Expert: John Oliverio - 11/4/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hello, I am thinking of purchasing a Minolta Maxxum SPxi and I had a question about lenses.  As an amateur, what kinds of lenses should I buy to start out with that will give me a wide range of features?

Also, if I am purchasing used lenses, do all Minolta lenses fit this body or just certain types?

Thanks very much for your time.
Marc

ANSWER: Hi Marc,

Generally to start out, you would would want a wide angle zoom and a tele-photo zoom.  So, perhaps a 28-90mm and a 70-300mm.  It is also important to buy a flash.  I don't think the spxi even has a built in one.

No, not all Minolta lenses will fit that body.  Only auto-focus lenses. Manual focus lenses (they were all built before 1985) will not even fit.

If you don't mind my asking....  why a film camera?  And why that camera?

John

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for your quick response.  As far as a film camera goes, I can't afford a similar digital camera right now so I thought I'd buy a film one in the meantime.  I want to learn how to use the lenses and features before purchasing a digital.  

As for the SPxi, it doesn't have to be that one in particular, it was just one I came across on Ebay.  I like Minolta but I don't really know the quality of one model to another.

Thanks,
Marc

ANSWER: I would generally stay away from Minolta cameras from the early and mid 90's. There were tons of defective cameras at that time.  They suffered from defective aperture base plates.

Also, I would look at any used film camera purchase with an eye towards a future digital camera purchase.  In other words, have an idea what brand digital camera you may want, because the lenses you buy for your film camera may work on the new digital.  If you buy a Minolta auto-focus camera, your lenses will fit on a Sony dSLR.  Canon is the same....  any auto focus lenses you have from Canon will fit on their digital cameras.  With Nikon and Pentax you can use even older manual focus lenses on the higher end digital cameras. However with Olympus, none of their old lenses will work on their current cameras. Nikon is the current leader in digital SLRs with Canon a close second.  That doesn't mean there is anything wrong with Sony, Pentax or Olympus.  Just that Nikon and Canon sell more cameras.  

John

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the information, I appreciate it.  Are there any Canon or Nikon models that you would recommend in particular?

Marc

Answer
It would be easier to mention cameras I would stay away from.

Stick with Auto-Focus cameras. For Canon these will all be called EOS. For example, the EOS Elan is a good one.  For Nikon, all of their AF cameras (except for pro models) were designated with an N.

I'd stay away from:
Any nikon with a four digit number (because of age) other than the 8008n. The N70 because the controls were too complicated. The N60 and 65 because they were too simple. One of my favorite Nikon AF cameras was the Nikon N90s.

Canon...  I'd stick with Elan's and Rebels.  If you can afford it, the one I like the best is the EOS 3. I wouldn't go for the original Elan or Rebel because of age.  The Elan 7e and 7n were later models.  For Rebels, The Ti and G are later models.

John