Minolta Clone

[Randy]

I just bought another Minolta X-370 Clone. No pic of the camera yet, just the box. Says brand new, so we'll see when the package arrives.

[Dan Vincent]

Randy, I'm curious, why would anyone clone a X370?

Any pictures yet.

[philbirch]

Jun 8, 2014 6:48:06 GMT -5 Dan Vincent said:

Randy, I'm curious, why would anyone clone a X370?

Any pictures yet.

I found this link with some info about clones:


Minolta Clones

[Dan Vincent]

OK, I see what you're talking about.

I though you were saying someone was making fake knockoff Minoltas. Since knockoffs are all about money I thought they should copy Leica, Nikon or Canon to get the most money.

[matty]

I found a Centon DF300 at a carboot sale a little while back, picked it up more as a curiosity than as a camera to use. It came with 2 lenses for the grand total of £5. It does feel pretty flimsy in comparison to the original Minolta models and I do wonder about the quality of the lenses, most of the info on the web slates them. Camerapedia has a bit of info on the brand: camerapedia.wikia.com/wiki/Centon. In the UK they were sold through the Jessops chain, I suppose they were tempting as an entry level SLR kit at the time but there were plenty of other options with better glass.

[Stephen]

Minolta were the earliest Japanese maker to work closely with the Chinese, selling them the Seagull designs in the late 1970's, part of a longer term plan of licensed products, to use valuable Japanese factory space for Leica projects, and farm out more basic designs to Chinese subcontractors. It failed in several ways, the Chinese proved to be adept at making cameras, and the luxury market that Minolta were trying to move to was to collapse as digital started up, and at the same point Chinese own makes and vast subcontracting unbalanced the whole market.

Minolta were a major glass and lenses supplier, but even this business slowed when the Chinese began optical glass manufacture. Early Chinese lenses used Soviet glass and designs, but they had access with the deals with Minolta to use Japanese glass, and Minolta found themselves trying to compete with lenses made in China from their own glass.

Most of the Minolta clones are simple commercial distributors re-branding of a handful of Chinese variants of Minolta designs, or using standard designs around standard electronic shutter units, like the Seiko, the use of which dictates the general design of the cameras.

Stephen.

[philbirch]

I acquired a 50mm f2 centon lens recently. Its not too bad. I dont know who made it.