A few more Minolta SR-T 102 pictures...

<p>First of all, thanks to everyone who has offered all of the excellent information and advice on the Minolta SRT series. I've only begun using these amazing cameras for a few weeks but I feel as though I've been missing out on a fantastic system all these years. The sharpness of the Rokkor and Celtic lenses is nothing short of superb, and the camera handles absolutely beautifully and instills such confidence and an urge to shoot more. I'm enjoying using these cameras ( two SRT 102 bodies) more than just about any other camera I've acquired in recent times. Here are a few shots I took with both of these cameras...</p><div></div>

<p>Shot #2...</p><div></div>

<p>Shot #3...</p><div></div>

<p>Shot #4...</p><div></div>

<p>Shot #5...</p><div></div>

<p>Great stuff. The barn photo is inspiring.</p>

<p>Shot #6...</p><div></div>

<p>The fact that I'm as smitten by this system is a bit ironic. I've spent the last several years trying to convince my father that he should buy a DSLR, so when I told him that I'd put mine aside to use a Minolta SRT 102 and<em> film</em> , he laughed in that "I told you so" kind of way. I am thoroughly impressed by this camera and its lenses and look forward to using it everyday. I think it will have a permanent place in my camera bag. What an absolute jewel!</p>

<p>Awesome Andy. You are playing with my favorite SLR system. Got my first Minolta SRT in 1974 and haven't looked back. Keep up the good work.</p>

<p>I like it. I grew up on an SRT with multiple primes and Kodachrome (I hadn't discovered Fuji) and recently got a 202 off Ebay for $11 with the 50mm 1.4 Rokkor but I can't get the darned thing to work at all reliably.</p>

<p>I love the feel of the focusing ring on these, the needle meter, the focus screen and the heavy metal body.</p>

<p>In the mid 70's when the SRT was still current I worked at a huge camera store in the Loop in Chicago and we sold 101's like hotcakes. On a saturday 10 to 20 would get sold. Of course Canon's FTb, Nikkormat FT-2's, OM-1's, and Spot F's were all good sellers. Quite a few pros used SRT's as they were reliable and you could buy 2 for the price of an F2. If you didn't need the interchangeable finders or screens it was perfectly capable of professional results. About every six months Minolta would bring a free "camera clinic" into the store for a day. Four camera techs, sitting at tables with their tools, shutter speed testers and standard candle meter calabration lights would clean, lube, check and adjust the shutter and meter of customer's Minoltas, mostly SRT's. The speed they worked at was just amazing. I don't think it took more than five to ten minutes per camera and the top and botton both had to come off and go back on. I sometimes really miss mechanical cameras. Don't get me wrong, my Oly E-410 is an ok toy but I'm sure when it's brain goes belly up or there is some other fatal failure your SRT's and my OM-1's will still work.</p>

<p>Andy,</p>

<p>Once again, I congratulate on some very nice photos. The photos of the Caterpillar and the John Deere are wonderful. God! How I actually miss winter. Where I live in Japan it is 14C right now! No snow. Clear skies! It is bloody spring not winter!</p>

<p>Mike</p>

<p>Great pics and killer sharpness. The CLC metering really is effective in most outdoor lighting situations. You can see the difference by comparing meter readings from horizontal and vertical positions. <br>

I still use my SRT 201 quite a bit and the SRT 100 I picked up cheap is getting some use too. The 35mm f2.8 MC Rokkor HG that came with the 200 has a sluggish diaphragm so I manually stop it down before taking a photo. Or I may use it with my XD-5, which takes a second meter reading after the lens stops down. That way if the lens fails to stop down fully, the shutter speed will be set accordingly.<br>

Again, great shots.</p>

<p>Andy, Beautiful, thoughtful pictures with the Old Caterpiller and Snowy Woods being my favorite. How wonderful to find a camera that feels so right, so natural, that it becomes an extension of you and allows easy expression of the spirit. Suddenly the camera disapears, and the eye is awakened to a pointed mindfulness. It moves in perfect freedom and innocence and you discover that this tool not only allows you to see a group of trees or old farm machine with ease but becomes the conduit in which they also see you. The moment of exposure becomes a record of that sacred communion. Finding tools like that are rare. Cherish it.</p>

<p>Andy, if you think that the SRT is wonderful, you will have to find an XE1 (don't know what they call it in the land of the free), now that's a beautiful camera.<br>

Lovely snowscapes, and I'm glad the caterpiller is dead, make a hell of a mess of my cabbages!<br>

