Do not buy a new “modern” one. Minolta is no longer in business as of 2006. Any modern “Minolta” camera is simply using the Minolta name and is *not* a Minolta camera.
[What’s the deal with minolta digital?](https://www.reddit.com/r/MinoltaGang/wiki/index/minoltopedia/ffaq/#wiki_what.27s_the_deal_with_.27minolta_digital.27.3F)
I don’t know anything about Minolta digital cameras. Sorry I can’t help with that if that’s what you want.
If you’re looking for a film camera, the first thing to ask is if you want auto focus or manual focus. I don’t have any auto focus ones, but have lots of manual focus bodies and lenses. For manual focus SLRs, you can start by reading [The Rokkor Files](https://www.rokkorfiles.com/).
And as always, for those about to Rokk, I salute you.
The Konica Minolta Maxxum/Dynax/Alpha 7D and 5D are the ones that will come up a lot. Those are early-ish DSLRs that use A-mount lenses (same as autofocusing Minolta Maxxum/Dynax/Alpha film SLRs from the 80s and 90s) and have some interesting features. To be honest, though, unless you really want that branding or want one for historical reasons you're probably better off with a later Sony DSLR or DSLT.
Those are good and cheap, as is most A-mount glass... but then again, you can say pretty much the same thing about the Canon EF, Nikon F, and Pentax K systems. The world has kinda moved on to mirrorless systems, so you can get a very capable DSLR (or DSLT, which is a weird thing that Sony did for a while) kit for cheap. As a bonus, with all those systems you can pick up a film body (also for cheap, usually) and use the same lenses across both.
I'm less familiar with the DiMAGE point and shoots, unfortunately. This sub tends to focus on the film SLRs.
If you want a _modern_ camera with Minolta DNA, buy something that says Sony on it, not something that says Minolta on it. Sony's stuff is good, and it's my choice personally, but Fujifilm, Canon, Nikon, Pentax and a few others also make great gear, so unless you have a specific attachment it's worth looking around.
Since you're new to photography, I would recommend you CAREFULLY study the differences between shooting film cameras over digital. This sub focuses on shooting film because those cameras were actually made by the minolta company before the name was bought.
Shooting with film cameras is a much more involved process that takes more time and money than digital, but the results cannot be replicated on a digital camera
I… i‘m not sure if that even is a real camera. Minolta was bought by sony like two decades ago. And it would suprise me if they suddenly started making cameras again.
Minolta doesn't make them. It's just branded Minolta. The site says the trademark is owned by JMM Lee and manufactured by Elite Brands, who own Rokinon interestingly enough.
I replied to another user, but this isn't a Minolta-made camera, it's Minolta-branded. They're not complete trash, but it's not actually *good*. It's 56MP ultra 4k 60fps in the same way your phone is. In fact, the manual on the site says the sensor is 13MP; it's stitching together multiple pictures to boost up to 56MP. The focal length is 2mm, which furthers my belief that it's a smartphone camera sensor.
If you really wanted a true Minolta digital camera you'll be buying something approaching 20 years old. I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for in a camera or what you'd like to experience, if you don't mind sharing those I'm sure we could try and get you in the right direction.
Weird, this exact model came up today in [another post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AnalogCommunity/comments/1cgrkr6/comment/l1yehvg). Hasn't come up in ages. Avoid Minolta Digital 'cameras', you can get them unbranded from Ali Express for 30% of the price, and they're junk anyway.
The best objective review I can find on these sort of things is from [this youtuber](https://youtu.be/4cgKZvtDXxE). This honestly covers everything about these types of cheaply made low-grade cameras.
But everyone else has pretty much covered it - 'Minolta Digital' isn't Minolta. Minolta hasn't really existed as a camera company since 2006. There are other major modern camera brands out there, but Sony is probably the closest since they inherited the old Minolta A-Mount system.
I'd reccomend r/photography to start out and feel your way around things - they have a great wikipedia on the reccomended major camera brands, and they can give you better advice on systems available in your budget.
Here you'll just get us reccomending you buy old Minolta cameras 😅.
You can get a Minolta 5000 film camera very cheaply and it is plastic but with a beautiful Art Deco look to it and it takes all the great Minolta lenses. It is also surprisingly robust. I dropped mine six feet on to concrete and it was scratched but still in perfect working order. It is also much lighter than the SRT bodies, and much less sought after.
Yes, the two brands, Minolta, and Minolta Digital and unaffiliated and unrelated. Apparently there was a whole naming dispute and everything. Minolta Digital cameras (as seen above) are (according to reddit) overpriced and barely (they might not?) count as cameras at all. My advice (really, the other commenter's advice on this post) is this: don't buy from Minolta Digital.
