Dennis Lohmann's "Minolta SR System" Site is Down

Like the subject line says, Dennis Lohmann's site appears to be gone - I've been getting 404 errors for several days now.

This site has the definitive list of all SR-mount lenses Minolta made, along with a timeline of Minolta models and accessories and a lot of other information. For collectors, this resource is priceless. Minolta-heads refer to specific lenses by Lohmann's list number.

I hope this is somehow a temporary situation, but I fear that this resource wil disappear, like so many Minolta-centric sites have over the years.

Mike

Good morning, Mike;

Yes, I too had noticed that I could not connect to www.eazypix.de and kept getting the dreaded "Error 404" message. If others are having difficulty, then it is more serious than originally envisioned. I think that I may have saved a copy of the lens list (something I use frequently). If it turns out that there is a real problem with Dennis's site, we may be able to arrange for an alternate resource for that information.

This really is a disappointment for me. I have been wanting to contact Dennis to ask if he knew anything about a Minolta ROKKOR lens I have which does not seem to be included in his list.

Enjoy; Ralph, Latte Land, Washington

Hi Ralph,

I grabbed a copy of the lens list at some time in the past, also, so I'd have it when I wasn't online. Glad for that, but I didn't get the timeline or any of the other stuff. Maybe enough people did that to keep it alive out there in Minolta cyber-land. I especially like Dennis' assignment of generations to the lenses. I also have a copy of Red Bailey's historical list tucked away.

What sort of lens do you have that isn't on the list?

On another forum (Flickr Rokkor Lenses, I think) a poster is rying to track down a preset 180mm Rokkor from back in the SR era. Most resources indicate that it is a phantom lens, advertised but never actually manufactured, but he has some documentation that seems to counter that - he feels that perhaps some of them made it out into the U.S. market. I am nowhere near that kind of collector but as archival Minolta information fades from the internet, it seems to lessen some of the importance or value the quality Minolta name carries. Oh well...

Mike

Good morning, Mike;

Yes, when the original SR-2 came out back in September of 1958 (predating the Nikon F by seven months), one of the lenses listed as being developed for the new Minolta SLR cameras was a 180mm focal length lens. There may have been a prototype shown and photographed, but it never did make it to North America, nor was it offered for sale in Japan as far as I have been able to determine. It was also mentioned in some Minolta camera literature as being developed for the Minolta SR camera line. Nikon also did things like that. They would show a prototype at Photokina, but some of them never made it into production for some reason.

That focal length of 180mm was fairly common in that era, oddly enough. This may have been more related to rangefinder cameras more than anything else. A 90mm focal length was very popular for rangefinder cameras. They did go up to longer lengths also, such as the 135mm and the less common 150mm length. The 180mm length was actually getting into the area where a reflex housing would be a better way to go, and usually at 200mm and longer they were provided for use with a reflex housing. Still, it did seem that having "double the length of the 90mm" was a logical way to go, and you could work with a 180mm lens, but the rangefinder would not be all that effective with that focal length.

My odd Minolta ROKKOR lens? It is an early 35mm preset lens with an f/3.5 aperture, as I recall. I need to talk with Dennis Lohmann and with Henrik Robek and Andrea Apra also. I do not know if Massimo Scotti's English will allow us to have any conversations. My Italian is limited to just a few words.

Enjoy; Ralph, Latte Land, Washington

Dennis's site is back up!!!

Mike

http://minolta.eazypix.de/