Originally posted by stevebrot I was gifted this last weekend with a bit of vintage Minolta kit:
- SRT 101 (excellent condition)
- SRT 102 (rough condition)
- MC Rokkor 58/1.4
- MC Rokkor 50/1.4
- MC Rokkor 35/2.8
- Rokkor (MD?) 70-200 zoom
Both bodies are fully functional except for needing new foams. The SRT 101 was probably made in late 1969 and has the first generation all-metal 58/1.4. Last night I did a direct comparison of build, handling, and general "camera experience" to my Spotmatic, Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL, and Ricoh Singlex TLS of the same vintage. Dang that was tough! Yes, the Minolta is heavier, but it was a very close second to the Spotmatic for all-round goodness in this grouping and gets extra points for supporting full open-aperture metering. I guess that makes sense given that the choices for a pro-level SLR at the time came down to a relatively few number of models. There are several online articles where the authors share their experience of choosing between the SRT and the Spotmatic.
(FWIW, I like all of the above, though for different reasons...)
Steve
I kind of envy you just now. Pentax fan that I am it still peeves me off that I lost my black X700 and my 45mm Rokkor to the lens fungi outbreak last Summer. The body was nice but that lens was just sweet. Closest thing to a true pancake lens that I ever owned and I would have liked to have been able to use that one on my Oly M43 cam. I keep hoping one of these days that I'll be able to get an old Pentax pancake but I just don't think that's likely to happen given what they tend to cost now...
Last edited by Ash; 05-18-2013 at 03:14 AM.