What is "minolta"

Minolta Co., Ltd. was a Japanese worldwide manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It is perhaps best known for making the first integrated autofocus 35mm SLR camera system. In 1931, the company adopted its current name, an acronym for “Mechanism, Instruments, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima.”

It was not until 1933 that the brand name appeared on a camera, a copy of the Plaubel Makina simply called "Minolta." In 2003, Konica Corporation merged with Minolta to form Konica Minolta.

On January 19, 2006, Konica Minolta announced that it was leaving the camera and photo business and that it would sell a portion of its SLR camera business to Sony as part of its move to pull completely out of the business of selling cameras and photographic film.