Minolta Riva Zoom 105i

[yashica1943]

Found one of these in my local charity shop. It looked in good order, nice & clean in a Minolta case with a spare battery. At £5 it was worth a gamble.

When I tried it, both batteries were exhausted, so I put a spare 2CR5 in and things started whirring inside.

It seems to work but the LCD panel on the back is dead, so not much point in putting a film through it.

I think that it should take good images, because Minolta were good with lenses and the 35-105 f4 - f6.7 range is not too extreme. Also it is a good shape to hold. Shame, but I will keep it as an example of different 35mm camera design. (Any one got a white one???)

I have read that the zoom operation has a mind of its own and will choose the scene that it thinks the human should be taking! Scary.....

I'll put a photo on here when I have one.

[yashica1943]

Photo of my three 'futuristic' 35mm cameras together. Canon Epoca, Olympus IS 3000 & the Minolta Riva Zoom 105i. The first two seem to work OK.

I have just ordered a Ricoh Mirai with 35-135 zoom to go with them!

From a charity shop.

Edit. The Ricoh Mirai arrived today, perfect cosmetic condition. I inserted 4 x AAA batteries, everything seems to work, it also has its remote control, how rare is that? What a strange but wonderful device!

I also received separately the Mirai instruction manual, only fair condition, but I am happy with that.

On order, a Chinon Genesis with instruction manual, looks good. Just missed a mint Aiborg at a good price or is that too much to ask?

The Chinon Genesis has arrived. It is immaculate with battery (nearly depleted) and it works, very impressive looking camera with a quality finish.

I now have 5 different 'futuristic' film cameras, out of all of them I think I would choose the Olympus to put a film through. Perhaps I will!

To add to the above (March 20th 2020) I have bought a Fuji FZ3000 zoom with flashgun. And today I have ordered a Konica Aiborg, which seems to be cheap, bearing in mind the elevated prices these seem to attract. Seven strange cameras together!

Ordered the Aiborg on Saturday the 21st March in the afternoon, it arrived at about 3.30 pm today Monday the 23rd amazing service.

It is in excellent condition, not far off mint, slid a battery in and everything seems to work. Another weird camera for £30 inc. postage. Bargain.