Difference between revisions of "Minolta RD-175"

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The '''Minolta RD-175''' (also sold as the '''Agfa Actioncam''') was one of the first digital [[SLR]] cameras. When [[Minolta]] introduced this camera in 1995 it did cost a very huge amount - around $10,000. At that time the Minolta engineers used a costly trick to get good colour pictures in 1.75 [[megapixel|mega-pixel]] resolution: The light which got through the lens had to be ripped into red, green and blue light parts<ref>Possibly not RGB, but two green + one red/blue</ref>. Each part was projected onto its own [[CCD|CCD light-sensor]. So the camera included 3 CCDs which worked together for making colour pictures.
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{|class="floatright plainlinks" style="margin:0px 0px 15px 15px;"
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The CCDs had a resolution of 768 x 494 pixels, which was interpolated out to 1,528 x 1,146.
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|colspan=2|[http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeladell/3941602755/in/pool-camerawiki/ http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2449/3941602755_7c07292236.jpg]
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The resulting 1.75 megapixel images were stored on a PCMCIA type III hard disk card.
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|[http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeladell/3941603635/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2648/3941603635_f24e8d1903_m.jpg]
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|[http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeladell/3941605641/in/pool-camerawiki http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2553/3941605641_0239be0543_m.jpg]
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|colspan=3|Minolta RD-175 <small>images by {{Image author|Mikel Adell}}</small> {{with permission}}
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|}
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The '''Minolta RD-175''' (also sold as the '''Agfa Actioncam''') is one of the first digital [[SLR]] cameras. When [[Minolta]] introduced this camera in 1995 it cost around $10,000 US, and was inaccessible to Minolta's usual base of amateur photographers. It was intended for professional markets (including medical, insurance, and scientific) in which Minolta had made little inroads at the time.
  
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The handling of the camera was almost like that of other autofocus SLR cameras of the time, and the lenses for this camera were simply the same as the ones for Minolta's Maxxum/Dynax/alpha camera bodies. The picture quality, once praised, is far behind that of [[Konica Minolta]]'s digital SLRs with 6 mega-pixel resolution.
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Minolta engineers used a costly trick to get acceptable colour pictures in 1.75 [[megapixel|mega-pixel]] resolution from the digital sensors then available. The image is separated optically into three colour components; the camera uses methods from the [[three-color camera|three-colour cameras]] and early colour-screen plate systems such as the [[Paget plate]] or [[Dufay#Dioptichrome|Dioptichrome]] of the early 20th century.  
  
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<references />
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#Relay optics reduce the image size from Minolta's normal 35mm SLR lenses from 36 x 24mm to 16 x 12 mm, about 0.5x, (doubling the effective focal length) and reducing the widest effective aperture to f/6.7.
  
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#The light from the lens is split using a dichroic prism block into the required colour components for each sensor. Each part was projected onto its own [[CCD|CCD light-sensor]].
 +
 +
#The camera has ''two'' green sensors, and one red/blue combination sensor, which is striped using microscopic filter elements. This made the camera back huge compared to film SLRs. Each CCD has a resolution of 768 x 494 pixels on 6.4 x 4.8 mm chips (~3.6% by area, or ~19% by linear measure, of the size of a 35mm frame).
 +
 +
#The three images are digitally integrated and enlarged to 1,528 x 1,146 pixels by interpolation (~1.5x). The resulting 1.75 megapixel images are stored on a PCMCIA type III hard disk card.
 +
 +
The handling of the camera is almost like that of other autofocus SLR cameras of the time, and the lenses for this camera are the same as those for Minolta's Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum film SLR camera bodies. The picture quality, once praised, is far behind that of [[Konica Minolta]]'s later digital SLRs using Sony's single-chip 6 mega-pixel resolution sensor.
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{{Flickr_image
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|image_source= http://www.flickr.com/photos/maoby/14082214513/in/pool-camerawiki/
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|image=  http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7369/14082214513_d4d631a2ba_n.jpg
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|image_align= left
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|image_text= AGFA Actioncam
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|image_by= maoby
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|image_rights= wp
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}}
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{{Flickr_image
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|image_source= https://www.flickr.com/photos/stanbury/26508504575/in/pool-camerawiki/
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|image= https://live.staticflickr.com/1672/26508504575_ceb973852e_w_d.jpg
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|image_align= left
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|image_text= Minolta RD-175
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|image_by= Howard Stanbury
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|image_rights= wp
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}}{{brr}}
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{{Flickr_image
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|image_source= https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamo_spingal/10758334825/in/pool-camerawiki/
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|image= http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2870/10758334825_1c8e22cff0_m.jpg
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|image_align= right
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|image_text= Minolta RD-175
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|image_by= Jamo Spingal
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|image_rights= wp
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}}
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{{br}}
 
