On Sun, 20 Apr 2003 20:04:40 -0400, Peter Charles <p_s_charles@hotmail.com> wrote:

>For many years I was a happy Nikon MF user until one day when I

>decided that I didn't like the weight and lack of automation anymore,

>dumped the lot, and bought a Canon A2E, 28-105, plus some other lenses

>(none of them L- Series). From the get go, I wasn't thrilled with the

>results, but hey, it was lighter and idiot proof.

>

>After a few years with the Canon, I finally got fed up with the muddy

>results, the battery consumption, and the fragility. So I went back

>to my first love; bought an EL2 and FM plus some MF lenses. Not

>surprisingly, the results beat the Canon plastic crap (same film and

>processing.)

>

>Now here's the surprising part. I just finished a fishing trip to NC

>on which I brought a Minolta Vectis Weathermatic Zoom APS that I had

>just bought used, plus my Canon plastic crap. Despite the smaller

>format and the point-and-shoot configuration, the Minolta outdid the

>Canon plastic crap (28-105) in both sharpness and contrast (same film,

>same processing, same lighting conditions, same subjects.)

>

>Makes you wonder . . . .

I'm not surprised...;-)

BTW, try an old Nikon N2000 body sometimes - gives

you motor wind, "endless" battery life, TTL flash,

and enough automation to make things easy (no AF,

but the finder is sharp enough to make this

irrelevant...;-). For small size/weight, make that

an FG...;-)