Dave
Lifetime Member
Posts: 124
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Post by Dave on Aug 16, 2007 23:08:15 GMT -5
As a member of the SRT and Minolta fan club (SR 1, SRT 200, 102 (black), 202 (black), X-570, XD-5 (2), XD-11 (3), let me ask one question which has never been answered to my satisfaction or at least my understanding. Apparently the first Minolta SLR was not an SR 1 (which was the second), but the SR 2. Anybody know why this odd designation? Dave
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Post by Randy on Aug 17, 2007 6:37:25 GMT -5
Apparently the first Minolta SLR was not an SR 1 (which was the second), but the SR 2. Anybody know why this odd designation? Dave This has been tasked on several collectors websites many times, and to the best of my knowledge there is no reason. By the way Dave, welcome to the Camera Collector!
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Dave
Lifetime Member
Posts: 124
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Post by Dave on Aug 17, 2007 9:47:07 GMT -5
Thanks for the response. My understanding is the same as yours -- no reason -- which may be the best reason. Dave
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Post by Rachel on Aug 17, 2007 13:25:22 GMT -5
Out of sequence model numbering is not confined to Minolta. With Leica it was M3 before M2 and with Canon it was EOS650 before EOS620. Probably lots of other examples out there.
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Post by Dan Vincent on Aug 21, 2007 22:26:56 GMT -5
Hey, on this Minolta SR-2. SR-1 subject.
The Japanese do some strange things.
If you had a sailboat, named the LULU or whatever, wouldn't you just name it "LULU" and not "LULU-1?" If something happened to the original LULU it shoud be followed by the LULU-II.
The Minolta SR-1/2 makes little sense to me. The first one should have been a SR, followed by SR-2, SR-3 and so on until they change the basic body.
I have a similar situation with Japanese model airplane engines. I have an OS MAX-1 and then the model they should have called the OS MAX-II just had OS MAX on the crankcase and then the next model was called the OS MAX-111.
There were also two different cases made in the -1 and two in the OS Max (that should have been -II)
Go figure....
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pancake
Contributing Member
Posts: 41
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Post by pancake on Sept 26, 2007 17:05:30 GMT -5
Peters, I agree with you on the XD Minoltas. Love 'em. For years, I was so proud of my XE-7 and the way it performed but once I got an XD-11 I really appreciated the more compact size, lighter weight and brighter viewfinder. To this day the XD's are what l prefer to carry whe using film. Both of mine, XD and XD-11 are recovered so they look good as well. Is the XD-11 as compact as the Olympus OMs? I love my XE-7... big, robust, and one heck of a glass (50mm 1.7 MD Rokkor). Here's one of my shots:
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Post by alanegreen on Oct 6, 2010 10:23:03 GMT -5
I have an SRT-101 which is very nice. Last week, I came across an SRT-303b in a second hand shop in Salisbury and went for it - the aperture follower ring was stuck and the meter switch was intermittent, but some dismantling and cleaning has sorted these out. The 50mm/f-1.4 MC Rokkor it came with is very attractive.
One interesting point - the 303b looks just like the 303, but they removed the mirror lock-up feature on the 303b - a cost saving measure??
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Post by Randy on Oct 24, 2010 22:35:01 GMT -5
Yes, I think that was the idea. Cost cutting.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 2, 2010 18:04:51 GMT -5
Saw an SRT 201 (in never ready case) at an estate auction today. It seemed to be working. They couldn't get a bid on it so threw it in with a box of other odds and ends and the whole thing went for $4.
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Post by herron on Nov 2, 2010 21:21:23 GMT -5
Saw an SRT 201 (in never ready case) at an estate auction today. It seemed to be working. They couldn't get a bid on it so threw it in with a box of other odds and ends and the whole thing went for $4. Hope you got it!
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Post by Randy on Nov 2, 2010 21:40:54 GMT -5
Wayne, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2010 11:12:05 GMT -5
Nope. Didn't get it. Got more film gear than I can use already.
There was a Winchester 30-30 John Wayne Commemorative rifle--still in the box that fetched $1,400. Didn't get it, either.
