![minolta camera vintage minolta camera vintage](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/84/63/e3/8463e369a9525ebeae7e70ff06b3e407.jpg)
You’ll need Kimwipes (or lint-free photographer’s wipes, a $3 box will last forever and you should probably have them anyway), clean cotton rags, and many many Q-tips. Other things you’ll need: a blower and brush for lenses, fine sandpaper, X-acto knife, magnifying glass. The needle files were one of those ‘why didn’t I buy these sooner’ purchases. Then there’s always the old standby, your local Radio Shack, where you can outfit yourself with all the basics: sets of precision screwdrivers, needle files, precision tweezers and clamps, dental picks, soldering irons (standard is the 25 watt, get a coil holder too)*, wire. They have EVERYTHING and the prices are good. The best source is kind of like the of camera repair. Hard to find film camera batteries at batteriesplus.Get yourself some basic tools, and don’t skimp.PS flash exposure is spot-on, have never had anything less with the Flashmatic system. Auto exposure means you have no control over DOF, so use fast film if you’re worried about getting everything sharp, or slower film if you’re interested in isolating subjects. The release for the back is a catch on the side - don’t try pulling up on the rewind knob, it doesn’t. Something was rattling around inside, turned out to be a piece of rangefinder glass that needed regluing. On the other hand, the wind stroke is smoother and somehow slightly less annoying than on the Hi-Matic 7s. It needs it as the rewind lever doesn’t lift up, so you need that extra room to slip the film cartridge in & out. ‘Standard 35mm film cartridge slides in without fumbling’ says the data sheet. Another thing they kept is the ‘cut-away’ film chamber as they call it. Other notes: wind lever has the same 220° swing of the large Hi-Matics, why they kept it I don’t know, at least it’s geared so you can pump it multiple times.
![minolta camera vintage minolta camera vintage](http://seqvintagecameras.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/CAM_283-7.jpg)
The same light comes on as a slow/flash warning if the light is insufficient for the meter’s exposure range. There is a battery check button on the side of the camera that lights up a light in the viewfinder.
![minolta camera vintage minolta camera vintage](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/e4/00/83/e400831ab471723b90f83a80aa5542a5--focus-d-point-and-shoot-camera.jpg)
You could probably make do with a 640 and a spring but I didn’t try that now that I have the right one (yay!) At any rate, it’s about as big around as a 640 but longer. I think I’ve seen it elsewhere as the PX1A. I failed to get it to work with a 640KA (right width, wrong length), then looked a little harder and finally found the modern equivalent of the Mallory RM1 (other names: PX1, E1N, MR52, RM-1R, V1PX) as the A1PX.
Minolta camera vintage manual#
Then I reread the manual to find that the “shutter…is dependent on the completion of a circuit…” OK then. I originally thought the camera was dead or had sticky shutter blades, since it did the old Canonet trick of going ‘click’ with no shutter movement. Speaking of batteries, by the way, ‘fully automatic’ is another way of saying ‘battery-dependent’. You literally have to click the shutter, partially cock the wind lever to move it out of the way, and then twist the ring-lock to remove the cylindrical battery holder. It’s a very nice-looking camera, with only one major (noticeable) design flaw: the battery compartment location is in the abolutely worst-designed spot I’ve ever seen. Now that they’re out of the camera business altogether (after merging with Konica), I doubt they’re as helpful… I wish all companies were as helpful and friendly. I even got a callback a week later just to make sure I got the information I was looking for, and all this without any money changing hands. Nice people, those Minolta customer service folk. Special note: this model, which is concurrent with the early Hi-Matics, is obscure enough that it took a few calls to Minolta to even find someone who has heard of it, but I eventually got someone at the corporate office (1-87) who was able to look it up and fax me a data sheet. It’s also got a very nice feel, it’s quite a pleasure to use. This camera is supposedly notable for being the first 35mm lens/shutter camera with an electronically-controlled aperture and shutter. Not too bulky but you know you’re holding a camera. Fast and sharp 1.8 coated Rokkor, nice bright rangefinder window, and the whole thing sleek, tight and just about the perfect size, which is to say exactly as big as the Yashica Electro 35. Set to ‘Auto’ if no flash attached and… the camera figures out the aperture and shutter speed. Nice fully automatic rangefinder with the venerable ‘Flashmatic’ system where you set the GN for the flash on the lens barrel and the camera figures out the aperture and shutter speed.