Nokton48
Veteran
Greg is pretty active over on Flikr, he posts pictures regularly, and is active on the Minolta forums over there as well. He has overhauled three SRT's for me, as well as several Rokkor optics. He's very experienced, not expensive IMO, and does an amazing job with an SRT. I think he also works on other brands besides Minolta. I normally just contact him through Flikr, and he always responds timely.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gstelz/
Greg Stelz 1007 Woodbridge Lane Durango CO 81301
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gstelz/
Greg Stelz 1007 Woodbridge Lane Durango CO 81301
Nokton48
Veteran
Here's -another- SR-M body with lenses going for a decent price.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Minolta-SRM...184163?pt=Digital_Cameras&hash=item19df56b5a3
Once again not affiliated with the seller in any way.
My two SR-M bodies are now with Greg Stelz, he is adjusting the lens mount springs for me. And I suspect a full CLA as well, he completely disassembles everything. Very thorough repair guy who has done good work for me with three of my SR-T's.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Minolta-SRM...184163?pt=Digital_Cameras&hash=item19df56b5a3
Once again not affiliated with the seller in any way.
My two SR-M bodies are now with Greg Stelz, he is adjusting the lens mount springs for me. And I suspect a full CLA as well, he completely disassembles everything. Very thorough repair guy who has done good work for me with three of my SR-T's.
tunalegs
Pretended Artist
Isopar is a trademarked brand name. While Isopar G is 100% Naptha, that doesn't mean all Isopar branded stuff is. Isoparaffin is not the same thing as naptha either, although what is sold as naptha often contains paraffins (like camp stove fuel).
Lighter fluids like ronsonal, zippo, et al. are generally only part naptha, and in my experience are probably less harsh than even rubbing alcohol, but dry cleaner. I would like to see how long a lens would have to soak in lighter fluid before the coating was damaged.
Nokton48
Veteran
Got my two SR-M bodies back today, now functioning like new, working smooth as butter. Greg Stelz did a fantastic job with both of these.
Went over to the Kiev Delphi Forums, and found these old comments, from my conversations with Fred DeVan, regarding the SR-M. Fascinating reading:
Hi Dan
I had a few of these. They are truly great ultra sturdy cameras. There is a bunch of nice gadgets that work with them. Radio Remotes, intervalometers, timers ect. They all are in a strange gray round can type enclosure (also worked on some Minolta Super8 cams) and also cords to remote the BattPack/Grip. The 250 exp. back is terriffic, and the grip dismounts to the bottom to make a super hand holdable package, via a unique bayonet adapter.
Contacts on rear curtin controls top motor speed. Rewind lever is also a reset, if the interlocks get confused. If you intend to use it a lot, find a spare batt holder, camera near useless if plastic teeth in batt pack are broken. They were only $10 when new.
This camera is nearly unbreakable. Internally, built like a tank.
Fred
Being built like a tank meant sizable parts, gears, solenoids, relays wires and motors. Batt consumption was not considered, so it is good but not great. Extra batt. magazines and almost instant change was the design philosophy I insisted on, hence the grip arrangement. The seeming illogic of having a tripod screw on the top of the grip makes total sense when you add the long roll back. If you find one make sure you get a trapezoidal quick release thingy with two ears sticking out with it. That thing is what goes into the screw hole on the top of the grip. The SR-M was the start of the Leitz-Minolta tech sharing which first showed itself in the XK and culminated with the XD-11. As nice as the CL was it was a logical manufacturing diversion from the hard stuff.
If you remember the Minolta Indy car Vels/Parnelli Jones sponsorship and the contest, books et al. that came along with it, that was my project, and the SR-M was central to it. I shot the Ads and most of the books and the traveling show with the SR-M. Also during those years I covered Indycar for Autoweek and SI, and the SR-M was the major tool for the all IndyCar and many CanAm, TransAm and Nascar races of the time and a raft of car, tire and product ads that resulted from them. I had a occasion to use all the accessories on one job in the 70's when I shot Sly Stone's (Sly and the Family Stone) wedding in Madison Square Garden for People Mag., where he and 25,000 of his closest friends put on a spectacle. The multi channel RC and intervalometres allowed me to shoot from 4 angles at once. All my assistants had to do was reload. The RC's managed the size of the place without hitch.
