![minolta camera models minolta camera models](http://file.vintageadbrowser.com/l-f35ukpa3yo0ihq.jpg)
There is no light meter, no battery, and nothing electrical inside except the wires and contacts used for the flash sync. It has a self-timer, a thread for a mechanical remote in the shutter button, and flash X and FP sync terminals.
![minolta camera models minolta camera models](https://i.etsystatic.com/13441201/r/il/d2898e/1663147791/il_fullxfull.1663147791_4gyb.jpg)
The Minolta SR-1 model A is a mechanical single-lens reflex camera with pentaprism viewfinder, taking 35mm film and using interchangeable lenses with Minolta’s bayonet lens mount.
Minolta camera models manual#
In most cases I have used the same names for the parts as appear in the maintenance manual for the later SR-1 2. Most are snaps taken beneath a task light during disassembly. It was cheaper and in a worse state on the outside, and I had to beat out a dent in the top cover with a small hammer wrapped in a cloth before the winding lever turned smoothly, but otherwise it turned out to be in really good working order.Īll of the photos that follow are of the first SR-1 I bought. Given the lack of an accurate manual, before diving in I bought a second camera of the same model in unknown condition to use as a reference.
![minolta camera models minolta camera models](https://lumoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Minolta-Cameras.jpg)
There are also many omissions, for example the page shown above is the only appearance in the manual of the slow-speed gear (parts numbered 2301-2327), and it’s drawn from below as a single unit so you can’t see any of the details. In the earlier model, the second curtain had separate guide pins and never touched the first-curtain barrels. In the picture, the second shutter curtain and its tapes are guided directly around the first-curtain barrels.In the earlier model, all of this stuff was attached to the diecast camera body, and the mirror box had the mirror mechanism and nothing else. In the picture, both sets of shutter curtain barrels and the whole timing gear are attached to the sides of the mirror box.Fundamental differences in the picture above include: But that’s about all I can do with it, as there were a great many changes between the model I have and the one shown here. I would happily hang the first of those pages on my wall. It is gorgeous to look at, being a negative scan from microfiche of a manual with hand drawn diagrams: I ordered the version of the manual they could supply it turns out to cover the later boxy revision that shares a basic body style with the SR-7 model. I emailed asking whether this referred to the version of the camera or of the manual, and they replied that they couldn’t tell me because they had lost the older one: it existed only on microfiche, to be digitised on demand, but their reader had broken down before anyone had ordered it.
Minolta camera models manuals#
I tried a company that sells paper copies of old manuals they listed two repair manuals for the SR-1, identified as “older version” and “newer version”. I couldn’t find any freely available for download, so I looked around for copies for sale. I tried to find a maintenance manual for it. I later found other things wrong with it: the slow shutter speeds (1/4 second and slower) didn’t work, and there were various cracks and tears in the second shutter curtain, which needed to be replaced. Its second shutter curtain ran very slowly and made a sort of zipper noise, and the shutter mechanism seized up after firing and winding it a few times. I bought an SR-1 (the one shown above) from a charity shop in non-working condition, thinking it would be nice to get to grips with the workings of a camera with no electrical components at all. The expected audience for this post is pretty much me, re-reading it the next time I need to fix something. This will be a very long article, and unlike my previous post, there’s no story arc for the contemporary reader - I did solve the problem that set me off on this chase, but I did it in a way that would have been unexceptional 50 years ago, and old hands will just tut at my ignorance.
![minolta camera models minolta camera models](https://jooinn.com/images/minolta-camera-1.jpg)
Please don’t follow anything I say and ruin your lovely camera. This is all just the findings of an amateur poking about and making notes. Given the similarity of the two cameras, this probably almost all applies to the SR-2 as well, although actual SR-2s are expensive enough that I’m not sure I would dare to open one. Read on for everything I could learn about the workings of the SR-1 model A. Early SR-1s still say SR 2 beneath the bottom plate.