[PatT]

I've been using this camera now for 4 months. Its been to the Panama rainforest and beaches. I would love to post some pictures, if I could figure out how to make a gallery here. I usually use my Sigma 400 APO for birding. I'm also looking to upgrade my 75-300 in the near future, probably with the 100-300 D. I also have the 28-75/2.8 D for walk around, fashion and portraits. What a great camera!!

[digimad]

Originally Posted by PatT

I've been using this camera now for 4 months. Its been to the Panama rainforest and beaches. I would love to post some pictures, if I could figure out how to make a gallery here. I usually use my Sigma 400 APO for birding. I'm also looking to upgrade my 75-300 in the near future, probably with the 100-300 D. I also have the 28-75/2.8 D for walk around, fashion and portraits. What a great camera!!

I have had mine for two months i think as you do it is a great camera, Attached to mine i walk around with is a Tamron 200-500 lens the AS allowing handheld use. To post in the gallery try going to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for instructions on using the gallery.

Regards Digimad

[dynacam]

Had mine since Dec 2004, and I am loving it, I have on order a Tamron 200-500, looking foreward to getting this ..
Other lens are the Minolta 17-35mm, 28-75mm, 75-300mm and 28mm, 50mm and Sigma 50mm macro alnong with a 3600HSD flashm all from my film days.
Some of my current images are a www.k-island.com.

[alsirhan]

Hi Digimad,

I have read your post on K-Minolta 7D. I was planning to buy the new Sigma AF 50-500mm f/4-6.3 APO EX DG which is optimized for DSLR but I heard that the Tamron is also digitally integrated and is a good one. How fast is AF system? Is the letter "D" meant the "ADI" which is used for flash? How would you recommend it?
Here is a link for the Sigma's test:

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/len...gma_50500_463/

Here a link for the Tamron 200-500mm review:

http://www.photo.net/equipment/tamron/200_500_Di/

I own Sigma 170-500mm 5-9.6 for 3 years now and use it mainly for bird
photography, but the AF is awfully very slow and useless! I have never
used it! Instead I use the manual focus which is time consuming for
bird photography.

Abdul Alsirhan.
www.alsirhan.com

Originally Posted by digimad

I have had mine for two months i think as you do it is a great camera, Attached to mine i walk around with is a Tamron 200-500 lens the AS allowing handheld use. To post in the gallery try going to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for instructions on using the gallery.

Regards Digimad

[digimad]

Originally Posted by alsirhan

Hi Digimad,

I have read your post on K-Minolta 7D. I was planning to buy the new Sigma AF 50-500mm f/4-6.3 APO EX DG which is optimized for DSLR but I heard that the Tamron is also digitally integrated and is a good one. How fast is AF system? Is the letter "D" meant the "ADI" which is used for flash? How would you recommend it?
Here is a link for the Sigma's test:

http://www.photozone.de/8Reviews/len...gma_50500_463/

Here a link for the Tamron 200-500mm review:

http://www.photo.net/equipment/tamron/200_500_Di/

I own Sigma 170-500mm 5-9.6 for 3 years now and use it mainly for bird
photography, but the AF is awfully very slow and useless! I have never
used it! Instead I use the manual focus which is time consuming for
bird photography.

Abdul Alsirhan.
www.alsirhan.com

Hi Abdul

The AF system does hunt on occaision even when the camera is set on spot focus when trying to take pictures of birds in flight (handheld at 500mm end) but most of the time the speed is fine, I bought this lens because of it being lighter than the Sigma and walking around with the Tamron is ok, Another point you will have to check about the New Sigma lens is does the Hypersonic Motor work on a Minolta if this the camera you are going to use it on, as on the old Sigma lens the HSM did not.

As for the Flash question i cannot answer as i do not use it in my type of Photography.

Regards Digimad.

[alsirhan]

Hi Digimad

Thank you very much for your quick reply. Very sad Sigma do not provide Hypersonic Motor for K-Minolta, it is available only for Nikon and Canon. Tamron is ligher (1237g compared to 1840g for Sigma) has a Minimum Focusing Distace of only 2.5m compared to 3m for Sigma at 500mm. Tamron works with ADI flash a good feature for night photography, I have read somewhere that it can exceed the Synchronizing speed of the camera.

Regards
Abdul Alsirhan

[rjmellor]

I just purchased the Minolta Maxxum 7D since I already have the Maxxum 7000 with several AF lenses. The camera performs great with the standard 50mm and 28-85mm AF lenses from Minolta. However, I cannot get the AF to work on my Sigma 70-300 mm AF lense, which I purchased in 1986. The AF works fine on the Maxxum 7000 so I thought it would also work on the 7D. I am able to work around the focussing issue by turning the shutter lock off from the menu but I thought that practically all existing AF lenses for the 7000 would work with the 7D. If I don't disable the shutter lock, the camera says that there is no lense attached. Has anyone else had this problem?

[PatT]

Originally Posted by rjmellor

I just purchased the Minolta Maxxum 7D since I already have the Maxxum 7000 with several AF lenses. The camera performs great with the standard 50mm and 28-85mm AF lenses from Minolta. However, I cannot get the AF to work on my Sigma 70-300 mm AF lense, which I purchased in 1986. The AF works fine on the Maxxum 7000 so I thought it would also work on the 7D. I am able to work around the focussing issue by turning the shutter lock off from the menu but I thought that practically all existing AF lenses for the 7000 would work with the 7D. If I don't disable the shutter lock, the camera says that there is no lense attached. Has anyone else had this problem?

I guess you could send it back to Sigma to get re-chipped but that lens can be easy and cheaply replaced with higher quality lenses now anyway. I have a Sigma 400/5.6 that is approx. 15 years old (used with my Maxxum 5000) and it works with AF- albeit VERY slow and useless for my bird photos. I just upgraded to replace this lens with the KM 80-200/2.8 APO G. Now I'm looking for the 2x teleconverter which will give me 400 @ 5.6 like the Sigma- but with better glass and AF. Good luck.

Pat

[Ron Houser]

Originally Posted by rjmellor

I just purchased the Minolta Maxxum 7D since I already have the Maxxum 7000 with several AF lenses. The camera performs great with the standard 50mm and 28-85mm AF lenses from Minolta. However, I cannot get the AF to work on my Sigma 70-300 mm AF lense, which I purchased in 1986. The AF works fine on the Maxxum 7000 so I thought it would also work on the 7D. I am able to work around the focussing issue by turning the shutter lock off from the menu but I thought that practically all existing AF lenses for the 7000 would work with the 7D. If I don't disable the shutter lock, the camera says that there is no lense attached. Has anyone else had this problem?

yes, I had the same thing happen when I tried to use the camera for digiscoping with a spotting scope. I called Minolta and they said to turn off the shutter lock and leave it off. That's what I did and haven't had any more problems.