Published June 28th 2006

Minolta Dynax/Maxxum 7000i

Soft in shape but still a hard core and rugged camera with many facilities

My Minolta Dynax 7000i without a lens mounted

This was a much better, more rugged and better shaped camera than the 7000. But it still had its strange points such as the sliding contact in stead of the now very common thumb wheel.

This was a mechanically very well built camera and one of the first ones where the traditionally square shapes and hard lines were broken, and the camera was more rounded in shape to fit the hands better.

A taste of salt

My 7000i took a dip in salt water, which it actually survived and I took thousands of shots with it after that. It did result in some idiosyncrasies. Sometimes the camera wouldn't shoot even though it was turned on and alive. A quick turn-off-and-on-again could remedy this fault. Later on I discovered that a bit of moisture in the release button could do the trick. I could actually blow a bit moist air down around the release button (yes, with the mouth!) and it would work for a few minutes.
After I blew a bit of fluent contact cleaner into the contact it actually worked like a charm again every time -- and still does.

Gear mentioned: