Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D

On one side we have Olympus and the E-1 that has the "auto-cleaning" system, and on the other side Minolta with the 7D that has anti-shake at CCD level. When will we get that on Canon and Nikon to use the lenses we already have ?

Canon and Nikon have a full array of lenses. They've had many iterations of the DSLR and therefore been thru a maturing phase. Minolta has yet to even announce pricing on a camera that was slated for a fall 2004 release.

I think those in the Canon/Nikon camp that complain about any "lacking" need to take a reality check. You've had DSLR's to use.

A friend of mine shoots Minolta, and has been using the previous digital camera, from the late 90's, that Minolta came out with. It's, I believe, 1.75 MP and was cutting edge in 1996, but has been obsolete for years. He's happy to finally have a digital option for his lenses. Frankly, it doesn't sound like Minolta is too serious with supporting their SLR shooters. The Digital Maxxiumm 7D seems too little, too late to me, whatever it's desirable qualities.

From the point of view of the photographer, amateur and advanced, I'd say that anti-shake on EVERY LENS is a lot more than what the other manufacturers are offering. Pros, and a few others, can afford to outfit their toolkit with VR/IS lenses but for the masses its not feasible.

6MP is not the most but I've printed several images from my 5MP Sony F717 on 13x19 using an Epson printer and have been more than pleased.

"When will we get that on Canon and Nikon to use the lenses we already have ?"

Probably never. Or at least not in near future. Both Nikon and Canon have very pricey VR/IS series of lenses. Implementing it on the camera level would shrink market for those lenses to film camera owners (and that segment of market is becoming smaller and smaller every day). It's all about making profit, not about making good stuff.

The real question is, when will the Minolta users actually GET this camera. This thing has been talked about for MONTHS. Until it's actually out, Minolta users have no advantage at all.

The 7D has a 0.9x viewfinder which puts it heads and shoulders above the Nikon and Canon offerings in the same price class. The anti-shake comes free, and it works with lenses meant for available light work (fast primes) which are sorely lacking in N/C VR/IS offerings and will probably always be because of the necessary extra elements in optical stabilization.

I think it doesn't really matter if Minolta is late in the game. If this camera works properly they'll be ahead of the game in the consumer class which includes most DSLR users.

Addressing the issue of whether or not Canikon will provide in-body image stabilization by saying that they've been selling DSLRs for the past few years is bizarre. As for the release of this camera, pricing has finally been announced for various markets (including the US) and it will be shipping in November. You can pooh-pooh the shipping date as being bogus but at least wait till after November.

There is this interesting caveat about the effectiveness of anti-shake being dependent on the lens. My guess is the longer focal length lenses will benefit less since the same amplitude of camera shake translates into much larger movements of the image on the sensor. Canon and Nikon both intervene earlier in the optical path and thus can use smaller motions to cancel out the shake. With long lenses the sensor will have to move rapidly with moderate amplitudes. I don't know how the Maxxuum 7D implements A/S but it remains to be seen whether it will be as effective as Canon and Nikons IS/VR solution. It is just a case of wait and see.

From the info at http://www.dpreview.com as well as the Minolta A2, it seems like Anti-Shake gets you 2-3 stops. But you're right - experience will answer all questions.

A Canon 28-135 mm at 50 mm has about f/4 max aperture. A 50 mm f/1.4 would be ok at 1/125 s & iso 400. If you can now shoot with reasonable confidence at 1/20 s, that gives you an advantage of 3 stops when using the 7D+50/1.4 over the Canon IS lens set at 50 mm, and 2-3 stops over the 50 mm on a Canon or Nikon DSLR. I think it's going to be extremily useful for situations such as shooting in a church or interiors where you cannot bring a tripod.