As you can tell I loved the SR-M and the thinking behind it came to full flower with the incomparable XK-Mot. The fullest expression of the Leitz/Minolta tie up is the XD-11. (Notice, Minoltas and Leicas all focus the same direction and the F-stop rings all match. That made using a mix of Minolta and Leica tolerable) That camera was the manual SLR perfected. It was a better built machine than anything on the market, but Minolta had not a clue just what they had. The very high price of the XK-Mot and XD-11 was actually justified if you could look under the hood but Minolta (like Olympus) marketing was focused on competing with Pentax and Yashica. Decidedly not in the same league. Superior products sold and really throttled down from what they could have been by inferior thinking. Really nice people with really dumb ideas. That is clearly seen in the Minolta 9000 of the late 80's.
If they only had a clue....was my only thought, every time when I was leaving the Minolta offices.
Fred
Hi Dan
The two years of the Minolta Car and Camera project was one of the highpoints of my life and the SR-M is a personal icon of it.Those really insane images that graced the cover of the 128 page freebie book, "How to photograph cars from start to finish" and the 8 ft high prints that were the highlight of the traveling show, shot from the middle of a 2.5 mile racetrack with 16mm and a 21mm lenses, with cars coming straight at the camera at speed was quite a event. Many thought they were a trick of some sort, but they were not. The drivers and I, dreamed it up the night before at dinner. On that day, Parnelli Jones had granted me a chance to finally get to drive an Indycar, and let me try a older, spare car. After a couple of hours of getting up to speed and following Joe Loenard around the track at 7/10 to get a feel of the groove, they all hid behind the wall and talked me thru everything as I took 10 laps at 9/10 speed. 10 laps at 200 MPH on an 2.5 mile oval quelled any continued interest in ever driving on an oval, that fast. I understood two things. I could do it comfortably, and I NEVER wanted to do it again. Yet, It was no where near as scary as driving across west Texas and New Mexico at 158 MPH in the real life, Cannonball race. (I finished sixth).
Al Unser, and Mario Andretti took bets as to whether my pants would be still dry, if I was lucky enough to survive. The next day, I had 2 SR-Ms with and stood on the track while talking to Al and Mario by radio directing them exactly how close to come to me when they drove by at about 110+ MPH. I had known Mario for years by then and Al was one of my best buddies at the tracks. I had to trust them and they had to know I was not crazy and was not going to move about. I also, had managed race teams, have a racing license and a number of pro races under my belt, so I knew how they and the cars would respond. Those huge prints were made under my supervision, from the original Kodachromes with no retouching or manipulation of any kind. Only the requisite 8x10 interneg was used. If you ever saw the incredible quality and sharpness those amazing prints you got a real confirmation of just how good this equipment was. In Many ways, the cameras and lenses of the time were better than most of what is being made today, it is for certain, we as photographers demanded more, than we do today.
P.S. I drove that Cannonball madness with an SR-M mounted behind me on the roll bar looking out the window and fired by a control at the steering wheel.
Fred
I probably did use the Batt. tester some but my situation was so abnormal that It seldom was an issue. Battery changing was not left to need, mostly,I had many of those inserts in my bag, and all cameras, meters, lenses, and radios were cleaned and checked every week. I shot so much film in so many cameras (20-40 rolls of 36 a day,Typ), plus I carried at least 2 of everything and had a duplicate kit at home. The motorized Leicas went thru batteries a bit faster than the SR-M's but to answer you correctly, it was never left to chance. I had a staff, a chef/motor home driver, a photo assistant, and a on track communications/sales rep. and everybody knew the camera maint. drill. So the 6 Minoltas, 4 Leicas, 4 Hasselblad's, Widelux, Nikon F, Nikonos, and all their attendant bits and pieces were given the same extraordinary loving care we provided for our indulgent taste buds. I snagged the chef from Pink Floyd on a F-1 trip, a mad Italian who loved food and racing, and savored the opportunity to have his insanity fully appreciated.
