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Found old cameras and lenses, looking for opinions

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FoundCameraFromDad

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Mar 14, 2025
Messages
24
Location
Europe
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Hi guys,

I just found some old camera equipment. I‘m looking for some opinions and thoughts. Can I still use those today or are they unusable?

Cameras:

Canon EOS 500n

Minolta X-300

Konica Autoreflex T

Olympus XA + Flash A11

Nizo 801 Macro

Konica Autoreflex T3

Lenses:

MD ZOOM 35-70mm 1:3.5 Macro

Konica Hexanon AR 28mm F 3.5

RMC Tokina 500mm 1:8

RMC Tokina 75-260mm 1:4.5

Konica Hexanon zoom lens 1:4.5 70-230mm

Konica Hexanon AR 28mm f 3.5

Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f3.5

Konica UC fish-eye Hexanon Ar 15mm F2.8

Canon zoom lens EF 28-80mm 3.5-5.6

Others things:

Teleconverter? Konica 12mm, 20mm, 36mm

KFT auto teleplus 2x
 
They are usable, all are well known with good matching lens. Other than the Konica lens that match the Konica T, and the Canon Zoom that will go with the Canon body, the MD zoom for the Minolta X 300 the Tonika and Vivitar might fit either the Minolta or Konica. Need batteries so you can test the meters on the Konica, the Minolta and Canon will need a battery to the the shutters. You can likely find on line manuals for all the bodies.
 
Yes, depending on condition.
Some lenses will work with particular cameras, but may be able to work with others if you acquire the correct adapters. The Vivitar Series 1 lens will have a particular camera mount on it, and will work most easily with the cameras that match that mount - most likely Konica or Minolta, based on the other items in your list, but who knows.
The Nizo might be a movie camera, so it depends on whether you want to go down that road.
The Konica items that you have listed as "Teleconverter?" are more likely to be extension tubes, which permit close up and macro photography with lenses that don't normally focus that close.
The "KFT auto teleplus 2x" is probably a teleconverter.
 
Andreas Thaler said:
If they are broken, do you want to repair them?

This is the forum for that.
Click to expand...

Correct and thanks for pointing that out. I'll move the thread to the general 35mm film camera sub-forum.
 
FoundCameraFromDad said:
Hi guys,

I just found some old camera equipment. I‘m looking for some opinions and thoughts. Can I still use those today or are they unusable?

Cameras:

Canon EOS 500n

Minolta X-300

Konica Autoreflex T

Olympus XA + Flash A11

Nizo 801 Macro

Konica Autoreflex T3

Lenses:

MD ZOOM 35-70mm 1:3.5 Macro

Konica Hexanon AR 28mm F 3.5

RMC Tokina 500mm 1:8

RMC Tokina 75-260mm 1:4.5

Konica Hexanon zoom lens 1:4.5 70-230mm

Konica Hexanon AR 28mm f 3.5

Vivitar Series 1 70-210mm f3.5

Konica UC fish-eye Hexanon Ar 15mm F2.8

Canon zoom lens EF 28-80mm 3.5-5.6

Others things:

Teleconverter? Konica 12mm, 20mm, 36mm

KFT auto teleplus 2x
Click to expand...

I only see good things here.
  • The Olympus XA with flash is now a collector's item,
  • the Minolta MD 35-70/3.5 is a classic for excellent image quality,
  • the RMC Tokina 500/8 is a mirror telephoto lens I've read only good things about (a filter must always be mounted on the back), and
  • the Minolta X-300 is a solid companion.
All of them are great to use.
 
While the XA sells for a surprisingly large price on the used markets, I would describe it as being a desirable item for those who want to use it, rather than a collectors item.
It is obviously very compact, so if that matters to you, it might be a great place to start. It also uses easy to find batteries, which is also a plus.
If you want the extra capabilities of interchangeable lenses, the Minolta X-300 is fairly simple and reasonably compact. It also takes easy to find batteries.
The Konica Autoreflex T is a very good camera, but fairly large and heavy, and you have to take steps to deal with the battery issue, because they were designed for no longer available mercury batteries. That is relatively easy to deal with, but not quite as convenient.
The Canon gives you auto-focus, but you probably have just one lens in amongst those lenses that is compatible with it. Arguably though that may be the easiest camera for a relative beginner to use.
 
Sell the XA on its own. If you can find someone to test it to make sure it works, you can get a very good price for it.

The rest of it varies from junk paperweight to nice paperweight, in terms of value. Sell it in a box.
 
Andreas Thaler said:
I only see good things here.
  • The Olympus XA with flash is now a collector's item,
  • the Minolta MD 35-70/3.5 is a classic for excellent image quality,
  • the RMC Tokina 500/8 is a mirror telephoto lens I've read only good things about (a filter must always be mounted on the back), and
  • the Minolta X-300 is a solid companion.
All of them are great to use.
Click to expand...

Well thats nice to hear. I‘ve tested out the RMC Tokina 500/8, just to see what 500mm looks like (I don‘t have batteries for the cameras) and while it does look weird through the viewfinder it is incredible.

