Throwback Edit Version: I edited this post in June 2024, checked links and converted it to the new WordPress format.

This is a beautiful-looking camera. I really wanted it…until I actually had one.

Look at it, see how pretty it is. Here are a few technical details.

• Film Format: 35
• Material: chrome, aluminium, plastic
• ISO Setting: DX coded
• Viewfinder: direct optical viewfinder
• Flash: built-in
• Lens: Minolta 35mm f/4.5 lens
• Shutter Speed: 1/40 second to 1/150 second
• Aperture: f/4.5
• Focusing: Autofocus
• Power: CRP2 6v

It also has a self-timer which you can see on the front. There are more details on this website, which says how it was released in 1990 and that there was a low production run. It was mainly available in Japan.

Ok, now my opinion.

Check out that crappy shutter speed range, check out the crappy aperture, and finally the flash is totally automatic – you can’t turn it on or off, it just is. To insert the battery you have to take off the bottom panel, which seems to be a nod back to the cameras the design is based on. It is pretty to look at, but as a camera, I found it lacking in most areas, apart from the lens.

 

I only uploaded a few of the photos I took. The quality is good and the colours are great. I thought maybe it was the film then I check out this site and the colours there look quite vivid too. It is an interesting camera to use but on the whole a little big for so little umph.

Keep or sell: Sold, I almost got back the stupid price I paid for it..stupid as in – really not worth what you pay for what you get. Plus a final note about the name of the camera. Should it be Prod 20s or Prod 20 S…or is the title trying to say a camera that belongs to the 20s, maybe. Minolta’s Prod 1920’s camera design, ok maybe.