Wayne
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Post by nikkortorokkor on Nov 3, 2010 14:27:52 GMT -5
The most odd Minolta numbering "system" continues to be the Hi-Matic rangefinder series. Chronologically ordered (oldest to youngest) Hi-Matic Hi-Matic 7 Hi-Matic 7s Hi-Matic 9 Hi-Matic 11 Hi-Matic C Hi-Matic E Hi-Matic F Hi-Matic G Hi-Matic 7sII Hi-Matic S Hi-Matic AF Hi-Matic G2
Whew! There is some logic to some of the nomenclature, but it's decidedly odd to the casual observer. I have only about 5 of the Hi-Matic permutations. It'd be fun to try and get 'em all.
Re: the XE versus XD, I can see that the latter is a handier, more ergonomic design - I particularly like the exposure info on the bottom of the viewfinder window - which is more "natural" for me than the top (as on the XE). But I do regret the loss of the XE's magnificent build quality. I know I keep banging on about this, but despite the plastic prism box, the XE feels like a piece of solid kit, able to take the knocks. The XD feels flimsy by comparison. Maybe this is illusory - the XE has several fragile-by-design levers (the battery checker and the self-timer, for example), but it still feels like an attempt at a pro-camera. Oddly, I also like the very amateur XG (I have an XG 9) which, like Nikon's EM, (aimed at the same segment) is a competent snap shooter and surprisingly robust. Significantly, the polycarbonate top plate on the XG and the EM has proved quite robust, whilst lightweight metal top plates (like on the XD) often sport minor dimples and dings.
Wayne, as a kid, when I fancied myself a hunter, I had a Model 94 in 30-30. They are popular "bush rifles" hereabouts, as are M1 carbines and Mini-14s. Useful on wild pigs and deer that aren't "on the tops". I'd guess that the John Wayne Replica won't see much bush work though!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 3, 2010 15:55:25 GMT -5
One of my big regrets is I had a 1894 30-30 "long gun" with the octagon barrel when I was a teenager. I think it was one of the very early models as the inside of the barrel looked like the gun had been around before smokless powder and non corrosive primers. I got my first deer with it when I was 14. When I was a little older I traded if off on another gun for almost nothing.
I do have a 1947 Winchester 30-30 carbine that I have been keeping for the owner, my brother-in-law, who has lived in the U.K. for the past 20 years. I've never shot it.
There were still some M1 carbines in my National Guard unit in the mid 1960s. They would have been ok for Coyotes but I wouldn't have wanted to count on one to stop a man--probably would have just made him mad!
The husband of a woman who worked at a newspaper with me years ago was a Marine during the Korean War and was a Chosin Reservoir when it was 25 below zero and they walked int a Chinese ambush. He said the M1 carbine would not fire dependably at that temperature and he swore that sometimes the bullets from the carbine would not go through the padded coats the Chinese wore.
The Mini 14 is a modern .223 version of the carbine. It and the semi auto AR-15s are quite popular here--but the AR-15 types can easily go over $1,000.
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Nov 3, 2010 18:36:48 GMT -5
I feel the same way, Wayne. I very seldom use film now, and I've passed up some "bargains" in Japanese SLRs from the 1970s and 1980s at our local weekly car boot sale - which is about 80% traders and 20% private sellers. Stallholders have them there week after week and no-one wants to buy them.
The market for film cameras is very depressed at the moment except, unfortunately for me, high quality European cameras from the 1920s and 1930s which seem to be going up in price. Here, cosmetic condition is everything. Buyers don't seem to care whether or not the shutter is working; it seems to make little difference to the price, so they must be buying for display and not to use.
Box cameras from the 1930s also seem to be climbing in price. Not the run of the mill black boxes, but the ones with coloured leatherette. Art Noveau Beau Brownie boxes are now very pricey, and Zeiss Ikon Box Tengors even more so, but then the Tengors always were the aristocrats of box cameras. Once again, cosmetic condition is everything.
Perhaps the "collectable" time of the Japanese SLRs is yet to come. Maybe even Russian Zenits will one day become collectable. I think I've got an example of every "heavy metal" Zenit made. I bought them for a pound or two each, and I'd probably have a job to give them away at the moment.
If anyone's thinking of putting together a specialist collection of 35mm SLRs, more for interest and display than for use, maybe now's the time to buy.
PeterW
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