My first SONY Alpha was the SONY A700. Yes an A Mount APSC SONY Alpha. My work was in the Government and we shot Nikon, but I was now allowed to bring the cameras home. So, I shot with a pair Minolta Maxxum 9's in my side portrait work. The Minolta Pro glass was as sharp and crisp as the Nikon Nikkors, but the Auto Focus was twice as fast as Nikon.
I think this is why SONY's acquisition of Minolta's camera division open SONY to the professional Digital Still Camera Market..