Fraternal twins? Leica and Minolta (Update)
In response to the uproar over Hasselblads Lunar rebranding of the Sony Nex7 I thought i would point out that this sort of thing has been going on for a long time. Many cameras have been released under different names. It’s been mentioned on the Internet how many parts the Minolta Freedom Escort and the Leica Mini share but a visual comparison is always nice. (Update the Olympus AF Mini is part of this litter)
Update this post has been sitting written and ready to post for over six months it just got pushed to the back. I could have removed the no longer topical reference to the Hasselblad but that camera is still funny.
Wait it’s triplets! As Drewboom pointed out to me the Olympus Trip AF Mini was seperated from these two at birth and it definetely shares major parts with its siblings.
March 9th, 2013 at 8:50 am
they are relatives. I wonder if the Pentax K-01 has a relative? oh, it does. A brick.
March 9th, 2013 at 4:32 pm
Haha, brick, I’ve got no comeback.
March 11th, 2013 at 5:57 am
Hasselblad could have done the usual rebranding thing and just made some minor cosmetic changes and few would have raised eyebrows. But instead they turned the cold, techno-handsome NEX7 into . . . well I’m at a loss for a suitably description of its visual inadequacy.
March 13th, 2013 at 9:47 pm
I just compared the Olympus Trip AF mini to these two cameras. I am pretty sure that this Olympus is another sister. I don’t have the Leica, but I have compared the Olympus and the Minolta before – they are as similar as these two.
March 14th, 2013 at 6:59 pm
It certainly looks similar from the outside, Drew.
December 23rd, 2013 at 6:47 pm
[…] Minolta Freedom Escort. As I outlined before the three cameras share a lot of internal components Fraternal Twins. In fact when you look at the three with there backs open they are nearly idestinguishable. The […]
February 26th, 2015 at 6:50 am
[…] The Leica Mini cost about $300 when it was new while the Minolta Freedom Escort cost about $85 I’ve written previously about how these are for all intents and purposes the same camera. Fraternal twins? Leica and Minolta […]