My guess is the longer focal length lenses will benefit less since the same amplitude of camera shake translates into much larger movements of the image on the sensor. Canon and Nikon both intervene earlier in the optical path and thus can use smaller motions to cancel out the shake. With long lenses the sensor will have to move rapidly with moderate amplitudes.
Alistair Windsor, October 13, 2004

Remember the advantage of IS/VR/AS is a relative one compared to the normal handholdable shutter speed. The absolute shake of the image at the focal plane for a longer lens will be bigger than a shorter lens, but only if the shutter speed is the same. However, at the same ratio of shutter speed to focal length, the image blur is roughly the same.

A blurry photo (say 2 stops under the "1/f" shutter speed rule) will have the roughly the same amount of image blur (wander of the image on the image plane) whether it's a 300mm lens or a 50mm lens. Hence, the sensor motion required to correct these "2 stops of image blur" is going to be the same (to a first approximation). I.e. A 300mm lens will suffer the same image wander on the focal plane in 1/60th of a second as a 50mm lens in 1/10th of a second.

Cheers,
Daniel.

I talked to a buddy of mine at Camera's West and he said they finally got a price for the 7D it's about what I expected it to be at $1599 without a lens this is US market for those of you not familiar with Camera's West (AKA Ritz, Wolf, etc.)

Sean, there is no doubt that it works on the A2 it is just a question of how well it scales up. I will not be in the market for a 7D regardless since I am committed to the Canon system. My interest is purely academic and my suggestion purely speculative based on the language of the press release.

An interesting test: I was keep hitting the photographer's hand that holding the 7D during the shooting. The picture generated seems not blured.

I tried only a few times. This is not a scientific, well planned test but just to satisfy my curiosity.

Shooting with the 7D, the camera can move a little, but the target cannot move :).

It seems to me that this Anti-Shake can work only if the image on the focal plane in the back of the camera is larger than the CCD. Right now, the CCD is 1.5X smaller than the image, so the CCD has room to move up and down, or left and right, and still remain inside the image, so no problem arises. But how can it work if the CCD should become the same size of the image? How could it work with a factor of 1X, as the Canon EOS 1Ds has? The moving CCD would miss a part of the image. A new system of lenses would then be required.

Yes, obviously the technology requires that the sensor is small and the image circle is large. Such a set of lenses (35 mm) and sensors (APS) xist and are popularly used today in many SLR brands. Why should this change, when excellent images are obtained with the APS size sensors used today?

Ilkka, for the same reasons that Canon is making the EOS 1Ds cameras: 1. that a 17-35 zoom remains 17-35, rather than becoming a 26-53 2. that prints could be made larger than those which can be made with APS size CCDs. A way around 1. would be for Minolta to come out with a 12-24 zoom, to fill the gap. But 2. would require a larger CCD (unless a new way of increasing the pixel density on the CCD is found).

AS usually doesn't need to move that much to compensate for handshake. Just look at a typically blurred photo and you'll see that the blurriness is only a few percent of picture height. For a 36mmx24mm format CCD, it'd probably only need to have an image circle about 5% bigger than 43.3mm, say 45.5mm. Typical 35mm lenses have image circles at least that big (especially telephotos where AS is most useful), unless they are ultrawide lenses, suffer from severe vignetting anyway, or else are baffled to deliberately restrict the image circle. The shutter would have to be slightly bigger of course.

Anyway, even if the image circle was exactly 43.3mm, I'd trade 1mm of slightly darker corner for a sharp rest of the image. It's no problem to crop it out (I crop most of my pics anyway). Since viewfinders are usually 95% or less coverage, you probably didn't even intend to frame the extreme corner anyway:).

Cheers, Daniel.

I'm sure Minolta will ultimately come up with new zooms which have the popular angle of view ranges just as Nikon has. I'm a prime lens user and I'm not the least bit bothered by the difference in FOV. As for the print size, it doesn't depend on the sensor size alone. There are big differences in 6 MP APS digital SLRs in terms of image quality and I'm sure (though without firsthand experience) the Minolta is capable of excellent images, just as my D70 is. How many images do you print larger than 8x12 inches? A few, yes, but since Nikon has already announced a 12.4 MP APS size sensor, and they seem to suggest that it wasn't any problem to make, Minolta may eventually in a few years do the same. While you may get better images from a 1Ds, twice the weight isn't exactly very attractive and one might as well get a decent medium format camera for those applications which require top quality beyond what the 12 MP D2X is capable of. I'm not in the least bit interested in carrying a 1.5 kg body alone and Minolta has come up with yet another reason to support the APS sensors: vibration reduction with all lenses. With their 0.9x viewfinder magnification, once that gets to the Nikon line, I have little or no interest in larger sensors even if they can be made economically in 10 years or so.