As I said it was totally abnormal. Minolta was not my only client. I started in magazines at Car and Driver, and by this time I shot every IndyCar race for Autoweek and filled the commercial needs of Goodyear and Firestone both (was on contract with Firestone), NGK, Gulf, BAT/B&W tobacco, Alfa, Ford, Nissan and Sports Ill. The SR-M was at the center of a photo factory focused on Indycar, Trans Am, Can Am, and Formula One.The film was air couriered to AutoWeek in Reno on Sunday Night and published or distributed by them on Monday. We usually did not see any of our output for weeks. Breakdowns were not permitted, and we had none.
The 21mm floating element 2.8 Rokkor was a masterpiece of optical engineering. There was nothing like it when it was created, and there have been few lenses with its capabilities since. There will never be anything like it again. Use it well.
Fred
Went over to the Kiev Delphi Forums, and found these old comments, from my conversations with Fred DeVan, regarding the SR-M. Fascinating reading:
Hi Dan
I had a few of these. They are truly great ultra sturdy cameras. There is a bunch of nice gadgets that work with them. Radio Remotes, intervalometers, timers ect. They all are in a strange gray round can type enclosure (also worked on some Minolta Super8 cams) and also cords to remote the BattPack/Grip. The 250 exp. back is terriffic, and the grip dismounts to the bottom to make a super hand holdable package, via a unique bayonet adapter.
Contacts on rear curtin controls top motor speed. Rewind lever is also a reset, if the interlocks get confused. If you intend to use it a lot, find a spare batt holder, camera near useless if plastic teeth in batt pack are broken. They were only $10 when new.
This camera is nearly unbreakable. Internally, built like a tank.
Fred
Being built like a tank meant sizable parts, gears, solenoids, relays wires and motors. Batt consumption was not considered, so it is good but not great. Extra batt. magazines and almost instant change was the design philosophy I insisted on, hence the grip arrangement. The seeming illogic of having a tripod screw on the top of the grip makes total sense when you add the long roll back. If you find one make sure you get a trapezoidal quick release thingy with two ears sticking out with it. That thing is what goes into the screw hole on the top of the grip. The SR-M was the start of the Leitz-Minolta tech sharing which first showed itself in the XK and culminated with the XD-11. As nice as the CL was it was a logical manufacturing diversion from the hard stuff.
If you remember the Minolta Indy car Vels/Parnelli Jones sponsorship and the contest, books et al. that came along with it, that was my project, and the SR-M was central to it. I shot the Ads and most of the books and the traveling show with the SR-M. Also during those years I covered Indycar for Autoweek and SI, and the SR-M was the major tool for the all IndyCar and many CanAm, TransAm and Nascar races of the time and a raft of car, tire and product ads that resulted from them. I had a occasion to use all the accessories on one job in the 70's when I shot Sly Stone's (Sly and the Family Stone) wedding in Madison Square Garden for People Mag., where he and 25,000 of his closest friends put on a spectacle. The multi channel RC and intervalometres allowed me to shoot from 4 angles at once. All my assistants had to do was reload. The RC's managed the size of the place without hitch.
As you can tell I loved the SR-M and the thinking behind it came to full flower with the incomparable XK-Mot. The fullest expression of the Leitz/Minolta tie up is the XD-11. (Notice, Minoltas and Leicas all focus the same direction and the F-stop rings all match. That made using a mix of Minolta and Leica tolerable) That camera was the manual SLR perfected. It was a better built machine than anything on the market, but Minolta had not a clue just what they had. The very high price of the XK-Mot and XD-11 was actually justified if you could look under the hood but Minolta (like Olympus) marketing was focused on competing with Pentax and Yashica. Decidedly not in the same league. Superior products sold and really throttled down from what they could have been by inferior thinking. Really nice people with really dumb ideas. That is clearly seen in the Minolta 9000 of the late 80's.
If they only had a clue....was my only thought, every time when I was leaving the Minolta offices.
