Konica Minolta Maxxum 700si Film Camera

I have used a 700si for the past ten or twelve years professionally (I write and illustrate travel articles) and for family, sunsets and the occasional rocket launch from nearby Vandenberg. It´s by far the nicest camera I have used. Minolta´s 700si is extremely well built, fairly compact, takes some of the most underrated accessories in photography (Minolta´s super lens and flash array, unrivaled by any competitor, for the price totally unbeatable), gives access to professional photos through its clever expansion card program (little software-style cards for certain photographic tasks -- sports, closeups, travel, etc. -- that may be inserted into a camera slot) and, by simply pressing a memory button, lets you save your favorite camera settings and recall them by another press of a button. With a fairly powerful on-board flash, an excellent metering system, a snappy autofocus and a shutter speed of up to 1/8000sec, there´s nothing the camera will not let you do -- in aperture priority mode, in shutter priority, in manual mode or in my favorite, the huge P button. P is a fully automatic program mode or -- if using one of the more manual mode settings, the p button also works (for me) as a perfect and immediate Panic button. One press on p and your pic´s perfect.
Minolta built a number of truly great cameras. The 700si offers quality and versatility for an extremely fair price. The only bummer is the fact that Minolta´s camera business fell prey to the consolidation craze (evidently, there´s more money in non-mass market specialization). But; there´s a lot of good used equipment on Ebay, so I do not foresee a time without a 700si as at least a backup to the Fuji S2 and Oly E-20´s the digital age demands from poor magazine contributors.