Submit you question to these folks to get an intelligent answer.

https://copyrightalliance.org/

I suspect Elite Brands goes to Chinese trade shows, orders cameras with the Minolta name stuck on the front.

We've more or less figured out it is a genuine product, with Minolta out of the camera business and the rights to put the name "Minolta" on any camera they choose sold to Elite Brands.

I wonder how many new photographers even KNOW the name Minolta any more?

These cameras are the descendants of the "Time Magazine" 35mm cameras of years ago. Made never to be used seriously and best used for prizes at time share pitches.

Of course the film cheapies were insanely low cost to make, where these cost quite a bit more. It looks like they use components, probably old, from cell phone cameras or tablets. most of the rest is cosmetic, as were a few of the film ones with motor winding but the same single element plastic lens.

The firmware varies. Some have odd settings for "Japan Style," "Dog Eye" and "Lomo." But under no circumstances are these cameras to be taken seriously or bought for full price ($149.95!!) or $99.95. They are thrift store fodder.

I just found the camera on the "Minolta" website where everything about it is misrepresented.

It is the same camera sold under a half-dozen names on Amazon & eBay. Full of interpolation and digital zoom, features added to what amounts to a digital box camera.

So, sadly, it is not a forged camera like the fake Olympus and Canon labeled cameras I've seen.

But it sure is a sad case of a former great name now being assigned to just about the lowest tier of camera making.

Agreed. Great stuff.

There IS model # and the current seller IS "Minolta." They also claiming it is 30MP. Try 5.

LOL, it says BOTH! "F=2.4mm f=50.4mm"

I'm pretty sure it is a 2.4mm lens for the TINY sensor and f/5 max aperature.

The makers of this junk are not too accurate. One version says "Super powerful digital lens."

My Chinese no-name says "F=2.4MM"???

I'm fairly sure these cameras use cell-phone optic and electronics. I see the same thing Tiny cameras, ones like his and even ones that look like SLRs. Lots of meta bits added to supply, "heft."

There was a great short story about how scientists discovered that the a pulsating star was actually sending a message sort of like Morse code. They assembled a couple of hundred years of records and it spelled out, "Our world is finished due to a horrible enemy that will come for your world. You need to prepare by......."

Someone asked WHERE the rest of the message is? The scientists told them, "It isn't here yet. It will take another 300 years."

My book is still on Amazon, "How To Use The Digital Camera You Just Bought."
Of course she may prefer looking at YouTube videos versus a comprehensive book based on 10 years of teaching beginners.
[sigh]

Use Papal. There's a money back guarantee. Last time I checked, the seller doesn't get your card #, eBay does.

Spotted this "Minolta" camera on KEH for $99.95.

It looks EXACTLY like the "video blogger" overpriced cameras on Amazon that are fixed focus, 5 MP with interpolation claimed up to 48 MP and 4K video.

The dial near the silver shutter button is cosmetic.

There is NO model #. T

The F/2.4 50.4mm lens is the same as my no-name Chinese cheapie.

My cheapie is the same LED light.

I highly doubt the original Minolta in Osaka offered such a camera. Perhaps the new owners of the brand name?

Yeah, you're an enthusiast! Most folk don't even know where their files go after they save them.

If you hand-code, you'd be in good company with the Linux gang.

Endless was made for people like me who've written 4 books for beginners with PCs but never got past very simple BASIC and DOS batch commands.

But, yes, there are those irritated by Microsoft, but not enough to drop it. I just use it for work and a few things I cannot do with my easy Linux OS.

It all depends on:

1. How much you want to get away from Microsoft world.
2. How much you do NOT want to get a Mac.
3. How curious you are about a whole world of software that is out there.
4:{bonus} If you have and older laptop just sitting around and you want to see how much life you can breath into it.

I need Windows for certain audio work and a WYSIWYG web editor. I prefer a few Windows photo programs, but Linux has a few good ones too.

But for so much of what I do, email, web surfing, FB, Amazon, Dropbox and newspapers, I Sometime forget I'm not using a MS product. I certainly don't miss the constant pitches for trying online games and newsy pop-ups with sponsored click-bait. I know I can turn a lot of this junk off, but it is all buried in the system menu.

Endless is NOT designed for Linux enthusiasts. That's important to me. You can see the (free) software available at Flathub.org