Okay here's the basics. Questions follow at the end. She takes photos for bands occasionally, and of kiddies on Santa's lap. She is mainly an event organizer. She's not a professional photographer, but needs the camera for her work, it's a tool, and wants something a bit better than what she has.

She is currently using a 7 year old Minolta Dimage Z1 3.2 mp. It was a decent camera for the time, 10x optical zoom. The quality is fine for what she does, 4x6 or 5x7 prints. The reason she wants to go DSLR is lag time of the shutter on the Z1, and she wants to hook the camera to her MacBook Pro and then have a printer hooked to the MBP so she can view and print the kid's pic right away after they sit on Santa's lap. Last year she had to take the card to a local 1 hour shop when the session was done.

She has the lenses, 35-70 w/macro and a 70-300 zoom, and a 2800 AF flash from a Minolta Maxxum 7000. The old Maxxum AF lenses work on Minolta DSLRs and from what I've been reading, and also on Sony Alpha and Dynax branded DSLRs.

From what I can find the flash won't reliably work so she'll need a new one of those probably.

Finding a good price for the camera body is not my concern, I can shop. I'm not looking for megapixel and sensor vs background noise wars either. Again keep in mind that the 3.2 Z1 is fine for her, not a professional photographer nor is she shooting for posters or billboards.

Question #1. - What does it take to interface a DSLR live with a laptop. In other words being able to browse the pics on the camera live on the laptop. If her Z1 could do it she would be happy to keep it, but when we hook the camera up it goes to transfer only mode.

Question #2 - What photo printer should she get. Small format, 5x7 max print size.

Thx.

Sounds like she is being too practical. You need to spend at least 20 hours a day for a week looking at reviews on dpreview. That is the minimum amount of time you need to find a lens cover.

Looking around it seems the Alpha a700 and a900 will tether, but they are out of her price range. Looking further.

If it's going to be cheaper to go to a different model and forget the lenses she has she will of course. It looks like that may be the way it's going to end up. She can live with the stock lens for now for Christmas and get a zoom later.

LOL. Exactly what I'm trying to avoid.

I use a Canon Selphy for 4x6 photos. It is small and easy to carry around but I am not sure about cost-per-print and I have not checked on the 5x7. John Lasruk would be a good one to get advice from on the Alphas. I believe that is what he is using.

I know that Canons and Nikons have software that allows tethering on at least the pro-sumer models. Don't know about Minolta.
Or there is 3rd party software that tethers... but it's in the hundreds.

Aperture
Capture 1
LightRoom


Here's a free one that supports Nikons on Macs.... since Nikon charges for their software.
http://www.sofortbildapp.com/


You can tether a camera through Bridge if supported and it shows up in Bridge, then use Adobe Raw...
I'm thinking this is your best bet..set up a hot folder and if Bridge doesn't refresh on it's own... then you have to do it after every shot.


The problem you have is.. who the hell's gonna support a camera that the manufacturer quit making any cameras ...what... 6 years ago?
More at 11:00....

http://www.bibblelabs.com/products/bibble/specs.html

Bibble 4 Camera Support

Bibble Pro and Bibble Lite can process JPEG images from any camera, and support RAW files from the cameras listed below.

The cameras that work in tethered mode with Bibble Pro also listed in the table below. Bibble Pro supports tethered camera mode - allowing images to be transferred directly to your computer, bypassing your camera's memory card when shooting tethered. Neither Bibble Pro nor Bibble Lite support remote camera control.
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Bibble Pro 199.00
Bibble Lite 99.00

Free Trial

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DSLR Remote Pro for Mac

How Much Does DSLR Remote Pro for Mac Cost?
DSLR Remote Pro for Mac costs US $129 (click here for free trial* or to purchase) and includes one full year of free upgrades.

Custom Solutions
Breeze Systems also provides customized remote capture applications for Canon DSLR and PowerShot cameras. Contact sales@breezesys.com to discuss your requirements.

*Risk Free. Try before you buy. When you do decide to buy there is no need to download the software again - simply place your order and then enter your registration code to unlock the software.

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Nikon DSLRs can also be tethered, but unlike Canon, they don't include the software with the camera. You can purchase Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 ($150) for remote shooting.
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This one is free. I'll download it ha.


http://www.sofortbildapp.com/

Auto Image Import

Sofortbild can automatically import captured images into Apple Aperture and iPhoto, optionally launching those application if they are not already running.

Pictures are imported into user defined projects and albums or automatically created ones.

Auto import into Adobe Lightroom is provided by setting up Lightroom's watchfolder feature.


Camera Support

Sofortbild currently supports all newer Nikon digital single-lens reflex cameras including the high models D3s, D3x, D3, D700 and the consumer D300s, D300, D90 and D5000.

Support for the older Nikon digital single-lens reflex cameras will be added in the upcoming versions.

The long term goal of Sofortbild is to support als major digital single-lens reflex cameras from manufacturers like Canon, Sony and Panasonic.


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Thanks for the info, it looks like we have quite a few ways to do it.

We're not trying to tether the old Z1 BTW, I know that won't work, when you connect it to the Mac you can't take pics, she's looking for a new camera.

I'll be able to figure out the software now that I've got some ideas as to our options, thx, but the next question now, is there something to look for in camera specs so I know we get one that can be tethered? Do they mention tethering?

Also to make sure I've got this right, tethering will allow her to shoot while still accessing the camera's pics on the card right? Or do you have to be saving them to the computer instead?

It's not the camera specs.. but whether or not the software devs have included that cameras proprietary file in their software.

You are saving them to the computer instead.... although I believe some of the higher functioning cameras might allow for both I have never done it.