My current system is Minolta Maxxum based, and I’ve had it just about as long as the Maxxum line has been around. In fact I still have my original Maxxum 7000 kicking around.
Sometime soon I’m planning to get a new digital SLR, but I learned to take pictures with my 7000, and I have thousands of slides filed away.
I have the following camera bodies:
- 7000
- 7000i
- 9xi
My lenses are all Minolta and include:
- 28 f2.8
- 50 f1.7
- 135 f2.8
- 100-200 f4
- 500 f8
I like the 500 f8. It takes nice sharp pictures and lets you get close to wildlife. But, its big drawback is the f8 maximum aperture. I’m pretty much restricted to using it when the sun is shining. But then it’s great. It’s the one lens I might miss in a new camera system. I’ll probably go for a 400 f5.6 and it won’t be quite the same, but an extra stop of light might be nice. I’d love to go for the 600 f4 lenses, but I don’t think I’ll be specializing in wildlife or sports so it will have to do.
I also have the 4000AF flash and a variety of accessories like extension tubes. And I have a nice Manfrotto tripod.
That’s it. Actually it was never very much. I spent a lot of time looking at getting more lenses, other bodies, and thinking about changing systems to Nikon or Canon. But it was enough and I’ve certainly taken a lot of pictures with this set up.
But now I think its time for retirement. Oh, I probably won’t sell them. I’m still holding on to my 7000, why would I sell it now? My 9xi can be a film based backup camera to my new system. And who knows, perhaps I’ll find some use for them even once I’ve got a digital backup camera.
I wasn’t that surprised when Konica-Minolta announced that they were folding. But still it’s kind of sad. I had been looking at the 7D digital camera. With it’s anti-shake system it was awfully tempting. Now that Minolta is gone though, it clears the way for me to get a new camera system. Something that I can build from the ground up to be just what I want.