Minolta 7000

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Minolta 7000 with 50 mm, f = 1.7 lens

In January 1985, Minolta launched the Minolta 7000 AF (in the USA: Minolta Maxxum 7000 AF , in Japan: Minolta α-7000 ), the first single-lens reflex camera with an autofocus system fully integrated into the housing . The entire technology of the camera is controlled by various microprocessors . Back then, people spoke of the Sputnik shock in the photo industry.

Features and equipment

Other important features to be mentioned are the automatic multi- program selection, program shift , a central LCD responsible for all functional information, a control connection between the camera and lens with 5 contacts or between the camera and the program flash units with 3 additional contacts and a wide range of accessories.

For the new AF lenses with integrated ROM-IC was A bayonet inserted; together with the Minolta 7000 AF , Minolta presented twelve new autofocus lenses; the lens program was then continuously expanded.

The introduction of the new bayonet marked a turning point for Minolta: For almost three decades, since the introduction of the SR-2 in 1958 , Minolta's first SLR camera, the company had stuck to the SR bayonet . The X series ( X 300, X 500, X 700 ), Minolta's last series of SLR cameras with manual focus, still fit the oldest lenses. With the introduction of the A bayonet, however, the flange focal length changed from 43.50 mm to 44.50 mm; Apart from the lack of autofocus, it was technically impossible to use the old lenses with the 7000. The introduction of the autofocus system, for example, solved the problem by Nikon , which held onto the usual bayonet. For a transitional period, Minolta therefore offered an adapter so that when photographers switched from the MF to the new AF system, they did not have to buy all lenses at once, but instead could continue to use their old equipment. The blemish : the adapter was also a teleconverter that doubled all focal lengths , which was of little help with special lenses such as fisheyes .

Nevertheless, the A-bayonet also stood for continuity in the following years: The last digital SLR cameras that came onto the market under the new company name Konica-Minolta still had this bayonet. It has now been taken over by Sony , which continues the Konica-Minolta camera division with the Alpha series .

The Minolta 7000 won the 1985 Camera of the Year awards in Europe and the '85 Grand Prix in Japan .

AF model range

The camera belongs - next to the Minolta 9000 and the Minolta 5000 - to the AF series and thus to the first generation of autofocus cameras ; the name Dynax was only introduced in Germany with the i-series ( 1988 ff.); in the USA the AF series was already marketed under the product name Maxxum .

See also

literature

  • Josef Scheibel, Robert Scheibel: Minolta 7000 - new generation single lens reflex system with computer intelligence and autofocus . 1-5 Edition. G + G Urban-Verlag, Munich 1985–1988, ISBN 3-925334-00-9 (approx. 200 pages).

Web links

Commons : Minolta 7000  - collection of images, videos and audio files