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The not so Sony fan Ken Rockwwell (Click here) posted an interesting review about the first A-mount camera, the superb [shoplink 18439 ebay]Minolta Maxxum 7000[/shoplink]! great to see that I can post some Minolta news form time to time 🙂
Why has the Maxxum been so important for the camera industry? Well, easy, it was the world’s first autofocus SLR. And as I wrote before it came with the brand new A-mount to allow this new feature. But it also had other great tech like a nice bright viewfinder (something many of us miss on today’s A-mount cameras) a life-sensing touch switch and a body quality that will last a lifetime.
I know most of you don’t shoot film in these days but I still do. Nice camera to hold and use from time to time. I bet that in 30 years from now I will shoot with my Maxxum while current digital A-mount camera electronics will be long dead!
-> The Maxxum 700 can be found used for around $300 on [shoplink 18439 ebay]eBay (Click here to see some auctions)[/shoplink].
32 Responses
Next: Ken Rockwell reviews a chair.
Disclaimer: I used to own the Minolta 7000, hated it and changed to Nikon FA and latter F90, F90s and then F5- my last camera before I changed to Leica. But if there is anything to “review” in a film camera it is about much finer nuances than in a review of a digital camera. There is nothing of a review in this review, obviously, no parameters are compared. The Minolta always felt like a toy, with a gimmick – autofocus, and not a very reliable one. I needed the camera for work, back then, and it simply did not deliver. Any form of manual focusing was more reliable and accurate. And the viewfinder? honestly, I don’t remember- I would remember if there was anything to remember about it. So though not untypical to the writer, the review is totally pointless. I think the writer simply meant writing: for 25$ you can get a film body that would accept your A mount lenses. If so, he is welcome to use this sentence (and is welcome to improve the English as I am not a native speaker) without giving me any credit 🙂
Is it really necessary to link to Ken Rockwell? Come on…
Slow news day.
Admin, i cant believe theres a dumb ass idiot ken rockwell link in here.. Please if u dont have smthing to report its fine but not him, thx
Ken Rockwell is also working on an A99 review. Work in progress can be seen here:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/sony/a99.htm
>>-> The Maxxum 700 can be found used for around $300
U gotta be kidding me, more like 30$…
They’re glorified body caps. You often find them stuck to the back of that beercan or 35-105 you’ve been on the lookout for.
The 7000 does not have an especially bright viewfinder. My XD is easily brighter, as is the A900 even with an M screen fitted. I guess compared to an APS camera it would be, but can’t the same be said for most film cameras in that case? On the plus side, the 7000 and 9000 are the only A mount cameras that can use split-prism focusing screens (short of ordering a Katz Eye or something).
For $30 I’ll sell you 4 of them, plus two 9000s and a QTsi.
It seems every time I find a lens on ebay with one of these attached the seller won’t reduce the shipping charges if they don’t put the camera in the box.
Smply reading his name convinced me not to read the article. I would rather read about weather conditions.
I had a 7000. The best part was the TTL flash. Truly innovative.
The Olympus OM-2 (introduced in 1975)had TTL flash. What was innovative in the Minolta ?
Something that worked, accurate, with a preflash to do the TTL. That is the innovative bit. 🙂
The OM-2 TTL flash system worked well and did not need a pre-flash. Probably the Pre-flash was a way to get around Olympus patents. It is not a good idea.
That is not accurate at all. That sort of “TTL” does not know the distance or magnifications involved and everything is guess work.
All modern TTL flashes (including that of Leica!) use a preflash to determine the light levels needed before firing the main one. That, again, is the innovative bit. 😉
Pre-flash wasn’t introduced until the HS series. That was around 700si I think.
Truth is that Minolta flash exposure always sucked right up until the 9 when it got OK and the 7 when it got pretty good. It’s only really, really good since the Sony takeover.
The OM-2 read the flash off the film during the exposure and quenched the flash when enough light had arrived. This automatically takes care of distance and any macro extensions or filters.
It also read the light from the film during exposures longer than 1/60 and closed the shutter when enough light had arrived.
