| Camera Name: | Minolta RD-175 |
| Maker: | Minolta |
| Type: | Digital SLR camera |
| Lens Mount: | A-mount |
| Sensor Size: | 1/2" |
| Sensor Type: | 3×CCD |
| Focus: | Automatic |
| Emode: | PASM |
| Recording Medium: | PC Card (Type I, II, or III) |
| Flash: | built-in, GN 12 |
| Interface Data: | SCSI |
| Shutter Speeds: | – s |
| Fsynch: | s |
| Dimensions: | W×D×H |
The Minolta RD-175 was an early digital SLR, introduced in 1995. Minolta combined an existing SLR with a three way splitter and three separate CCD image sensors, giving 0.41 megapixels (MP) of resolution.[1] The base of the DSLR was the Minolta Maxxum 500si Super, marketed as the Dynax 500si Super in Europe and as Alpha 303si Super in Asia. Agfa produced a version of the RD-175, which retailed as the Agfa ActionCam.
The RD-175 was also notable as the first consumer digital camera to be used in a professional stop motion production, being used to create the full-motion claymation adventure video game The Neverhood.[2]
The camera uses Minolta A-mount lenses with a crop factor of 2.
The light entering the central 12 mm × 16 mm area of the RD-175's focal plane was compressed by 0.56x relay optics behind the focal plane, similar to the optical reduction system used in the Nikon E series. The light bundled on the smaller sensor area increased the effective sensitivity (ISO) by stops.
Since state of the art single-CCD resolution at the time was insufficient for Minolta, the light was split and sent to three separate 4.8 × 6.4 mm sized 768 × 494 pixel (3 × 0.3 MP) image sensors, two used for green and one for the red and blue color,[3] reducing the sensitivity increase to about 2 stops. The only usable ISO was 800.
Images were stored on an internal 128MB PCMCIA hard drive. The output of the three sensors were combined digitally when imported to a computer and interpolated to the final size of 1.8 MP (1528×1146 pixels).[4] On its original release, the bundled software was compatible only with Macintosh OS. Depending on the computer, importing and processing a single image could take from 50 to 108 seconds.[3]