Though this is a post about the Minolta, I have decided to start from the beginning. It will be like two posts into one.

So, it all started when I signed up for a walk in Liverpool on the photowalk.me website. There were quite a few people on the walk whom I had met previously or chatted with online. It would be nice to finally meet them in person, plus Liverpool! Why not?

There was a second reason I wanted to go on the walk. I had been given a film by Aperture Printing to test. I don’t think it has been released yet, so I am not going to name it, but I can show you my results in anticipation. The film was rated at 1000asa, which was useful as it was a very cloudy day at times. Rain was intermittent, as was the sunshine. That was tough on a film, flipping from dark to bright sunshine. I loaded the film into my Olympus OM4 as it had the multi-point spot meter feature. I hadn’t used the camera for a while, so it was nice to give it a run out.

The walk was lovely, very friendly. We walked around and ended up at Real Camera. There wasn’t anything I wanted, but I had just been paid, so I asked if they had any Minolta 16 cameras. They had one, but it had not been checked. They suggested I leave it with them for the day, and they would give it a look over. If I called back before I got my train home, I could have another look at it.

I carried on with the walk. Here are the OM4 results.

I really like the results, and I would use the film again. I have been impressed with Aperture Printing in my dealings with them so far. I also took another camera, which you can read about here. You will notice some of the same shots. I was sure that the other camera wasn’t working. I mentioned in that post about a camera exchange. I have now used one of the cameras I received so I will write about that very soon.

Anyway, back to the Minolta. On my return, they told me it didn’t work. I could buy it for parts, but the shutter didn’t work, so no guarantees. Fair enough, I thought I would buy it anyway as I have the heart of a womble.

It came with a box and a soft case.

When I got it home, I took it apart. I had no idea what I was looking for, but I decided to give it a try.

The shutter mechanism worked manually when I pressed the lever, so why didn’t it work with the top on? I looked more closely at the shutter button and voila…

The pitting on the button was jamming it in the slot, preventing it from depressing. I started to sand it down, and finally it moved freely, activating the shutter. That did not mean the camera worked. I could only check that with film, so I loaded it up with Kentmere 400 scavenged from a cut-down roll of 120 and went on a walk.

I went with a friend to Nottingham, again, the weather was awful, with heavy rain. At one point, we stopped in a pub and watched the whole of the final F1 race. I have never watched one before; it’s not my sport. It was interesting. I am glad Lando got the championship, but that is as much as I can say about that.

The camera has 2 speed settings 1/30th and 1/250th. The shutter fired well on the faster speed but was sticky on the slower one. I kept the camera on the fast speed and with the shutter wide open at f3.5. I inserted a battery but nothing seemed to happen when I activated the meter. Allegedly, when the silver button near the aperture selector is pressed, an ‘O’ or ‘K’ will appear in the viewfinder. It makes ‘OK’ when the light settings are correct. Not on this example. Underneath, you will see a zone focusing system. You can read more about this camera from 1972 here. In this post, it mentions the camera will work manually without a battery, which is what I did.

Here are the results.

As you can see, the film was fogged. That probably happened when I cut the film, not by the camera. The shot of Nottingham Castle was taken at 1/30th, but as I said, a sticky shutter at that speed. The sharpness of the camera, given the tiny negative, is quite impressive. Due to the issues with the camera, I probably won’t use it again, as I have another, fully working Minolta.

I will either give this one away or sell it for parts. If you would like it, just get in touch. If you cover the postage, it is yours.

Well, that was fun!