I've got a possible solution to the problem of having anti-shake on a potential 9D with a full-size image sensor and high resolution, such as 12MP.

You can shoot at full resolution and retain the correct cropping of the lens at its indicated focal length and NOT have anti-shake enabled, OR you can engage anti-shake, if needed, and the camera will automatically crop the image to, say, 8MP with something like a 1.5x cropping factor.

So, if you're in a situation where anti-shake is paramout, you just have to give up some angle of view and resolution. If angle of view or resolution is paramount, you just turn off anti-shake.

By the way, I'd love a 9D. Well see. Also, I ordered my 7D a week ago from Ritz...they were one of the first online companies to list it for pre-order. Now, so are Adorama and B&H.

Jay

I tried this camera on Saturday October 23, at the Photo Plus Expo in New York. Some say that it's too little, too late. My opinion is to the contrary. I'm a non-bias Nikon owner and I think that this camera's design it great. Anti-shake technology seemed to work as advertised and it's also does well for the value of all Minolta AF lenses. The street price is estimated to be around $1500 and it feels it. The LCD screen is among the nicest I've seen (in clarity, size and functionality). The Minolta engineer said that the 7D is made to be picked up and used like the Maxxumm 7 film camera. I think they've accomplished this.

Rich P.

Guess why I just put my Maxxum 7 with Vertical Control Grip VC-7 on e-bay?

I bought two of the first 1985 Maxxum 7 bodies when they were introduced, and over the years have accumulated 8 Maxxum lenses. They'll all work on the 7D. AS an afterthought, the Maxxum 7 is a serious piece of work. I would expect the 7D, which appears virtually identical, to be even better.

I have a question about the 7D.

In the menu, you can choose between two different ISO ranges: 100-1600 and 100-3200. Why? I don't understand why you wouldn't always want to be able to choose from among all ISO possiblities. I think I've seen this same feature in other digital cameras, too, and the same question applies.

Thanks, Jay

The sensitivities above iso 1600 are implemented in software/firmware instead of adjusting the analog amplifier gain of the pick-up circuit. So there may be no benefit in using iso 3200 instead of using iso 1600, underexposing by 1 stop and applying a levels adjustment.

It sort of seems odd, then, that the option for ISO 3200 exists at all. I guess it's high speed for Dummies. That must be meant to be used in tandem with the full-auto Program mode (another feature for Dummies).

I suspect it's there for those who use JPG and don't adjust the files in an image editor before having them printed.

Ahhh. That does make sense. Thanks for the explanation. :)

Read my review of the Maxxum 7D at www.jpwphoto.com.

Well, as it was with the A2, Nikon now has this feature in the Coolpix 8800, so it wouldn't suprise me to see it in something D70-ish, though perhaps for the bigger iron they're continue to push the VR lenses...

I just don't see a guy with a D70-level body dropping a $2900 lens on it, though I could be wrong.

I believe the Coolpix 8800 has vibration reduction in the lens, not the sensor.

"I've got a possible solution to the problem of having anti-shake on a potential 9D with a full-size image sensor and high resolution, such as 12MP"

The solution you propose wouldn't actually help - the problem is that with motion, light from a single point source is spread across multiple pixels as the camera moves. The anti-shake, or any image stabilizing technology, aims to keep the image static on the sensor so that you don't get motion blur.

Simply using a larger sensor and cropping it would give you a smaller blurry image.

Note that this sort of stabilization doesn't help to freeze fast motion in the scene - it helps compensate for short shaky motion of the camera relative to the scene.