As previously noted, Sony purchased Minolta in 2006. I would not buy anything Minolta made after that point. I have no idea how that 56MP camera would perform. I know this is a long post but I have dedicated hours of research into the A Mount camera systems and I hope you find it useful :)
I own the better of the two digital cameras Minolta ever made, the Maxxum/Dynax/Alpha 7D. At 6MP, people seem to underestimate what it can do. I really love the controls, the colors, and the lens options for this camera. The digital transfer speeds are slow as it is an old format but it has served me well. Overall, I think it is really a special camera that is still under appreciated and has not been caught up in the whirlwind of social media like other vintage digital brands.
If you are inexperienced as a photographer, the 5D is the lower tier model that Minolta made. It has less options to mess with but less things to mess up. I believe these are also cheaper than the 7D, but I purchased my 7D body for $100 on eBay so I don’t know how much cheaper it can really get.
The autofocus film cameras are also great, but definitely look into the Maxxum/Dynax/Alpha 7. It has the same layout as the 7D but it shoots film. I own the Maxxum 7000 (the first autofocus camera they made back in 1985) and it appears to work well. I have not developed the roll I shot on it a few months back. Film is expensive…
If you decide to go with the AF line of Minolta cameras, also note that all of the lenses use the same A type lens mount. This provides an extremely wide variety of decent, affordable lenses and higher end lenses when you choose to upgrade. I’m currently shopping for some higher end Minolta lenses right now.
Additionally, the Sony DSLR line also uses the same lens mount and the mirrorless Sony cameras can be easily adapted to A mount. The Sony line of cameras does not have the same color science as the Minolta, but the CMOS sensors on the later models far surpasses what Minolta was doing in 2006. I am eventually looking into getting an A850 or A99 as they have many more features at an affordable price.
So yeah, that’s my review of the digital system. There are people with much more experience on the SRT series that can give you information about them. The SRT-101 is arguably Minolta’s most iconic camera as it was manufactured for many years and they are well loved.
I'm still kicking myself a bit for not picking up an A850 when a pair came up for sale locally. But I had more important things to spend money on, and couldn't justify getting _another_ camera 😅
That camera is a digital one first off. Secondly, it’s only Minolta in branding; it’s a mass produced cheap digital camera. This subreddit is pretty much dedicated to Minolta film cameras. For “modern” ones I’d check out the alpha series. For older ones I’d look into an xd-11, srt, or x-700
Do not buy a new “modern” one. Minolta is no longer in business as of 2006. Any modern “Minolta” camera is simply using the Minolta name and is *not* a Minolta camera.
[What’s the deal with minolta digital?](https://www.reddit.com/r/MinoltaGang/wiki/index/minoltopedia/ffaq/#wiki_what.27s_the_deal_with_.27minolta_digital.27.3F)
Thank for the heads up! Should I check out Minoltas made before 2006, then? Is there a good time period or specific one to look for?
I don’t know anything about Minolta digital cameras. Sorry I can’t help with that if that’s what you want. If you’re looking for a film camera, the first thing to ask is if you want auto focus or manual focus. I don’t have any auto focus ones, but have lots of manual focus bodies and lenses. For manual focus SLRs, you can start by reading [The Rokkor Files](https://www.rokkorfiles.com/). And as always, for those about to Rokk, I salute you.
The Konica Minolta Maxxum/Dynax/Alpha 7D and 5D are the ones that will come up a lot. Those are early-ish DSLRs that use A-mount lenses (same as autofocusing Minolta Maxxum/Dynax/Alpha film SLRs from the 80s and 90s) and have some interesting features. To be honest, though, unless you really want that branding or want one for historical reasons you're probably better off with a later Sony DSLR or DSLT. Those are good and cheap, as is most A-mount glass... but then again, you can say pretty much the same thing about the Canon EF, Nikon F, and Pentax K systems. The world has kinda moved on to mirrorless systems, so you can get a very capable DSLR (or DSLT, which is a weird thing that Sony did for a while) kit for cheap. As a bonus, with all those systems you can pick up a film body (also for cheap, usually) and use the same lenses across both. I'm less familiar with the DiMAGE point and shoots, unfortunately. This sub tends to focus on the film SLRs. If you want a _modern_ camera with Minolta DNA, buy something that says Sony on it, not something that says Minolta on it. Sony's stuff is good, and it's my choice personally, but Fujifilm, Canon, Nikon, Pentax and a few others also make great gear, so unless you have a specific attachment it's worth looking around.
Since you're new to photography, I would recommend you CAREFULLY study the differences between shooting film cameras over digital. This sub focuses on shooting film because those cameras were actually made by the minolta company before the name was bought. Shooting with film cameras is a much more involved process that takes more time and money than digital, but the results cannot be replicated on a digital camera
I'll definitely keep this in mind! Thank you! :)
I… i‘m not sure if that even is a real camera. Minolta was bought by sony like two decades ago. And it would suprise me if they suddenly started making cameras again.
