Konica Minolta announced today that they are withdrawing from the camera and photo business. One of the most innovative and creative camera company is coming to an end. Luckily the Maxxum mount will live under the Sony name. As much as I would hate to carry a Sony camera, this is good news since it means my investment of A-mount lenses would eventually be worth a lot more. Also the bottom line is that my KM 5D will continue to take the same great pictures, and I have no intentions of replacing it for a couple of years at least. Time to pile up some more lenses while people are still dumping them for peanuts on ebay!
For those unaware about Minolta’s heritage, here is a brief history. Minolta was the first company to introduce an Autofocus SLR, wireless flash, first (and till date the only) to incorporate anti-shake in the camera body, and a bunch of other firsts. It was perhaps the only company that actually put some thought into the camera user interface. Nikon is really quite bad, and Canon just downright pathetic in terms of the user interface on SLRs. As long as Sony doesnt try to impose its “memory-stick culture” on these cameras, there is bright future ahead for the Maxxum/Dynax mount. Now if only they would make a formal announcement on what their plans are, it would silence a lot of speculation and fear on various forums.
Update: A day after the announcement the dust is starting to settle and more information is slowly coming out. According to Sony, they are aiming at a 25% share of the DSLR market. Also, ebay prices for Minolta lenses is already starting to rise. I saw an old Minolta 100-200mm/4.5 lens (good but not great) go for around $80! Just last week I almost bought one for under $30! I knew I should have gotten more lenses earlier :p