Fred
Hi Dan
The two years of the Minolta Car and Camera project was one of the highpoints of my life and the SR-M is a personal icon of it.Those really insane images that graced the cover of the 128 page freebie book, "How to photograph cars from start to finish" and the 8 ft high prints that were the highlight of the traveling show, shot from the middle of a 2.5 mile racetrack with 16mm and a 21mm lenses, with cars coming straight at the camera at speed was quite a event. Many thought they were a trick of some sort, but they were not. The drivers and I, dreamed it up the night before at dinner. On that day, Parnelli Jones had granted me a chance to finally get to drive an Indycar, and let me try a older, spare car. After a couple of hours of getting up to speed and following Joe Loenard around the track at 7/10 to get a feel of the groove, they all hid behind the wall and talked me thru everything as I took 10 laps at 9/10 speed. 10 laps at 200 MPH on an 2.5 mile oval quelled any continued interest in ever driving on an oval, that fast. I understood two things. I could do it comfortably, and I NEVER wanted to do it again. Yet, It was no where near as scary as driving across west Texas and New Mexico at 158 MPH in the real life, Cannonball race. (I finished sixth).
Al Unser, and Mario Andretti took bets as to whether my pants would be still dry, if I was lucky enough to survive. The next day, I had 2 SR-Ms with and stood on the track while talking to Al and Mario by radio directing them exactly how close to come to me when they drove by at about 110+ MPH. I had known Mario for years by then and Al was one of my best buddies at the tracks. I had to trust them and they had to know I was not crazy and was not going to move about. I also, had managed race teams, have a racing license and a number of pro races under my belt, so I knew how they and the cars would respond. Those huge prints were made under my supervision, from the original Kodachromes with no retouching or manipulation of any kind. Only the requisite 8x10 interneg was used. If you ever saw the incredible quality and sharpness those amazing prints you got a real confirmation of just how good this equipment was. In Many ways, the cameras and lenses of the time were better than most of what is being made today, it is for certain, we as photographers demanded more, than we do today.
P.S. I drove that Cannonball madness with an SR-M mounted behind me on the roll bar looking out the window and fired by a control at the steering wheel.
Fred
I probably did use the Batt. tester some but my situation was so abnormal that It seldom was an issue. Battery changing was not left to need, mostly,I had many of those inserts in my bag, and all cameras, meters, lenses, and radios were cleaned and checked every week. I shot so much film in so many cameras (20-40 rolls of 36 a day,Typ), plus I carried at least 2 of everything and had a duplicate kit at home. The motorized Leicas went thru batteries a bit faster than the SR-M's but to answer you correctly, it was never left to chance. I had a staff, a chef/motor home driver, a photo assistant, and a on track communications/sales rep. and everybody knew the camera maint. drill. So the 6 Minoltas, 4 Leicas, 4 Hasselblad's, Widelux, Nikon F, Nikonos, and all their attendant bits and pieces were given the same extraordinary loving care we provided for our indulgent taste buds. I snagged the chef from Pink Floyd on a F-1 trip, a mad Italian who loved food and racing, and savored the opportunity to have his insanity fully appreciated.
As I said it was totally abnormal. Minolta was not my only client. I started in magazines at Car and Driver, and by this time I shot every IndyCar race for Autoweek and filled the commercial needs of Goodyear and Firestone both (was on contract with Firestone), NGK, Gulf, BAT/B&W tobacco, Alfa, Ford, Nissan and Sports Ill. The SR-M was at the center of a photo factory focused on Indycar, Trans Am, Can Am, and Formula One.The film was air couriered to AutoWeek in Reno on Sunday Night and published or distributed by them on Monday. We usually did not see any of our output for weeks. Breakdowns were not permitted, and we had none.
The 21mm floating element 2.8 Rokkor was a masterpiece of optical engineering. There was nothing like it when it was created, and there have been few lenses with its capabilities since. There will never be anything like it again. Use it well.
Fred
Nokton48
Veteran
Original Minolta Product Catalog.
Original Minolta Product Catalog.
This arrived today, and it's really interesting. It's a photocopy of the original Minolta Product Catalog. I'm presuming that this is what was given to Minolta Dealers, it lists product numbers, original retail prices, as well as a lot of interesting information. Also included is a short overview of each product line. Interestingly the SR-M was $550 at the time (06/1972), and the 250 exposure back for it was $275. The SRT-101 with 55mm F1.7 MC Rokkor had a suggested retail price of $300.
