on 8/19/02 5:55 AM, Wayne Harridge at wayneharridge@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Albert wrote:
>
>> So while this is got to be the most biased forum to ask such a
>> question, I
>> figure if the Maxxum is a great buy, then even the very biased OM forum
>> would tell me so and recommend me in that direction..
>>
>
> So why would *we* know anything about a maxxxxum ?
>
> ...Wayne
I've got one that is broken... a Maxxum 300si, which is a lower-end
auto-only from a few years back. My brother also uses the Minolta Maxxum
system, he has an older model, I'm not sure which one. If I were going to
look into an AF wunderbrick camera, I'd probably look at the Canon EOS
system. Minolta makes good cameras, but the focus motor is in the lenses.
This makes the lenses cheaper, but I don't think the focus is as fast as the
EOS focus. Note that I have only a Canon EOS IX (the APS SLR) to base my
comparison on, but it focuses quite fast, probably as fast as I can manually
with care, and seems to be very accurate at it.
My brother's Minolta is louder focusing; the Canon 'ultrasonic' motor is
very quiet. I think Canon has an equivalent price-range model, maybe the
"Rebel 2000" (or would it be '2002' now?). I have also read that the usually
included 'standard' zoom lenses for these lower-end AF cameras tend to be
not-so-good optically or mechanically as the lenses (primes and zooms) sold
separately. Some of the AF primes are pretty affordable, and much much
faster than the zoom lenses. I would get tired of using a f3.5 or slower
lens all the time...
I have heard that many of the low-end AF cameras are made by someone else
for Nikon, Minolta, Canon, Pentax, etc... that 'someone else' maybe is
Cosina or Sigma, (or some assembly outfit in China) as this is the only way
they can get the price down. I expect that the Minolta Maxxum 9 (is that the
high-end model?) and Canon EOS-1n are made directly by Minolta and Canon in
Japan. That might influence the quality... Those high-end models are more
directly in the price range of a new OM4Ti, although the lower-cost models
are closer to the used 4Ti cost range. The high-end models are bigger and
heavier than the low-end versions due to the use of metal for the body and
more features (and not being designed by Olympus <g>).
--
Jim Brokaw
OM-1's, -2's, -4's, (no -3's yet) and no OM-oney...
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