When I worked in photography in the late 90s and early 00s, Nikon was king. Canon was in second place or even considered the top brand, depending on which photographer the person spoke to. Both companies offer a wide selection of lenses, advanced camera bodies, and excellent autofocus systems. And then there are the exotic brands, like Minolta, Olympus, and Pentax, all of which make some great cameras, but not nearly as popular as the pro tools. Minolta is probably one of the most adventurous camera manufacturers out there.
These companies have released a number of innovative cameras and are generally willing to take more risks and try new approaches to camera and lens design by incorporating experimental features. or just by going against the current norm. Minolta’s ventures have sometimes paid off, as when they launched the world’s first autofocus SLR, the Maxxum 7000, in the mid-1980s. Unfortunately, not all of them. Their gambles all paid off, and some of their more outlandish designs in the 1990s kept many advanced amateurs and professionals from participating in the system.
At the time, I was a college student working at a camera store to cover tuition. I’m an extreme Canon guy. I find most of Minolta’s cameras to be bizarre looking and downright quirky in their design and function. The experimental nature of Minolta bodies culminates in the Maxxum 9xi’s extremely odd shape and look, which was a bold move in many ways for the company, but ultimately failed. The 9xi has a number of innovative features such as a superimposed display in the viewfinder, as well as a removable “Creative Card”, which can add a variety of customization features to the camera, depending on the card used. The 9xi also lacks the traditional dial and opts for a more futuristic button look. All these ideas have potential, but implementing them to the point of not helping Minolta gain professional users, some people turn away from the brand instead. For example, overlapping screens results in a rather dark viewfinder, which pretty much detracts from the camera’s supposed professional status.
However, Minolta learned many lessons from the bulky and perhaps even ugly 9xis and took a whole new approach in their last professional SLR, the Maxxum 9 (Dynax 9). in Europe and Alpha 9 in Japan). 9 removed all hidden buttons and molded futuristic plastic in exchange for a simple, classic design that has everything a pro could ask for and then some, in one body. looks like a professional camera, down to its massive size, great weight and ergonomics. I can remember the first time I saw Maxxum 9. I fell in love with it. It’s unlike any Minoltas I’ve seen. The aesthetics as well as the features appeal to me. Even as a know-it-all student who scoffed at most non-Canon cameras at the time, I knew it was something special.
For one thing, the 9 sports is still the fastest mechanical shutter in a 35mm camera at 1/12,000 sec and has an equally impressive 1/300 sec flash sync speed. It even has HSS (up to 1/8000 sec) when using certain Minolta flashes. 9 features large and sturdy control dials that make it quick to use with gloves on, and a design so simple that it’s great for photography, as well as one of the 35mm direct-to-video cameras. most important that i have used. Autofocus is fast and accurate for a camera of this era, and the 9 has many customizable functions thoughtfully included by Minolta without the need for any expansion cards, including the ability to rewind midway through reload later and resume shooting right where you left off. One of the best parts of the camera is the bright 100% viewfinder coverage, which makes composition incredibly easy and fun. And, as a Minolta, the camera includes some quirky features like a built-in flash, which is intelligently placed in a manually raised weatherproof compartment rather than via electronics and the “Eye” system. Start”, which initiates autofocus the moment a person raises the camera to their eye level. This is done through sensors in the grip and under the viewfinder. Unfortunately for Minolta, the Maxxum 9, while by no means little, is already too late, especially as a viable competitor to the likes of Nikon and Canon. As a feature-packed dark horse, the 9 might hold its own relative to other flagship models at the time, but it will ultimately be Minolta’s ultimate professional SLR for several reasons. do.
One reason why Maxxum 9 couldn’t save Minolta is that they don’t have the lens selection offered by Canon and Nikon. Of the lenses they’ve made, some are offered with features like electric zoom, which are ahead of their time, but extremely impractical when it comes to stills. There are also compatibility issues with some of the newer lenses that force Maxxum 9 owners to upgrade the board to use them. Another, albeit less important, issue is that the Minolta MD mount lenses are not compatible with their autofocus bodies. This means that a large number of their special manual focus lenses cannot be used on Maxxum cameras.
The previous flagship model, the Maxxum 9xi, did not satisfy Minolta’s existing advanced amateur and professional shooters, as many were annoyed by the added cost of expansion cards and the user interface. cumbersome and the camera’s poor viewfinder brightness. Unsatisfied users have many great cameras to choose from offered by other brands. In addition, Minolta’s lineup has never been as powerful as those from Nikon and Canon, which offer a wide range of bodies, from amateur to professional, and plenty of options in between. Of course, the events leading up to the end of the Maxxum camera are a more complicated tapestry, but that’s not the focus of this essay.
Fast-forward over twenty years and the Maxxum 9 has become an iconic camera, in part because the rare titanium version, the 9 Ti, still fetches a pretty high price in the used market. Since I couldn’t afford a 9 in the early 2000s, I recently bought one on eBay (not the Ti version) to ease the nostalgia and further fuel my growing interest in filming. mine. More than 20 years later, the number 9 still holds its own. As I described earlier, the beautiful, bright viewfinder, solid construction, intuitive composition and overall speed make this one of the most enjoyable cameras I’ve ever used. . Outside of the faux-leather grip, which seems to be broken on all these cameras, the construction is excellent and sturdy.
But using the number 9 in 2022 is bittersweet. One can almost feel the passion Minolta put into developing what would become their ultimate professional SLR. The company has gone to great lengths and it seems like Minolta knows the Maxxum 9 will be a success or a failure for the company. Sadly, even the gorgeous Maxxum 9, which received rave reviews at the time of its release, couldn’t save Minolta from what was to come.
While Maxxum 9 is truly the end of an era, there is certainly much more to Minolta’s story as a camera and lens designer. The revolutionary A-mount lenses pioneered by Minolta many years ago, as well as their camera design philosophy and aesthetics, have taken on a new life through Sony, which acquired the company. company in the early 2000s. I suppose that depending on one’s perspective, the story of Maxxum 9 and Minolta as a powerful camera maker finally has a happy ending, through the company the creative work that Sony continues to do to this day.
