Blog

Over the past 15 years of serious film photography, there have been several cameras that I initially dismissed because the ones I tried were not functioning as they were designed. My first Pentax Spotmatic was a corroded mess. My first Olympus OM-1 had a gummed up film advance due to years of neglect. And my first Minolta SR-T, a 101 model if I recall, had a dead meter, lots of debris in the viewfinder and a gritty feeling film advance. When you’re buying decades old film cameras online and learning as you go, you’re going to buy a few duds. It’s part of the game. And sometimes, those bad experiences color your opinion about a camera. Luckily, I bought another Spotmatic and had Eric Hendrickson service it. A lovely camera. Same with the OM-1. Found another and sent it off to John Hermanson. A CLA’d OM-1 is a joy to shoot.

And now for Minolta. Recently, a stunning black body SR-T 202 showed up for sale from one of my trusted eBay sellers, freshly CLA’d for a good price. I’m a sucker for black body SLRs and this one, with a six-month warranty, seemed like a good investment.

The Minolta SRT series ran from 1966 to 1981. There are many different models with confusing numbers. My camera, the SR-T 202 was also called the SR-T 303b and SR505, depending on what country you purchased the camera in. All of these cameras are manual focus, manual exposure cameras with TTL metering. Some featured Minolta’s exclusive CLC metering system. CLC stood for Contrast Light Compensator, sort of an early version of matrix metering. The camera had two metering cells rather than just one giving the photographer more precise control over exposure. Or so the manual says.

While I was waiting for my SR-T 202 to arrive, I did some research on early Minolta manual focus lenses and found that the MC-Rokkor-PF 58mm f/1.4 had great reviews. Not only was the lens a stellar performer optically, many photographers raved about how nice this lens was to use. I found a seller online who specializes in this particular lens, services and sells them. My new lens and camera arrived within days of each other.

The SR-T 202 is a big, heavy brick of a camera. There a no contours or curves, little in the way of ergonomics. By comparison, while my Minolta X-700 which came out in 1981 fits my hand like a glove, this camera felt a bit awkward. I also found the strap lugs to be in a weird place, poking my fingers as I shot. As I worked my way through my test roll of Kodak Tri-X, the camera and I made friends and I found some hand and finger positions that felt comfortable.

I had no issues however falling immediately and madly in love with the 58mm f/1.4 lens however. This lens reminds me of the early Pentax Takumars…smooth silky focus and a satisfying aperture ring. This lens is from an era where quality and craftsmanship were top priorities. I am going to buy an adapter and try this lens on my Fujifilm X-T1 digital.

All of the controls on the SR-T 202 are straightforward and similar to most SLRs of this era. The only strange thing is the ON/OFF/BC switch on the bottom of the camera that you need to use your thumb to turn. The viewfinder on most every Minolta I have shot is big and bright and beautiful. This camera is no exception. Shutter speed and lens aperture are displayed along the bottom of the finder with the meter readout on the right side.

Unlike my earlier SR-T camera, this freshly serviced 202 is very pleasant to shoot. Film advance felt smooth, viewfinder was crystal clear, meter responsive and it has a nice, satisfying shutter sound. I took the camera with me on a picnic on Mother’s Day and on a walk downtown. Here are some shots from that weekend.

Some Pinot Noir at our picnic…

I liked this shadow of the basketball hoop on the crumbling court…

Of course, the required mirror selfie which I flipped in post. (I was having a bad hair day.)

I really warmed to the SR-T 202 as I worked my way through the 24 exposure roll of Tri-X. I do wish the strap lugs were a little farther up the body and that ON/OFF switch is a bit of a pain. But all in all, this is nice camera and an awesome lens. Like any old film camera, I really recommend that you either buy one that has been serviced or budget for a service when you plan your camera purchase. In the case of this Minolta, service made all of the difference.