Say Goodbye to Konica-Minolta!

<p><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/31/farewell-konica-

minolta-hello-sony/">Here's an article</a> discussing that Konica-

Minolta has just been bought out by Sony. It seems that Sony will

use their anti-shake technology and start to build DSLR's now. Yet,

another end to an era!</p>

I had a "feeling" this might happen? ;>)

Quoted from the press release dated January 19, 2006

 

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0601/06011901konicaminoltaout.asp

 

"...we have reached an agreement with Sony to transfer a portion of assets regarding digital SLR camera system to Sony. In this relation, we have decided to withdraw from camera business, such as film cameras and digital cameras, within Konica Minolta Group as of March 31, 2006."

 

Reassuring to see that they stuck to their original timeline ;-)

Interesting. At a local pro shop yesterday I overheard someone asking the sales representative about this. The customer(s) said they use Minolta's AF camera system and wanted to know if they should trade-in their system for another brand. The sale guy said, "Don't worry, Sony will be producing similar and new technology cameras and lenses with Minolta's AF lens mount." It appears Minolta, or now K-M, isn't doing a good PR job for their users, and are leaving it to the sales outlets to do their work, or likely they'll be thinking about convincing the customer to buy a whole new system?