On this episode of This Old Camera we take a look at the history of Minolta, specifically 1989. We'll discuss the i series of cameras, plus much more. Minolta Playlist • Minolta
I have mny grandfather's 5000i and my oldest child used that for their intro photography class. They are going to an art school this fall for photography.
2 minutes in, full stop. I had Minolta 9000 back in the day, I bought it new, with the money I earned working over the summer, as a teenager. And I enjoyed it, yes I did. I could make a perfect exposure on a slide film without using hand held light meter, autofocus was quite accurate (at least in the good light), and those lenses where much more contrasty and sharper compared to the lenses I've previously used, that being Minolta's MC series. But already come the next November, I got a nasty surprise - already at 5°C, the camera stopped working. Fine, I've switched batteries (2xAA), but after 15min I had to do it agin, and agin... That camera was battery hungry beyond belief in cold weather, and that experience was quite traumatic for me since I'm quite a winter person. So I sold that thing and went full manual with the used Nikon F2... And by the way, that Minolta's extra card thing was considered as a money grab in the eyes of professionals, especially given that many of those functionalities where built - in many cameras from Nikon & Canon, just saying.
The second gen (I series) of Minolta AF cameras are severaly underrated! The Maxxum 7000i was my first proper film camera, and I had a great time using it. The AF is amazingly fast, and Minolta even dedicated some pages in the manual describing how the new improved AF system works (essentially a cross sensor made of 3 different sensors). The AF blows the original 7000 out of the water in my tests, and with a 50mm f1.7 and the AF illuminator, I can focus on a white ceiling in a dark room in half a second!
the 7000i maxxum was the first camera I was gifted by my parents for photography class in HS. Still have it to this day! Runs perfectly. And I've always wanted to pick up one of those cards to see how they actually functioned. The glass is absurdly cheap. And anytime I run across them I pick it up. One of these days I'll finally get that active mount for my a7ii and use my lenses on a modern platform. Otherwise I'm happy to use it for more active party shooting and pass it around the room!
When I watched your video I did it with my near-mint Minolta Dynax 7000i and a program 2000i flash. I own and use a lot of the great Minolta cameras. Thx for the video.
Minolta A-mount glass still holds up to today and it's no wonder why Sony Mirrorless folk love collecting these lenses. They're a fraction of the price from last production A mount lenses and current day E mount lenses.
some A-mount Minolta lenses are great, some are not so much. but all those mirrorless guys are either using them as manual lenses or spending more on an adapter than on a lens. they should stick with Minoltas MD and leave the AF ones for DSLR users :P.
Still use Minolta AF lenses adapted to my Sony cameras today (both A-mount and E-mounts). Have some "i" film bodies, but don't use them any longer. Also know some that are still using the Minolta light meter. Some cool info here I didn't know, well done.
Very nice!!! Brings back lots of memories seeing those ads. I was just getting started in photography that year and was using a 110 instamatic for a good part of the year. But I’d read all the major photo magazines and I would drool over some of the newer cameras being released as well as film reviews and tests. Such a fun year as all the common sights to me now were new to me back then.
Ha,ha,ha,ha .... some people still think zoom lenses work like that. Its making searching eBay for Minolta tempting, I've probably only got about half a dozen cameras I haven't used now. That shot of the mushrooms and the moon was brilliant. I'm presuming it was a double exposure or a darkroom creation but a great idea none the less. Love the new 'This Old Camera' reel.
Superb video as usual in content and presentation. This video took me back to 1990, when I was in Singapore, bought the Minolta 8000i and kept bargaining for the 24-50/F4 which was a lens that I used for years. I also bought the Freedom Zoom 70 which was slightly smaller.
Bought my first film camera off ebay - a Minolta 8000i. Now I have got myself a Dynax 5 :) Been loving taking film, as I could use my lenses on both my film camera as well as my Sony A-mount cameras. The pictures coming out from both are still beautiful.
Oh, for a return of kodachrome 64, it doesn't even have to be processed, but that would be nice. I am looking forward to the next round, the short-lived xi range that I had back in the day. 👍keep up the great work.
I loved the into. My mother worked for the copier division of Minolta at their Blauvelt NY plant as a mid level manager in 1987 and retired in 1998. Before Minolta she worked for Pentax’s surgical optical plant in New Jersey. It’s Interesting that few auto focus cameras become classic units. Perhaps the F5 and F100. These Minolta bodies certainly deserve such status.
I went on a buying binge a few years ago... eBay UK... Only a few quid at a time and the 7000 and 7000i cameras were there for as little as a fiver... I snapped up 3 of each and yet to run film through. Later I managed to get the 9000 too. All fine machines.. In fact my only collection of autofocus lenses are Minolta and I bought the Konica Monolta 7D and a Sony 200 cheap to use them with... That 7D is amazing...
It's good that I have 7000i already, otherwise G.A.S would kick right in. Plus waiting for Fantasy expansion card to arrive next week. Can't wait to try it.
I started off with the Minolta 7000i. I bought it at px on base. I carted that thing all over the world . I loved it. You could leave it on program, using it as an advanced point and shoot. Or go manual for artistic control. I later bought the 9xi, which I also loved. Unfortunately like a fool I bought into the belief that Minolta wasn’t a professional system. In 96’ I switched to Nikon. Foolish. You the photographer becomes a professional, not the camera you’re using. Man, I miss the 90’s.
