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| Digital John Equipment and Review Page | |
| This is a list of my current equipment. The Reviews and Opinions, which all will not agree with, are of my own and based on my own usage. If you would like to give your opinion please do via email. I would be glad to post in this section other opinions and rebuttals to my reviews. The more information available the better for everyone involved in photography | |
| Current Equipment | Opinion after use |
| Minolta 7D Camera | This in now my backup camera. It performed excelent. The controls and ergonomic design fit well with my type of photography. The image quality is excelent. To bad Minolta is no longer in the camera business. (Sony now supports and continues with the line) |
| Sony Alpha 700 Camera | This is my main camera at this time but due to a blow over of the Tripod on the Lone Pine trip the outside body of the camera is broken beyond repair. I do like this camera with its higher resolution of 12 mega pixels. I only have 2 things that I wish the camera had and both could be corrected in firmware. 1. It needs mirror lockup the same is true of the minolta 7D. 2. I also wish it had a 1 stop bracket setting in the 5 bracket exposure mode. This would keep the entire exposure range that I sometimes need in making HDR exposures. This is a quality camera that I highly recomend. Pricing is reasonable and lenses are also priced well. |
| AF DT 18-70 / 3.5-5.6 (D) Minolta Lens | This is the original lens that came with the Minolta 7D camera. It is workable but you must test. It is not the sharpest at all settings. I use this lens as a backup only. Please note that Sony sells the same lens in its kits. I would opt for the kit that contains the 16 to 105 lens. A much better lens. |
| DT 16-105 / 3.5-5.6 Sony Lens | This is an excelent lens available in a kit with the Sony Alpha 700 camera. The center range of this lens is very sharp and I would rate it as excelent. At the very ends (16 and 105) it is good but I switch to other lenses as they are sharper. You will not find a better lens then this at the price you pay to get the lens in the camera kit offered by Sony. |
| SP AF 11-18 / 4.5-5.6 Tamron Lens | I like this lens as it is sharp and works well. I carry this lens in the camera bag and use it for any wide angle shot without reservation. I suspect that Tamron makes this lens for several companies as a OEM lens. |
| AF 100-400 / 4.5-6.7 APO Minolta Lens | This is a great lens and I am suprised that Sony didn't keep it in the line when they took over from Minolta. Perhaps sales did not warrant as it was a costly lens. I rate this lens excelent as the fild results have shown it to among the best. |
| Giga One Ultra from Jobo | I use this in the field as it saves on carrying lots of cards. I burn up a lot of card space when shooting 5 or more images for HDR work so this is a life saver. I works very simple, just plug in your card, turn it on and push the copy button. It then copies your card to the hard drive. Once home plug the Giga in to a USB port and it acts like a external hard drive. |