During the ten-year manufacturing period of the Minolta SR-T101, many small changes were made to the camera body. Several of these changes are easily detected and they can help determine time of manufacture to within a few years. It should be noted that any part of a camera may be replaced due to repair and smaller parts are more easily swapped, but normally these features may be considered original. Top cover and base plate are parts usually replaced due to impact damages, and a replacement top cover would not have the original serial number.
The first generation camera body serial numbers started from 1000xxx (see section below). When first introduced, the standard kit lens was the 58mm/f1.4 MC Rokkor-PF, with 6 elements in 5 groups, beginning from lens serial number 5000xxx. About four months after launch, the 55mm/f1.7 MC Rokkor-PF, 6 elements in 5 groups, was added as an alternate kit lens. Then in September 1968[2], the 58mm/f1.2 MC Rokkor-PG, 7 elements in 5 groups with 8 aperture blades, became available. These earlier kit lenses featured knurled metal barrels, versus later rubber-gripped MC Rokkor-X (or MC Rokkor) versions. A very well-crafted ever-ready case was available in either brown or black leather to protect the camera with normal lens. A longer-nosed black ever-ready case was made for the SRT 101 and 58mm/f1.2 combination.
Minolta Camera Serial Number Lookupl
The SRT 101's viewfinder shows the exposure meter needle at the right side of the finder image. This needle shows the actual light value coming in through the lens at maximum aperture, with lower indicating a higher light value. The needle's position is not dependent on film speed or any other camera setting; it will be constant for a given light value and a given lens at maximum aperture. Also at the right is a follower needle with a circle at the tip. This indicates the current exposure value calculated from film speed, number of stops below maximum aperture indicated by the aperture ring, and shutter speed. By changing one or more of these inputs, this circle can be made to overlap the meter needle, at which point the exposure will be correct.
During the ten-year manufacturing period of the Minolta SRT 101, many small changes were made to the camera body. Several of these changes are easily detected and they can help determine the time of manufacture to within a few years. It should be noted that any part of a camera may be replaced due to repair and smaller parts are more easily swapped, but normally these features may be considered original. Top cover and base plate are parts usually replaced due to impact damages, and a replacement top cover would not have the original serial number.
Be very thorough when you look for serial numbers. As you can see in the image above where the number is on the lens barrel, they can be quite faint and hard to find. There might also be some other manufacturing numbers, so your best bet is to just record everything if you have any doubts.
And one last tip. When you buy new gear and decide to throw away the box, grab a pair of scissors, cut out the part with the serial number and other information, and stick it in a file folder somewhere.
This version is the same as version 2, except the name on the front plate is raised lettering, rather than the standard engraving. While making one of the more beautiful models in an Exakta collection, it did little to keep the camera competitive in the market. Serial numbers run from about 860000- 935000
Mixed in the serial number range of version 3 are some cameras marked "Exakta" in raised lettering, with "IIa" engraved underneath. They are not marked "Varex" or "VX" on the outside of the camera, only on the inside.
In an effort to make their camera look more presentable to the buying public, Ihagee gives the Exakta a facelift. The front plate is made wider, with a bit more curve to it. The script name is replaced with uppercase block letters, silver on a black background. The pentaprism no longer comes to a point, but is leveled off on the top. The waist level finders are now leather covered. Although the change makes the camera look more modern, and even more elegant, it is still the same camera. Serial numbers run from 935000-1005000, but also include versions 6 through 8 .
The back of the camera has the viewfinder and a switch to open the back tray to load film. Loading the film is very easy, open the back and slip in the cartridge. Once closed, advance the film with the film advance lever on the bottom of the camera. The frame number can be seen from a window on the back which allows the user to see the backing paper. On the side of the camera is also a tripod socket.
