I hope with these two cameras I have shown you that collecting Camera Legends does not have to be expensive! Sometimes parts have come loose or the buttons and dials may be sticky.Įven at the highest average prices they’re cheap get the best one you can! Sometimes you’ll find one with no power, doesn’t turn on. Generally these cameras have stood the test of time so your chances of a working model is pretty good. Prices are trending from $10-50 with an average of $25 body only. Just like the Maxxum 7000, the Canon EOS 650 is also dirt cheap on the used market. Not good for running subjects but ok for static.
It has Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual mode just like the Maxxum 7000 so that means it has everything you need. The first EOS camera! And that has to count for something right? ? But it has one very important thing on its side…It’s the first. Just not super exciting compared to anything else EOS you could shoot with.
No offense, it’s a nice looking and shooting camera. I believe the EOS 650 prices are so low simply because it’s just not the most exciting camera to look at or shoot ? Its claim to fame is the introduction of the EOS Mount. The Canon EOS 650 was released by Canon in 1987 and is the very first EOS camera. If you do have one without flaws I’d love to hear from you! In my opinion, it is unrealistic to expect to find a Maxxum 7000 without any flaws today. The good news is many are perfectly usable as it is. The grips become white and sticky or powdery. I believe the Maxxum 7000 prices are so low because they are plentiful and they do not age well. I got mine for $3 bucks! It cost me a lot more than that in the 90s! Prices are trending at $3.00 to $50 USD average seems to be around $25. It’s good enough to get the job done, if the subject/subjects are not moving much! The camera runs on four AAA batteries.Īlthough one of the most important cameras of the autofocus revolution of the 1980s, perhaps the most important, today the Maxxum 7000 is also one of the cheapest on the used market. Basically all you need! AF is ok but first generation. Yes, folks your Sony Alpha cameras carry the rich legacy of the legendary Minolta Maxxum 7000! ?Īnyway, today’s topic is camera collecting and the Minolta Maxxum 7000 is a true Camera Legend that can be had VERY cheaply these days.Īs a camera the Maxxum 7000 has Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, and Manual mode. A mount which we know today as the Alpha mount or more specifically in today’s world, the Sony Alpha mount. In many ways, they were on the right track because as you may or may not know, when the EOS system was released in 1987, one of the selling points was indeed lenses with AF motor in them! But Canon had to ditch their old FD mount and make a whole (then) new EOS mount to accommodate this.Īnyway, Minolta too had to create a new mount.
I don’t want to go full length into this topic right now, though I would agree it would make for a fascinating discussion!įor those of you who would prefer watching a video version of this topic, here’s our latest video: Well, as is often the case, the idea was better than the execution. Though I say the “easy way” maybe I should have said the “logical way.” After all, if you consider the technology at that time and the boxy, mechanical nature of cameras, it just seemed easier to put the autofocus motor in the lenses right? And it was revolutionary!īefore it, “autofocus” cameras were clunky things such as the Nikon F3AF of 1983 which attempted to autofocus the “easy way” by using an AF motor in the special lenses designed for these cameras while retaining the classic Nikon F mount. The Minolta Maxxum 7000 is the camera that launched the autofocus revolution back in 1985. The two cameras profiled today are the Minolta Maxxum 7000 and the Canon EOS 650.
Especially for the beginning collector, these two are the easiest to find and buy. I specifically chose these two specific cameras based on their prices, availability and their importance as Camera Legends. And you couldn’t do better or cheaper than these two cameras I am profiling today. The former (addictive) is incurable, the latter (expensive), well it doesn’t have to be. Here’s a topic thats very near and dear to my heart! But first, a fair warning: Collecting cameras can be ADDICTIVE and EXPENSIVE!