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  #11  
Old 1st April 2016, 12:21 PM
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David Brown David Brown is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John King View Post
I have often wondered why Minolta dissapeared from the scene so quickly after Sony bought them out. Their Minolta Dynax 9 was a superb bit of kit, easily as good as an Nikon F4 or a Cannon EOS 1 and built like a tank. They were never a big seller with the volumes of cameras such as Nikon and Cannon. Why?
Don't know "why" they disappeared , other than just the usual evolution of corporate brands. As to why Minolta never sold as much as Canikon, when their product was surely the equal, is a mystery. Some of us know better.

I was a dedicated Pentax screw mount person (mainly because that’s what I bought in college) until my wife brought a Minolta SRt into the marriage. I found another SRt body cheap and the 28-85 zoom as well, and that combo was my go to camera for a while. Since then we’ve collected a number of Minoltas, both manual and auto focus; and a whole stable of lenses.

My current go to 35mm is a Maxxum (Dynax) 7. It is just a beautiful piece of engineering and I am pleased with the pictures it allows me to make.

When I finally broke down and bought a dslr, I bought a Sony full frame, just so I could use the Minolta AF lenses. Minolta AF lenses are highly sought after by the Sony crowd, although their (Sony's) move from A mount to E mount may attenuate that some. Maybe the ridiculous prices on some older Rokkor AF lenses will go down a bit.
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  #12  
Old 1st April 2016, 09:04 PM
alexmuir alexmuir is offline
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I use a Minolta enlarging lens which I like. I also have two of their Super8 cameras which are beautifully engineered. I've just packed one for a few days holiday in the Highlands. The only still camera I have is actually a Leica badged dual lens compact. It works well, but the dual lens concept is a bit dated. I've never owned one of their SLRs, but I've been a happy Nikon user for years, so no reason to look elsewhere. I would have bought John's example, though, if I'd spotted it in a charity shop. It looks excellent.
Alex
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  #13  
Old 27th July 2016, 08:53 AM
John King John King is offline
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To accompany my very good Minolta XE1 I have just bought a genuine Minolta MD 28/85 zoom all for the huge sum of £19. That too is virtually unmarked Everything is very clean with no dust internally or sloppiness anywhere in the focussing or zooming rings. A real bargain.
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  #14  
Old 31st July 2016, 05:08 PM
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CambsIan CambsIan is offline
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Hi John,

I'm pretty much a Minolta man "thru and thru" got several of their cameras and a bunch of lenses, found them to be reliable and to my non expert eye they all seem to produce good results (even bought a Sony di***l camera so I could interchange the lenses).

Like pretty much all analogue gear Minolta's have gone up in price in recent months, bargains are not as plentiful as they once were.

Congratulations on the bargain.

Ian
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  #15  
Old 31st July 2016, 09:27 PM
John King John King is offline
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I have just processed the 1st cassette of B&W in FX39 and as I type they are being scanned. The negatives look well exposed and the scanning will show if they are sharp.

I will post as soon as I can.
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  #16  
Old 31st July 2016, 10:23 PM
John King John King is offline
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Test scans from the negatives and they are every bit as good as I expected.
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