--

ISO 3200 is handy for those times when there isn't enough light to take a photograph at ISO 1600. There are times when you just wouldn't get an image at all. With ISO 3200, you stand a chance of recording the information. Why not always have it available? Since you can often setup the camera to change ISO at the spin of a wheel, it's nice to be able to jump from 100 to 1600 quickly without jumping to 3200. But if you're keen to get any image at a particular venue, you set it up to jump to ISO 3200 right away.

I feel that the current DSLR's are lost in the Megapixel race... Most have made me yawn, as it's a different dog with the same fleas, but the D7D seems to be truly innovative..

BUT... I have no idea why there isn't a camera with the combined specs (I think) everybody wants.. It drives me nuts! I don't mind 6MP at all, it's more than enough for the average joe, and I'll take 6MP over 8MP or even 12MP anyday provided I can get:

*ISO 25-6400 (I'd love to take waterfall pics without an ND.. ISO25 @F22 would be just lovely.. By the same token, ISO6400+AS+200mmF2.8 = no flash needed for indoor plays etc..) *100% viewfinder (So I can compose EXACTLY WYSIWYG) *1/500th flash sync (Since I can "cut" the sensor input time on DSLR's vs film, I have no idea why this is not done on all DSLR's.. (maybe someone smarter than me will explain to me..) Fill-flash is important to me for outdoor portraits with high backlit situations and a need for fill in the foreground.) * Mirror lockup + Timer / Remote triggerable * 2nd Curtain sync * Wireless TTL * Full 16bit colors per channel * Runs on 4AA batteries / CR-V3 batteries.. That way, if I'm in Timbucku, I can always buy AA batteries. As AA batteries keep improving (was high of 1800mA 3 years ago, 2500mA just came out) So we aren't locked into proprietary batteries.

You give me a DSLR with these specs, and I don't care who makes it, I'll buy it! The arguement of Canon glass vs Nikon glass vs Minolta glass.. Look.. If you are comparing the kit 28-80mm f5.6 (body caps as I call them) vs. L series vs G series vs. whatever series.. Every line has good and bad lenses, and every line has exceptional lenses.. I find it to be totally BS when people tell me they can tell what lens was used..

I hope Minolta blows the doors wide open, and put out a D9 and a D5. With the continued advances in DSLR's, the race is afoot, and getting only better..

I am rooting for all the manufacturers, especially Canon, Nikon, Minolta, and Sigma. I'd love to have a Foveon on a D7D...

As for the AS problem and full-frame..

100% fullframe OR 95% frame + AS.

It's not a big problem at all.. "Pixel Binning" is done already.

Unfortunately (for my wallet) I played with one of these tonight, and to be honest, the idea of grabbing one and adding a Contax 85mm 1.4 seems SO attractive to me, that I might abandon my Nikon/Canon fetish...

VERY nice camera, if the IS does what it says...a stablized German glass portrait camera, might be just around the corner for me...

Shawn

I'm attracted to Maxxumm 7D features, but Minolta did such a terrible job on the 5400II scanner (excessive and wrong plastics, sloppy quality control) that I'll generalize from the experience of returning two scanners and avoid the camera.

Don't let your bad experience with the 5400? keep you from looking at the 7D. It is a good camera. I own it and like it a lot. If you come from film cameras, it is very user friendly with lots of well laid out knobs and buttons for easier use than menus.

I played with Dynax 7 with 28-100 lens kit (1600 $) in electronics shop. VF is dark (with 5.6 lens), compared to chip NIkon F60. AF is slower when of my Nikon F90 and started to hunt, though it was fairly light in the department. AF area is narrow. The grip is small and not handy. I LIKED THE BUILD THOUGH.

The main disadvantage i see to the CCD-shift anti-shake system is that it will not (i'm presuming) correct for the angular deviation you camera my experience. IE, the shift can only correct for vibrations of the camera where the direction of the optical axis does not change. This would be the reason why longer focal length lenses would be more susceptable to shake; the same angular deviation of the optic axis results in a greater deviation of image on the film/sensor plane. As far as i know, canon's IS system is for this reason superior to the CCD-shift system

Why is this called a review? It is just a spec copy.

