Minolta
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Wikipedia-Article "Minolta"
Minolta was a Japanese worldwide manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photo-copiers, fax machines and laser printers. Minolta was founded in Osaka, Japan in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten (日独写真機商店; meaning Japan-Germany camera shop). It is perhaps best known for making the first integrated autofocus 35 mm SLR camera system. It was not until 1934 that the brand name appeared on a camera, with the Minolta Vest.
In 2003, Konica Corporation merged with Minolta to form Konica Minolta.
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History
Milestones
- 1928: Kazuo Tajima established Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shoten (Japan-Germany photo company; the precursor of Minolta Co., Ltd.).
- 1929: Marketed the Company's first camera, the "Nifcalette".
- 1937: The "Minolta Flex" is Japan's first twin-lens reflex camera.
- 1958: The Minolta SR-2 is Minolta's first single-lens reflex camera.
- 1962: John Glenn takes a specially modified Minolta Hi-Matic camera into space aboard Freedom 7. The company officially changes its name to Minolta Camera Co., Ltd.
- 1966: The Minolta SRT101 SLR camera is Minolta's first with through-the-lens (TTL) light metering.
- 1972: Minolta signs an agreement to cooperate with Leica in SLR development.
- 1973: The Minolta CL is the first fruit of this agreement.
- 1976: The Leica R3 is introduced. Minolta produces the R3, R4, and R5 models in the Leica R series. Subsequent cameras are built in Germany by Leica themselves.
- 1981: The Minolta CLE is the first 35 mm rangefinder camera to feature TTL metering and aperture priority auto-exposure. The Minolta X-700 manual-focus SLR is introduced; this model is sold until 1999 and is enormously successful.
- 1985: The Minolta Maxxum 7000 becomes the world's first truly successful autofocus SLR. Other manufacturers soon follow suit, but Minolta's innovation gives much sales success.
- 1994: The company changes its name to Minolta Co., Ltd. because it no longer is primarily a camera company.
- 1995: Introduction of the Minolta RD-175, an early 1.75 megapixel digital SLR camera.
- 1996: The Minolta Vectis camera is a completely new SLR system designed around the Advanced Photo System (APS) film format.
- 1998: The Minolta Maxxum 9 autofocus SLR is introduced. This system is targeted toward the professional photographer and has many features not duplicated by the competition.
Early cameras
Relying heavily on imported German technology, Nichi-Doku turned out their first product, a bellows camera called the Nifcalette, in March 1929. By 1937, the company reorganized as Chiyoda Kogaku Seiko, K.K. (Chiyoda Optics and Fine Engineering, Ltd.) and built the first Japanese-made twin-lens reflex camera, the Minoltaflex based on the German Rolleiflex.
In 1950, Minolta developed a planetarium projector, the first-ever made in Japan, beginning the company's connection to astronomical optics. An American astronaut took a Minolta Hi-Matic rangefinder 35 mm camera aboard the spaceship Friendship 7 in 1962, and in 1968, Apollo 8 orbited the moon with a Minolta Space Meter aboard.
In the 1960s Minolta introduced its SR and later SRT (for SR with through-the-lens metering) series cameras which are widely regarded as some of the most innovative single lens reflex ( SLR) cameras of the era, combining well-designed bodies with optics which were of a very high standard.
However Minolta cameras were never held in the same esteem as either Nikon or Leica, probably as a result of the wide adoption of both these latter by photojournalists and in the case of Leica of its pedigree.
From the late 1950s to the mid-1980s, Minolta was arguably the most innovative camera manufacturer - the first Japanese manufacturer to introduce a bayonet lens mount rather than a screw mount, the first manufacturer to introduce TTL metering with full aperture, and the first manufacturer to introduce multi-mode metering.
In 1972, Minolta drew up a formal cooperation agreement with Leitz. Leitz desperately needed expertise in camera body electronics, and Minolta felt that they could learn from Leitz's undoubted optical expertise. Tangible results of this cooperation were the Leica CL/Minolta CL, an affordable rangefinder camera to supplement the Leica M range. The Leica CL was built by Minolta, to Leica specifications. Other results were the Leica R3, which was in fact the Minolta XE-1 with a Leica viewfinder and spot light metering system.
