Minolta


Minolta Co., Ltd. was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, lenses, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten. It made the first integrated autofocus 35 mm SLR camera system. In 1931, the company adopted its final name, an acronym for "Mechanism, Instruments, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima".
In 2003, Minolta merged with Konica to form Konica Minolta. On 19 January 2006, Konica Minolta announced that it was leaving the camera and photo business, and that it would sell a portion of its SLR camera business to Sony as part of its move to pull completely out of the business of selling cameras and photographic film.
In 2017, Konica Minolta sold the Minolta trademark to JMM Lee Properties, which licensed it to Elite brands for line of digital cameras, camcorders, and dashcams.

History

Milestones

  • 1928: establishes Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten.
  • 1929: Marketed the company's first camera, the "Nifcarette".
  • 1937: The Minolta Flex is Japan's second twin-lens reflex camera.
  • 1947: Introduction of the long lived 35mm rangefinder camera Minolta-35
  • 1958: The Minolta SR-2 is Minolta's first single-lens reflex camera.
  • 1959: The Minolta SR-1.
  • 1962: John Glenn takes a specially modified Ansco-logoed Minolta Hi-Matic camera into space aboard Friendship 7. The company changes its name to Minolta Camera Co., Ltd.
  • 1966: The Minolta SR-T 101 SLR camera is one of the first with TTL full aperture light metering. The first is Topcon RE Super from 1963.
  • 1972: Minolta signs an agreement to cooperate with Leica in SLR development;
  • 1973: The Minolta CL is the first fruit of this agreement.
  • 1976: The Leica R3 is introduced. Minolta produces the R3, R4, and R5 models in the Leica R series. Subsequent cameras are built in Germany by Leica themselves.
  • 1977: The Minolta XD-11 is introduced, the world's first 'multi mode' SLR offering M, A, S modes, with a 'Program override' in S mode effected by a computer chip, the world's first Program mode. This same year, Minolta also introduced the Minolta XG series starting with the Minolta XG-7.
  • 1981: Implementation of Minolta's invention and patent of TTL OTF exposure metering: the Minolta CLE is the first 35mm rangefinder camera to feature TTL metering and aperture priority autoexposure. The Minolta X-700 manual-focus SLR is introduced; this model is sold until 1999 and is enormously successful. The Minolta XD-11 is the first Minolta product branded with an updated logo, which was in use until the 2003 merger with Konica.
  • 1985: The Minolta Maxxum 7000 Alpha Mount Camera becomes the world's first autofocus 35mm SLR with in-camera autofocus motor.
  • 1987: Honeywell files lawsuit against Minolta for patent infringement over autofocus technologies.
  • 1991: Minolta's autofocus design was found to infringe on the patents of Honeywell, a U.S. corporation. After protracted litigation, in 1991 Minolta was ordered to pay Honeywell damages, penalties, trial costs, and other expenses in a final amount of $127.6 million.
  • 1992: Minolta settles out of court with Honeywell.
  • 1994: The company changes its name to Minolta Co., Ltd. because it no longer is primarily a camera company.
  • 1995: Introduction of the Minolta RD-175, a 1.75-megapixel digital SLR camera.
  • 1996: The Minolta Vectis camera is a completely new SLR system designed around the Advanced Photo System film format.
  • 1998: The Minolta Maxxum 9 autofocus SLR is introduced. This system is targeted toward the professional photographer and has many features not duplicated by the competition.
  • 2003: DiMAGE A1 introduced world's first sensor-based anti-shake, and was the final Minolta product branded prior to the Konica Minolta merger.
  • 2004: Minolta and Konica officially merge to become Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc.
  • 2005: The company announces joint venture with Sony on CCD and CMOS technologies.
  • 2006: Konica Minolta announces it is discontinuing all film and digital camera production, ending a 78-year history as a camera manufacturer. Final models released were DiMAGE X1 and Z6. Konica Minolta Photo Image, Inc.'s assets regarding digital camera technology are transferred to Sony for continued development started from the joint venture.

