The 10 Best and 10 Worst Minolta Cameras Ever Made

 This blog post is a "reprint" from two blog posts I made back in 2012, all in one place for your convenience.

The Top 10 Best Minoltas Ever Made

...re explained in this youtube video:

Things I Neglected to Mention

• The XD-11 had a viewfinder as big and bright as the Sony Alpha 900's.  (Only it was a teensy weensy camera body.)
• The Minolta Maxxum 9's pop-up flash was there to trigger the wireless flash.  None of the media critics could figure that out, since none of the camera's competitors could do that.
• The XK Motor was actually sold for about $1000 USD when it came out in 1976, not $10000.  (Although if you adjust for inflation it probably works out to that amount...)

The Top Worst Minoltas Ever Made

I couldn’t come up with a list of 10, but here’s the list of the cameras I think the world could have done without.  And because I don’t actually have any of these in my collection, it makes no sense to make a video about them. :-)

1. Maxxum 70

This film-based camera came out shortly after the digital 7D, and while the camera itself wasn’t so bad, it’s naming was just abysmal, especially if you call your favorite store to ask if it’s in stock:

     “Hello, do you have the Minolta 7D in stock?”
     “Yes, we have the Minolta 70 in stock! It’s $350.”
     “Wow, $350 for a 7D?”
     “Yup! $350 for a 70!”

Could have started an Abbott and Costello comedy routine with that one.

The Kindest of Pickpockets

[Ed. Note: This is a restored blog post from 2008.  It was written back when chipped credit cards were new.]

So here we were in Paris, where I was shooting the new, blue-lit Eiffel Tower (France is marking the start of its six-month presidency of the European Union by lighting up the Eiffel Tower in blue with yellow stars, recalling the EU flag.)  The trip was over, and my wife and I, being non-snooty travelers, decided to take public transportation to the airport rather than hiring a cab.  We must have been easy-looking targets, carting our luggage around and trying (and failing) to get past the subway turnstyles.  Another subway rider who appeared to be in a hurry was behind me, and reached over me to try to help get the turnstyle unstuck.  Half a minute later, success.  Me and my luggage were through the turnstyle, and the stranger, interestingly, did not follow me in.

The Best Travel Camera Ever...

Another fine 600mm win from the RX10 IV

Also in this Issue:

• HDR Shooting - Should you or Shouldn't You?
• Next Time in Cameracraft Magazine
• Newest books released and in development

The Best Travel Camera Ever

I'm a member of Sony's Pro Support service.  For the past five years, every time I called them to ask a technical question or provide some feedback on a particular feature, I always ended the call with, "Oh, and one more thing... you need to make an RX10 V to bring it up to date!"  

600mm lenses come in 
handier than you think.

The response each time was always the same: "Yeah, we hear that a lot".  

I have a lot of cameras, but if you go through my lightroom catalog you'll see that the RX10 IV was my most-used camera for the past 9 years.  Little wonder, as whenever I travel I always take the version IV with me, sometimes leaving the heavier gear in the hotel room just because I wanted to enjoy my trip more instead of being burdened by my bulkier equipment and camera bag.  

The RX10 IV was probably one of Sony's most under-loved cameras, having a versatile 24-600mm lens and the same 1"-type sensor used in their famous RX100 point-and-shoots.  It had a flash sync of 1/2000th of a second (great for overpowering the sun with flash on bright days) and could be operated with just one hand.  It was designed to appeal equally to videographers and photographers, given the motorized zoom lens and option for click-free f/stop ring.  Every time a reader asked me "What camera should I take on an upcoming trip?", I would always tell them to leave their big cameras at home, and get an RX10 IV.  Without exception they would always write back with emails like this:

Hey Gary!

You probably won't remember me but I bought a couple of your books in the past and we emailed a few times about the Sony RX10 IV and how great a travel camera it is. I still have the RX 10 IV and often refer to your book to refresh my memory or look to see if it has a solution to whatever question I have (and it always does). I have several other cameras (Canon R6 II and R7 and the Fujifilm X100VI) and whenever we go somewhere and I have to decide on which camera to take, I always remember our conversation where you said to leave the Canon and heavy lenses at home and just take the Sony RX10 IV and that it's all I need and I won't regret it. And you're right! :-)

I loved the camera so much that I created a dedicated blog post hearalding its praises and sharing how I overcame my serious trepidation about shooting licensable images using a small-sensor camera.  I also created this Google Photos album showing my favorite images taken with this camera over the years. 

From 2017: One of these images was taken with the 42 megapixel Sony A99 II with 135mm f/1.8 Zeiss prime.  The other was the RX10 II with equivalent settings.  When enlarged and displayed people couldn't tell which camera took which picture.  (The giveaway is that one picture had the chest hairs in focus also.  That was the RX10.)  There's much more to the story, and you can read all the detail on my blog post at https://friedmanarchives.blogspot.com/2017/03/full-frame-vs-small-sensor-dont-laugh.html