Minolta Maxxum 7000
Manufactured from 1985 to 1988 by Minolta Camera Co. of Osaka, Japan. While other manufactures were all entrenched working on autofocus lenses for their line of 35mm SLRs, Minolta quietly rocked the industry back on it�s heels with the introduction of the first in-body autofocus system for 35mm SLRs. It was a bold and risky move�Minolta changed from their beloved MC/MD lens mount to an mechanical/electronic �A� mount. The camera featured many other �firsts� other than the autofocus that today we think of as standards. It had an in-body winder providing film advance and motorized rewind. To make room for the needed battery power, they made use of a grip on the right side of the camera�today, most cameras have a grip of this type whether the batteries are there or not! It featured pushbutton controls instead of dials and had a large, external LCD display.
The unique in-camera autofocus system relied on a semi-silvered pattern on the mirror (shown here) that allowed a portion of the image to transmit thru the viewing mirror onto a smaller �piggy back� mirror that reflected that broken image down into the bottom of the mirror box to a set of beam splitters and CCD devices. Basically, it focuses by looking for an area of contrast and focusing it to the finest detail (i.e. a hard edge) and the focus point of the lens. Very cool�works with ANY lens on the camera. The �A� mount also provided data to the camera about focal length, zoom position and aperture settings. Seems another company decided this was too close to their patent and sued. And let�s just say they we�re not as nice as Exxon. Unfortunately for Minolta, its autofocus design was found to infringe on the patents of Honeywell and in 1991, Minolta was ordered to pay Honeywell damages, penalties, trial costs and other expenses in a final amount of $127.6 million.
See also: www.camerapedia.org/wiki/Minolta_7000
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