Introduced in 1962 the Minolta Hi-Matic 7 was a full sized 35mm camera with a coupled range finder and a 45 mm f1.8 lens. It was a completely different camera from the original Hi-Matic/Ansco Autoset. It allowed full automatic operation or metered manual by means of a Light Value system with LV numbers visible in the viewfinder and displayed in a window to a scale on the lens barrel. It employed a Cadmium Sulfide meter cell that was more sensitive than the Selenium meter of the original Hi-Matic but that requires a 1.35v mercury battery. These batteries are now hard to find in the USA due to concerns about mercury batteries being discarded into the environment. The shutter release was moved to the top of the camera and is threaded to accept a cable release.
The 1971 Hi-Matic E was a fully automatic camera with a wide range electronic shutter and a fast 40mm f1.7 lens. It also allowed both easy flash and manual fill flash modes. The back has a table for converting flash guide numbers to an alphabetic version of the 'easy flash' system. It was completely dependent upon it's two RM640 batteries (Mercury Cells, now hard to find). It has no manual mode or mechanical speeds. When the batteries are dead the camera ceases to operate. It has a battery check light. Alkaline substitute cells will sometimes illuminate the BC light even when they don't have enough power to operate the camera. Wait for a steady light. If it is weak or flickers the cells are too weak. It also has no true diaphragm. The shutter blades form the aperture. It is the last to employ a moving parallax compensation frame. All subsequent models used a simpler set of fixed marks representing parallax at infinity and .9 meters.
Regardless of the File Numbering setting, the next image captured will be assigned the larger of 1) the next available number from the camera image counter or 2) one number greater than the highest numbered image already on the card. This system prevents images from showing up on the card chronologically out of sequence.
The number of remaining images shown in the frame counter is only an estimate based on a fixed file size. However, all images are compressed in the camera. The RAW files use a lossless compression algorithm (meaning that the compression does not, in any way, degrade image quality). Therefore, the actual size (in megabytes) of each image will vary depending on the subject, shooting conditions and shooting mode, which can all affect how well an image compresses.
The working out of the date codes and serial number patterns for the TLRs and some of the non-SLRs presented here is entirely my own work. Contributor Chris Whelan worked out that the YE rangefinder and Pentamatic SLR also used date codes but the implementation was a little different to the other models. Together, we solved the YF and other SLR patterns until from late 1968, they again followed the TLR system (the cut-off for our investigations was the introduction of the Contax RTS and the Contax/Yashica mount). The reason I say this is that in late 2017, I have become aware that an unknown Chinese person solved the puzzle, certainly for post 1960 non-SLRs, including TLRs, at least as long ago as August 2006. That is the date of an archived post on Rangefinderforum.com discussing Electro 35 serial numbers where a forum member presented a crude Google translation of the date code theory he had found on a Chinese website. If the forum members had shown less negativity and more imagination and willingness to investigate, they would have got past the translation problems and saved me a ton of work! In 2006, I hadn't acquired my first Yashica yet so the unknown contributor to the Chinese website must get at least some recognition for working out the idea of a date code first.
Originally, body serial numbers were generally consecutive within a model's production, although sometimes the numbers jumped, or increased digits, at some significant point. The first exception is the first model, the Pigeonflex! Following the first few examples in my database, the body serial numbers dropped some 40,000. The Yashicaflex AS-II is another exception with a short series in the 30xxx range, then from 81xxx to 83xxx followed by a new series from 19xxx to 23xxx. The MolfoReflex has three unrelated serial number ranges. Serial numbers were not consecutive model to model, usually. Two possible exceptions are from Yashima Flex to Yashica Flex B (there may have been a minor jump by about 2,000 or so) and from Yashica Mat-124 to Yashica Mat-124G where the numbers appear to continue on. However, in the latter case, production switched from one model to the other and the appearance of continuity is given by the numbers based on a date code (see below).
Lens numbers began logically but there are some other oddities too. Early in the piece, the Yashica Flex B seems to have started with six digit numbers and then changed to a new series with 5 digits. Some later cameras seem to have blocks of numbers issued almost randomly. Even if there is consistency, it is not unusual for a later camera to have slightly earlier lens numbers than the cameras immediately before it. Generally, the ranges for taking lenses and viewing lenses are the same and often, particularly with earlier cameras the numbers are in close proximity. 2ff7e9595c
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