Minolta 7000 – Finding an eBay Bargain

Over the years I have become a little more savvy at buying and selling on eBay and I recently managed to bag, what to me, is a super bargain.

Rewinding back to around 1986 our house was burgled and the camera and stereo systems were stolen. At that time I had an Olympus OM1 with several prime lenses. Wisely we had contents insurance so were able to replace the items straight away.

As I am somewhat shortsighted and have no left hand I decided that the new state of the art Minolta 7000 with its built in autofocus was the ideal choice. I took the plunge and got one with standard lens and ERC. We always got the ERC as part of the package back then, to me a totally useless item.

I was more than happy with the quality of the Minolta 50mm f1.7 lens and once I had adjusted to the change from dials to buttons the camera was in the main a pleasure to use except for the noisy whirl of the auto film advance and the auto focus whine.

However, despite the excellent picture quality all was not perfection. At that time I was accruing several new nephews and nieces who became regular subject matter. That’s when the Minolta started to let me down. The auto focus would hunt a lot, especially on close up portraits, and I missed many a shot because the shutter wouldn’t fire. The beginning of falling out of love with the 7000.

Despite this shortcoming I stuck with the camera for about three more years. Then in 1989 on holiday in Bulgaria I was made a good offer for the camera from one of the locals and we struck a deal. He wanted to pay in the local currency, Levs, and I managed to negotiate the black market currency exchange rate. So that worked out quite well for me.

Throughout the 90’s and early 00’s I didn’t do much photo wise due mainly to a couple of work promotions and a requirement to travel around the country.

For personal snaps I made do with a Nikon compact which had lousy auto focus, a poor buffer and rubbish battery life. Then in 2007 I finally joined the digital bandwagon and got my first DSLR, a used Nikon D40X. However I was gripped by GAS and always lusting after the next best thing, progressing through numerous digital cameras over the course of the next few years.

I also rekindled my love for film photography and started accumulating used 35mm cameras which due to the digital revolution had fallen in price, I even added another Minolta 7000 to the collection.

This time around I actually enjoyed using the now retro camera until one day last December it suddenly died and became the proverbial paperweight.

Checking out eBay I noted that 7000’s were dirt cheap so searched to see if I could pick up a clean body at a decent price. 

For those not familiar with the 7000 the plastic body is prone to cracking and turns white in places making for a rather ugly used camera.

I found one advertised saying it was in mint condition with a 70-200mm lens and some extras for the buy it now price of £50. I messaged the seller with an offer of £44 which was accepted. 

Free postage was also provided.

To my surprise the courier delivered a rather large box. On opening it Christmas had come early. 

I was the new owner of a Minolta 7000 2,000,000 special edition camera, produced around 1987, with ERC and strap, in almost mint condition, 1800AF flash with case, both AA and AAA battery grips, Minolta 35-70mm lens, Sigma 70-210mm lens with lens hoods, caps and some filters. 

I still had Minolta 50mm and 28-85mm lenses so a good selection to use on the new acquisition.

There was also a book on 35mm film photography, a 26 page Minolta 7000 product brochure showcasing the new wonder camera system and interestingly a note dated 2004 to Minolta from the original owner regarding the replacement of the internal battery. Minolta charged him £25.85 which included “a full function check to ensure the camera was restored to manufacturer specification” and courier delivery. About £45 in todays money. 

Just a thought but wouldn’t the camera lost its memory and defaulted back to factory setting without power from the internal battery.

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