Page 97 - Friedman Archives

Lenses 97

Okay, so you want to order a new lens online or a used one on ebay. How
can you tell which lenses are compatible with your camera? Below I’ll
discuss things you’ll need to know when choosing a lens. I’ll also talk
about “crop factor”, which is something you’ll need to know.

3.12.1 SOME ESSENTIAL LENS HISTORY
The Sony Alpha system is actually based on the technically outstanding
Minolta (later named “Konica Minolta” after a merger) Alpha SLR
platform. (Minolta named their cameras “Alpha” in Japan, “Dynax” in
Europe, and “Maxxum” in North America.) Minolta made outstanding
cameras and manufactured their own optics, the vast majority of which
were a serious match for any competition. Life was good.

In fact, Minolta had a remarkable history of innovation and achievement.
Historically, they had been one of the few companies to mine their own
glass for their lenses, and they had designed (and in some cases also
manufactured) camera bodies and lenses for Leica, the Rolls Royce of
camera brands. They were the first to offer autofocus on SLRs in a major
(i.e., non-experimental) way, and were also one of the very early pioneers
in DSLRs. Over the years they had managed to out-distance long-time
competitors such as Pentax, Konica (pre-merger), and Olympus in the
35mm SLR market space, putting them in the #3 spot in this very
competitive arena back in the days of film. They even had achieved major
market share with handheld light meters in the professional motion picture
industry.
Anyway, despite a huge history of innovation, Konica Minolta’s camera
division was losing money (mostly, it seems, because of an autofocus
patent lawsuit that they lost to Honeywell and the immense amount of
R&D needed to be competitive in the DSLR market), and so in April 2006
Konica Minolta pulled out of the market altogether, concentrating its efforts
on the more profitable business copier product lines. Sony, wanting to
break into the high-end camera market, took over the design, production,
and marketing of KM’s highly acclaimed DSLR products. They also took
over most of the camera and lens factories and hired many of the engineers
and other employees. So, most long-time Minolta users (like me) were
ecstatic because it meant that my huge investment in Minolta Autofocus
lenses and flashes would still be compatible with Sony’s DSLR offerings.