> In your other post, as I recall, Russell uses Minolta lenses
> and bodies and migrated to Sony after they bought Minolta.

Yes*.
But, alas, will probably migrate to Nikon within the year if Sony
continue to refuse to make a real top end camera.
The Sony A900 produces the world's best (arguably) 35mm studio images
but is a wan joke against a top Nikon or Canon full frame 35mm at high
ISO.

Nikon because I most desire high ISO / low light performance and Nikon
is king in that area, so far. Not by much but by enough.
D3S is the best you can get, but is both too large and too costly for
what I want or can reasonably afford. D700 is very very close and
Nikon will almost certainly produce a D700s or D800 or whatever this
year that is D700 physical size but >=3D D3S in performance. A 2nd hand
D700 may become very price competitive at that stage :-).

The great "risk" is that Nikon will be swayed by the desire to
maximise overall return (funny that) and produce a single compromise
rather than two more niche models The D3 has D3S and D3X. The D3S is
"only" 12 Mp (megapixel) against the 18-20-24- ... mP madness of the
herd, but it simply smiles sweetly and happily trounces them when it
comes to low noise performance. People are talking about possible 15 /
18 / ??? mP successors. Even if they manage to equal or exceed D3S
performance they could do better again at lower mP. FWIW.

The D700 meets my desired spec. Better is always better but D700
works. ie street photography on poorly lit streets at night hand-held
(with due care) and no flash and "bride about to walk up aisle at back
of church and in shadows", hand-held with due care. "With due care"
and stabilisation can give you 2 to 3 stops of shutter speed over what
the basic rule of thumb used to say you can do hand held. (Speed_min =3D
1/focal length in mm). Nothing helps too much if the subject moves
;-).


           Russell

* Most is "just money" but Minolta made some nice lenses, most of
which I could (and/or would) never afford.

Greatest lens loss for me is my Minolta 500mm reflex (mirror) lens.
f8 fixed. 500mm fixed. vvv compact and low weight.
The ONLY auto focus mirror lens made now or ever. All others are manual foc=
us.
In trickier situations it needs manual focusing but often AF is excellent.
--=20
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