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Why Sony / Minolta at all?

It felt the best in my hands. Starting from there 800si to Maxxum 7 and 9 and now Dimage 7i.
They are easier to use and feature rich.
SIMPLY PUT, THE BEST CAMERAS FRO THE PRICE!
 
I bought my 1st camera in 1983. It was the Minolta X700. I read its detailed brochures, handled the camera and bought it.

I did not try Nikon or Canon because their brochures were not easily available and they are more expensive. I also have this feeling (then) that N and C users are a bit snobbish and I came from a humble background.

My X700 has been with me all these years and I love my camera. It has been with me through all my vacation trips. It has never let me down. Well, only one morning in Vancouver but it recovered the next day. Still don't know what happen.

I never regret buying Minolta as Minolta lenses are among the best in the world. Though of course I feel let down as I see Minolta scale down its manual focus lens range.

There are only two other brands I use and they are Yashica FX3 Super and Cosina. The Yashica for its pure mechanical shutter speed and possibility of using Contax lenses, and the Cosina for its ability to use Pentax K lenses.

I am still a staunch Minolta user- having bought X300, AF-Z point and shoot(35/2.8 lens), 7xi, 300si, Dynax 7 and recently Dimage 7i. Minolta products are really classy and value for money.

Happy shooting, everyone!

Hung
Singapore
 
My Dimage 7i is the first Minolta I've owned. I also own Canon and Olympus SLRs and a prewar Leica. I've also owned a Mamiya C33 twin-lens reflex, a Pentax, a couple of Rolleicords, some off-brand stuff, and a few cameras I've forgotten. And back in the '70s, when I was Camera Editor of a magazine, I got to play with many more.

You know what? They're all good.The major brands all got that way by offering good products. What matters most is how well a given camera or lens fits YOUR needs. With interchangangeable-lens cameras, you're forced to develop some brand loyalty, because you're buying into a system. I keep my Olympuses because I have great lenses for them that I cannot afford to duplicate for my more modern Canons, and because they're quicker in situations where manual focus is preferable.

I got the Dimage 7i because it had the widest lens of any digital and because it had manual adjustments available for everything. And because I knew Minolta made good stuff, of course. Had some other camera met my needs better, I'd have gone for that and I'd be writing in some other forum.

At one time, a lot of people bought Nikons because they'd heard Nikons were "the best." Some of them were happy, because Nikons suited their needs, Others were not, because some other camera would have been better for them. Buying on snob appeal is rarely a good idea.

Ivan New Jersey
 
I bought my first Minolta in the early 1970's. It was a new SRT-101. I bought it because I wanted TTL metering and auto lens. Minolta was the least expensive brand that had all those features and had a good reputation.

About 5 years ago I was looking to buy an inexpensive used camera for my young son. I had thought that I would buy a manual camera. They were all very expensive, so I bought a used Minolta 5000AF with the 35-70 f/4 lens. It was the first AF SLR that I had used. It became a "share toy" (Dad gets to use it also).

Even though the 5000 is not the worlds greatest AF camera, I became convinced that AF was very useful (my eyes aren't getting better as I get older). But I felt that I wanted at least aperture priority. I looked around at different brands (only had the one lens) but decided that the XTsi offered me the best features for the money (Minolta's tend to do that). After a while as I got more into photography again, I felt there were some limitations to the XTsi that I didn't like (one in particular is that there is no exposure meter for use in manual exposure mode). I made a list of things that I wanted.

Since I only had 2 lenses at the time (28-105 and 35-70) I again looked around at different brands and different models. I decided to buy a used 800si and started saving up for it (although there were somethings about the 800si that I didn't care for (particularly the need to change settings behind the side door). As my eyes get older, my near vision requires that I take off my glasses to see small near things which would be annoying on the 800si. As I was saving up, Minolta released the maxxum 7. That camera had all of the things on my list and some things that I had just dreamed about (honeycomb display, DOF scale on the LCD, and others). So I bought it. Now I have a few more lenses: Minolta 35-70 f/4, 24-105 (D), 50mm f/1.7, and 70-210 f/3.5-4.5 and a Quantaray (Sigma) 135-400.

I had kept my manual focus SRT101 and 3 lenses (55mm, 28mm, 135mm) through the years. In the past year I also found a used X570 at my local dealer and bought it along with a 360PX, and MD1. Additionally, I bought the Minolta 70-210 f/4 and a used 35-70 no-name zoom.

Tom
 
I'm posting this here because I get bounced from other threads.
I registered for the Photo Gallery several days ago and never got an activation number.
When I try to log in I get an error messages.
I'd like to start uploading pictures. What gives?
Vince B.
 
I bought second hand camera 8700i from Hong Kong camera shoper half a year ago, in this period I used this nice camera to take many excellent pictures, I really love my 8700i just like my second wife,although it is a old type one (95% new),its better function and accurate focus...attracted me to us it and traveled many place with it. unfortunately,something was wrong in this camera, the mirror inside the camera could not replace. I took it to Minolta Hong Kong Limited on 24 Feb 2003 , Mr.Zong who deals with customer service interviewed me warmly. Very disappointed for me after waited half a month anxiously when I asked whether my camera is ok,someone in your Hong Kong co,. told me that no parts (winding base plate set)for this old type camera in store.Sadness and surprise in my mind. I don't understand why the world famous MINOLTA could not solve this small problem, why so late they told me this camera cann't be repaired,if for the reason of camera is too old they may refuse to accept this service at the beginning , in other words 8700i is not too old to repire.I am a loyal Minolta customer, I don't like to sea 8700i died under this case.
I also worry about some machines were damaged by repairer but I coult not know.
this is Minolta customer service!!!!
 
I was given a 7000 and have kept upgrading and adding equipment. To heavily invested in cords, flashes, lenses etc. to switch brands. The 9 is an awesome camera. But I think that no pro digital is really going to hurt them. Sigma just came out with a 70-300 2.8 zoom, that they aren't even offering in a Minolta mount. They say there is no market for it. Too bad.
Mike
 
A SRT 101b was my first Minolta camera (on 1976). Since then I never thought about another brand. The next ones were a XD7, a X700, 5xi and now a Maxxum 7.
They are all great, but my heart still belongs to the XD7.
GOD bless you all!
 
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