This is the Minolta SRT-MC, a well-built and capable SLR made between 1973 and 1975 by Minolta.
History
The precursor to Minolta, Nichi-Doku Shashinki Shōten, was established in 1928 by Kazuo Tashima in Osaka, Japan. It was literally “Japanese-German photo company” and would not mark the last time such a collaboration would occur.
The year before the SRT-MC was introduced Minolta entered an agreement to share SLR technology with Leica, resulting in the CL and several R series cameras which while very capable have endured (good-natured?) ribbing from a subset of Leica lovers. In fairness, the robustness of the R systems cameras is very much in question and I have yet to take a risk on purchasing one based on that potential issue alone.
The Leica R3 was developed in conjunction with Minolta, sharing many similarities and underpinnings with the Minolta XE series.
(Wikipedia image)
In 1958, four years prior to the company changing its name to Minolta Camera Company, Ltd their first SLR, the SR-2, was introduced. Even without it’s logo and name the SR-2 would be instantly identifiable as a Minolta product based on shape alone.
Minolta SR-2 circa 1958 bears a striking resemblance to later SRT cameras and to be fair, almost any SLR camera of the era.
(Wikipedia image)
Specs
| Make | Minolta |
|---|---|
| Model | SRT-MC |
| Year | 1973 – 1975 |
| Format | 35mm |
| Shutter | Cloth Focal Plane |
| Speed | B, T, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30, 60, 125, 250, 500, 1000 |
| Lens | Minolta Rokkor-X PG |
| f1.4 50mm | |
| Focus | 1.75ft – ∞ |
| Aperture | f1.4 – 16 |
| Light Meter | Yes (CLC) |
| Rangefinder | SLR |
This is a well-built camera; the controls are solid and the advance lever has much more positive feedback than the one on my Miranda D shot on the same day.
The camera has Minolta’s Contrast Light Compensator or CLC metering which was the world’s first matrix light metering system and was introduced on the Minolta SRT-101 in 1966. The SRT-101 was produced for 10 years and Minolta was still touting the CLC system on a number of cameras. From the October 1976 issue of Backpacker Magazine an ad for the SRT-202 reads:
“And your pictures are always properly exposed because Minolta’s patented “CLC” metering system handles even high contrast situations with incredible accuracy.”
The SRT-MC only came in black (my personal preference) and the white lettering on mine is a little yellowed in places but otherwise crisp. The battery cover is missing, which means I could not test the CLC metering system.
The manual for the Minolta SRT-MC can be found here.
Sample Photos
Photos taken on Ilford Delta 100, stand-developed HC-110 for 30 minutes.
Panorama stitched together in Affinity Photo.
