Minolta Question?

[Ricochetrider]

Hi everyone. A friend of mine messaged me today asking if I want this camera and lenses. He's giving it to me.

I know it's all Minolta but beyond that I know nothing- other than it apprently belonged to my friend's friend- whose dad bought it, used it only a couple times, then died!  

Anyone famiiar with this camera and the lenses shown? - I'm gong to submit this, having loaded the pic (drag & drop). I've tried "insterting the image file but it doesnt seem to be fully inserting itself, if I have to I'll put it into Zenfolio and  repost the shot via a URL. 

Thanks in advance!

 

Edit, I just clicked on the parial image that I see and the whole thing opened, hopefully this will work for eveyone else too! 

 

Edited February 28, 2023 by Ricochetrider

[orsetto]

Looks like a Minolta Dynax or Maxxum 7000i, second generation followup to the pioneering Maxxum 7000, circa late '80s. Seems you've got the compact, slowish 35-80 Minolta kit zoom and a typical Sigma tele zoom, likely from the same era.

Assuming it all functions well, not a bad freebie kit. Midrange camera body with some nice features, average kit normal zoom, average third-party tele zoom. Not a huge demand for Minolta A-mount film gear these days: while it sold like crazy at the time, few users really bonded to this system, so today it doesn't have nearly as much of a holdover nostalgia demand as the classic manual focus Minolta legends like SRT series. There were some excellent pro-level lenses made for this system, which can be somewhat clumsily adapted to AF with the Sony A7 series digital full frame bodies. But generally speaking, Minolta manual-focus gear is more popular in the current film photography culture.

Not a knock against Minolta, all the other brands share the same "charmless plastic blob" disdain when it comes to their AF vs manual focus bodies/lenses. Nobodys getting into bidding wars over the Nikon N70, Canon EOS Elan or Pentax SFX either. Best to simply enjoy the gift as a way to experience the ethos of the camera series that sparked the AF revolution. If you like it, use it and maybe pick up a couple more lenses. If it doesn't grab you, pass it on to an eager film newbie or maybe a photography class.

Edited February 28, 2023 by orsetto

[Ricochetrider]

Thank you, @orsetto

I plan on either gifting this kit to someone OR maybe trading it in to my local film cmaera shop person (YES there is a FILM CAMERA shop not too far away) for either film or services.