Minolta was founded in 1928 in Japan under the nameNichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten, which means 'Japan-Germany camera store'. From 1934 the name was changed into Minolta, 'ripening rice fields'. Right from the start, Minolta exchanged knowledge and technology with renowned German brands such as Leica. The most extraordinary technical innovation by Minolta was the introduction of a well-working auto-focus lens on an SLR-camera in 1985 (the Minolta 7000). In 2003, Minolta merged with Konica, but in 2006 the production was handed all to Sony. The old auto-focus Minolta lenses can also be used on the Sony SLR-cameras.