I'm hoping this is an appropriate place to post this question. I'm an amateur but serious photographer. I use mostly prime lenses and do available light photography, most of which is handheld and at wide apertures, but I do sometimes use tripods. I do much more black and white than colour. I do landscapes, cityscapes, and informal portraits, plus other stuff from time to time, but no sports or nature and I rarely use a lens outside of 17mm-210mm. I often use fast 50-100mm lenses with AF for the portraits, especially with young children. I have been doing a lot more recently with Rolleflex TLRs and I like that kind of quality for black and white where it is practical to use such a camera.
My current dilemma is that I have been using the Minolta Maxxum (Dynax) system for a few years for my AF needs, but keeping one eye on the current and future development of the system that is looking more and more like a poor choice. Before the advent of digital photography the situation was relatively uncomplicated- one could choose the AF system that met one's film photography needs and that was it. Now things are different and it is obvious that the prescence or absence of digital slrs from a system is a consideration for anyone who knows they will want one in the future. I can't predict what Minolta will do in the future but I do not have a sense of security about them since they are lagging far behind in so many areas, and looking over the garden fence I see that EOS users already have access to digital slrs with very high image quality. (FWIW I also see that serious photographers' equipment needs are being met by Canon in ways that Minolta may never be able to equal). S ince I would like to be able to use a digital slr myself in a couple of years it seems that it would make more sense for me to change to an EOS system now. The problem I have is that I can't predict the future and it is not 100% certain that things will continue to go in the direction they are going currently. We are no longer tied in to existing film formats with digital slrs and there is a possibility that someone will develop a new digital slr system that will supercede existing systens. It is even possible that Canon might do this themselves. After all they did it to themselves before when they dropped the FD system. However, the EOS lenses are already electronic, designed to be so from the ground upwards and so there would seem to be less reason to want to reinvent the wheel there. But even so, things just aren't as safe and predictable as when everybody was using film. So I what I'm after is other peoples' feelings on the probable life expectancy of the EOS system, and whether this is a good time to switch. My assumption (but that is all it is) is that there wil continue to be new EOS digital SLRs for some years yet to use the EOS lenses, and that the image quality available will be very high, and that buying into the EOS system now would be a rational move. If that is so then I could get an EOS system now with my most basic needs- which would probably be a 1n, a 24, 50 and an 85 or 100 and then I could buy more lenses as I go on, and seriously consider a digital body when the current high end quality comes in a body that costs around $1000, which I'm guessing would be in a couple of years time. Does this make sense? Any stabs at predicting the future of EOS would be most helpful. Joe B. * **** ******* *********************************************************** * For list instructions, including unsubscribe, see: * http://www.a1.nl/phomepag/markerink/eos_list.htm ***********************************************************
