Hello ALL

Im new to this forum but glad I found it, here's my first question

AT present myself and partner are using Canon 20D's for our photo work which is events and portraits, we cannot fault the cameras as they have been fantastic providing high (enough) quality images, the only reason for getting canon in the first place was because Minolta do not provide what we wanted digitally hence the sale of our minolta film gear, we are now in the process of needing to upgrade and me being me, im looking at the reviews on the sony A700 and what maybe coming from them,

so my question'''s is can you see the sony cameras being a vaild option and would a change be a good move or should we hang fire till the sony flag ship arrives??, and how does the 5D compair and would this be a good investment if staying with Canon

any advice would be great

cheers

Sony are certainly comitted to making their DSLR range a success - I wouldn't worry about investing in their system.

That said, at the moment they don't offer a camera like the Canon EOS 5D, so if you need that camera's unique features, go for it!

Are you saying not to invest in a Sony DSLR? that the Canon EOS 5D is more unique? how does the A700 compare to the EOS 40D?

From my reading of the specs for the 40D it is very similar to the A-700.
You see reviews going on about the lack of a secondary info screen on the top of the A700 but it has image stabilisation built into the body and obviates the need for expensive IS lens's.
I went for Konica/Minolta in the first place because of this feature.

I am rapt with the A-700 and would have no hesitation recommending it. I read on here I think that the Sony full frame is due at the end of this year.
john

Well, I think The Brain has won out and I'm on the verge of picking up a 40D. My hankering for the A700 was because of the built-in stabilization, DRO, and lovely screen. The Alpha's screen can't be beat, but the other Alpha pluses have some kind of rough equivalent in the Canon system. Knocks against the Alpha system are the limited lens selection (half the lenses recommended on that forum are discontinued), generally more expensive lenses, a minimal number of quality FF lenses (thinking ahead here), the non-standard flash mount, and zero knowledgeable local dealers (Saskatoon, Canada). Canon seems to be a better system for the wildlife photography I'm interested in getting in to, plus has several advantages for astro-photography (14 bit, 10x live view focus, remote control via computer). I live on an acreage thirty miles out of town and could see getting into this type of shooting, in addition to the portraits of family and friends and wildlife photography I was thinking of initially. 40D also seems to be a better camera for Strobist-type photography that has also been grabbing my attention.