For exposures faster than 1/60 (non-flash), it read the light level from the shutter front curtain.
“For shooting 35mm film with autofocus there are many choices, and I’d probably prefer any of the Canon EOS cameras for their better handing of flash exposures and seamless integration with the newer EOS digital cameras, but for $20 you can’t go wrong.” That’s Ken Rockwell’s ultimate conclusion. Whow, what a “review”! So talking about choice and preferation: I’ve just started to miss Kai…
I miss the 80’s everything looked like a transformer, even the name lol
LOL JOE! So true!
I still use my Minolta 9000 AND the mini bearcan 35-70 shown in the photo above.
I purchased my 9000 with the added motordrive in 1996 right after my Nikon F2 was lifted from my apartment. The 9000 and the 7000 both nice cameras.
I think Nikon F3 AF (1983?) came out before the Maxxum 7000 (1985).
I also think of the Maxxum line as a milestone in camera marketing, in that it was a “professional” camera that was advertised with ads geared to the “masses”, showing how easy and fun it is to get quality photos without all the intimidating dials and fussy adjustments. Compare these to ads for the Nikon FA, FG-20, etc., which had the same target market, for instance, which are rather stuffy. I would credit these ads, later emulated by Canon for the Rebel line, for the DSLR “norm” that we see now among the snap-shooters. We might even stretch a bit and credit them for consumers’ demand for better quality cameras in phones. I don’t really understand why the Maxxum line died out with the switch to digital (maybe it was the omimous “Only from the mind of Minolta” tagline), along with the Minolta brand, but I’m glad Sony is doing a decent job keeping the legacy alive.
Another milestone was Minolta’s decision to abandon the MD mount. The fact that people were comfortable with this abomination probably signaled Canon that it is OK to do the same with the FD mount.
Yes, Nikon F3AF was introduced in 1983 and discontinued in 1985 about the same time Minolta was shipping consumer AF cameras.
I still use mt two Minolta: Dynax 7000i and Dynax 9xi.
I bought mine for 3$ 😉
I’ve had a bunch of these, they are decent cameras. I prefer the i and xi series (cameras not lenses). Might look into a 9000 though for manual focusing
Well, always use that links when getting any of your gear so Mr. Rockwell can continue to share what he know. LOL 😀
Considering the Sony bashing Ken has done over the years, I can’t help but wonder if this is a tactic to get more people clicking onto his site, by including the Minolta/Sony camp!
Hi, I’m confused – why is there so much dislike of Ken Rockwell? I’ve seen some of his stuff, and it looks like regular enthusiast blogging to me – so, is there something I don’t know about him?
BTW, I have a Maxxum 7000… in average condition, they’re only about $20 online. Maybe Admin meant 300 in another currency?
Rockwell is not only a hack writer, he is an nonobjective hack writer…that is all
I still have one of these, and occasionally still use it.
The thing with this body (and many others of the late film era) is that it just works. It is never a limiting factor for my type of photography. It makes well-maintained lenses and film quality the most important technical factors, and for me the body just sort of disappears.
Unlike the digital bodies I have experienced. That’s why I liked the idea of modularity in the recent poll–I’d like to have a no-problem body, and concentrate on lens acquisition and maintenance, and potentially even sensor module swap, for instance from slow ultra-high res (50+MP) to super-fast lower res (under 15MP) on FF.
Digital film.
I have several of these and will blow them out for $200 each. That’s 35% off. But if you respond in the next 60 minutes the beautiful Minolta 7000 can be yours for the amazing price of $150. Wow, that’s an amazing 50% discount. Buy more than one and only pay $100 each plus separate shipping and handling. Buy one for yourself and give two as gifts. At a price like this you can’t go wrong.
I agree totally, referencing Rockwell is a bad idea, he is such a hack, that it reflects badly on this site.
The 7000 however, was the camera I started out with, I know it well. And that is why I must pint out that the a99 with Zeus lenses is of the same autofocus speed as the 7000. Just terrible. At least the 7000 did not focus on the wrong thing!