Slotting in between the Dynax 500 and the Dynax 50 is this Minolta Dynax 505si. It has the advantage of the lighter weight of the 50 with the functionality of the 500. I found this sitting in a charity shop in Oxford and when I enquired about the price I couldn't get the money out quickly enough. It is in absolutely mint condition complete with it's original boxes and packaging, in fact the lens box still had the sealing tape on it so I guess it's actually new, although the guarantee has been stamped by the "J" shop in 1998, unwanted gift maybe. I've only had chance to shoot 1 roll so far but it looks promising. I've always had a great liking for Minolta and the 500 has been with me for many years, however, I am finding it a bit heavy so this could be a perfect replacement.

Update: On a good day it performs fantastically producing some really superb pictures. However, the good days seem to be 1 in 3. The camera may look like new but it hides a shady past, I suspect that the reason this has only just come to light is because it was a repair that never happened. The shutter has started to fail more times than it opens and on close inspection the "second curtain" is lagging or failing altogether. At high speeds this doesn't seem to be too big a problem, probably because the inertia of the shutter is sufficient to "carry" the second curtain through. At lower speeds this is a major problem to the extent that the last roll of 36 shots only produced 5 with full frame and a few with half frame even they were highly overexposed, the rest failed to open at all giving me blanks. So, with my 500 out on loan and this failing to perform I'm back to searching for another replacement. I do at least have a superb new lens for my Dynax range.