Minolta Beauties

[images39]

A camera shopping story... I was in Taiwan earlier this month, and went into a camera shop near where I was staying (King Camera). They had some display cases with film cameras, mostly very nice looking Minoltas. They were models that I was not familiar with, but it turns out that they were models for a Asian market that were the same as the familiar models (for example, the SRT Super is the same as the SRT-102). They were in great cosmetic condition, mostly in black finish Over the next couple of days, I kept thinking, "I don't need any more cameras, but those Minoltas sure looked nice." So I want back in, all set to buy one of those SRT Supers. Asked the clerk if I could get pricing on some of the cameras on display. He walked over to the case with me, and when I pointed to them, he said "Oh, those are not for sale; they are all broken and don't work. We only sell digital gear." I sighed, and thanked him. But I thought, "Damn... those were some nice cameras that would have been fun to shoot with."

Now they're just museum pieces. Oh well...

Dale

 

[mshchem]

Oh no!

 

[xkaes]

The good news is that since there are so many of these cameras are still available in great working condition, but the demand is so low, you can get them for next to nothing. SRT102 cameras sell on EBAY for as little as $10.

 

[loccdor]

Yep! Find the very good yet unpopular ones, that's the key to a bargain!

It does seem unnecessarily confusing that they show the old cameras off without selling anything of that type.

 

[Paul Howell]

I like my 101 and 201, good build quality and great glass. The only X body I have is the X700.

 

[4season]

No worries, you really didn't miss out on anything that can't be readily purchased from the USA, including non-USA variants. Most will be in "seems to be working" or "parts/as-is" condition, so it'll be up to you to get them film-ready.

 

[dynachrome]

I have a number of non-US camera models. There are several Minolta SRT Supers, Nikomats and a Nikon F90X. I also have a Konica New FTA (T2) and a Konica Acom-1 (TC). I think my favorite of these must be the SRT Super. It takes the same pictures as my SRT 102s. I just like the way it looks better. Most SRT cameras can be repaired because there are so many of them floating around. The last of the SRTs were made in 1981 so at least seals and mirror foam should be replaced on them. The later XG series did not age as well and neither did the XD models. The X700 and X 370 can almost always be repaired. I have not been able to reach my regular Minolta repairman recently.