Is this sad? I think it is.

[Ronald_H]

The last few years I did a lot of concert shooting. Alas, not so much these days, although I still frequently go to concerts. Even without a camera I observe with interest what concert photographers shoot with.

A few days back I saw a middle aged man at a KT Tunstall concert. He was toting a dSLR with a big white zoom lens on it. Ahh, most be a Canon EOS then. Well, no. He was standing next to me and I saw his camera was a Sony Alpha (the old Minolta AF system). Maybe they have white lenses too?

Maybe, but as I looked again, I saw that his big zoom was HAND PAINTED. And in such a way that a 5 year old could have done it! The paint was indeed flaking.

I did not dare to ask him why...

 

[btgc]

White lens gets less heat from sun. If shooting a lot under open sunny skies, I'd paint body too or get that non-pro silver version.

 

[nightlight]

That is funny - you should have asked him... maybe there's some interesting background to this. 🙂

 

[Ronald_H]

White lens gets less heat from sun. If shooting a lot under open sunny skies, I'd paint body too or get that non-pro silver version.

Not exactly relevant in a closed venue at night... although those spotlights can be wicked bright...

 

[oscroft]

Not exactly relevant in a closed venue at night... although those spotlights can be wicked bright

Sure, but it can be a real pain having to paint it every time you shoot outdoors and then scrape it off again for every concert 😉

 

[Kevin]

I had all of my huge Canon L telephoto lenses and metal hoods painted black. It makes them a lot less conspicuous.

 

[Rogrund]

Why bother painting. Here you can get a nice white coat for your black lens (or a black coat for your white lens)!

 

[Keith]

PAINT! 😱 ... doesn't anyone use tape anymore? 😛

 

[btgc]

It's a real pain. Black bodies are considered being "professional" and - opposite - white lenses look cool. Zebra coloring could be nice compromise.

For really picky there are Gold bodies and lens (50mm Pentax?), unfortunately not digital - at least until now.

Personally I'd go for obsidiane body as very strong one. Would look vintage, too.

 

[breathstealer]

Sony/Minolta, Nikon, and Olympus all have (or have had) white lenses in their tele linups. So your first guess wasn't far off.

 

[Pherdinand]

So..why didn't you ask? You probably missed a nice discussion due to a small prejudice...

 

[Ronald_H]

So..why didn't you ask? You probably missed a nice discussion due to a small prejudice...

Normally I like to discuss photgraphy in all its interesting ways, but that day I was more interested in the lady on the stage. And prejudice? Well, maybe he was a nice guy and a competent photographer. We will never know...

 

[nobbylon]

I remember reading an artical about a pro photog who had some olympus om3's painted in white by olympus for use in hot cond's as the black bodies had electrical probs due to the heat. I've tried but can't find the pics of the cameras. Maybe he did use this lens in very hot conditions and white was cooler to hold onto than black if it was out in the sun for a long time?

HAHA found it!

 

[spyder2000]

I used to sell Hasselblad. I had a customer who would buy product and then immediately paint it white. Every body, every focal length immediately white. Tried to explain about warranties and such but to no avail.

 

[TheHub]

Oh, you mean the sad part wasn't that he was using an Alpha?

* ducks *

 

[SolaresLarrave]

Somewhere I read that Minolta had white bodies and lenses as a choice for some of their amateur cameras... the ones with funny names, like XTSI, STSI and the like (aka Xtasy and Stacy). They looked like made for the Star Wars warriors.

 

[Ronald_H]

Oh, you mean the sad part wasn't that he was using an Alpha?

* ducks *

Hehe. I used to be a Minolta guy. Sold all my glass, but the Dynax 7 still sits lonely on a shelf. Nobody wants it anymore, at least not for a decent amount of money.

But I'll say it here: It is the best camera I have ever handled. Period. Light, strong, outstanding metering, fantastic AF, great ergonomics, lovely finder.

Only went Nikon because Minolta took so long in bringing out a dSLR... Not that my Nikons are bad. But I still rate the Dynax 7 considerably higher than my D200.

 

[anoldsock]

Hahahaha, that's awesome that he painted it.

 

[gavinlg]

I hate white lenses... I had a canon 70-200 f4L back when I had my EOS DSLR kit and I envied the nikon 70-200 for being black.

You know that argument that people have over putting labels on their cameras to make them less conspicuous? When a lens is white and 3 times bigger than the camera body, you can be seen from the moon.

 

[Avotius]

Wait a second, isnt the sony 70-200 2.8 lens white? as in this? http://www.adorama.com/ISO7020028G.html

I say that only because I have used this lens, its good, but not as good at the canon 70-200 2.8 IS which is truly fantastic.