Any opinions on the Konicas?
 
Paul Howell said:
They are usable, all are well known with good matching lens. Other than the Konica lens that match the Konica T, and the Canon Zoom that will go with the Canon body, the MD zoom for the Minolta X 300 the Tonika and Vivitar might fit either the Minolta or Konica. Need batteries so you can test the meters on the Konica, the Minolta and Canon will need a battery to the the shutters. You can likely find on line manuals for all the bodies.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I‘ll look into the manuals, gonna be needing those
 
Don_ih said:
Sell the XA on its own. If you can find someone to test it to make sure it works, you can get a very good price for it.

The rest of it varies from junk paperweight to nice paperweight, in terms of value. Sell it in a box.
Click to expand...

Not looking into selling it, thinking about maybe getting into analog photography and just generally trying to learn about the cameras.
 
MattKing said:
While the XA sells for a surprisingly large price on the used markets, I would describe it as being a desirable item for those who want to use it, rather than a collectors item.
It is obviously very compact, so if that matters to you, it might be a great place to start. It also uses easy to find batteries, which is also a plus.
If you want the extra capabilities of interchangeable lenses, the Minolta X-300 is fairly simple and reasonably compact. It also takes easy to find batteries.
The Konica Autoreflex T is a very good camera, but fairly large and heavy, and you have to take steps to deal with the battery issue, because they were designed for no longer available mercury batteries. That is relatively easy to deal with, but not quite as convenient.
The Canon gives you auto-focus, but you probably have just one lens in amongst those lenses that is compatible with it. Arguably though that may be the easiest camera for a relative beginner to use.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much. I definitely like the XA because it is very small and light, but I for sure want to challenge myself a bit with manual focus. I‘m probably gonna check which camera the tokina 500 fits on an try to familiarize myself with the zoom.

I‘m also pretty sure I got the right adapter to use every lense with every camera (besides the canon and the canon lense)
 
Andreas Thaler said:
I only see good things here.
  • The Olympus XA with flash is now a collector's item,
  • the Minolta MD 35-70/3.5 is a classic for excellent image quality,
  • the RMC Tokina 500/8 is a mirror telephoto lens I've read only good things about (a filter must always be mounted on the back), and
  • the Minolta X-300 is a solid companion.
All of them are great to use.
Click to expand...

AnselMortensen said:
Since you have a lot of Konica equipment, I'd start with the AutoReflex T3
Click to expand...

Will look into that, thank you
 
Welcome to Photrio!

You have a nice collection of cameras and lenses. I suggest that you either take them to a camera store to see which ones come to life with the right batteries or buy the correct battery and order it, recharge it and start from there. Manuals can be found at https://www.butkus.org/chinon/ The manuals are free, but please donate $3US if you find a manual that is usable for you to help keep that free service operating.
 
I just fixed my daughter up with a Rebel GII which is pretty much the same as the 500N. She likes it a lot. In fact, she wanted a strap, so I got a very nice original Canon EOS strap for $9. Came with an extra Rebal body atached.

Of the group, the EOS 500N is the one I'd put batteries in. You will get the best images with that if you are just starting out or an experienced photographer.
 
Nizo 801: Moderately collectable as design object, Super-8 film is still available, but it's kind of $$
Konica fisheye lens: Wow is right. Dunno that if it's particularly $ or rare, but cool to see an name-brand lens that isn't some boringly common type.
Olympus XA: Maybe the easiest item to resell if you so desire, it's a great little shooter too. Don't be suprised if A11 flash is dead.

Canon EOS 500: SLRs of this era haven't really caught on with the film crowd, maybe because they seem too modern to feel "vintage". But while there's not a lot of demand for them, they can be very good picture-takers.

Minolta X300: Most likely to need repairs. Admittedly, I'm pretty lukewarm about Minolta products from this era.
 
BTW, the Konica T uses mercury batteries that are no longer available, but 625 hearing aid batteries work just fine. The Konica takes 2, I think to run the shutter speed auto exposure mode. I have a number of Ts, T3s and a T4 that meter spot on with hearing aid batteries. I remove the batteries after use and tape over the air holes to extend the life of the batteries a bit.
 
MattKing said:
While the XA sells for a surprisingly large price on the used markets, I would describe it as being a desirable item for those who want to use it, rather than a collectors item.
It is obviously very compact, so if that matters to you, it might be a great place to start. It also uses easy to find batteries, which is also a plus.
If you want the extra capabilities of interchangeable lenses, the Minolta X-300 is fairly simple and reasonably compact. It also takes easy to find batteries.
The Konica Autoreflex T is a very good camera, but fairly large and heavy, and you have to take steps to deal with the battery issue, because they were designed for no longer available mercury batteries. That is relatively easy to deal with, but not quite as convenient.
The Canon gives you auto-focus, but you probably have just one lens in amongst those lenses that is compatible with it. Arguably though that may be the easiest camera for a relative beginner to use.
Click to expand...
Is the autoreflex T or the autoreflex t3 the better option?
Also: What steps are needed to deal with the battery issue?
 
Last edited:
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