So yesterday I was in a value village and I see a camera bag sitting at the front counter, upon inspection it was a full kit with a minolta maxxum 5000, 4 lens, flash, filters, and manuals.
I’ve heard people throw the term plastic fantastic around here and there but never really heard it reference actual models, this is a plastic body camera and feels just as solid as my older slr cameras.
So would this be one of these plastic fantastic models or no?
Regardless of the name it’s a pretty great camera. It’s the amateur version of the 7000, which was one of (if not THE) first AF SLR cameras on the market. I shot professionally with it for a few years before upgraded to the Maxxum 800si for a faster AF and built in flash.
I did read that the 5000 was a lower end consumer level slr the 7000 and 9000 were more for professionals, it seems pretty solid though even for a lower end model
Oh yeah, I think mainly there are just fewer manual settings available/more automatic.
I mean playing with it I’ve been able to find all my settings I’d need for manual shooting so they didn’t remove them but it isn’t very intuitive to shoot manual on it, definitely gear towards auto use
Up until the 80s ish most proper cameras were made mostly of metal. Some time in the early 80s a lot became plastic. For reference have a look at the difference between something like a Nikon F3 and then the F90. I think it’s quite a good name as a lot of these cameras were very good at taking pictures, they just didn’t feel as robust in the hand.
Ya I can agree with that I have 3 pentax slrs a spotmatic sp 2, a k1000, and a super program, they all predate the 80s and certainly feel like bricks of steel compared to this minolta. However looking inside the chambers comparatively. it’s built with just as much quality and much more electronic of course then my other 3
They are plastic, but also fantastic.
My LCS owner and I messed around with a 7000 recently and it was a pleasure to use, the lenses are good, only problem is the batteries exploded in the grip and broke the camera after about half an hour of testing, so I didn’t buy it lol.
Take from that what you will, but I’ve seen others work perfectly fine too.
I have mostly heard it in reference to sharp entry level lenses, specifically the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 AF-D (but I’m a Nikon shooter, so of course that’s what I’m more focused on).
Still, I have no problem extending the term to encompass the many fabulous mass produced plasticky SLRs out there. I have a Nikon F601m/N6000 which was cheap as hell and very reliable (it’s a weird one — a stripped down version of the f601/n6006 without autofocus or built in flash). One of my favorite things about these 80s/90s SLRs is how the back doors are designed with deep grooves that block out all light without needing foam padding, meaning they don’t suffer from as much light leaks due to foam degradation.
So it’s really just a saying slapped onto anything that someone has a good preference on which happens to be cheaper plastic construction
Yep seems that way!
Isn’t the lens body for 50mm f/1.8 AF-D metal? The newer AF-G had a plastic housing.
That entry level 50mm has been made by Canon for a very long time. It’s always been referred to as the “nifty-fifty”. Plastic Fantastic is another nickname derives from a surfboard company of the same name. Also a famous book. It hasn’t always been made of plastic.
Two olympus kit lenses are specifically known as the plastic fantastic, the 14-42 pancake and the 40-150 zoom.
14-42 wow talk about wide angle that’s gotta fishey looking from stop to stop
I have Minolta Maxxum 7000 and it’s my favorite camera in my collection. Great find!!! Hopefully everything works.
In my experience the Canon 50mm “nifty-fifty” has the secondary nickname of plastic fantastic.