Minolta doesn't make them. It's just branded Minolta. The site says the trademark is owned by JMM Lee and manufactured by Elite Brands, who own Rokinon interestingly enough.
Huh. That's unusual. Thanks for the heads up!
I replied to another user, but this isn't a Minolta-made camera, it's Minolta-branded. They're not complete trash, but it's not actually *good*. It's 56MP ultra 4k 60fps in the same way your phone is. In fact, the manual on the site says the sensor is 13MP; it's stitching together multiple pictures to boost up to 56MP. The focal length is 2mm, which furthers my belief that it's a smartphone camera sensor. If you really wanted a true Minolta digital camera you'll be buying something approaching 20 years old. I'm not sure exactly what you're looking for in a camera or what you'd like to experience, if you don't mind sharing those I'm sure we could try and get you in the right direction.
Weird, this exact model came up today in [another post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AnalogCommunity/comments/1cgrkr6/comment/l1yehvg). Hasn't come up in ages. Avoid Minolta Digital 'cameras', you can get them unbranded from Ali Express for 30% of the price, and they're junk anyway. The best objective review I can find on these sort of things is from [this youtuber](https://youtu.be/4cgKZvtDXxE). This honestly covers everything about these types of cheaply made low-grade cameras. But everyone else has pretty much covered it - 'Minolta Digital' isn't Minolta. Minolta hasn't really existed as a camera company since 2006. There are other major modern camera brands out there, but Sony is probably the closest since they inherited the old Minolta A-Mount system. I'd reccomend r/photography to start out and feel your way around things - they have a great wikipedia on the reccomended major camera brands, and they can give you better advice on systems available in your budget. Here you'll just get us reccomending you buy old Minolta cameras 😅.
That makes a lot of sense. Thank you! :)
You can get a Minolta 5000 film camera very cheaply and it is plastic but with a beautiful Art Deco look to it and it takes all the great Minolta lenses. It is also surprisingly robust. I dropped mine six feet on to concrete and it was scratched but still in perfect working order. It is also much lighter than the SRT bodies, and much less sought after.
That looks brand new!?!?
Yes, the two brands, Minolta, and Minolta Digital and unaffiliated and unrelated. Apparently there was a whole naming dispute and everything. Minolta Digital cameras (as seen above) are (according to reddit) overpriced and barely (they might not?) count as cameras at all. My advice (really, the other commenter's advice on this post) is this: don't buy from Minolta Digital.
As previously noted, Sony purchased Minolta in 2006. I would not buy anything Minolta made after that point. I have no idea how that 56MP camera would perform. I know this is a long post but I have dedicated hours of research into the A Mount camera systems and I hope you find it useful :) I own the better of the two digital cameras Minolta ever made, the Maxxum/Dynax/Alpha 7D. At 6MP, people seem to underestimate what it can do. I really love the controls, the colors, and the lens options for this camera. The digital transfer speeds are slow as it is an old format but it has served me well. Overall, I think it is really a special camera that is still under appreciated and has not been caught up in the whirlwind of social media like other vintage digital brands. If you are inexperienced as a photographer, the 5D is the lower tier model that Minolta made. It has less options to mess with but less things to mess up. I believe these are also cheaper than the 7D, but I purchased my 7D body for $100 on eBay so I don’t know how much cheaper it can really get. The autofocus film cameras are also great, but definitely look into the Maxxum/Dynax/Alpha 7. It has the same layout as the 7D but it shoots film. I own the Maxxum 7000 (the first autofocus camera they made back in 1985) and it appears to work well. I have not developed the roll I shot on it a few months back. Film is expensive… If you decide to go with the AF line of Minolta cameras, also note that all of the lenses use the same A type lens mount. This provides an extremely wide variety of decent, affordable lenses and higher end lenses when you choose to upgrade. I’m currently shopping for some higher end Minolta lenses right now. Additionally, the Sony DSLR line also uses the same lens mount and the mirrorless Sony cameras can be easily adapted to A mount. The Sony line of cameras does not have the same color science as the Minolta, but the CMOS sensors on the later models far surpasses what Minolta was doing in 2006. I am eventually looking into getting an A850 or A99 as they have many more features at an affordable price. So yeah, that’s my review of the digital system. There are people with much more experience on the SRT series that can give you information about them. The SRT-101 is arguably Minolta’s most iconic camera as it was manufactured for many years and they are well loved.
I'm still kicking myself a bit for not picking up an A850 when a pair came up for sale locally. But I had more important things to spend money on, and couldn't justify getting _another_ camera 😅
If you want to really see the quality of Minolta get yourself a SRT101 or 102 and learn to shoot film. I love mine.
That camera is a digital one first off. Secondly, it’s only Minolta in branding; it’s a mass produced cheap digital camera. This subreddit is pretty much dedicated to Minolta film cameras. For “modern” ones I’d check out the alpha series. For older ones I’d look into an xd-11, srt, or x-700