Minolta Maxxum lenses

[mom2mykids]

I have a minolta maxxum 430si RZ that I bought somewhere around 10 to 12 years ago. I have 2 lenses for it. I would love to be able to use them on a DSLR. Anyone know if its possible? That would give a litte extra $$ for the camera body. I was looking at a website and saw some sony DSLR cameras are compatible with minolta but I don't know if mine are too old.

 

[ducklite]

Check out Ken Rockwell's site, that should give you some insight on your specific lenses.

I went from Minolta to Nikon when I joined the digital age, so all the Minolta stuff was sold on e-Bay and I don't have first hand experience, but this is what I know about Nikon and older SLR lenses. Often a lens that was made for a SLR will be usuable on a same brand DSLR--BUT, only in manual focus mode, and sometimes you'll have a lot of degradation in the corners.

IMHO if you are thinking about buying a new DSLR, I wouldn't really consider the existing older Minolta lenses. I'd look at Cannon or Nikon. You'll get what most prople consider much higher quality products with a far broader range of available lenses. Personally I wouldn't trust SONY to not eventually exit the DSLR market, and then you'll be left with a lot of orphaned product. Sell your old gear on e-bay, make a little cash, then buy a splurge lens with it.

 

[MICKEY88]

I must respectfully disagree with ducklite.

to say that nikon and canon are much higher quality cameras than the new sony's is simply not true,


as far as Sony dropping out of the business I doubt very much that it will happen,, they've been a big player in the digital camera , and they bought out Minolta, knowing that dslrs are a neccessary part of any companies digital camera business, I highly doubt they will drop dslrs, especially since everything they've released so far has gotten great reviews and won awards, and they are gaining market share..

to answer your original question, yes your auto focus Minolta lenses will indeed work on Sony's dslrs,

they have the A100 ,the A700,

and just this past week announced the A200 which will replace the A100,

they are supposed to release a pro level dslr sometime around the end of February or in march