Photographs and thoughts on photography and camera collecting
It’s a Minolta SrT 201. As you can see from the pictures it’s not in great shape. There are a number of dents and the the leatherette is coming off in places. More significantly the shutter won’t fire. It came in a worn bag with a number of other items: what looks like a 75mm f4.5 Kodak Anastigmat (completely corroded and with a tube of some sort crookedly attached to the base); something labelled a Kevtar 20-32mm f14 zoom lens that seems to have lost it’s base entirely (the focussing helical is exposed); A handle, which looks as if it was attached to a bracket or a winder at some point; A Hoya 49mm +4 filter; a Minolta SR-meter-2, which might work if I put a new battery in. Finally there is a Certificate of Registration for Personal Effects Taken Abroad dated 8/24/82 and signed by a Mr. Louis Bernstein so I guess he must have left the US (perhaps on vacation, perhaps on business – who knows?) and taken the camera with him.
It also came with two lenses. The first is a Telesar 37-105mm f3.5 macro zoom -two touch with zoom and focus separated. It’s a very heavy lens with a 72mm Spiralite coated skylight filter attached. Something is loose and it’s quite hard to focus. With a little effort, however, it can be focused. From my research I find that Telesar lenses were not considered to be very good. This one is very soft wide open, but quite a bit sharper as you stop down. It also seems very prone to flare. You’d definitely need a lens hood. I don’t really see myself using it much.
The second lens is a different story. It’s a Minolta MD Rokkor-x, 50mm f1.7 (with Vivitar 55mm Skylight filter and slightly beat up Minolta lens cap). It works perfectly.
I already have an adaptor for using Minolta MD lenses on my NEX 5n so I tried them out (I didn’t go far with the heavy Telesar though). As mentioned above I wasn’t too happy with the results from the Telesar. I was much more impressed with the Minolta. Pictures can be found in two other posts: Around Canopus Lake and On Pelton Pond.
I have a weakness for Minolta cameras. My first serious camera was a Minolta Hi-matic 7sii (I still have it) given to me as a present by my wife. My first digital SLR was a Konica-Minolta 5D and my current digital SLR is the Konica-Minolta derived Sony Alpha 500. I had been thinking about getting an SrT and this prompted me to spend a few enjoyable hours researching older Minoltas. It’s a pity the shutter doesn’t work on this one as I could have lived with the dents and the worn leatherette. I might still get an SrT and I now have a much better ideas of which one I would want. I also got a nice lens I can use on older Minolta bodies and on my Sony NEX. So thanks to our neighbour Muriel for the gift.
We’re lucky to live right on the border of Clarence Fahnestock State Park. In fact, with a little effort, it’s possible to walk into the park. I’m not that fond of the trails near the house though so I usually drive to another part of the park. In another post I mentioned that a neighbour had given me an old Minolta camera with a Minolta 50mm f1.7 MD Rokkor-X. The camera didn’t work (shutter won’t fire) so I decided to put the lens on my NEX 5n and take it, and the dog, for a walk in the park. First I went to some new (at least to me) trails along Canopus Lake and then I went around Pelton Pond. These pictures are of the walk along Canopus Lake.
Pelton pond is an interesting spot. The parking area is right on route 301 opposite the park office and is very easy to find. Close to the parking area there are numerous picnic spots overlooking the pond. Very nice in summer. The trail is quite short (about 1.5 miles) and goes around the pond. The first part up to the end of the pond is pretty easy. The second part from the end of the pond to back to the parking lot is rougher (narrow, rocky, lots of tree roots etc.) but still pretty easy. Walking around I saw a number of downed trees. They hadn’t just fallen over. Rather they seemed to have been cut. When I looked closer I noticed that they had not been cut with a saw, nor had an axe been used. Instead they looked as if they had been gnawed through. I’m thinking there must be beavers in Pelton Pond.
The camera arrived. I tried the lenses on my Sony and they worked perfectly. The camera also seemed to work so I thought I’d try it out. I noticed that it had a film in it and that five exposures had already been made so I finished it off and took it to CVS to be developed and scanned. I picked it up with a little trepidation as I had no idea what those first five pictures were and hoped they weren’t of anything obscene or illegal (it turned out that they were of cats). However, the pictures were quite disappointing – very very low contrast. I’d checked out the camera and the apertures and shutter speeds all seemed to work OK. I have no idea how old the film was so maybe the film had degraded over time. Or maybe it had been poorly processed? Or maybe the camera wasn’t reading the ISO correctly? Or maybe I just got something wrong? I’ll try it again with a fresh film and see how it goes.
How did I like the camera? It’s a very basic camera and quite “plasticky” feeling. It’s very light though and quite comfortable in the hands. Seems to require a lot of pressure on the shutter release. Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports and Night Portrait scene modes. Programme, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority and Manual exposure. Viewfinder display shows aperture setting, shutter speed setting and over/under exposure warning. Manual focus is also possible. No depth of field preview. Not one of the greats, but has most things that most people would want.
