Maxxum 7xi/7D ; Expansion cards and instructions from Minolta

Hi ,

I have a Minolta Maxxum 7xi . Now , 14 yeras after I purchased it ,
I am looking to find instruction sheets for the creative expansion cards
that it uses. I am seriously considering skipping to the Minolta Maxxum 7D
( digital ) sooner rather than later . Can anyone tell me if the nice
functions of those expansion cards on the 35mm 7xi are already built in to
the Maxxum 7D ?

Also , as far as the 35 mm 7xi goes I would really like to get instruction
sheets for some of the cards I plan on purchasing from eBay(?) . Any ideas
where I may be able to find them ?

All I have is the Hove publication on the Maxxum 7xi -- which writes about
the cards but not in detail ...

Thanks in advance ..

 

Sorry but the Minolta 7D ship has sailed. I bought one after
christmas 2005 and about three weeks later Minolta announced they were
getting out of the camera business.

Sony purchased their technology and now has out a 10 megapixel camera
based on the Minolta technology.

Errol Groff

 

So what are you going to do now ?

 

A lot of functions of the expansion cards are nowadays build into the modern
camera. Some point and shoot camera's have often more functions build in.
The DSlr's only have a few functions build in.
(Portret, sports, closup, night exposure are normally present.)

Minolta had some functions which can not be delivered by the modern camera.
On the 7xi they introduced the 'automatic' zoom. So switching the camera on
it decided what the 'initial' zoom position should be. Another option with
the
'child' card was that the child could be kept the same 'size' in the picture
even
if the child was moving to or from the camera.
Another function was showing more wide angle in the viewfinder than the
the picture would take. (During the picture taking the lens would zoom in,
take the picture and zoom out).
All this was offcourse limited by the lenses zoom capabilities.

All these zoom functions I have never seen again on a SLR (or DSLR) there
might be some point and shoot camera's witch had something similar to
the 'child' function.

Most off the cards were to expensive for the 'extra' functionality those
cards
offered, but I know off people who for example bought the close up expansion
card because they did a lot of closeup's and did not have the knowledge to
do
it themselves.

Remember there are only a few parameters which actually make the picture.
(location 3 coordinates, direction and rotation 3 parameters, time 1
parameter
these seven are determined by holding the camera and pushing the
shutterrelease).
Then there are only four parameters: shutterspeet, aperature, zoom,
focusdistance,
which are controled by the camera.
But then there are hundreds of methods to set these parameters.
The expansion card just added to the methods of setting the parameters not
to expanding the number of parameters or expanding the parameters.
I do ignore film-, ccd parameters, postprocessing and quality.

ben.

 

He will probably do what I am doing with my KM-5400 Dimage film
scanner.....Use the hell out of it until it breaks, and then send it off to
Sony, and hope they will fix it.........

 

Which cards did the things you describe above ? Do you remember what they
were called ?

Peter

 

Standard on the camera was the Wide-View mode.
In the Wide-view mode the lens chooses a shorter
focal length thereby giving 150% of the normal view
in the viewfinder.

Image-Size Lock.
This was a button on the lens tube of the xi-zoomlenses.
Pressing this button kept the subject on a constant
enlargement.

There was a child card, but the brochures are not
totally clear what that did. (It uses Automatic
Programmed Zoom, but what that exactly did is nog clear).

On the next camera Minolta (700si) abandonned the
automatic zoom.

The card system was called the
Creatieve Chip Card System.

Cards (in the brochure) :
Travel Card
Child Card
Background Priority Card
Panning Card
Customized Function Card xi
Sports Action Card
Multiple Exposure Card
Exposure Bracketing Card
Flash Bracketing Card
Automatic Program Shift Card
Fantasy Effect Card
Multi-Spot Memory Card
Portait Card
Close-up Card Card
Highlight/Shadow Card
Data Memory Card

Mosty off the functions of the cards are now fairly standard on a lot of
camera's. The Data Memory Card could hold information for up to
40 pictures. (shutterspeed, aperature, focallength, max aperature,
exposure correction.) That was new in the camera of this pricerange
in those days.
All cards doing something with zoom was also inovative, it just never
has cought on.
Most people would only buy one or two cards or none. Only one card
could be used at the time, so you could not use the memory card
in combination with another card.

Most card did not add to the capabilities of the camera, only to the
way those capabilities could be reached.

Ben.