Our main camera at the moment is a Sony Alpha 100 digital SLR with the stock 18 – 70 mm zoom lens.  This is a 12 mega-pixel body with a 3/4 size sensor.

When I (Bruce) was shooting professionally I used Minolta 9000 bodies with motor drives and had a collection of lenses and flash equipment.  When Sony bought out Minolta, they kept the Minolta bayonet lens mount (a-mount), so all of our old lenses are physically compatible with the new Sony digital body.  Sony also built their anti-shake technology into the body (the sensor moves) rather than into each lens, making it possible to use the old lenses and still take advantage of this feature.  This was the main reason we bought the Sony instead of a Canon or Nikon product.  Unfortunately Sony did not keep the flash hot shoe configuration or include a PC socket, so none of the old flash equipment can be used and we have not been able to find a suitable adapter.

I have had my eye on a Sony alpha 99 SLT for some time, a 24 Mp, full 35mm sensor body, but have not bought one.  SLT stands for Single Lens Translucent.  This camera is NOT an SLR (Single Lens Reflex) in which the mirror flips up and down.  It has a fixed partial mirror that reflects a small about of light to a secondary sensor which then makes the image available on a small monitor in the eye-level viewfinder.  This avoids the mechanism required to move the mirror up and down as well as any resulting vibration.  In early November 2013 I discovered the SonyAlphaRumors website.  They were reporting that production of the a99 would cease at the end of November 2013 and that Sony would not be producing any more SLTs.  Apparently Sony has developed a replacement technology that will be available in 2014 but will maintain the a-mount lens system.  Sometimes it pays to wait.

We both have Apple iPad2 tablets and use the built in camera in certain situations.  We also both have Samsung Galaxy S-III smartphones and use the cameras on those.  One of LInda’s smartphone photos was used in the November 2013 issue of the SKP Photographers Newsletter (a picture of workshop participants taking photos of a sunset).  Bruce also has a photo in the same issue of the grist mill at Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountain National Park.