Konica Minolta Leave Camera Market

Konica Minolta have announced they will be leaving the camera and colour film business, selling a portion of the Digital SLR assets to Sony, with Sony set to manufacture Sony Digital SLRs compatible with Konica Minolta lenses.

It will be a sad loss to see them go, recently producing the excellent Konica Minolta Dynax / Maxxum 5D Digital SLR (pictured), the ultra-compact Konica Minolta Dimage X1, the ultra zoom Konica Minolta Dimage Z5, all featuring anti-shake technology which made Konica Minolta stand out from other manufacturers. Another favourite of mine was the compact Konica Minolta Dimage G600. More information at Reuters,

"Japan's Konica Minolta Holdings Inc. said on Thursday it would withdraw from the camera and color film businesses, marking the end to one of the best known brands in the photography world. As part of the surprise move, Konica Minolta said it would sell a portion of its digital single lens reflex (SLR) camera assets to Sony Corp. for an undisclosed sum and cease production of compact cameras by March of this year." (source: Reuters)