Minolta srT303b (or srT202 or sr505s)
This is one heck of a camera. It's a brick, a hammer. After you shot your roll of film, use it to hammer the nails in the wall to hang your prints. Oh yes it's not a '7'. It ended in my collection because it's the top of the srT line, so it fits into the 'top-range' definition. Minolta introduced this camera in 1977.
This is a real photographers camera. Full manual exposure with a built in light meter. Good for 'slow photgraphy'. Take your time to focus, determine exposure and wham there you go. Being the top of the range, Minolta gave you 'stunning extras' like a holder for the flip of the filmbox on the cameraback, or a 'film' window on the back to check if the film is properly loaded.
For today's practical use it's not the best camera. Mechanics probably work and will work 20 years from now. But you'll have to realise you can't use the light meter. It runs on PX625 mercury cells which are banned today. There are some more or less usefull workarounds. This site describes them well: http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_px625.htm. But after you found the right alternative there's a serious chance the lightmeter don't work. Sooner or later many lightmeters in the srT series quit working. With a handheld lightmeter you can probably shoot forever. You'll shoot like they did in the fifties. Very oldschool. Good for retrofans.
This is a real photographers camera. Full manual exposure with a built in light meter. Good for 'slow photgraphy'. Take your time to focus, determine exposure and wham there you go. Being the top of the range, Minolta gave you 'stunning extras' like a holder for the flip of the filmbox on the cameraback, or a 'film' window on the back to check if the film is properly loaded.
For today's practical use it's not the best camera. Mechanics probably work and will work 20 years from now. But you'll have to realise you can't use the light meter. It runs on PX625 mercury cells which are banned today. There are some more or less usefull workarounds. This site describes them well: http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_px625.htm. But after you found the right alternative there's a serious chance the lightmeter don't work. Sooner or later many lightmeters in the srT series quit working. With a handheld lightmeter you can probably shoot forever. You'll shoot like they did in the fifties. Very oldschool. Good for retrofans.
| sr-t_202.pdf |
