Minolta SR-T 101
The Minolta SRT 101 is a 35mm SLR camera made by Minolta from 1966 through 1975. Users often refer to it as "the tank". It's a heavy, robust and reliable camera, capable of producing great results even 40 years after its introduction.
Camera ads from the 1970s boast of its CLC (Contrast Light Metering), calling it "the brain". CLC is a form of TTL metering with two CDS cells. It compensates for over-exposure by assuming that the upper side of the picture is the sky (overcast) and that the lower part is the subject you want to photograph. ISO values can be set from 6 to 6400. Correct exposure is achieved by matching a needle in the viewfinder to an eye. Strangely though, the needle moves down when light increases.
The SRT 101 has a focal plane cloth shutter with speeds from 1 sec to 1/1000. The film advance lever automatically cocks the shutter, preventing double exposures. Shutter speeds are shown at the bottom of the viewfinder.
It has some interesting features which set it apart from many other SLRs of that time, like mirror lockup, a mechanical self-timer and a depth-of-field preview button.
The manual-focus Rokkor lenses have a very good reputation and some are very fast: the fastest standard lens is 50mm f/1.2.
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Photobloggers Using the SRT 101
| Minolta Classic Cameras |
|---|
| Vest (or Best) | V2 | SR-2 | SRT 101 | XE | XD | CLE | 7000 | 9000 | 800 si |
