Manual film speed setting, Minolta si cameras...

[joeyk49]

How do I manually set the film speed for non-DX film on my Minolta 450 si ?
I bought the camera used, without a manual...

 

[Thane Bitter]

How do I manually set the film speed for non-DX film on my Minolta 450 si ?
I bought the camera used, without a manual...

The bad news, the 450si reads the film speed via the DN coding on the cassette only, the engineers neglected to add a manual setting on the camera. For film cassettes that don't have DX coding the camera assumes a film speed of 100 ISO. But don't let that stop you, I used to have the same issue with my Minolta 3xi when I started to use bulk film a non-DX coded cassettes. My 2 cent solution was to take a strip of aluminium duct tape (has to be conductive) cut to the size of a DX label and used small cut squares of electrical tape to mimic the DX label. It’s not a graceful solution (duct tape never is) but it works. If you go to Minolta's website you can download a PDF file of the 450si manual. I think this link will take you there http://kmpi.konicaminolta.us/eprise/main/kmpi/content/cam/cam_manual/cam_manual_attachments/max_450si.pdf



WOW! I thought that I was the only Minolta user here! We are not alone !

 

[joeyk49]

Very cool Thane, thanks.

I'll see if I can outwit the chip...

Do you put the electical tape in the black spaces or the silver?

 

[joeyk49]

...or purchase dx encoded cassettes...

The problem is that I have three rolls of Ilford Pan F 50 and I don't know of anyone selling cassettes with the appropriate encoding.

 

[noblebeast]

Porter's camera - www.porters.com - sells dx coded stickers in various speeds that would fix your problem. I think that's the correct address for them - check 'm out.
Try this:
Dead Link Removed

Joe

 

[Thane Bitter]

Very cool Thane, thanks.

I'll see if I can outwit the chip...

Do you put the electical tape in the black spaces or the silver?

Hey Joeyk49,

Your right, just cut out small square pieces of electric tape (conversely masking, or clear tape would work, but I found electrical tape easier to work with) and place them over the sliver; sorry I was a bit vague. Clearly the trick is knowing what area to cover, long ago I had created a page full of diagram but naturally I can't find it right now. However a quick Google I found a website that I have to say is way better then what I drew up. Dead Link Removed

You need not worry about the exposure and latitude portions of the code, a quick check of both of my Minolta bodies’ shows that they only have one row of contacts (film speed). At the time I came up with my duct tape solution I only had 2 reloadable cassettes, but if you have more I think Noblebeast's idea is better, less time fiddling about and more time shooting film.