Minolta RD-175 (1995)
Sensors were relatively small and low-resolution in the ‘90s, so to help improve the quality of digital cameras at the time, and make them more useful for professional applications, Agfa and Minolta teamed up to create the RD-175: an absolute beast of a shooter that combined a Minolta Maxxum 500si Super film camera with a chunky digital back featuring not one, but three 0.38MP sensors.
The light coming in through the RD-175’s lens was split by a prism into three beams sending red and blue to one sensor, and green to the other two sensors, improving the camera’s performance in low light conditions. All that complexity also helps explain why the RD-175 cost $9,995 back in 1995.
