Mark's Minolta SRT-101 #1 Page
1967 to 1977?. This is second generation (1970 to 1973). Cloth horizontal shutter went to 1/1000th. Metering was wide open, which was new and exiting at the time. Has a lockable stop-down button for depth of field checking. No hot shoe, but two PC connectors for X and FP speeds. Sync speed is a 60th. There is a mirror lock-up control on the right side of the lens mount. You rotate it to lift the mirror. There is a self-timer, which is broken on this unit, doesn't move. This 35mm SLR was built for 1.3 volt mercury batteries. The on/off/ battery check switch on the bottom plate is easy to forget, draining the battery. I'm using alkaline A625 batteries and setting the ASA a stop down (ASA 200 for ASA 400 film) to compensate. This one has some dings on the top plate, and a screw was missing. It looks like this one took a fall, and was repaired. There are dents on the top cover that have been massaged out, and the self-timer seems to be locked down. The rewind knob is askew, leaning back. Everything important still works, but this bugged me and I bought one in better condition, #2.Someone scratched some ID on it. I've got several SRT mount lenses, and all the M42 lenses will work on it with an adapter. . The self-timer is jammed / not working. Mirror lockup is good, meter works, but the back doesn't spring open like it should. Bought it on Ebay for $38 including freight. It felt great to hold one in my hands again. Got one as a teen for Christmas, the first real camera I owned. The sentimental value of these SRT-101's is very high.Click any pic to enlarge full screen in a new tab. Close tab to return.
11-7-22: Here are the pics from the first test roll, Arista Ultra 200 ASA. Looks like the camera works OK, and no light leaks.
3-14-24: Shooting all cameras in order from last shoot date. This is a roll of Kentmere 100 ASA, developed 11 minutes in Caffenol-C (coffee) and un-retouched. Except for one shot noted below, all were taken with the internal meter, with a fresh 1.5 volt 625 battery. Some shots not shown were under-exposed. The meter exposes perfectly for those bright areas and leaves the rest dark. I wanted to try the mirror lock-up feature. First test pattern is normal, second is with mirror locked up. Notice reflection in locked up shot.
The customary flash test, in a blacked out kitchen, was taken with the Sunpak Auto 321, which has a PC cable. I focus on the microwave display, but it doesn't show in the picture. The following two shots of the river view also appear in each test run. The first was taken with the internal meter 125th @ F:11-16, the second with the TTArtisan clip-on meter 125th @ F:5.6. This gives me an idea of the internal meter's calibration. All these were taken with an old Minolta 55mm lens that wiggles slightly in the mount.
All the rest below were taken with a Vivitar 70-210mm recently used on the Minolta X-370s. Looks OK here, but was terrible on that camera.
