 sensor when the new offerings from
Canon/Nikon are going 12 mp. Is this digicam addressing the consumer
market
or pro's?

Many amateurs and a few pros. There are not that many pros who use
Minolta,
unfortunately. As this is their entry product into the DSLR (not counting
the
RD-185) market, starting at 6 Mpx is a reasonable beginning (From what
I've seen
of Nikon D100 performance, it is nothing to sneeze at, and the Minolta
offering
is certainly a better camera than that ...)

Better how? AS doesn't make it better. The 7D has the same Sony sensor as
the D100 and Pentax *ist D. The specs might equal a D70, but not much
"better" it's certainly more expensive...

"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...
Darrell Larose wrote:

Better how? AS doesn't make it better. The 7D has the same Sony sensor
as
the D100 and Pentax *ist D. The specs might equal a D70, but not much
"better" it's certainly more expensive...

1) A-S will make hand held shots sharper. That is "better".

No such doohickey in the D70. Of course you can purchase VR lenses
if you like... not many available (I count 5 in the June 04 B&H
catalog)?
...and boy are those VR lenses expensive!

For the difference in price between the 7D (beofre prices inevitably
fall)
and the D70 you can't get even one VR lens.

2) ISO 100 - 3200 (D70: ISO 200 - 1600)

3) Larger, higher res LCD: 207 k-pixels (D70: 130 k-pixels)

4) Mag alloy body frame (D70: polycarb ...not neccesarily bad but I prefer
metal)

The + side for the D70 include a 1 stop faster shutter speed and the
matrix
metering that originates in the F5 as well as being a little lighter.
None of
these offset the performance of items 1 & 2 above which have direct effect
on
the recorded image.

The 7D is a better camera overall. Hopefully there will be a higher end
version
soon.

Compare the 7D to the Canon 10D and likewise the Maxxum is one hell of a
contender ... AND it has A-S. I just hope that Minolta and Nikon
eventually
catch up to the Canon DLSR game level.

Cheers,
Alan



Yeah, But Canon has some major QC issues. There are tons of reliability
and lock up issues being reported on the 20d and even Mk11 on Dpreview,
and DWF (digital wedding forum).

I believe that becuase of their rush to beat Nikon, they are cutting corners
on QC.

Patrick

Darrell Larose wrote:

Better how? AS doesn't make it better. The 7D has the same Sony sensor as
the D100 and Pentax *ist D. The specs might equal a D70, but not much
"better" it's certainly more expensive...

1) A-S will make hand held shots sharper. That is "better".

No such doohickey in the D70. Of course you can purchase VR lenses
if you like... not many available (I count 5 in the June 04 B&H catalog)?
...and boy are those VR lenses expensive!

For the difference in price between the 7D (beofre prices inevitably fall)
and the D70 you can't get even one VR lens.

2) ISO 100 - 3200 (D70: ISO 200 - 1600)

3) Larger, higher res LCD: 207 k-pixels (D70: 130 k-pixels)

4) Mag alloy body frame (D70: polycarb ...not neccesarily bad but I prefer metal)

The + side for the D70 include a 1 stop faster shutter speed and the matrix
metering that originates in the F5 as well as being a little lighter. None of
these offset the performance of items 1 & 2 above which have direct effect on
the recorded image.

The 7D is a better camera overall. Hopefully there will be a higher end version
soon.

Compare the 7D to the Canon 10D and likewise the Maxxum is one hell of a
contender ... AND it has A-S. I just hope that Minolta and Nikon eventually
catch up to the Canon DLSR game level.

Cheers,
Alan

--
-- rec.photo.equipment.35mm user resource:
-- http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

This camera exceeds the 10D in most respects. Larger-finer display, more
buffer, lighter, faster USB (2.0) and of course Anti-shake.

What you should have said Alan is that, "This camera exceeds the 10D in most
respects on paper" seeing as the 10D is a real camera and no one yet has
tried out a 7D.

"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...
Richard Cockburn wrote:

Alan Browne wrote in
:


A kit: 7D + Flash (2500(D) + grip: CAD$2,500.00 (aprox US$1,960)

Body: CAD$1999 (approx: US$1565.00)

Seems high to me. I would bet on a price closer to US$1,200 once
things settle a little.



With introductory prices like that, KM might be effectively limiting
their
market to current Minolta film SLR owners, with less hope of pulling in
newbs and converts.

Mainly true.

Except for the one little feature that KM provide ... anti-shake. This
will
allow slower lens use at lower ISO numbers, and/or lower light use for the
better lenses. Either way, it is a lower cost path than IS/VR whether a
current
Minolta SLR owner or not.

I bet the price settles quickly to around US$1,200 - 1,300. This camera
exceeds
the 10D in most respects. Larger-finer display, more buffer, lighter,
faster USB
(2.0) and of course Anti-shake.

