The 1973 'Electro-Spotmatic'

In 1973 I went to Japan with a friend and got the latest 'Electro-Spotmatic' there and the 24mm f3.5 and 105mm f2.8 SMC Takumar lenses MUCH CHEAPER than in England even with the Customs Duty I had to pay at Heathrow Airport... well for a couple of years the camera seemed to be OK and I used it a lot for B&W local Press work -- then a strange thing happened -- if I took a photo in bright light then went inside and took a photo in dim light the exposure was all out -- very dens e negs with a long shutter speed-- then it happened when I was out doors several times -- it suddenly gave a very long shutter speed which meant the negs were over-exposed and the photo was not sharp -- it spoilt several Press jobs so I gave up using it -- on asking about 'servicing' I found out that MY model was a 'Japanese Home Market' version with different electronics to the 'Export' version and could NOT be repaired in UK !! Luckily a fellow member of my Club was a PENTAX collector and bought it off me as it had the original BOX, Instructions, Brown Case etc so be warned about getting 'Japanese Home=market 'cameras -- I have put a photo on this Group taken with it as it is a 'Spotmatic' .

Good morning, Pete;

Interesting. I had not considered that possibility. I do have some "domestic model" Minolta 35mm SLR cameras here, ones that were never made available through Minolta USA, and while I had thought that with the model designation being the same, I also had assumed that the difference was just the cosmetics of the exterior. The idea that there could also be a difference inside had not come up. Perhaps I should look more closely at the service manual for them to see if there are references to different parts.

Enjoy;

Ralph
Latte Land, Washington