Original Minolta Product Catalog.
This arrived today, and it's really interesting. It's a photocopy of the original Minolta Product Catalog. I'm presuming that this is what was given to Minolta Dealers, it lists product numbers, original retail prices, as well as a lot of interesting information. Also included is a short overview of each product line. Interestingly the SR-M was $550 at the time (06/1972), and the 250 exposure back for it was $275. The SRT-101 with 55mm F1.7 MC Rokkor had a suggested retail price of $300.
Attachments
Argenticien
Dave
I am stoked at the arrival of my first SRT (below). With that 50/1.7, it cost me just USD 16 (plus almost as much again in shipping cost, unfortunately). It arrived as seen below; I have done no cosmetic cleanup! Apparently that skylight filter has been on forever; the lens is perfect. And the camera came in a vinyl case that is literally falling to bits. I'll bin that, but I'm glad it was there; probably it's been on forever as well and I think it did the decaying so the camera inside would not have to.
I did take a leaking PX-13 out of it, clean out the chamber (there was just goop, no corrosion) and pop in my last surviving mercury PX625. The meter fired right up and seems accurate! Everything else works and fires, it would seem. Some more interesting lenses are on their way, but meanwhile I'm going to do a test roll with this one, which I'm sure is no laggard.
Thus it begins...
--Dave
SRT-102 As Received by Argenticien, on Flickr
I did take a leaking PX-13 out of it, clean out the chamber (there was just goop, no corrosion) and pop in my last surviving mercury PX625. The meter fired right up and seems accurate! Everything else works and fires, it would seem. Some more interesting lenses are on their way, but meanwhile I'm going to do a test roll with this one, which I'm sure is no laggard.
Thus it begins...
--Dave
SRT-102 As Received by Argenticien, on Flickr
Nokton48
Veteran
Looks really good! Good Luck with your test shooting.
SRT's are fun to buy and use. Certainly alot of people are very satisfied with their purchases.
SRT's are fun to buy and use. Certainly alot of people are very satisfied with their purchases.
Nokton48
Veteran
Current Weekend "Kit"
Current Weekend "Kit"
My wife and I enjoy going to the local bird park. She shoots digital, with her Canon EOS 50D. I prefer my SRT, and SRM.
I carry the ringneck-lizard SRT-101 with 21mm F4, for a rangefinder-like experience. The scruffy-old lenshood is for a Pentax Takumar 20mm F4.5, and works well with this lens.
When birds are there, I sling my Minolta SRM, with the 400mm f5.6 APO MD, and the Rokkor Apo 2X, which gives me an 800mm F11 APO lens.
It is fun to work with the extremes. The Minolta Motor Camera is a joy to use.
Current Weekend "Kit"
My wife and I enjoy going to the local bird park. She shoots digital, with her Canon EOS 50D. I prefer my SRT, and SRM.
I carry the ringneck-lizard SRT-101 with 21mm F4, for a rangefinder-like experience. The scruffy-old lenshood is for a Pentax Takumar 20mm F4.5, and works well with this lens.
When birds are there, I sling my Minolta SRM, with the 400mm f5.6 APO MD, and the Rokkor Apo 2X, which gives me an 800mm F11 APO lens.
It is fun to work with the extremes. The Minolta Motor Camera is a joy to use.
Attachments
kyonthinh
Established
I've just bought a Minolta Super A with Super Rokkor 50 f/2. I always want this lens, its sharpness and color make me feel that it is one must have lens.
Minoltas are quite cheap these days in the States. Maybe that's why I have 20 or so of them. I'm just about to take a new-to-me Maxxum HTsi out for a spin. What a great camera. Small, fits in my hands like a glove. The 35-70 zoom lens does not have a huge range but I hear it's a really fine piece of glass. "Pro" black, of course. I believe Minolta is underappreciated.
Uncle Fester
Well-known
Minoltas are very under appreciated in my opinion. On those rare occasions when I have my film processed at a 1hr lab, I am invariably asked what kind of camera was used. The lab folks are always quite surprised when I tell them I used an old '70s vintage Minolta SLR with MC or MD Rokkor glass.