How many 'new' customers this brings in is of course TBD. The owner of
the
store where I got the camera has had a lot of interest in the 7D.

Cheers,
Alan


--
-- rec.photo.equipment.35mm user resource:
-- http://www.aliasimages.com/rpe35mmur.htm
-- e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...
Richard Cockburn wrote:

Except for the one little feature that KM provide ... anti-shake. This
will
allow slower lens use at lower ISO numbers, and/or lower light use for the
better lenses. Either way, it is a lower cost path than IS/VR whether a
current
Minolta SLR owner or not.

I bet the price settles quickly to around US$1,200 - 1,300. This camera
exceeds
the 10D in most respects. Larger-finer display, more buffer, lighter,
faster USB
(2.0) and of course Anti-shake.

Comparing it to the discontinued Canon 10D is odd, I guess it can't compare
with the 20D with it's Sony 6.1 MP sensor.

"Patrick L." wrote in message
...

offering
is certainly a better camera than that ...)

Better how? AS doesn't make it better. The 7D has the same Sony sensor
as
the D100 and Pentax *ist D. The specs might equal a D70, but not much
"better" it's certainly more expensive...


AS means that I can shoot in lower light without a tripod, and when you do
a
lot of church weddings that don't allow flash, this is a good thing,
especially knowing that I would have to spend a fortune in IS lenses, were
I
going down the Canon path, or Nikon equivalent. AS is better for the
bottom line.

It has yet to be determined that AS in the body works as wel as a VR or IS
lens. I have been to about 350 weddings, and I have faced few restrictions
in regards to flash.

"Joseph Kewfi" wrote in message
...
This camera exceeds the 10D in most respects. Larger-finer display, more
buffer, lighter, faster USB (2.0) and of course Anti-shake.

What you should have said Alan is that, "This camera exceeds the 10D in
most
respects on paper" seeing as the 10D is a real camera and no one yet has
tried out a 7D.

There have been mixed reviews of the AS in the KM A2. I agree nobody has
seen the 7D, I have seen 10D * ist D and D100 and D70 images. This red
herring about using dSLR at weddings is an odd one. Seems like people are
trying to be pro on the cheap! I have been to many weddings, all with
Hasselblad, no IS or VR lenses.

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 16:10:57 -0400, Alan Browne wrote:


Today I was given two bizarre prices for the 7D. These were based on a
photo store retailer and what he had been told by Minolta.

A kit: 7D + Flash (2500(D) + grip: CAD$2,500.00 (aprox US$1,960)

Body: CAD$1999 (approx: US$1565.00)

Seems high to me. I would bet on a price closer to US$1,200 once things
settle a little.

Cheers,
Alan

So when will it arrive in the Browne household?

--
DD ™
"And that's all I got to say about that" ~ FG

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 19:25:05 -0500, Patrick L. wrote:

Compare the 7D to the Canon 10D and likewise the Maxxum is one hell of a
contender ... AND it has A-S. I just hope that Minolta and Nikon
eventually
catch up to the Canon DLSR game level.

Cheers,
Alan



Yeah, But Canon has some major QC issues. There are tons of reliability
and lock up issues being reported on the 20d and even Mk11 on Dpreview,
and DWF (digital wedding forum).

I believe that becuase of their rush to beat Nikon, they are cutting
corners on QC.

Patrick

insert Tim Allen query-grunt here

Is this perhaps why we're hearing so little from the queen of
Cano-digital, Annika? Could it be that his new joy has put a little bit of
sand in the Vaseline?

My my... that is interesting to hear.

--
DD ™
"And that's all I got to say about that" ~ FG

On Mon, 27 Sep 2004 17:29:29 -0400, Jim Waggener wrote:


"Alan Browne" wrote in message
...

Today I was given two bizarre prices for the 7D. These were based on a
photo store retailer and what he had been told by Minolta.

A kit: 7D + Flash (2500(D) + grip: CAD$2,500.00 (aprox US$1,960)

Body: CAD$1999 (approx: US$1565.00)

Seems high to me. I would bet on a price closer to US$1,200 once things
settle a little.

Cheers,
Alan

I wonder why Minolta went with a 6.1 sensor when the new offerings from
Canon/Nikon are going 12 mp. Is this digicam addressing the consumer
market or pro's?

6 megapixels is plenty for prints that ordinary everyday folks, even
advanced semi-pro photographers make. Not everybody enlarges every
photograph they take, so for 300dpi prints up to A3 in size, your 6MP
camera will do the trick.

For me there's no need for 8, 12 or 16MP. It just takes up too much memory
for the type of photography I do. In fact, I was doing a commissioned
shoot on Saturday and I actually turned down the res on my D70.

--
DD ™
"And that's all I got to say about that" ~ FG