Japan’s Konica Corp. and Minolta Co., two film photography giants struggling for a foothold in the digital era, said today they had agreed on a merger that could propel them into the big league. Konica, the world’s third-largest photo film maker, and Minolta, a leading maker of SLR cameras struggling after poor financial results, already have a mutual supply deal in photocopier machines and a toner joint venture.
Wow. This isn’t huge, but it’s pretty big. I’m a little bummed, because Konica is one of the best underdog camera companies around. They make great products with sharp lenses for less. Their repair department is responsive, their sales rep for my store is awesome, and their inkjet paper is pretty good too.
I’ve never been similarly impressed with Minolta. They have good products, don’t get me wrong, but they seem to suffer from some bloat. They tend to discontinute parts for hugely popular cameras at almost the same time they discontinue the parts themselves. You can repair an autofocus SLR Canon or Nikon camera that is 10 years old, but you can’t do the same with a Minolta. Parts just aren’t available. Their prices are okay, but not great. Their products are good, but not worth what they charge, IMHO.
This merger could either be A Good Thing or could turn out horribly for Konica. I hope that it works out. By the way, Konica’s digital line is doing quite well. And the blurb says that Minolta is ‘a leading maker of SLR cameras.’ That’s wrong. Minolta SLRs suck. (Their digital cameras are okay but overpriced.) Canon and Nikon are the leading makers of SLR cameras. Pentaxes are good but geared more toward amateurs.
I apologize for the rant. I like Minolta stuff, they just piss me off sometimes. You know you’ve been in the photo industry when you rant about the photo industry on the internet before coffee.