Minolta Freedom Escort w/ Ilford XP2

[divewizard]

About three months ago I was at my mother's house while she was cleaning out a closet. In the closet she found a old Minolta Freedom Escort QD point and shoot. She had never used it and gave it to me. The quartz date (QD) function was dead, but otherwise it seemed to be working.

I took a look on the web for examples with this camera and found a few on flickr which all sucked, so when I put in a roll of Ilford XP2 to try it I was not expecting much, but to satisfy my own curiosity I had to try it for myself.

Yesterday my developed roll and scans came back from PCV. When I took a look at them I was actually shocked at how good the IQ was. Here are a few examples.

The Point Arena Pier, Mendocino County, California

Commercial Fishing Boats in the lot at Point Arena Cove

A compressor on the deck of an urchin Boat

The urchin boat

A shop at Ports-of-Call, San Pedro, California

A fellow diver Bob Davis between dives at Begg Rock

©2011 Chris Grossman

 

[jsrockit]

Same camera as the Leica Mini so I'm not suprised with acceptable results at all.

 

[divewizard]

Same camera as the Leica Mini so I'm not suprised with acceptable results at all.

I believe Camerapedia is wrong. Although Leica Mini II appears to be similar to the Minolta, but is is not a repacked clone. The Leica mini clearly lacks the exposure sensor (below and to the right) of the lens.

The Minolta Freedoom Escort appears to be the same camera as the Minolta Riva Mini, the Minolta Pico, and the Panasonic C-625AF Super Mini.

 

[paulfish4570]

good pickup, chris. that lens has a nice OOF field ...

 

[farlymac]

Your date back probably needs the lithium button cell replaced (usually a CR2025, or CR2016, and mounted in the camera back). Although, unless you need it for investigative purposes, it might be better to leave it be, and remove the dead battery before it leaks all over the place. And that's a great set of photos.

PF

 

[David Hughes]

Hi,

Nice pictures.

FWIW, the Leica mini looks very similar but the Minolta has more flash settings. I've both in the collection/heap somewhere.

I'll second fitting a new battery to the data back. It goes under a cover near the hinge at the bottom. Just one screw holds the cover in place.

Regards, David

PS I'd call the Minolta a sort of Leica mini 1½ as it's neither I nor II.

 

[divewizard]

Here are a few more from a recent roll. This roll of XP2 was processed and scanned by Fromex in Marina del Rey.

The East end of Anacapa Island

Fidel Luna aboard the dive boat Peace at Talcott Shoals, Santa Rosa Island. San Miguel Island is in the background.

Triceratops Sculpture, Gualala Nursery, Gualala, California

©2012 Chris Grossman

 

[mathomas]

Great shots! As I've said more than once on my YouTube channel: one of the democratizing effects of film is that any reasonably good film camera of a given format can provide results as satisfying as the most expensive film camera of that format.