Customer Reviews

Minolta Dynax 9 Body Only

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been using Minolta camera's for 5 years now. Until now I have been very happy with my 700si with vertical grip. The funny thing is that Minolta has had advanced technology in their camera's long before other manufacterers. With the Maxxum 9, they have made it to perfection. Used with the 5400HS flash system, you just can't go wrong. I use a Minolta flash V very often to check exposure levels and have found the Maxxum 9 is always in there with what it chooses for exposure. I really like the new locations and ways to adjust the camera. The two best improvments for me where the lighted exposure scale in the veiwfinder and the backlight on the display panel at the top of the camera. Please feel free to e-mail me if you want any information about this fine piece of engineering.

Thanx

Minolta full featured, very reliable, high tech Maxxum 9 has all you need to take professional pictures. The first and the only strong pro body camera built-in-flash is really fantastic, mean you do not need to always carry a bulk flash unity. Also is very helpfull for fill-in-flash under bright sunlight. The clear, very nice retro buttons are well marked. Who say buying this camera is waste of money doesn't know anything on photography. Read all the tech specs and be amazed. Best pro features/price. Remember the Minolta accessories have best price too.

I have been using Minolta cameras for years now, and I finally went for the Maxxum 9. Everytime I press the shutter release, I am glad I got the camera! It is constructed like a tank and has so many bells and whistles I will never learn to use them all. It also features a 100% viewfinder so what you see is what you get as far as framing goes. Even though I don't use it, it has a built in flash which is rare on pro cameras--its nice to know its there if I ever need it. Its fast and efficient. Top shutter speed is the highest available at 1/12,000 of a second. Plus, the motor drive must have a built in turbo!

This camera has definitely served me well and I know it will continue to do so for MANY years to come. I highly recommend you get one if you are serious about photography. Get the VC-9 Control Grip too!

A year ago, I finally replaced my 1973 Minolta XK (the last year that Minolta made a pro camera) with a Minolta Maxxum 9 (their first new pro camera since). It's been very worth the unintentionally long wait. I've now used the Maxxum 9 on four continents. If you take care of good, solid equipment and it isn't stolen, it can indeed last a lifetime. I expect that I'll be using the Maxxum for decade or two (I still use the 1973 XK because it still works perfectly and I don't feel like replacing its old 16mm and 500mm bayonet-mount lenses just to use them on the new auto-focus camera). I had thought of buying a new Nikon, Canon, or Olympus, and tested each, but found the Maxxum 9 their equal (and better designed than most). Indeed, notice how the poster of the one negative review here never says whether he's actually owned or used the camera. Any good professional photographer knows that any of the major brands' pro lines are well-designed and workable.

I have spent a lot of time in camera stores and I have always thought Minolta products always got unfairly shoved to the side. The notion that Minolta cameras and lenses are inferior to Nikon and Canon is crap, and is perpetuated by certain camera snobs and self-proclaimed experts. I shoot regularly as an advanced amateur and I own and use the Maxxum 9. I feel that it is the most intuitive 35mm professional camera out there. The quality of construction is first rate, on par with the best that Nikon and Canon have to offer. The camera has a solid feel, everything about it is high quality. The control layout is so self-explanatory that most photographers can learn to use the camera in 5 minutes without flipping through the manual. With respect to lenses. I still run into narrow-minded people who ask me which "Nikkors" I use upon seeing my photographs, and then these self-proclaimed "experts" simply refuse to believe me when I inform them that my images are all created with Minolta AF cameras and lenses. No, I am not kicking Canon and Nikon products, obviously they are very good, several million pros using those systems cannot be wrong about them. But pretentious "camera aficionados" who slight the Maxxum 9 don't know what they are missing out on. I am sold on the Minolta Maxxum 9. When choosing lenses go for the G-Series, optically they are cut every bit as good as the very best lenses Nikon and Canon make. I've shot pictures with all these brands and even established pros who shoot with other systems admit that my images are just as sharp as any they've seen or made. And they absolutely love the 9's layout. Minolta would do well to stay with the Maxxum 9's basic concept when designing their future pro cameras. Now if they would only make a full frame digital body based on the Maxxum 9...........

