Problem with my minolta SRT-101

JeremyLangford

JeremyLangford

I'd really Leica Leica
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I recently bought a used Minolta SRT-101 camera, but now the self timer stopped working. It worked when I bought it, but now doesnt take the picture after the timer times out.

The camera still has the old mercury battery it was made with, so I think, the battery may me getting low. The light meter "seems" to be working fine, and the Battery Check "BC" even works right, but i guess it probably wont be for long.

Does anyone have any suggestions for replacing the battery? Can I just go by a small battery from Wal-Mart that will fit?
 
The battery isn't the problem. The selftimer gear escapement mechanism needs cleaning to fix it.

A Wein 625 zinc-air battery will work fine but has a short (several months) lifetime..
 
colyn said:
The battery isn't the problem. The selftimer gear escapement mechanism needs cleaning to fix it.

A Wein 625 zinc-air battery will work fine but has a short (several months) lifetime..
Click to expand...

So am I going to have to take my camera completely apart?

And are you saying that if I buy that battery it will only last several months? Whys that?
 
Jeremy, Wein zinc-air cells are the only kind of battery left available on the market that are the right size and voltage to fit your SRT. The old mercury batteries that last for years, and came with your camera, are no longer available, they've been banned because of disposal problems. This is no big deal really. Just find a easy local source of Wein 625 zinc-air cell batteries, like a camera or electronic parts store, or Radio Shack, and go buy one every three months or so.
Alternatively, you can have a camera repair place put in a currently available battery of a slightly different voltage, then he can adjust your meter to be accurate. I recently paid Terrys camera in Fountain Valley to do this on my SRT, and it works great. However, this costs money. If I were in your shoes, (and I have been, shooting an SRT in high school, and ever since), i'd just stick to the wein cell idea.
About the self timer, unless you're really sharp with camera repairs, i'd just leave it alone, if everything else works OK. Do you use the self timer much anyway?

Robin
 
After much procrastination I sent my SRTs off for a CLA to John Titterington. Have a look at his Minolta tips and if you are considering having your camera serviced drop him a line with some questions. I found he was very friendly in offering advise and his rate was very fair (pretty low actually).

http://www.geocities.com/~titterington/camera-repair/
 
If you are handy with a soldering iron it's very easy to modify the circuit to accept modern batteries while keeping the meter accurate. If you're interested I'll dig up the link to the page describing how.
 
cmedin said:
If you are handy with a soldering iron it's very easy to modify the circuit to accept modern batteries while keeping the meter accurate. If you're interested I'll dig up the link to the page describing how.
Click to expand...

That would be useful. I have an SRT 101 and will need to replace the mercury cell soon.

Regards
Ernst
 
The SRTs are not rangefinders, but I'm glad to comment anyway. I use a C.R.I.S. adapter, which converts the voltage of a modern battery to the voltage of an old mercury cell. It works perfectly. BTW, those SRT meters are usually dead accurate. Minolta always made excellent meters.
 
Robert Kildare said:
The SRTs are not rangefinders, but I'm glad to comment anyway. I use a C.R.I.S. adapter, which converts the voltage of a modern battery to the voltage of an old mercury cell. It works perfectly. BTW, those SRT meters are usually dead accurate. Minolta always made excellent meters.
Click to expand...

They are indeed not rangefinders, and that's why it's posted in the SLR forum. The adapters are great, but if you have a few cameras to deal with it can get pretty costly.

The meters are certainly good; the dual-CdS 'CLC' metering was pretty innovative and seems to work quite well.
 
Robert Kildare said:
The SRTs are not rangefinders, but I'm glad to comment anyway. I use a C.R.I.S. adapter, which converts the voltage of a modern battery to the voltage of an old mercury cell. It works perfectly. BTW, those SRT meters are usually dead accurate. Minolta always made excellent meters.
Click to expand...

Whats a C.R.I.S. adapter?
 
Mercury batteries lasted for an extraordinary long time (I had one go over 10 years). Conversely, the Zinc-air batteries last about a year in my experience. Just a different chemical/reactive process which lasts longer.
 
You can also use a 675 hearing aid battery. They are also zinc-air but can be purchased for about $10 or less for 6 of them in a pack. They are smaller in diameter than the SRT-101 requires but I use a small O-ring or just some stuffing around them.

Zinc-air batteries need to react with air to operate and require about 30 minutes to come up to full voltage before use after removing the covering over the air holes. They don't last as long as other batteries due to the chemical reaction of air and zinc which eventually become depleted.

I have adjusted a few SRT by removing the bottom and moving the arm on a small reostat while measuring the meter reading with a known meter.
 
And sometimes sticky self timer mechanisms can be freed up by applying some Ronsonol to the area to get rid of the build up of old lube and grime. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't...but I'm a Minolta fan too. Great cameras.
 
I hate to sound a cautionary note, but you really do not want to be squirting lighter fluid into a camera. You have no control over which parts it will flow onto/into or where it will strip needed lubricants. The thing is that this camera is 30+ years old. It really can't be faulted for needing a CLA...
 
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