== Links ==
 
== Links ==
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* [http://www.konicaminoltasupport.com/fileadmin/camera_konica/manual/hardware/RD175_hw.pdf RD175 manual] at [http://www.konicaminoltasupport.com/ Konica Minolta support]
 
* [http://www.epi-centre.com/reports/9605cs.html RD-175/Agfa Actioncam review] by John Henshall
 
* [http://www.epi-centre.com/reports/9605cs.html RD-175/Agfa Actioncam review] by John Henshall
 
* [http://www.nikonweb.com/actioncam/ Agfa Actioncam] on Jarle Aasland's [http://www.nikonweb.com/ NikonWeb.com site]
 
* [http://www.nikonweb.com/actioncam/ Agfa Actioncam] on Jarle Aasland's [http://www.nikonweb.com/ NikonWeb.com site]
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* [http://www.butkus.org/chinon/minolta/minolta_rd-175/minolta_rd-175.htm Minolta RD-175 English 6 page PDF quick guide] @ [http://www.butkus.org/chinon/ Mike Butkus' www.orphancameras.com]
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* [http://www.pbase.com/cameras/minolta/dimage_rd175 Example images] at Pbase.com
  
 
[[Category:Japanese digital SLR]]
 
[[Category:Japanese digital SLR]]
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[[Category:Three-color]]
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[[Category:Three-color cameras]]
 
[[Category:Minolta AF mount|RD-175]]
 
[[Category:Minolta AF mount|RD-175]]
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[[Category:R|Rd-175, Minolta]]
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[[Category:R|RD-175 Minolta]]
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[[Category:Minolta|RD-175]]

Latest revision as of 07:12, 21 January 2022

3941602755_7c07292236.jpg
3941603635_f24e8d1903_m.jpg 3941605641_0239be0543_m.jpg
Minolta RD-175 images by Mikel Adell (Image rights)

The Minolta RD-175 (also sold as the Agfa Actioncam) is one of the first digital SLR cameras. When Minolta introduced this camera in 1995 it cost around $10,000 US, and was inaccessible to Minolta's usual base of amateur photographers. It was intended for professional markets (including medical, insurance, and scientific) in which Minolta had made little inroads at the time.

Minolta engineers used a costly trick to get acceptable colour pictures in 1.75 mega-pixel resolution from the digital sensors then available. The image is separated optically into three colour components; the camera uses methods from the three-colour cameras and early colour-screen plate systems such as the Paget plate or Dioptichrome of the early 20th century.

  1. Relay optics reduce the image size from Minolta's normal 35mm SLR lenses from 36 x 24mm to 16 x 12 mm, about 0.5x, (doubling the effective focal length) and reducing the widest effective aperture to f/6.7.
  1. The light from the lens is split using a dichroic prism block into the required colour components for each sensor. Each part was projected onto its own CCD light-sensor.
  1. The camera has two green sensors, and one red/blue combination sensor, which is striped using microscopic filter elements. This made the camera back huge compared to film SLRs. Each CCD has a resolution of 768 x 494 pixels on 6.4 x 4.8 mm chips (~3.6% by area, or ~19% by linear measure, of the size of a 35mm frame).
  1. The three images are digitally integrated and enlarged to 1,528 x 1,146 pixels by interpolation (~1.5x). The resulting 1.75 megapixel images are stored on a PCMCIA type III hard disk card.

The handling of the camera is almost like that of other autofocus SLR cameras of the time, and the lenses for this camera are the same as those for Minolta's Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum film SLR camera bodies. The picture quality, once praised, is far behind that of Konica Minolta's later digital SLRs using Sony's single-chip 6 mega-pixel resolution sensor.

14082214513_d4d631a2ba_n.jpg
AGFA Actioncam
image by maoby (Image rights)
26508504575_ceb973852e_w_d.jpg
Minolta RD-175
image by Howard Stanbury (Image rights)


10758334825_1c8e22cff0_m.jpg
Minolta RD-175
image by Jamo Spingal (Image rights)


Links

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