[speckled wood]

Latest addition to my my "fleet" is a Dynax 5D off ebay, nice well built camera, observations on my view of why the brand died.

1) Konica should have kept their monica (name) off the DSLRs

2) The shutter mechanism has a "clunky" sound (same on the 7D) that I think some people might find off-putting.

Reality is I think that had Konica continued marketing the DSLRs as Minolta (rather than konica minolta) I think that the cameras would have sold better.

Now got 2 Minoltas and 2 Sonys, I have found lots of fine and cheap Minolta branded lenses to use on them.

Cheers

Len

[Leif]

As I understand it, the transition to digital is what (sort of) killed Minolta and maybe Pentax, though the latter is still stumbling along. Digital meant that a company with traditional film skills suddenly had to learn completely new skills, and invest in new production facilities. Oh, and guess the market, so as to know what to invest and when. Canon is a huge company, and they had the foresight and money to invest in new technology. Nikon have not done too badly either, after a rocky patch a few years back, despite being the leaders early on in the digital race.