The Maxxum 7D, labelled Dynax 7D in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
/
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
and α-7 Digital in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
and officially named "DG-7D", is a 6.1
megapixel
In digital imaging, a pixel (abbreviated px), pel, or picture element is the smallest addressable element in a raster image, or the smallest point in an all points addressable display device.
In most digital display devices, pixels are the smal ...
digital single-lens reflex camera
A digital single-lens reflex camera (digital SLR or DSLR) is a digital camera that combines the optics and the mechanisms of a single-lens reflex camera with a digital imaging sensor.
The reflex design scheme is the primary difference between ...
, or DSLR, produced by
Konica Minolta
is a Japanese multinational technology company headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, with offices in 49 countries worldwide. The company manufactures business and industrial imaging products, including copiers, laser printers, multi-fu ...
. It was the top model of their DSLR range; the
Maxxum/Dynax 5D consumer-grade model was the other.
The 7D was first announced on 2004-02-12 at the
PMA show,
with full details released just before the
2004 photokina show on 2004-09-15.
The production camera was released in late 2004. Production ceased when Konica Minolta announced their exit from the camera business in January 2006. Regardless of its high specification (for the time) and innovative feature set, it came with a very high price tag. The 7D was available as body only, but also with a kit lens; a 17-35mm 2.8. Like the Nikon 18-70 kit lens found with many Nikon DSLRs, this lens was regarded as of high enough quality to do justice to the sensor within the body, unlike the cheap zoom kit lenses found with many DSLRs. In 2006 Sony acquired the Konica-Minolta camera business
although remaining inventory continued to be sold, alongside the K-M based
Sony α100
Sony α100 (DSLR-A100) is the first digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) marketed by Sony in 2006. It is the successor to the previous Konica Minolta DSLR models (primarily the Maxxum/Dynax 5D and 7D) through Sony's purchase of the Konica Min ...
. On release, the camera retailed for around £1000 GBP; somewhere between the Nikon D300 and Canon 40D.
Physical features
The 7D features a
Magnesium alloy
Magnesium alloys are mixtures of magnesium (the lightest structural metal) with other metals (called an alloy), often aluminium, zinc, manganese, silicon, copper, rare earths and zirconium. Magnesium alloys have a hexagonal lattice structure, w ...
body,
plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
in the rear, and primarily external controls. The body includes external controls for exposure compensation, flash compensation, focus mode, shooting mode, exposure mode, drive mode, metering mode, white balance, focal area, ISO, and two dials that are used to control shutter speed and F-stop. Presence of the external controls for most functions encourage experimentation without having to traverse through menus.
The 7D's
LCD
A liquid-crystal display (LCD) is a flat-panel display or other electronically modulated optical device that uses the light-modulating properties of liquid crystals combined with polarizers. Liquid crystals do not emit light directly but in ...
also doubles as the control LCD. Rather than having a second, status LCD located elsewhere like some
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western can ...
and
Nikon
(, ; ), also known just as Nikon, is a Japanese multinational corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, specializing in optics and imaging products. The companies held by Nikon form the Nikon Group.
Nikon's products include cameras, camera ...
DSLRs, it displays information such as
exposure settings,
aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.
An opt ...
,
shutter speed
In photography, shutter speed or exposure time is the length of time that the film or digital sensor inside the camera is exposed to light (that is, when the camera's shutter (photography), shutter is open) when taking a photograph.
The am ...
,
battery
Battery most often refers to:
* Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power
* Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact
Battery may also refer to:
Energy source
*Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...
life, and other miscellaneous recording information. The LCD, when acting as the control LCD, also rotates 90° based on the rotation of the camera to keep all of the information shown upright.
Anti-shake technology
The
Konica Minolta
is a Japanese multinational technology company headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo, with offices in 49 countries worldwide. The company manufactures business and industrial imaging products, including copiers, laser printers, multi-fu ...
Maxxum/Dynax 5D and 7D both come with Konica Minolta's
Anti-Shake
Image stabilization (IS) is a family of techniques that reduce blurring associated with the motion of a camera or other imaging device during exposure.
Generally, it compensates for pan and tilt (angular movement, equivalent to yaw and pit ...
Technology. A major difference between Konica Minolta's Anti-Shake and
Canon
Canon or Canons may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base
* Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture
** Western can ...
's
image stabilization
Image stabilization (IS) is a family of techniques that reduce blurring associated with the motion of a camera or other imaging device during exposure.
Generally, it compensates for pan and tilt (angular movement, equivalent to yaw and pit ...
is that the operation is done in the camera itself rather than inside the lens, thus making the effects usable regardless of the lens attached. In Canon's IS the lens has a floating element that is used to redirect the frame based on outside movement. In Konica Minolta's AS, however, the
CCD is on a floating plane controlled by two
actuators
An actuator is a component of a machine that is responsible for moving and controlling a mechanism or system, for example by opening a valve. In simple terms, it is a "mover".
An actuator requires a control device (controlled by control signal) an ...
that work based on detected outside movement and create an inverse movement, thereby keeping the CCD in line with the image.
Firmware issues
The factory firmware that the 7Ds initially shipped with (version 1.00) included a few performance related camera issues which affected initial reviews. The next build of firmware (version 1.10) gave such a great improvement in camera performance that DPReview revised their initial review of the 7D to retract a couple of the main negative points, citing true USB 2.0 speeds up to 25Mbit/s (up from 7.5Mbit/s), blinking highlights in the camera's built-in playback mode, the addition of a remote storage function in the transfer modes, and faster times when writing to the CF memory cards.
Other problems
It did have one problem which appeared to afflict all of the 7Ds at one point in their working lives: the development of "first frame black" aka "error 58" in which after a period of not being used, the first frame turned up dark. Sony for a while fixed this problem, and so did some private camera shops, however the parts which caused the problem are no longer available. First Frame Blank is often a simple process of turning off and back on, though it can lead to blank frames all the time. Another significant problem is misalignment of the sensor, where the sensor is stuck at one of the positions it can take up to counteract camera shake or it fails completely often due to one of the piezo actuators which 'shake' the sensor. There is a chugging sound and no picture can be taken. Repairs for this are prohibitive but are still available at a few specialist centers.
Konica Minolta and Sony
In July 2005, Konica Minolta announced a partnership with Sony to research and develop camera technologies. The following March, Konica Minolta announced its withdrawal from the camera business altogether and transferred all of its camera assets to Sony as of March 2006.
Sony's line of Alpha DSLR cameras built upon the digital Maxxum line, keeping many of the features that made the Maxxum 7D and 5D popular, most notably the built-in Anti-Shake technology. All Sony DSLR cameras came to support the
Minolta α
The Minolta A-mount camera system was a line of photographic equipment from Minolta introduced in 1985 with the world's first integrated autofocus system in the camera body with interchangeable lenses. The system used a lens mount called A-moun ...
mount lens system which makes newer Sony-built lenses compatible with Maxxum bodies and Maxxum lenses compatible with newer Sony bodies.
See also
*
List of Minolta products
*
Minolta A-mount system
The Minolta A-mount camera system was a line of photographic equipment from Minolta introduced in 1985 with the world's first integrated autofocus system in the camera body with interchangeable lenses. The system used a lens mount called A-moun ...
References
External links
DPReview reviews the Dynax/Maxxum 7DSearch function for images posted to flickr.com taken with Dynax/Maxxum 7D
{{Konica minolta
7
Cameras introduced in 2004