The Minolta 5000 has only Program and Manual exposure modes. Program sets both aperture and speed, and neither can be changed. A button in the back of the camera (BLC) is provided for backlit subjects. When in manual mode arrows pointing up or down tell the user if the picture is over, or underexposed. Minolta launched their A mount, with provided AF, but this model also has a manual focus mode; in which focus assist is provided by additional red LED triangle indicators in the viewfinder with a green circle (autofocus-confirm) LED when the image is in focus. These LEDs also works in autofocus mode.
AF required the use of more power, this camera was powered by 4xAAA batteries (6V). A CR2016 (3V) button battery is also used to maintain the film count number and is located behind a metal plate in the battery compartment. Some cameras may have either of the bigger (optional) grips, either holding 4 AA-batteries or a Lithium 2CR5 (5032LC) batteries. That's an advantage concerning energy but requires larger hands for a comfortable grip.
