The Topcon RE Super beat them to it ever-so-slightly, but the Minolta would prove to be the more approachable and successful design. The SR-T Seriesįour years later, in 1966, Minolta unveiled the SR-T 101, one of the first SLRs to feature TTL, full-aperture light metering. As Hasselblad semi-incessantly reminds us, bringing a camera to space is a big deal. In 1962, the company officially renamed itself Minolta Camera Co., and astronaut John Glenn used a modified Minolta Hi-Matic in space. Sales of the SR series allowed Minolta to become a mainstream name in photography. These cameras had attachment external light meters, but were otherwise fully mechanical. Later, they added a budget model (the SR-1) before replacing them both with the SR-3. This SLR was popular in Japan due to its low cost, instant return mirror, hinged film back, bayonet mount, and wide selection of Rokkor lenses.Īt this point, Minolta named their mount after the SR cameras. Kazuo Tashima was the company’s founder.Īfter finding success with TLRs like the Minolta-Flex and rangefinders like the popular Minolta-35, the company unveiled the SR-2 in 1958. This name stood for “ Mechanism, Instruments, Optics, and Lenses by Tashima”. Minolta was founded in 1928, and took on the name Minolta in 1931. Let’s go over Minolta’s systems with Nico and Nuno. It’s no wonder why Leica chose Minolta to collaborate with for years. Minolta was also one of the most innovative companies in photography, inventing numerous technologies and bringing them to a mass market faster and better than a lot of their competition. They are also indirectly responsible for the rise of Sony mirrorless cameras, but we’ll get to that. Minolta’s lenses during this time are also exceptional, and the bodies sold very well, leading to low prices nowadays. Their A mount was the first system designed completely around autofocus, beating Canon to the punch by years and delivering a great product. MD was one of the longest-running mounts in photography. The company produced multiple lines of excellent cameras and lenses that retain quite a bit of compatibility between them. Minolta’s venerable MD mount was in production from the late 1950s until the 1980s. In this article, we’ll cover Minolta’s two main SLR mounts, the MD / SR mount and the Maxxum / Dynax / A AF mount.īoth are worthy of respect, and both are perhaps talked about less than their competition. They consistently pushed the boundaries of technology without ever pricing themselves out of competition.

Chiyoka Kogaku, later known as Minolta, was one of the most innovative companies in the photographic industry.

1970 minolta camera