Minolta was one of the great photographic companies that did not survive the digital revolution. They were an innovative company and have some pretty good products out there. They merged with another fantastic photographic company, Konica from where they made great imaging products. However, the company decided to sell the photographic unit to Sony in 2006 so from then on, Sony uses the old Minolta A-mounts and their proprietary flash mount which is incompatible with every other system there is out there unless you're able to find a converter.
I got my Minolta Dynax 3 which is also known as the Maxxum 4 in America and Europe BNIB - brand new in box. There are quite a number of these orphaned film SLRs out there. Since everyone went digital, a lot of shops got stuck with these cameras and they have been selling them below cost meaning you can get them at low, low prices! Just check out various auction sites and camera dealers and you'll find slightly used and brand new ones still! What's even better is if you have a new Sony DSLR, you can use the same lenses and flash units from your old Minolta A-mount! Sony calls these the Alpha mount.
The Dynax 3 is a very basic SLR unit that takes in 135mm film. It has a maximum shutter speed of 1/2000 and has an easy to use program function. Focusing is slow but when it does focus, it is sharp! It is an automatic camera so all you have to do is put in the film and it is ready to shoot! It uses expensive CR2 batteries though which can be hard to find at times so stock up whenever you find some. They last forever though so it might be a year or more before you have to replace them
