Konica Minolta to Sell Cheaper Digital SLR

Konica Minolta has announced a new, inexpensive single lens reflex camera, finally tapping into one of the fastest growing digital photography markets.

Konica Minolta, currently a small player in the heavily competitive digital camera market, announced today it will begin shipping new, inexpensive single lens reflex (SLR) digital camera next month, following Olympus, Pentax and (more recently) Canon and Nikon into what’s becoming the hottest market segment for digital camera sales.

The camera will be marketed as the Maxxum 5D in North America, Dynax 5D in Europe, and under the name "alpha sweet" in Japan. The lightweight camera offers 6.1 megapixel resolution, an integral 2.5-inch LCD display, CCD-shift ant-shake technology, high-performance autofocus, plus compatibility with both existing Maxxum lenses and Konica Minolta’s forthcoming line of DT lenses. The camera will be priced at about 100,000 yen ($890) for the body only; lenses and accessories will be sold separately.

Professional and semi-pro photographers as well as photo enthusiasts tend to prefer SLR cameras because they offer higher quality and flexibility than consumer-oriented point-and-shoot cameras, SLR cameras offer greater focal depth and image quality, in part because they can utilize interchangeable lenses and accessories, including filters and telephoto lenses.