Minolta SR-1
The Minolta SR-1 was the second model of Minolta's first series of SLR camera bodies. It was a purely mechanical camera. A six-element 55mm Rokkor was the standard lens. When it was introduced in 1959 several other Minolta Rokkor lenses were already available, from 35mm up to 600mm. At least five different improved versions of the SR-1 were brought to the market in the following three years.
In 1961 a holder (1) for an additional selenium exposure meter was added. The applicable meters for the SR-1 were connected mechanically with the shutter-speed preselector of the camera: The little bolt (2) on the camera's preselector was connected to the clutch (3) of the meter's shutter-speed preselector. When the correct ASA-value of the film and the exposure time were preselected on the meter, the measuring instrument's scale directly showed the aperture that the user had to select at the lens.
Another optional part of the SR-1 was the flash shoe.
The SR-1's predecessor was the Minolta SR-2, the first SLR camera for Minolta's SR Rokkor lenses, which was also the first camera to combine several typical features of modern SLR cameras. Later the SR-3 took the place of the SR-2. Both cameras have the 1/1000s as the fastest shutter speed, the SR-1 the 1/500s (only the very last model, the SR-1s of 1967 had 1/1000s). In 1962 the first Minolta SLR camera with built-in 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 developed.
| metering |
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 Metering is simple: The meter has to be put into its holder and its shutter-speed selector's clutch connected correctly to the camera's selector's bolt(1). Then the right ASA film speed has to be selected on the meter (2), and the meter mode to be chosen (3). Shutter speed has to be chosen for each exposure with the meter's selector (4). The correct aperture is shown by the meter (5). Finally the aperture has to be selected at the lens manually. |
| lens mount |
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 The SR camera series's lens mount was a sophisticated new sort of lens bayonet. The lens had to be put into the bayonet ring of the camera body. There it had to be fixed by turning it 54 degrees to the right. By fixing it a tappet (1) which belonged to the shutter release mechanics had been connected to the aperture release lever (2) of the lens. |
A SR-1 with a later model of the meter.
