Buying a quality photo lens -Minolta Dimage A2 Digital camera lens inquiry

Factual Questions
1

Hi all,
My wife is going to school and to reward herself for passing MicroBio, she has decided to upgrade her digital camera.

While the Dimage A2 comes with a pretty versatile lens, like me, she tends to be a zoom freak.

All that said, who makes the best stuff these days that could fit my wife’s camera, I’ve been to Ebay, but you know how that goes; you really need to know your lens to come out with a good deal. I’m seeing the manufacturer: Tokina, Digital Optics and one by Phoenix the most.

  • Or possibly one of your camera hounds out there could just tell me what I’m looking for in terms of build/construction and how to judge the quality of the lens

I’m most tempted to go with the Phoenix lens and not just because of the “pretty” picture, here’s the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/MINOLTA-DIMAGE-A200-A1-A2-HI-DEF-AF-3X-TELEPHOTO-LENS_W0QQitemZ7532369214QQcategoryZ106857QQssPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Any informed persons of the photo community that could lead me towards the end of this researching stuff are very welcome to respond.

2

http://www.dpreview.com/

http://www.dcresource.com/forums/

3

What he said… Actually, I personally like Minolta stuff…

4

Err- What did he say GusNSpot?
I didn’t really see this response as a “decider” one way or the other. Is what I’m looking at on Ebay just crap or what?

I’ll certainly use these links and post questions to the boards, but I could really use a bit more decisive advice.

5

That was all assuming it was an interchangeable lens. My apologies.

For a specifc answer, I noticed that this camera does not actually have an interchangeable lens. Any add ons have to go on the front element. My experience with similar set ups have shown that rarely is an aftermarket supplemental lens going to be of high quality. But…, I can’t find a Minolta brand supplemental/auxilary lens kit. If Minolta makes one of their own, it should be listed in your instruction book somewhere.
It’s tough to reccommend a Buy or Don’t Buy descision to someone else, because a lot of the difference comes down to taste and application.

6

Also, the more extreme telephoto one gets with a physically small camera like that, the harder is to hold it steady enough for a sharp picture. A tripod or monopod would be suggested for stability.

So, add the traditionally poor performance of supplemental/auxillary front element lens attatchments on to the camera shake problem, and I think you might end up disappointed with your purchase.

Of course, ymmv. If a money back offer is available, then some quick tests can show if it’s a good choice for you.

7

Go to the dpreview.com site, select the Konica-Minolta forums, and do a search on “teleconverter”. It looks like something called an ACT-100 (or ACW-100) gets good reviews from them.

You’re never quite sure what you’re going to get on EBAY – usually the teleconverters being sold are, to be kind, junk. 3X telephoto requires some serious glass which you’re not likely to get for $73.00. Most teleconverters run 1.4 or 1.7 – modest range, but lighter and less demanding on the optics. (The picture at the bottom of the page you pointed to is mighty suspect. That sure doesn’t look like a simple 3X magnification.)