Do you know your Sony's Heritage?

[Brownie]

(Almost) everyone should be aware that Sony's consumer camera division was purchased from Konica-Minolta in 2005. They had first announced a partnership, which changed very quickly to a buyout to a lot of surprise and shock. However, far fewer people are aware of how many contributions Minolta made to the industry. Your Steady Shot IBIS was first introduced by Minolta in their first digital DSLR, the Maxxum/Dynax 7D. Minolta made only two digital SLRs, the 7D and 5D.

Minolta was the first company to introduce a commercially successful Autofocus System, and the first to introduce an in-camera motorized film advance. These both debuted in the Maxxum/Dynax 7000, released in February of 1985. Minolta also built a very early 'stabilization system' into their programming. The camera would recognize the lens and limit the shutter speed so it didn't fall below what was necessary for a sharp photo. Minolta's history is rich with these types of innovations, yet they continued to lag behind Canon and Nikon for a solid market share. One reason was the Exxon Lawsuit that was brought shortly after the Maxxum/Dynax was introduced. The original Maxxum logo was a crossed X that was very similar to Exxon's logo. Exxon sued and Minolta paid out millions of dollars, from which they never recovered.

While none of the Maxxum series of cameras and lenses demand a high dollar these days, the Crossed X logo is getting rarer and can fetch a few more dollars.

There's a lot of fascinating information available about Minolta and the camera industry in general out on the internet for those who are into it.

Minolta originated the A-mount, which Sony carried through on many models until just a few years ago. The stylized Alpha 'a' and lens designation 'G' are both carryovers from Minolta. The Maxxum/Dynax series is your Sony's Grandfather.

Here are the timelines of the Maxxum/Dynax, Sony A, and Sony E. Credit for all charts goes to Wikipedia:

The film cameras:

The Konica-Minolta/Sony A-Mounts. Note the Konica-Minolta 7D and 5D

The -Emounts:

 

[MeowZzz]

I remember selling quite a few Dynax's back in the day in the shop. Oddly enough, never considered my turntable manufacturer would become a camera maker... lol

 

[Brownie]

I remember selling quite a few Dynax's back in the day in the shop. Oddly enough, never considered my turntable manufacturer would become a camera maker... lol

Hey, what about Panasonic?! It always struck me as odd too.

 

[Deleted Member 5045]

The reason I went with Sony was because I've always been a fan of their TV's and I know they created CyberShot. Good enough reasons for me. Plus I always found it weird how Canon users basically have a law to use a Canon neck strap. I don't use a neck strap at all anyway but I guess I just didn't want a Canon for that reason, Canon users seem a bit odd in general...

 

[Unframed Dave]

Very interesting read, thank you.

I'm not sure minolta were the first to come up with an autofocus lens, pentax had one in the early eighties, which qualifies as the most commercially successful is beyond my ken.

 

[Brownie]

Very interesting read, thank you.

I'm not sure minolta were the first to come up with an autofocus lens, pentax had one in the early eighties, which qualifies as the most commercially successful is beyond my ken.

Remember, Minolta didn't use AF lenses. The AF motor was in the body and the lenses were driven with a worm gear.

Pentax, Nikon and Canon had AF lenses on the market at various times, but they were commercial failures. Canon introduced theirs the same month that Minolta released the Maxxum 7000. They had a total of three, and they were only made for about a year or so. Big, heavy, expensive. Nikon had AF lenses a little earlier, 1983, but they weren't popular and they moved to a different system in 1986. Pentax introduced an AF lens in 1981, a 35-70. Performance was poor and they abandoned it. Pentax introduced an AF screw drive system like Minolta's with the motor in the body but not until 1987, two years after Minolta.

Minolta was indeed the first commercially successful AF system.

 

[Landshark99]

Konica was the first auto exposure SLR, Minolta was the first with both shutter and/or aperture auto exposure on a slr.
The main reasons for the Nikon and Canon lead in the pro market date back to the fifties when Nikon copied and made a better version of the Contax camera and Canon made a copy of an almost as good version of a Leica camera. When they jumped to the SLR world there top end cameras were quickly adopted by the Pro market. In those days the other brands had some pro use but never got the market share for pro use like Nikon or Canon. That image of Pro use also made those two brands very popular in the hobbyist market. My first 35mm camera was a Minolta Hi Matic 7 rangefinder, but when I bought my first SLR I went with a Nikon F and stayed there for years. Minolta, Konica, Pentax, Mamiya etc were considered to be more amateur cameras, and no matter what innovations they did, could never shake that perception in the Pro market. Even the Leica Minolta partnership on the CL did not really change that image. Sony accomplished in the Pro market something Minolta always tried

 

[Landshark99]

Hey, what about Panasonic?! It always struck me as odd too.

the cameras or the audio, Panasonic was always big in the video world

 

[Brownie]

the cameras or the audio, Panasonic was always big in the video world

And still are. It's really their forte, and no surprise they're moving away from stills cameras and running headlong toward video. I don't think they'll ever introduce a stills-oriented M-4/3 camera again, they'll be video centric like the GH-6 with stills capabilities. I guess all camera companies are headed that way though.

 

[Uncle Kevriano]

Great info. I was always a Minolta shooter, and wanted to buy a Sony when my Minolta 6D finally died (I wore the shutter out), but the Sony cameras at the time were horrible, cheap and plasticky feeling affairs and weren't that good either (it was when they were first playing with SLT), and so I went to Pentax for a while., then Nikon, and then back full circle to Sony.

 

[spudhead]

Leica first showed a auto focus camera, but Minolta Konia made the first mass produced auto focus camera a point and shoot C35 AF point and shoot camera in 1977 followed by the 7d and 5d, Pentax did a auto focus version camera one of which was the Pentax Mef, I had one until last year but that used a manual focus lens and sensors with arrows in the view finder pointing the direction to turn the lens the get focus and a beep for focus confirmation, they may have made a auto focus lens but I do not know about that.

 

[cjsmall]

Great little history. I didn't know about the Exxon lawsuit or the role it played in killing KM. I also thought that Minolta was a spectacular engineering outfit. The other companies would introduce new cameras at a much faster pace, but then Minolta would come out with a new model that leapfrogged over everything else. I always assumed that after the Sony buyout, the engineering department was retained as the new Sony models continued to innovate.

Earlier today I actually picked up my old Maxxum 7D body and was impressed at how solid it felt.

 

[Brownie]

I always assumed that after the Sony buyout, the engineering department was retained as the new Sony models continued to innovate.

That's evident in Sony's early cameras, Minolta's DNA is obvious. The A100 is very similar to your Maxxum 7D. Even later into the models the controls and layouts were similar.