This camera has worked on my mind for a few years now ever since its introduction in 1999. As a long time Nikon owner, I avioded buying one. I mean it's not the most beautiful camera in the world. But at last it began to look good to me, I mean really good and I decided I must own one. But, alas, they are nearly out of production. I had to settle for a well cared for used one. The camera works like a dream. The controls are easy to locate and easy to use, even in the dark. They glow. There is a limited production still available in stainless and titanium and I think the Dynax european edition is still available if you can locate one. The limited edition sells for ahefty $2500. and is currently back ordered. Get one if you can and the heck with anyone who tells you its not pro and ugly.

I have owned the camera since April 2003 and it has produced some wonderful images for me. (...) . A lot of camera aficionados claim that the Maxxum 9 is not as good as the other true pro-level cameras by Nikon and Canon. On paper, there may be some merit to this argument. Going by pure specs alone on paper, the F5 and EOS1V certainly are more electronically advanced than the Maxxum 9, and the devoted pro following for these two excellent machines is a huge statement for these two brands. By the way I'll be the first to say that Nikon and Canon both make excellent products, so if all you diehard loyalists expect me to badmouth your beloved brands just because I love Minolta, I ain't that kind of guy. But in real-world shooting situations, and taken on its own merits, the Maxxum 9 is no less of a professional machine than the F5 or EOS1V. The ease of use of the Maxxum 9 shines through. Admittedly, the Maxxum 9's AF system is more basic, but the hidden beauty is that it is simple to comprehend and use, and is plenty fast to boot. The 14-segment honeycomb metering is an older design than Canon's, and certainly not as sexy-sounding as the Nikon 1005pixel RGB sensor. But the bottom line is that it produces well-exposed images on slide film at a success rate at least as good as the other two. Simply put, the Maxxum 9 is no F5 or EOS1V, nor should it be. The simple fact is that it is a very reliable, extremely easy to use picturemaker, and as long as you mount top-quality Minolta G-Series optics on it there is no reason to feel inferior standing next to someone with an F5 or EOS1V. The popular belief that Minolta optics are inferior is also undeserved. I've watched many times over as store sales people used entry level Minolta SLRs and lenses to illustrate Minolta's "inferior" build quality against a pro-level rig in the form of a Nikon F5 with an 80-200 f/2.8 AF-S !!! I still run into snobby brandname "camera collectors" who ask me this: "Why use Minolta?" upon seeing my Maxxum 9 slung around my neck. I simply say "Why not?"

The Minolta Maxxum 9 is the the best camera I have had the joy to use. It's built rock solid and has not let me down.

Still like film? Have any Minolta lenses? Treat yourself to a Maxxum 9, you won't regret it. You won't get a better full frame experience for the dollar, used or new, than the Maxxum 9.

Comfortable, easy to use, intuitive, ergonomic, reliable, capable, the Maxxum 9 is genius design made practical. Built like no other film camera I've ever held, it's a hefty camera yet confidence inspiring. If a Sherman tank had a camera cousin, the Maxxum 9 would be it.

There isn't much to say but accolades for this camera, it has few if any weaknesses as a film platform and to this day still has features that other SLR's or DSLRS cannot rival (it's sync speed and worlds fastest 1/12,000th shutter speed for example).

This is a camera that will last generations in a family household, and if you believe celluloid is your choice for memories, I can't think of a more perfect camera to do the job. It's just as happy doing sports/action and outdoor photography as it is doing wedding events and family snapshots.

Some cameras have everything right, the Maxxum 9 is one of those. From the moment you pick one up, you'll understand, don't believe me or the words I've written. If you get a chance to hold one, and look through the beautiful viewfinder, maybe you'll agree.

Pros:

Build (Stainless STEEL, not magnesium)
Comfort
VIEWfinder
Ease of use
Intuitive
Ergonomic
Reliable
Capable
Fast
Metering
Frame rates
Forgiving
Long customizable function list
Weather Resistant
Great battery life
Built in wireless flash/trigger
AF in complete darkness up to 7 meters
Glow in the dark controls
All you need, and nothing you don't.

Cons:
Weight, maybe
No longer in production
Limited AF points
Limited to camera shops for repair

How can you review a camera you have not used? Obviously, it has happened. The 'black beauty' put Nikon and Canon into a tail-spin in 1998; the Maxxum/Dynax 9 was King. I'm not convinced any of the DSLRs are to that level still?