Alpha Silver Jubilee – 25 years 1985-2010

Konica and digital

The 3L and 40 were the final fling for Minolta before the 2004 merger with Konica; there were never any Konica Minolta film SLRs, the remaining stocks continued to sell with the Minolta branding on bodies and lenses even when some of the packaging was relabelled. New Konica Minolta lens caps were put with Minolta brand glass. As far as anyone can tell, lens manufacturing in Japan ceased; the Malaysian factory kept going. Konica Minolta in 2004 introduced two new lenses which were actually made by Tamron – the 17-35mm ƒ2.8-4 (D) and the 28-75mm ƒ2.8 (D). Very few earlier Minolta designs had even been updated for the 8-pin specification (D), notably exceptions were the 24-105mm and the 100-300mm APO.

You can see that the designers of the Classic 600si and Dynax 9 had a say in the 7D. It’s still one of the best DSLR body designs ever conceived, if you exclude the Nikon F5-based Kodak models.

In November 2004, Konica Minolta introduced the Dynax 7D – the first digital SLR in the range. There is an unverifiable story that the camera appeared two years later than originally planned, and was to have used the Foveon X3 sensor which eventually surfaced in Sigma’s SD-9. Minolta had used Sony digital sensors for some time, and may have been persuaded by Sony to abandon the idea of fitting their DSLR with a US-made imaging device – unproven and revolutionary – when a larger format 6 megapixel CCD was available from a Japanese supplier.

Whatever the case, the Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum 7D was two years late, too expensive, but also far ahead of its time. It was and now remains the best 6 megapixel DSLR ever made, including even the Nikon D100. Sensor based AS (Anti-Shake) was a totally new idea in an SLR and gave the Alpha system its main enduring unique selling point.

In 2005, the 5D followed – it seemed over-simplified, but compared to later Sony offerings it is now seen to have retained important functions and performed well.

Then, in January 2006, Konica Minolta washed its hands entirely of photography. Pulling out of the photographic market for ever, it discontinued all the film cameras – which probably had not been manufactured for some time – and sold the Alpha system to Sony.

At this point, the UK Minolta Club probably lost more members than ever before; Sony was not loved as a brand, the end of film was now assured, and the two DSLRs were showing their age. Sony also had no interest in the Club despite showing some respect for the Minolta heritage.