In 1977, Minolta introduced the XD-11, the first multi-mode 35 mm compact SLR system camera is considered by many to be the classic Minolta camera. Others reagrd the XM (XK in the Americas), a rugged camera designed for the serious amateur and professional phtographer dating from 1972, to be the quintessential Minolta. The XM for "XK Motor" (the motorized version) may well be the most collectible Japanese 35 mm camera - in September 2004 an XM Motor of 1976 was sold for €2566, approximately 200% of its price back in 1976. The chassis of the XD11, called the XD7 in Europe, was used by Leica for the R4 up to and including the R7.
Autofocus SLRs
In 1985, Minolta introduced a new line of cameras. In North America, they used the name 'Maxxum', in Europe the cameras were called 'Dynax' and in Japan they were named 'Alpha'. They were Minolta's first line of automatic focus SLR cameras, and in fact the first true autofocus-cameras the world had seen. The Maxxum cameras (3000, 5000, 7000 and 9000) made other innovations too. The Maxxum 7000, for example, has arrow buttons for setting aperture and shutter speed, rather than a shutter speed dial on the body and an aperture ring on the lens. That way, the only control necessary on the lens is the manual focusing ring (plus the zoom ring in the case of zoom lenses). The 7000 has two 8-bit CPUs and six integrated circuits. A circuit on the lens relays aperture information to the camera body, and the motor for autofocus is contained within the camera body. An LCD shows aperture, shutter speed and film frame count. The 7000 has TTL phase-detection focusing and metering, autoexposure and predictive autofocus. All Maxxum cameras use A-type bayonet mount lenses, and earlier series Minolta MC and MD lenses are incompatible with them.
After the 4-digit Maxxum i line which included the 3000i, 5000i, 7000i and 8000i came the 1-digit Maxxum xi line, followed by the 3-digit si line, and recently the 1-digit line without letters (Alpha/DynaxMaxxum 3, 4, 5, 7, 9).
Minolta has introduced features that became standard in all brands a few years later. Among standardized features that were first introduced on Minolta models are: multisensor light-metering coupled to multiple AF-sensors; automatic flash balance system; wireless TTL flash control; TTL controlled full-time flash sync; speedy front and rear wheels for shutter and aperture control. Special features introduced by Minolta are: interactive LCD viewfinder display; setup memory; expansion program cards (discontinued); eye-activated startup; infrared frame counter.
To this day 2005 Minolta makes Maxxum/Dynax digital and film-based cameras (still retaining the different names in the different markets), improving the design while maintaining the basic concepts. The Maxxum 4 is a 35 mm SLR with an A-type bayonet mount, built-in flash, autoexposure, predictive autofocus, electronically controlled vertical-traverse focal plane shutter, through-the-lens (TTL) phase-detection focusing and metering. In advertising literature, Minolta claims that the Maxxum 4 is the most compact 35 mm AF SLR, and the second fastest at autofocusing, while the Maxxum 5 is the fastest at autofocusing.
Digital cameras
Minolta has a line of digital point and shoot cameras to compete in the digital photography market. Their DiMage line includes digital cameras and imaging software as well as film scanners.
They created new category of "SLR-Like" cameras with the introduction of the DiMage 7. This camera mixes many of the features of a traditional SLR camera with the special abilities of a digital camera. It had a traditional zoom ring and focus ring on the lens barrel, it used a electronic viewfinder so that you see exactly what the camera sees, it adds many high level features such as a histogram and made the cameras compatible with Minolta's flashes for modern film SLRs. The controls were designed to be used by people familiar with SLR cameras. However, the lenses were not interchangeable, and the cameras never were accepted as a true alternative to an SLR camera. They later innovated in this line by being the first manufacturer to integrate a mechanical anti-shake system into their digital cameras. This line of these cameras has split into the lower end Z line and the higher end A line.
Digital SLRs
While Minolta was the inventor of the modern integrated AF SLR, they were the last of the large camera manufacturers to launch a successful digital SLR camera using the 35 mm AF-mount. Although they launched a digital SLR system as early as 1995, the RD-175 – a 1.4 megapixel camera based on the Maxxum 500si – this camera was never successful and in 1998, this excellent camera was superseded by the RD3000, a 3 megapixel SLR based on the lens mount of the Vectis APS SLR camera line, which was equally unsuccessful and short-lived. It may be said that Minolta was – again - a bit too much ahead of the time.
After the merger with Konica, successful digital SLRs using the Maxxum/Dynax camera system were introduced.
See also
References
- Photoxels.com. Brief History of Minolta. Retrieved on November 29, 2005.