C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Minolta Maxxum 7000 (1985) -- sold as the Dynax 7000 in Europe and the a-7000 in Japan -- is the camera that industrialized autofocus for the 35mm SLR market. It integrated a body-mounted AF motor, dedicated AF lenses (the new Minolta A-mount), a programmed auto mode, full PASM exposure control, and a built-in film advance motor in a single polycarbonate shell. Prior AF SLR efforts -- the Pentax ME-F (1981) and Nikon F3AF (1983) -- required specialty lenses and sold in modest quantities. The Maxxum 7000 sold millions of units and triggered Canon's EOS (1987) and Nikon's F-501/F-301 response within two years.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Labs in our directory that process 35mm film.
Before you buy used
Expect $40-80 for a working body. Do not pay premium prices; too many variables on a 40-year-old electronic camera.
About this camera
The world's first mass-market autofocus SLR. The 1985 body that forced Canon and Nikon to reinvent themselves.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Minolta A |
| Years | 1985-1988 |
| Shutter | 30s - 1/2000s + Bulb, electronic vertical metal |
| Flash sync | 1/100s |
| Meter | TTL center-weighted SPD |
| AF | Single central point |
| Modes | P, A, S, M |
| Frame rate | ~2 fps |
| Weight | 555 g |
| Battery | 4x AAA |
| Viewfinder | 92% coverage, 0.81x |
Minolta unveiled the Maxxum 7000 at Photokina 1984 and began sales in spring 1985. The body, designed under Minolta's Hajime Mitarai-era engineering push, introduced the Minolta A-mount -- a 49.7 mm flange distance bayonet with electrical contacts for AF communication -- that made all prior Minolta SR/MC/MD lenses incompatible without an adapter. This was a deliberate clean break.
The camera sold well enough to alarm Nikon and Canon. Canon responded most aggressively, abandoning the FD mount entirely and launching the EOS system in 1987 with a similarly body-motor AF design. Nikon adapted more conservatively, adding AF to the F-mount with the F-501 (1986). The Maxxum 7000 was replaced by the 7000i in 1988, which added Minolta's Creative Expansion Card system. The original 7000 ran just three years in production.
The Maxxum 7000 is one of a handful of cameras -- alongside the Leica I (1925), the Nikon F (1959), and the Canon AE-1 (1976) -- that structurally changed the SLR market. Its architectural choices directly determined the shape of every mass-market AF SLR that followed. Canon's EOS bayonet (1987) is a wider-flange response to the A-mount concept; Nikon's AF-Nikkor body-motor system is a compromise forced by the F-mount's age.
For collectors and users in 2026, the Maxxum 7000 is a historical artifact. Its single-point AF is slow by any modern standard, the AAA battery holder corrodes readily, and the polycarbonate body feels dated. But it opens the entire A-mount (and later Sony Alpha) lens ecosystem at minimal cost.
All Minolta A-mount lenses are compatible: the full range of Minolta AF primes and zooms from 1985 onward, plus Sigma, Tamron, and Tokina A-mount third-party glass, and Sony A-mount SSM lenses (manual focus only, as the Maxxum 7000's AF protocol predates Sony's revisions). Notable lenses for this body: 50/1.7 AF (compact, inexpensive), 35-70/4 AF (compact kit zoom), 24/2.8 AF.
Flash: the Maxxum 7000 uses Minolta's early flash interface; the Program Flash 1800AF is the period-correct unit. The 4-pin ISO hot shoe is not fully compatible with later Minolta or Sony flash units without adapter checks.
BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
View profile →Minolta Maxxum 7000
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