Minolta A-mount system

The Minolta A-mount camera system was a line of photographic equipment from Minolta. The system used a lens mount called A-mount, with a flange focal distance 44.50 mm. The new mount was larger than the older SR-mount making old manual lenses incompatible with the new system. The mount is now used by Sony, who bought the SLR camera division from Konica Minolta, Konica and Minolta having merged a few years before.

The Minolta A-mount system was at first marketed as Maxxum in North America and α (Alpha) in Japan and the rest of Asia. In Europe early Minolta A-mount cameras were initially identified by a 4 digit number followed by AF. The name Dynax was introduced later with the "i" cameras, the second generation of Minolta A-mount camera.

It was originally based around a selection of three 35 mm single-lens reflex (SLR) bodies, the 5000, 7000 and 9000. The system also included an extensive range of auto-focus lenses, flashes, a motor drive and other accessories. Compatible equipment was made by a number of third parties.

List of Minolta A-mount lenses

Minolta and Konica Minolta released the following lenses for Minolta A-mount cameras between 1985 and 2006.

While most auto-focus lens designs were new developments, some optical constructions were derived from Minolta SR-mount lenses (as indicated). When Sony took over the system in 2006, 18 lenses were reintroduced as Sony A-mount lenses. Of those, most lenses are optically, mechanically and electrically identical to their Minolta predecessors and differ only in their outer appearance, however, three have seen subtle changes in the optics and electro-mechanics.

All Minolta and Konica Minolta A-mount lenses are compatible with Sony A-mount cameras.

Up into the mid 1990s, A-mount lenses for the North American market (where the A-mount camera bodies were labelled Maxxum) were engraved Maxxum AF rather than just AF (as was used in the rest of the world, including in those regions otherwise using the Dynax and α labels for the cameras). Although some buyers associated either the Maxxum AF or the AF designation with a higher quality, both types of lenses were built to exactly the same specifications and quality standards in the factory, and were only used to improve trackability and dry out the gray market. They differed only in their name plate and part numbers (????-1?? for AF, ????-6?? for Maxxum AF). A similar scheme had been used by Minolta in the 1960s and 1970s with their Rokkor and Rokkor-X SR-mount lens designations. The Maxxum AF lenses introduced in 1985 originally used a "crossed XX" font, which was soon dropped by Minolta after a trademark lawsuit with Exxon.

Minolta Maxxum 7000

The Minolta MAXXUM 7000 (7000 AF in Europe and α-7000 in Japan) 35mm SLR camera was introduced in February 1985. It was the first camera to feature both integrated autofocus (AF) and motorised film advance, the standard configuration for later amateur and professional single lens reflex cameras.

Overview

Although the Nikon F3AF (1983), Pentax ME F and Chinon CE-5 already had presented autofocus single lens reflex cameras, autofocusing could not be achieved without the use of special motorised AF lenses. The Pentax ME F had focus sensors in the camera body, while the Chinon CE-5 used a lens with built-in active infrared sensors. Nikon already had a camera with integrated motor drive on the market, the N2000 (F-301 in UK), but its autofocus counterpart, the N2020 (F-501 in UK), appeared after the Maxxum/Dynax.

The Minolta 7000 had its AF sensors and the focusing drive inside the camera body, and as a result the lenses could be much smaller and cheaper. The aperture and focus were mechanically driven through the lens mount from the camera body. However, electronically controlled buttons on the camera body now replaced the mechanical aperture ring on the lens, and the setting was electronically displayed on the body and in the viewfinder. The metal housing of older Minolta SLR cameras was replaced with a lighter, cheaper body made of plastics. In other respects, the Maxxum offered most of the standard features of other cameras of the day, with the exception of a rather low flash sync speed (1/125 sec.) and no multi-exposure capability.