I feel that Minolta made some of the best cameras and lenses that ever came out of Japan. The SRT Series was professional grade in my opinion. Extremely rugged and reliable, with top notch lenses. I'm also quite fond of the XE-7, it's the only camera I own that has an electronic shutter. It is also the only camera I've ever used regularly in the AE mode.
I also have Minolta enlarging lenses, C.E. Rokkor-X in 50 and 80mm. They are incredibly good lenses.
colyn
ישו משיח
I've added a 202 with f/1.4 lens to my Minolta collection. I had no intentions of buying but at 15 bucks I couldn't resist..
Argenticien
Dave
Hi all. As I posted recently, I've got that new SRT-102. Not pictured with it above is an MC Rokkor PF 58/1.4 that I also acquired. It is missing two of the four screws that hold the bayonet mount onto the back. These are about 7 mm long. Do any of you Minoltoids and Rokkorphiles know what kind of screws these are or where I could get more? (Other than of course buying a junk lens for parts.) The two surviving screws were 90 degrees apart; by moving one so that they're 180 degrees apart, at least the lens seems to hold together for now, but I'd like to get back to four screws and tighten down everything properly.
(And yes if this sounds familiar, I've posted the question on a couple of places around the Web.)
Thanks...
--Dave
(And yes if this sounds familiar, I've posted the question on a couple of places around the Web.)
Thanks...
--Dave
Nokton48
Veteran
I've looked through my assortment of MC and MD junk lenses, but none of them have the longer screw you're looking for. All of them have four screws, which are shorter and of equal length. I do have an MC PF 58mm F1.4, but it is not junk. It has eight screws holding on the bayonet, (as does my 58mm F1.2 and I assume this is probably what you're looking for).
I would contact Greg Stelz (Mountaindawg) over on Flikr. He has repaired hundreds of SRT Minoltas, and is a really nice guy. He grew up here in Columbus, Ohio (had a job in the local park in my area!) but now he lives in Durango, Colorado. My bet is that Greg can help you out, he has lots and lots of SRT parts. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gstelz/
Greg Stelz
1007 Woodbridge Lane
Durango CO 81301
-Dan
I would contact Greg Stelz (Mountaindawg) over on Flikr. He has repaired hundreds of SRT Minoltas, and is a really nice guy. He grew up here in Columbus, Ohio (had a job in the local park in my area!) but now he lives in Durango, Colorado. My bet is that Greg can help you out, he has lots and lots of SRT parts. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gstelz/
Greg Stelz
1007 Woodbridge Lane
Durango CO 81301
-Dan
Argenticien
Dave
Thanks Dan, I'll give it a go with Greg. It's knowledge and helpfulness like this that makes me dig the RFF community and keep coming back here. (And this question wasn't even about a rangefinder!)
--Dave
--Dave
back alley
IMAGES
i just bought a minolta 45mm lens for 20 bucks!
well, i just paid for it...now the wait at the mailbox!!
well, i just paid for it...now the wait at the mailbox!!
Nokton48
Veteran
Hey Congrats Joe! You will like that lens, it has a good following on the internet.
I haven't purchased any camera stuff in a while, but I just snagged something unusual, for my two Minolta Motorized SR-M bodies. The Minolta Intervalometer-S. It allows intermittent and remote firing of multiple SR-M's (or Minolta Autopak movie cameras). Very very cool. According to original 1972 Minolta Product Catalogue, it was a $640.00 accessory, by far the most expensive accessory for the SR-M. I got it for $299.00, so I am very pleased. Powered by six "C" cells. Here is the Unit:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251343090782?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649
back alley
IMAGES
just making a deal on a cla'd 202 plus 45...too good to pass up on a cla'd kit.
now, i'll just keep an eye open for lenses...
now, i'll just keep an eye open for lenses...
You have the fever!!!
Pioneer
Veteran
That 45/2 was not Minolta's priciest lens but mine is a terrific performer and it provides great bang for the buck. I have not used my Minolta kit for awhile but that 45 and my SRT 102 are one of my favorite walk around combos. The rendition and color are beautiful.