Minolta Camera

The Minolta camera company may be long gone but its legacy lives on in practical ways for Sony dSLR camera users.

Sony purchased the Konica-Minolta camera division (or at least parts of it) to get started in the digital SLR market. Sony used the existing dSLR development Minolta had made to launch their own camera line. More importantly Sony used the same lens mount as Minolta (A mount). This gives Sony Alpha camera owners access decades of outstanding Minolta Maxxum lenses. Many of these lenses are available relatively inexpensively in the used market.

Sony's decision to promote the Minolta mount has created a rich compatibility system of outstanding digital bodies, wonderful vintage lenses and even excellent film bodies.

Here is an example of a great old Minolta lens that works very well on modern Sony dSLR cameras. For about $100 you get a lens with very respectable image quality and excellent build quality. This is a very popular first lens purchase with new Sony owners. Read more about the Minolta 50mm F1.7 lens here.