It has a depth-of-field preview (yay!), 3-exposure auto-bracketing, and – especially important to me – automatic and manual ISO settings. I’ll spare you a laundry list of the Maxxum 5’s features, because it’ll waste too many words and no one will care, but the highlights include 14-segment exposure metering, off-the-film flash metering, 7-point switchable autofocus, and a shutter speed range of 30 sec to 1/4000 sec. It sat in the middle of Minolta’s lineup, but the features sure made it look like high-end The Maxxum 5 was part of the 35mm SLR market's last gasp. I wasn’t able to find any contemporary ads, but I imagine at the time, you could get it with the 28-80mm for just a bit more dough. Retail price for the body was $403, which is $587 in today’s dollars. It was as if Minolta was shoveling every feature they could into their 35mm SLRs as film was on its way out the door.
It sat in the middle of Minolta’s lineup, but the features sure made it look like a high-end camera to me. The Maxxum 5 was part of that market's last gasp. I learned that the Minolta Maxxum 5 came out in late 2001 (well after I'd tuned out the 35mm SLR market, which explains why I'd never heard of it). While waiting for my new cheap camera to arrive, I fired up Google to figure out exactly what I'd just bought. I sent the seller a $10 offer, and it was accepted! A high-feature camera for a super low price The asking and shipping price were already within my $20 budget, but I am the son of a used car salesman, so I had to try to do a little better. The description didn’t indicate if it was working, just the standard Ebay 'Used' boilerplate, which does include the phrase '…is fully operational and functions as intended.' I figured that was my out if the camera turned out to be broken. The seller was here in the Los Angeles area, so shipping was only six dollars. The lens hood was present but the lens cap was missing. It came with what I assume was its kit lens, a Minolta AF 28-80 F3.5-5.6 painted in matching silver.
It was a Minolta Maxxum 5, a camera that, quite frankly, I had never heard of. I had been trolling the waters of low-end Minoltas and was just about to make an offer on a Maxxum 3xi and a zoom lens, when I saw… the camera. The search was fascinating: I found lots of point-and-shoot compacts, several intriguing vintage cameras and a surprising number of autofocus SLRs. Read: The $20 film camera challenge part 1: the huntĪ quick recap: In part one (see link above), I proposed a $20 film camera challenge, the goal being to find a working film camera for less than twenty bucks, shipping included. Aaron ended up picking up a Minolta Maxxum 5 and 28-80mm kit lens for under $20.
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