Konica Minolta Minolta Maxxum 3Xi Film Camera

I've had my 3xi for 14 yrs. and I love it. I still use on a regular basis and have never had a problem with it.. As long as it still works I will keep it . I would like to get more lenses for it though. I have the one that came on it and an 80mm-200mm zoom for it.
I wish that I could buy them new because to many people don't take very good care of their lenses. I don't like e-bay because my experiences with them have always ended with someone else winning the bid and I've got better things to do than to sit and keep trying to olace the last bid.

Great photo's. I used to shoot scinics in Utah with 25 ISO film from Kodak and the results were incredable.

The only problem that I ever had was with auto focus at times. Some times it didn't want to stay in focus or zoomed in because of haze but that was easily corrected by changing to manual focus.

A good little camera, the Minolta Maxxum 3xi was one of Minolta's "entry level" cameas when the xi line was introduced. program mode, aperture and shutter priority modes and even full manual control, as well as the ability to use all the preceeding lenses (and some compatability with newer lenses too). Mine was wearing the 35-80mm f/4-5.6 zoom when i bought it.

I have since purchased a 70-210mm f4-5.6 and a rare 35-105mm f3.5/4 lens to augment the camera's abilities.

The 3xi fits nicely in the hand, and is a versitile camera body.

I'm having a hard time justifying switching to another camera brand at this time.

Simplicity is the strength of the 3xi .Auto loading, auto winding, and pooint and shoot convenience are matched with the flexibility to alter most of the settings manually if one prefers.

Ergonomically, it fits nicely in the hand and is fairly light, allowing for good mobility when shooting.

The 3xi is compatable with a wide host of Maxxum accessories. Any lens made with the alpha mount - from Minolta, Konika,Tamron or even the new Sony DSLR line will fit and function just fine. In addition, i and xi series lenses will auto-zoom if you need that feature. Minolta Program series flashes will work with the 3xi if you need more power than the built-in flash can supply. There are a few flash models that require an adaptor to work properly. Alpha to MD and even alpha to screw mount adapters are availibel, although of course this measn manually focusing,

Cost-wise, bodies alone go for $25 US or less on eBay, and many come with their original kit lens (the aforementioned 35-80mm). Some come with different lenses or accessories. Lenses are good to excellent quality, and can be found inexpensively. As an example of this, the relatively fast 35-105mm lens I use most often was on sale at Goodwill for $12.99 US. No kidding.

Battery issues. I was shooting a photo class in winter, and the battery would go from a full charge to half charge very, very fast. warm it up and it's fine. Might be a problem with the 2cr5 battery rather than the camera.

No DX override/manual ISO settings. No double exposure mode. ISO defaults to 100 if non-dx film is used. Shutter speed and aperture not displayed in the viewfinder - all you get are up and down arrows indicating exposures. Annoying in manual mode, since you have to check the lcd screen to see what things are set at.

Passive, contrast-based AF. This is my biggest issue. If you are taking a photograph of a scene with even tone and a lack of contrast, the AF system will hunt back and forth and not allow the picture to be taken. You can always manually focus, but since the pentaprism wasn't designed for that, you don't have a split finder or any other aid to help you do so. This is common to many cameras though, so it shouldn't be a problem for most people.

Mamiya 500 TTL, Rikoh XR-1
Also, the Maxxum SPxi is the fraturnal twin of the 3xi, lacking an external flash but having spot-metering capability.

Minolta has been out of the SLR business for years, Konica sold the rights to Sony, and Sony wants to sell you DSLRs, not fix your old Maxxum. I hope my 3xi lasts many more years.

On the plus side, spare bodies (and compatable Maxxum bodies from all generations of the product) are inexpensive enough that I won't panic if this camera melts on me.