Minolta SR-1

The Minolta SR-1 was the second model of Minolta's first series of single lens reflex camera bodies. It was a purely mechanical camera. A 6-lens 55mm-Rokkor had been the standard lens for that camera. When it had been introduced in 1959 several other Minolta Rokkor lenses had already been available, from 35mm upto 600mm focus. At least 5 different improved versions of the SR-1 had been brought to the market in the following 3 years.

In 1961 a holder for an additional selenium exposure meter had been added to the camera's design. The applicable meters for the SR-1 where connected mechanically with the exposure-time preselector of the camera. When the correct ASA-value of the film and the exposure time had been preselected on the meter, the measuring instrument's scale directly showed the aperture that the user had to select at the lens.

The SR-1's predecessor had been the Minolta SR-2, the first single lens reflex camera for Minolta's SR-Rokkor-lenses, which also had been the first camera ever combining several typical features of modern SLR-cameras. Later the SR-3 took the place of the SR-2. Both cameras had slightly faster exposure mechanics than the SR-1. In 1962 the first Minolta SLR camera with inbuilt meter had been introduced as last member of the SR-n-family: The SR-7. One of the SR1-models, the SR-1 (V), had been the base on which the Minolta SR-T 101 had been developped.

File:SR-1 http://members.aol.com/uwekulick/sr-1.jpg

sources:

A.R. & J. Scheibel "Minolta's Kameratechnik"

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