> I suppose if I shot 90% of the time in some auto mode rather than 90% in
> manual mode I'd probably feel the same. But a customizing function
> would be pretty trivial to implement. A lot more useful than a
> PictBridge print button. :-)
Chuck, the problem you and I both face is the fact Minolta did such a
good job with the A1. As I'm less of an exposure-offset kinda guy, and
the fact that the exposure-offset activation button is so handy, it
was a no-brainer to make one of the control wheels ALWAYS the aperture
and the other ALWAYS the shutter-speed. The biggest problem I made was
in customizing the camera to what I felt was the best orientation of
those controls. Unfortunately, that was exactly opposite of how Canon
and Olympus implemented the controls.
I'm supposed to be selling the A1 to finish off the funding of the L1.
It ain't happening... I just can't bring myself to get rid of it. It
does stuff no other camera in my kit does. In fact, it just got its
place of honor back in my smallest "grab-n-go" bag. When buying my
first digital camera I researched, studied, compared and sought the
guidance of a higher power. Without a doubt I feel that I got the
absolute best camera for the money then and it still holds its own in
conditions that don't press either the ISO or resolution too far.
In fact, I'll go out on a limb here and say that for some types of
landscape pictures, it is my favorite digital camera. The images from
it have an uncanny 4x5 look to them. There is a sublety of tonalities
which just draw you in, and you can really crank the color and
contrast to extremes.
There is also that little factor called "The Lens". The GT lens in
that camera is by far one of the best lenses you'll find anywhere for
any system. Other than the distortion inherent in all megazooms, I
will say that this lens is about as good as any primo-deluxe top-grade
lens from any manufacturer. The color, contrast and resolving ability
of the lens is outstanding, as well as the fact that it is sharp at
nearly every focal-length and aperture. There is no sweet spot with
this lens--it's just good everywhere. Diffraction limits do kick in,
but that's not the fault of the lens.
Put the battery-grip on the A1 and that camera looks and feels
awesome. It is a serious looking camera with serious big-camera
features and controls. Oh, and it is quiet and smooth.
Picture quality is no 5Dmk2, but when you stay within the boundaries
of what it does do well, it is very satisfying. I have 11x14 prints
which lack nothing. Shove enough light through the lens to the sensor
(staying at base ISO) and a high enough shutter speed (below 1/2
second the noise starts to build), the IQ is perfectly adequate. The
fact the sensor essentialy has no AA filter doesn't hurt, either.
AG
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