Changing equipment

For the past 30 years or so, I've been using either Minolta or Sony cameras.  My wife bought me a Minolta Maxxum SLR just about the time we got married and I used that camera for the longest time.  I liked the zoom lens on it and it focused quickly, which was very important to me. So when it started slowing down and showing wear and tear, I felt it was time to move into the digital age and get a DSLR.

I went back and forth between different brands, but what ended up swaying me to Sony at the time was the mounts for the lenses were the same as with Minolta.  It made sense since Sony had bought Minolta.  I figured if I bought a Sony camera, I'd end up being able to use the lenses from my Minolta with that.

I ended up at a camera store in Pasadena where I looked at the Sony Alpha 100 and ended up purchasing that with a nice zoom lens.  The guy who sold it to me said, I'd probably never use the Minolta lens, because the lens that came with my Sony was better and covered more ground, and he was absolutely right.  

I used that camera a lot over the years, but I've noticed, especially recently, that the lens and camera were moving much slower.  Auto focusing was becoming much slower to achieve and with me recently taking a lot more shots of moving subjects (Dogz on Walkz), I felt it was time to start exploring the possibility of getting a new camera.

So this week, I went out and went an entirely different way this way, opting to walk away from the Sony brand and look at other models.  Eventually, I settled on a Canon Eos 80D and I must say, I'm very pleased with it so far.  The auto focus on the camera is incredibly responsive and so far, the only problem I actually had focusing on my subject was the photo of the pyracantha berries I posted to this entry.  With so many berries in the shot, the camera had problems staying sharply in focus on any one particular berry, but eventually I was able to see what it was showing me in the viewfinder and I got the shot I wanted.

I'm hoping to have a long and happy relationship with this camera.  I expect this one will go with me on many travel adventures and family outings.  So far, I've only used the wide angle lens with the camera, so I'm looking forward to getting out to use the telephoto lens.  In the meantime, enjoy these two shots that were taken with the new camera.