Konica Minolta Maxxum 50

This is a wonderful camera! I was utterly shocked at the quality of shots that I got from this camera. I was also surprised to learn that old Minolta lenses from my grandfather's 30 year old XG1 work on this camera in manual mode! I wouldn't trade this camera for anything else. I've gotten several frameworthy photos in all conditions and with all types of lenses with this camera. It's very easy to use. The only issue is that the autofocus is a little slow at times. My favorite part is the adjustible shutter speeds available on this camera! It ranges from 40 to 6400. I have used all sorts of film in it, but mainly I use Kodak 400 Professional grade film. The lens included in the kit is quite nice. It's a 27-100 AF Macro lens. I'd highly recomment to anyone interested in purchasing a camera for casual photography or even as a family camera. It's not so great for professional grade photography simply because of the lack of advanced-user features. For anyone who isn't a for-hire professional, this camera is amazing!

Interchangable lenses Light compact design FANTASTIC image quality for most shots Highly variable shutter speeds FANTASTIC with black and white film also!

Slow autofocusing at times Sometimes autofocus isn't as crisp as manual focus especially for night shots Distance shots can be a problem also unless you use the manual focus

Minolta XG-1

An excellent camera overall, for what I bought it for - taking family pictures. I had hoped that the built in flash would be high enough to reduce redeye even without resorting to the redeye reduction flash mode, and it does, but not 100% of the time. It's still much better in that regard than the Minolta P&S we had been using. The camera's focusing isn't exceptionally fast but it works well even in reduced light, at least with the kit-included lens. Some of the camera's features aren't intuitive and there's a good bit of "Turn dial A and press button B" sort of stuff. Users of more sophisticated Minolta SLRs will notice some missing features right away. Viewfinder info is limited to over and underexposure arrows, a focus indicator, and a flash indicator. No viewfinder indication of focus point and no aperture nor f-stop setting. While the camera has aperture and shutter priority (as well as program and manual modes) you have to set them via the top-mounted LCD screen. The camera also does not accept any cable release, but you can get by without one via the wireless remote. For bulb exposures you click the remote once to open the shutter and a second time to close it. The camera has a polycarbonate lens mount so I wouldn't use it with heavy lenses. The camera has quite a few advanced features too, like multiple exposure, bracketing, self timer, exposure compensation, and several "modes" like Portrait and Landscape. The optional remote control works quite well with the date model - I've not seen any other version but the manual seems to indicate such abeast exists. I bought the camera with the 28-100mm lens in a kit. The lens itself is what you'd expect - a bit soft, lightweight, not very fast - but it's very inexpensive and has handles color very nicely. I was surprised that batteries came with the kit. All in all I'm pretty happy with the camera. Kudos to Minolta - is this the last new 35mm SLR we'll see from them?

Lightweight Inexpensive Accurate focussing Remote control available

Plastic lens mount No cable release socket

Maxxum 7 Maxxum 5

I've had no bad experience with Minolta customer support, though I have not needed them with this product so far.