Since Minolta first appeared on a camera back in 1933, the brand has built its reputation as a leader in photography.

From the 1950s through the 1980s, Minolta was considered by many to be the most innovative camera manufacturer in the world.

It was the first Japanese manufacturer to introduce a bayonet lens mount rather than a screw mount, and the first manufacturer to offer multimode metering. They also introduced the first commercially successful autofocus SLR line with the Maxxum series in the 1980s.

The 1985 version of the MAXXUM series was the first camera to combine both integrated autofocus and motorized film advance.

In 2003 Minolta introduced the world’s first sensor-based anti-shake stabilization system on cameras.