So I've taken the DSLR plunge as well. I've been looking for a decent priced DSLR for a while, and was... 'fatigued' at the prospect of not being able to use the accessories I purchased for my original SLR, a Minolta HTsi, about 5 years ago. Paid good money for it, and though it's only worth about 25% now, it's still money invested, and I'd like to keep use of it and my new stuff if possible.

So Minolta came out with a DSLR (5D & 7D) which does just that, accepts all the old Maxxum parts, and after some research, I found out my HTsi was in the Maxxum class of cameras. So I waited a bit for a deal, because MSRP is something like $1600... And all the places on the internet that had them for under $1000 all had less than 1 out of 10 on customer reviews (resellerratings.com).

Minolta has just released a $200 rebate, which is good from now until the new year I believe. That was enough to make me find a low-priced reputable company to buy from. So I did. Newegg.com (a very reputable company) had the camera w/lens for $1150, no tax, $10 shipping. After rebate, that'll be $960 total... Verra nice, imho.

Still have to play with it some, and figure it out. Pretty much used my old SLR for hi-end point and shoot, and never really for enthusiast photography... So if there's any good guides or tutorials online for picture taking, me and the misses are open to them, because she wants to get into photography too.

With that, I'll end with some recent pics from my SLR (CD's made with film developing)... Will post some DSLR pics in a few days, after we get a few good ones.

 

You get the great new camera right AFTER taking pictures of me on the track with my dinky Kodak

Congrats and have fun!

Now I've got to get around to setting up my darkroom again and dusting off my 35mm gear...

 

Well, if it makes you feel any better, we may not have brought it out to the track. I brought my SLR out to West Virginia, and then when it was time to go to the track, I told my wife "decide now what you want to carry, because I'll be on the track". It was then that she deemed the SLR was too heavy, and that her camera was fine. She complained later about how much she wished she had brought it, but that doesn't change the fact that in the morning she didn't want to carry it.

 

...I didn't bring my 35mm. Because at first she offered to shoot for me with my camera. She probably would not have liked my 500mm f6.3 long focus Vivatar. It's not a mirror lens but a nice long bazooka style :smile: .

Weighs a ton...

 

Congrats on the camera, but..., scale your pics down... woaaa!!!!

 

She wouldn't have minded taking pictures. Only carrying it all day. She's a wuss.
Will do. Just posting full res pics in this thread to show diff between my old SLR and new DSLR.

I'll make the DSLR ones clickable then:
http://mappage.net/images/PICT0001.JPG
http://mappage.net/images/PICT0005.JPG (this was taken about 200ft away with a telephoto)