Tony</p>

<p>Gene--Thank you! Not quite as spectacular as some of your barn shots but it's a start.</p>

<p><strong>Scott, Andrew</strong> --Thanks. You both have experience with this camera so you can understand why I like it so much.</p>

<p><strong>John</strong> --Wouldn't it be nice if we still had clinics like that? I understand about your Oly E-410...I love my 30D to pieces and the photos it takes, but using the SRT is such an uncluttered experience, and it will indeed still be shooting years after my 30D no longer does.</p>

<p><strong>Michael</strong> --Thank you for your kind compliments. Don't worry about missing winter-I'm experiencing enough of it for both of us!</p>

<p><strong>Mike</strong> --Thanks. The CLC system is amazingly effective. I will pay attention to vertical vs. horizontal results to observe the differences.</p>

<p><strong>Louis</strong> --How exquisitely stated, and how true; it is wonderful to find a tool that feels like an extension of one's mind and eye. I'm glad you liked the pictures.</p>

<p><strong>Tony</strong> --I've seen the XE-1, XE-5, and XE-7 all on the auction site so I'll have to do a bit of research to see if there are major differences. And yes, that caterpillar would probably destroy your cabbages if it were alive!</p>

<p>A little info on the Minolta XE series. The XE is the model sold in Japan. European market versions were the XE-1. In the USA it was sold as the XE-7. Also, a less expensive version, the XE-5, was sold in the USA. I have an XE-5 and really love it. Smooth shutter release, quiet shutter, and buttery smooth film advance. The XE series was developed in cooperation with Leice, with the Leica version being the R3. Leicas got a different prism, brighter focusing screen, and of course, the R-mount lenses. The XE used two overlapping CDS cells-not sure if it's true CLC or not. Aperture priority and manual exposure modes, with the Copal-Leitz shutter offering speeds from 4s to 1/1000 sec. If batteries (2MS-76s) fail, you can still set 1/90 second or B mechanically.<br>

One issue, the variable resistor (or capacitor- I don't remember which) under the top plate doesn't age well. After a time some XE's develop an erratic meter needle. Mine does that from time to time. My meter is also off by 1/2 stop (no big deal). Even if that component fails, the camera can still be used manually. In manual mode you can select electronically governed speeds all the way down to 4 seconds. Yes, there is a 4s setting on the dial.<br>

I think after my SRT 201, my XE-5 is my second favorite manual focus classic to shoot with.</p>

<p>Oh yeah, you can use the Aperture Priority with any lens, even the old preset ones. Here's one with my old Tele Astronar 500 mm f8 attached to my XE-5.</p><div></div>

<p>Very nice - I love the fall colors you can get with the Fuji 200 (my favorite C41 film) and a good lens.</p>

<p>That's a beautifully colorful shot and amazingly sharp, especially considering the size of the lens. I'm impressed with the performance of that lens.</p>

<p>Wow, great photos Andy. The tight compositions work very well. The neighbors are so sharp and composed so tight I can practically feel the smell of the stable through the screen. Growing up, I used to live near a set of stables separated from them only by a square mile of olive trees, and the smell was significant when the wind would bring it our way.<br>

SRT's rock, XE's add a little modernism to an already fantastic system. My main shooter is an XE-7 with a complement of lenses. Regards</p>

<p>Thanks, Andy. Those old presets are actually pretty good if 1) you stop 'em down a stop or two and 2)have steady tripod. Too slow for secondary color to be much of a problem. My 500mm Tele Astronar was given to me by a friend. She had paid about 70USD for it at an estate sale, but decided it was too much trouble to use manually on her EOS.<br />I also have a 400mm f6.3 Seimar preset that I bought back in the late 70's. Manual metering is especially nice on the SRT series. I turn the aperture ring to minimum aperture and turn the open/close ring wide open to focus. Then I just turn the open/close ring until the needle is centered in the loop. Mirror lock-up is nice to have, though if you plan to shoot below 1/125 second. I've found, however, that the smooth shutter/mirror motions of the XE-5 allow me to get by with 1/60 most of the time with those two lenses. I have T-mounts to fit all my SLR systems: Minolta MC/MD, Yashica C/Y, Olympus, Pentax K, M42, Konica AR, and Canon EOS. I have one for Maxxum, but it is stuck on my 1 1/4" telescope adapter. :(<br />Any of the Japanese made 400 and 500's should serve you well. Not sure about the last batch that was made elsewhere.</p>