I finally got a Minolta Maxxum 7. Any pointers and tips?

Oh yeah your right, I've in the U.S only seen the 135 STF for sale on rare occasion, really pricey, like $600 to a grand.

I have nothing to say. My brother gave me a Maxxum 7 which was working but now without use it's not working any more. Too bad it's the only one I want to use among several Maxxum that I have.

I have most of the Minolta A mount bodies, I like the 7, right now shooting with the 9, still the body I like the most is the 800si. Has really good AF, lighter than the 9, I think a bit better build quality than the 7. I also like the 7xi and 9xi, I have a number of the dreaded cards that work ok, only issue is that can only use one card at a time, so if you have the travel card in use you cannot use the multispot card.

Will your 7 power up or just dead?

Loved the Rokkor lens but couldn't find a body that would last (3x) so I got rid of them all and bought another Olympus. Have a wide selection of Minolta parts if anyone is interested.

Minolta maxim 5 is such a gem. Spot metering. Good autofocus. great size and ergonomics. I think I am going to go for A-9 for the 12000 shutter. I want to shoot some high speed film in bright environment. Anybody has a SSM upgraded A-9/Dynax-9/Maxxum-9 for sale?

For a lot less money you can get the 1/12000 of a second shutter on the 9XI, it has pretty fast motor drive, I think it shoots about 5 FPS. Downside is that it uses a set of "creative cards" for advanced functions. Has a grip but not a battery grip, runs off DR5 battery. I have few of the cards but as I generally shoot in manual or shutter speed priority I seldom use the advanced features. The expectation is auto bracketing.

Finding a factory modified 9 for SSM lens may take time.