The Minolta 7700i....or 7000i

[Niner]

I have a 7000i, the US version from 1988. The other day I acquired a "barn find" off shore version called the 7700i. I say "barn find" because it was dusty and damaged and reminded me of an old automobile someone finds turning to rust in someones barn and is curious if it can be gotten running or not.

This camera was somewhat special in that this was the Minolta follow up to the worlds first auto focus SLR, the 7000 without an "i" for intelligence, with the motor for auto focus in the camera. The "i" was a theoretical step up because you could buy memory cards that would add programs. The overriding motive for buying, very cheap I might add, the 7700i was it had one of these cards in it. A close up card. I wanted to see if the auto focus got any added close up bonus. The use of program cards died a quick death over time as in quick succession the new models added several programs built in with no extra card needed.

This camera has Program, Aperture priority, Shutter priority, and manual built in without need of any new cards. You can manual focus but this camera seemed to balk at it and didn't switch easily into it. The flash is an add on with the old style center column power connection. The Minolta flash I picked up from my flotsam and jetsam pile was this style but there was some kind of disconnection and a few flash photo attempts failed with the flash I selected.

Another weird thing about this camera is that you could add a hard plate to the bottom of the camera that had a snap for a camera case. Good thing this one had the plate... the door frame on the battery slot was busted and held the door on loosely.... but the piece that was broken was still stuck in the sandwich and I glued it back on so the door would lock. Note the cracked off missing piece on the hand grip as well. However.... the camera will take photos and the auto focus worked fine and relatively fast considering it's early production. The close up program seemed to be doing something but hard to tell much difference in with it or without.