Be careful with the fireware update on the 7D. I follow the instruction on KM's site and updated the firmware on my 7D. The screen stated " Firmware Updated". I turned the camera off and the 7D just stopped working. I contacted KM; they email me a UPS label right away to get the camera fix, but I am going to lose a few good shooting days. Just be careful with your firmware update.

Aside from that, I love my 7D.

i recently purchased a 7d, i bought it at a local camera shop with a statewide presence. i took it home and charged it up, and started testing it out. Wonderful camera but something was wrong, the flash didn't function at all. i check the manual and it clearly stated the flash will fire anytime it is raised...not only didn't it fire it didn't register that it was raised...i took it back, and exchanged it the next day i had time, probably about a week later. the new one functions perfectly, and exactly how i expected. i picked it over the d70 and the 20d because of its size [chunky] and controls [plethora], the antishake and big lcd were a bonus. the ergonomics are that great, its feels solid in your hands, and the rubberized EVERYTHING is nice, all the dials really let you focus on the image, i love it as much as my rollei 3.5f...its that good. Hands down makes the digital rebel feel like a toy. and there's a 200 dollar rebate going on now. making my kit cost about 1100 dollars including a nice 2gb cf card.

After using the 7D for half a year and about 4000 pictures, I'll probably stick to it. It's the 10th camera in my life. My dad used his Bessa for 50 years...

I tried adding two links to my comments on the 7D and my anti-shake test. Wouldn't go through. Some kind of posting error. These links are strictly non-commercial.

My review: http://www.aliasimages.com/Max7Drev.htm

Anti-shake test: http://www.aliasimages.com/KM7D_AS_Test.htm

Bob Atkins "review" above seems to be little but a regurgitation of the spec sheet.

According to a press release from the company, Konica-Minolta will withdraw from the camera business as of 31 March 2006. Here is a link to the release: http://konicaminolta.com/releases/2006/0119_03_01.html

Just got the 7D - and I am wondering to find a "mechanical" shutter inside. I understand (according to booklet) that it shields the CCD from dust when the lens is down, but why it is in use? I checked it witl long exposures with 2s timer (== MLU) and one can hear the shutter being opened (after those 2 seconds). What is is good for? Why not to make pure "electronical" shutter on the CCD? I think that this issue is directly connected to rather poor flash-sync times.

Apart from that - the viewfinder is not really small (better than in 5D), but when comared to my girlfriends Dynax 7 - it makes one cry. The body is rather sturdy but I still find the Dynax 7 to be better build - the differences are more in detailes. I expect the signs on the dials to come of rather fast as they are "sticking out" rather than beeing engraved into the dials.

Anyhow - it is still a very nice kamera and the AS is a little wonder. For me it is a big step up from C-5060WZ which served me well for 2 years. I hope to see the continuation from Sony both on cameras and lenses.

As Sony acquired the camera dept of konica-Minolta, I am very curious about their new Alpha System. I always found that the Maxxum 7D, is probably one of the best well designed cameras in the market - I am a Nikon owner - and the merge of Sony could be a very interesting one. The new Sony camera is very similar in design to the Maxxum 7D / 5D and I am really expecting to grab one Sony Alpha, just to see how it handles.

Despite being a great cameras with good handling, exceptional good color, I will like to see a camera with more acurate AF, more SSM lenses and better AS, probably incorporating IS/VR functions in the lenses

Hello everyone,
For a long time now I've been annoyed by the fact that my Konica Minolta 7d has inclinometer, but there's no software that would automatically rotate my vertical pictures.

As a result I have written program that helps: it converts Minolta-specific orientation info into proper EXIF-compliant tag. As a result, after using my program one can use every other auto-rotating tool to do the rest (see Picasa as simple and free, but there are many others too).

The program its free, source code and binaries are available through sourceforge. If you would like to try it out, the link is: http://orient-fixer.sourceforge.net/

Every feedback is very welcomed.