I would greatly appreciate some advice re the pruchase of a camera plus a couple of lenses.

I'm a rusty advanced amateur....meaning that I'm returning to still photography after an extended sojourn in video. My primary photography is candid city life, travel city scenes and wilderness exploration...very occasional nature photography (my last was wilderness plus wildlife in Denali)

I've been playing around with a friend's Minolta Maxxum 9....I like the viewfinder (a bright viewfinder with diopter correction is very important to me for composition)...the ease of operation...the obvious quality of construction.....I don't like the weight and also wonder about the availability of quality lenses. Another friend has recommended the Nikon F100 or to wait for the new N80. I handled the F100 in a camera store and it handles nicely.

I know that this is partially a matter of feel and taste and will obvioulsy factor that in big time...But I am trying to increase my data base before making this decision.

Thanks alot.

Mark mp@sfsu.edu

-- Mark Phillips (mp@sfsu.edu), March 28, 2000

Answers

This is a tough decision Mark. The Maxxum 9 is a wonderful camera. I recently faced the same decision. My son has a Maxxum 7000 with a wonderful Minolta 50/2.8 AF lens. After considering the Maxxum 9 and the F100 I went out and bought a near mint Nikon F3 HP with MD-4 motor drive and two used Nikon AI lenses. I chose Nikon because I can use the AI manual focus lenses on the autofocus bodies and Nikon's autofocus lenses on the manual focus bodies. I want to purchase a digital camera in the next two years, and my Nikon lenses will transfer to a Nikon digital camera too.

Your needs may vary, of course. Another consideration is the cost of used equipment (if you want to buy used). Minolta's lenses, although excellent, do not hold their value as well as Nikon's and are therefore a better buy used. The converse is true if you purchase them new.

One other consideration is the cost of the top line lenses. For some reason Minolta lenses are more expensive than top line Nikon lenses. The Nikon 300/4 AF sells for $900 new, while the Minolta 300/4 is around $1200. The 200/2.8 lenses have a similar disparity.

As far as performance goes you can't go wrong with the Maxxum 9 or the F100. In the end it was the compatibility from manual focus through autofocus to digital that sold me on Nikon. That and I purchased a pro level body and two lenses for the price of the Maxxum 9 or F100. I picked up a Nikon FM for my son and am negotiating a deal to trade the Maxxum 7000 and 50mm lens for a Nikon 105/2.8 micro AI lens.

-- Darron Spohn (dspohn@photobitstream.com), March 28, 2000.

Featurewise, the F100 is an N90s with 5 selectable focus points, support for vibration reduction lenses, and an updated UI. The thumbpad sure is fun, but it's not worth hundreds of extra dollars to me yet. It seems to be a nice camera if you don't need mirror lock-up for your US$1100...

The N80 would be a good choice if you never intend to buy a manual focus lens, a bellows, or (possibly) extension tubes -- there is no in-camera metering for anything which lacks electrical contacts. (I'm not sure what the current tube situation is. My older tubes don't have pass-thru contacts, the new Nikons look identical to mine, and Kenko supposedly makes AF tubes for Nikon. Bizarre.) No MLU on this one either, but for a lot less money.

The Maxxum 9 is a decent camera from what I hear. I'm a little committed to Nikon so I don't torture myself, but it has three features which would intrigue me: 100% viewfinder, some kind of MLU, and built in wireless TTL flash support. (I'd probably use flash more often if it was less painful to use it off-camera.) The Minolta lenses are probably fine. Leica didn't turn up its nose at working with Minolta, did it?

I need MLU & I have some ancient Nikon macro equipment (bellows, short mount lens, a complete set of older tubes) which performs well for me. I also need a body with a decent prism and a good screen so I can focus at 1:1 in poor light. So I use an F3. I wouldn't necessarily worry too much about the much-vaunted Nikon interchangeability, though. Generally the system works so that if you have an older body, newer lenses and lens accessories will work: older lenses have always had issues on newer bodies (AI'ing very old lenses, putting chips in AIS lenses now to get matrix metering).

Any particular reason Canon is not an option? (Viewfinders, I'll assume.) And what lenses will you need?

-- John O'Connell (boywonderiloveyou@hotmail.com), March 30, 2000.

Mark, generally the camera body is just a black box to help you take pictures, unless you're talking about the Nikon F5 and it's color matrix meter with D lenses. For your purposes, you can probably do with a Nikon F90X (international version of N90S), which is a considerable savings over the F100. You could even add the MB-10 vertical grip ( and quick battery replacement) to the F90X, and it would be $400 less than an F100. You would have identical flash capability to the F100, one, two or 4.3 frame per second motor with power rewind, dx coding, an eight segment matrix meter, a great one percent spot meter, and the ability to use manual focus Nikon lenses in spot or center weighted mode. And remember, the camera is almost TRIVIAL next to your accessories, like tripod, flash and lenses. If the price of an F5 or F100 is no object, then go ahead, they would be my one-two, but if money is somewhat tight, then seriously look at the F90X with MB-10 vertical grip. Put the difference into other components.

If your into people and street photography, you need to concentrate on 28 mm to 105 mm lenses. I recommend primes over zooms, they are much quicker to focus, have extended flash shooting range because of their wider maximum aperture, and are usually sharper. I have fixed 28 f/2, 35 f/2, 50 f/1.8, 85 f/1.8 and 105 f/2.5 lenses. I recommend the 35 f/2 and 85 f/1.8 as the perfect starter set, and, to quote my 1977 Nikon guide to photography, the ideal two lens combination for a wedding is the 35 and 85, followed by the 50 and 105. Although I've owned other lenses, I find lenses wider than 28 distort the human figure. The 85 is a portrait lenses, and works very well in shots of one or two people in vertical mode, and up to three in horizontal mode, though you primarily shoot vertically. Same with the 105, a portrait lens, that you primarily shoot vertically with. You may never by another lens if you start with the two I recommend. Get a great flash (you may eventually want more), and a great tripod and tripod head, and you'll be in great shape.

If you're into nature, then you'll need long glass (300 to 600 mm), and macro lenses, and your prices will be out of sight. I don't find the 135, 180 or 200 mm lenses as useful as the five I mention above. And if you need to go long, then your talking a 30, 400 mm, 500 mm or 600 mm and lots of bucks. I really like 300 and 400 mm lenses.

Don't bother with one of those never ready camera cases, get a shooter's bag. I've tried almost every bag out there, own several, and I heartily recommend a Domke J-2 as a shooter's bag. It won't impress you when you look at it, but the main compartment hold's two bodies with body caps, and four lenses with hoods. The two huge side pockets can also hold lenses or flashes, as can the two front pockets. There is still the back pocket for all your manuals, and the top inside pocket. All for only $107 at B & H, the best place to buy.

-- John Soroka (DJ2SOROKA@msn.com), March 31, 2000.

I am struggling with a deciso to buy a N/F 80. In another forum someone said his N/F80 is made in Thailand and a question mark about if the prism is plastic and someone had some parts fall off the 80 !!.

Now does this sound like Nikon ? Could someone please tell me which is better n80 or n90 . I dont have the money for f100 even though I think That's where Nikon want people to go (Not very fair NIKON !!)

Thanks in advance and regards,

nalin.

-- nalin U (nalinu@talk21.com), March 13, 2001.