    Early cameras

Relying heavily on imported German technology, Nichi-Doku turned out their first product, a bellows camera called the Nifcarette, in March 1929. By 1937, the company reorganized as Chiyoda Kogaku Seikō, K.K. and built the first Japanese-made twin-lens reflex camera, the Minoltaflex, based on the German Rolleiflex.
In 1947, the Minolta-35 was introduced. It is based on the Leica rangefinder camera concept with the 39mm screw lens-mount. It uses the standard 35mm film in cassettes. The standard lens is the Super Rokkor 1:2.8 50mm.
In 1950, Minolta developed a planetarium projector, the first-ever made in Japan, beginning the company's connection to astronomical optics. John Glenn took a Minolta Hi-Matic rangefinder 35 mm camera aboard the spacecraft Friendship 7 in 1962, and in 1968, Apollo 8 orbited the Moon with a Minolta Space Meter aboard. This was also used by the Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon.
In the late 1950s and 1960s, Minolta competed in the medium-format roll film camera market with the Autocord series of TLR cameras.
Image:Minolta SRT303.jpg|thumb|Minolta SR-T303
Image:Minolta-shift-lens.jpg|thumb|2.8 35mm shift lens, 11mm maximum shift
Image:Minolta XG-1.JPG|thumb|Minolta XG-1
Image:Minolta X-700 5.JPG|thumb|Minolta X-700

Single-lens reflex cameras

In 1958, Minolta introduced its SR-2 single lens reflex 35mm camera which was equipped with a bayonet mount and instant return mirror. In 1966 Minolta introduced the SR-T line which included TTL metering. Although well-made and widely regarded as some of the most innovative SLR cameras of their time, Minolta cameras were not as robust as competing Nikon models. Minolta SR/SRT design used sleeve bushings instead of bearings on its focal plane spindles and had greater tolerances between working parts. This occasionally caused problems in very cold weather or with extremely high levels of use. Minolta SLRs also lacked important professional features such as a motor drive, removable pentaprism, and removable back. Minolta cameras appealed to amateur photographers with their lower prices and high-quality optics.
From the late 1950s through the 1980s, Minolta was the first Japanese manufacturer to introduce a bayonet lens mount rather than a screw mount; and the first manufacturer to introduce multimode metering. They also introduced the first commercially successful autofocus SLR line with the Maxxum series.
In 1972, Minolta drew up a formal cooperation agreement with Leitz. Leitz needed expertise in camera body electronics, and Minolta felt that they could learn from Leitz's optical expertise. Tangible results of this cooperation were the Leica CL/Minolta CL, an affordable rangefinder camera to supplement the Leica M range. The Leica CL was built by Minolta to Leica specifications. Other results were the Leica R3, which was in fact the Minolta XE-1 with a Leica lens mount, viewfinder, and spot metering system, and the Leica R4 was based on the Minolta XD-11. Additionally, five Minolta lenses were repackaged as Leica R lenses: the Minolta 24/2.8 MC Rokkor-X optics are found in the Leica 24/2.8 Elmarit-R, and similarly for the Minolta 35-70/3.5, 75-200/4.5, 70-210/4, and 16/2.8.

First "program" focal plane shutter 35mm SLR: the XD-11 (XD, XD-7)

In 1977, Minolta introduced the XD-11, the first multimode 35 mm compact SLR to include both aperture and shutter priority in a single body. It was also the first camera to employ a computerised chip, which in shutter priority mode overrode the chosen speed if necessary to give a correct exposure, thus offering the first-ever 'programmed mode'. The XD-11 was the last attempt by Minolta to enter the professional and semiprofessional 35 mm SLR market until the Maxxum 9 in 1998. Elements of the XD-11 design were utilized by Leitz for the Leica R4 camera.

The final manual-focus 35mm SLR cameras: the X-700 series

Minolta continued to offer 35 mm manual focus SLR cameras in its X-370, X-570, and X-700 from 1981, but slowly repositioned its cameras to appeal to a broader market. Minolta decided to abandon the high level of design and parts specifications of its earlier XD/XE line. The new amateur-level X-570, X-700, and related models offered additional program and metering features designed to appeal to newer photographers, at a lower cost. The advanced vertical metal shutter design of the older cameras was rejected in favor of a cheaper horizontal cloth-curtain shutter, reducing flash sync to a slow 1/60th second. Further cost savings were made internally, where some operating components were changed from metal to plastic.
The first version of the X-370, the chrome version that was made in Japan, was a rugged, all-metal camera that sometimes had greater appeal than the “plasticky” X-570, X-700, or later black versions of the X-370 to photographers who place a premium on build quality.
As Minolta's autofocus Maxxums were proving successful, Minolta invested fewer resources in its manual focus line as time progressed.

Compact 35mm film cameras

Minolta entered the highly competitive 35mm compact camera market in the 1980s and transitioned from older rangefinder designs to "point-and-shoot" electronic autofocus/autowind cameras. Minolta, like other major manufacturers faced with low-cost competition from elsewhere in Asia, found it difficult to build quality P&S cameras at a cost the consumer was willing to pay, and was forced to offshore production, gradually redesigning successive cameras to reduce cost and maintain profit margins.