![]() ![]() The big thing with the Minolta SRT 101 was the full aperture TTL metering – it was also rather clever, using a mix of CdS cells in an exposure formula that Minolta dubbed Contrast Light Compensation (CLC). ![]() ![]() The copy I’m reviewing is an SRT 101 from the early 70s. The first was the Minolta SRT 101 which carried on in production (with slight name changes) for 15 years as recognizably the same camera. There were a whole series of SRT bodies, varying subtly in features. I have always held that there is no such thing as a bad lens – rather, some lenses may have character that is harder to fully exploit… In any case, if it says Rokkor or Minolta on the front, it is likely to be a nice (or at least interesting) lens. At the same time there was a move over time to reduce cost and weight, so build quality might be perceived to be less ‘cast-iron’ on later models. Minolta specialised in coatings and improved them throughout production. Minolta may never have broken into the professional ranks in the same way as Canon and Nikon, but it wasn’t for want of ‘class glass’. The range of Rokkors is extensive, through from 7.5 mm fish-eye lenses to 1600mm mirror lenses, 600mm refractive lenses, Macros, Variable soft focus lenses, Variable curvature lenses, shift lenses and superfast f/1.2 standards. The lenses on SR-vintage cameras generally bore the name Rokkor, although some later lenses may just be branded Minolta.Ī brace of SRT 101s with 50mm f/1.4 Rokkor MD and an earlier 35mm f/2.8 W.Rokkor-HG The SR mount still continued however with the x-700 ending up as one of the most produced manual focus SLRs of all – still bearing the SR mount. The one thing they didn’t adapt it to do was autofocus and Minolta switched to a new mount for that in 1985. ![]() Later incarnations even allowed for multi-mode metering. The SR bayonet (often mislabelled as MC or MD) was quite versatile – it allowed open aperture viewing and, when the SRT 101 came around in 1966, lenses designated as Meter Coupled (MC) could also meter wide open, with the camera able to detect what aperture the lens was set to. Minolta’s SR line began back with the SR-2 in 1958 – this was an unmetered camera which operated a new bayonet mount – one that would only go out of production with Minolta in 1999. ![]()
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