Minolta Super A

<p>This is the continuation of the post entitled "Calling on Minolta Historians."<br>

The weekend before I bought this outfit, I told my father about it. I was a bit short of cash and he told me that if it was a good deal, he'd front me the money. The whole kit came to me for $250.00 and it was worth every penny. What also helped was that on the following Monday, I picked up a lawn mower that somebody else put out with the trash. I quickly asked the owner what happened and he said that his son hit a rock and broke the motor. After he went back inside, I checked under the deck and I saw the blade was bent awfully. I tilted it up and pulled the cord and it felt fine. Before I tossed it into my pickup, I primed the carb, tilted the deck back again and pulled the cord. It started first pull but it had a wobble. I threw it into my truck and drove it home. There I pulled the blade and mandrel off and checked it out. Without the blade on it ran like a sewing machine. I spent $18.00 on a new blade, put it on, mowed my back yard with it and sold it for a hundred and twenty the same week. Pop already got half of his money back.<br>

As for the camera, I ran the first film through it. It was my last roll of Kodak Gold 100. The shutter speeds are good. The meter is accurate. I was pleased overall with the results.<br>

First, the prerequisite camera porn.</p>

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<p>I took a few shots with all three lenses. The rirst was in my front yard.</p><div></div>

<p>As an homage to Gene and his barn shots, I found a good one on the way to my father's place.</p><div></div>

<p>When I got to Pop's place, Snoopy was already hamming it up.</p><div></div>

<p>I took Snoopy out in the canoe for another trip around the lake. He likes the canoe rides. I can't keep him out of it.</p><div></div>

<p>We stopped by the farm where Snoopy came from. They have a vegetable and bakery stand and every so often, there's a litter of puppies that they try to sell off. This time it's a litter of Labs. Snoopy was in the same cage a year ago.</p><div></div>

<p>Back up at Pop's place, he's been having a spot of trouble with the beavers... that is, I'm having the trouble. I'm the one that has to keep opening the culvert that the beavers plug up. With the rain we've had this year, the lake keeps rising more and more. Now it's over the road.</p><div></div>

<p>Thankfully the road is quite solid here and the water doesn't do much that the ground can't handle.</p><div></div>

<p>Pop's tractor. I adjusted the clutch last weekend so it's back to normal.</p><div></div>

<p>It just wouldn't be me without the obligatory shot of White Dam Falls. Thanks for looking.<br>

:-)</p><div></div>

<p>Wonderful.<br>

I like the Snoopy shots a lot, darn glad I wasn't there with the Lab pups, I'm sure I'd have a dog now if I had been.</p>

<p>I'm trying to figure out if the camera belongs in my Contax wanna-be collection or not.</p>

<p>JDM, the viewfinder of the 85mm Rokkor is a bit quirky. There's a distance dial on it but it doesn't affect the focus. It affects the angle of the viewfinder. If you set the dial on 5 feet, the viewfinder points downward. If you set it at infinity, it looks straight ahead. I got a shot of a baby Robin that just left the nest. It was ok with getting its picture taken, but there were these two stupid birds that just kept dive bombing me. I don't know what their problem was.</p><div></div>

<p>Rob,</p>

<p>I think you hit the trifecta with an interesting camera, pictures, and story.</p>

<p>I believe someone else had a post about the Super A recently. I did find another ad for the camera showing the various lenses available.</p>

<p>This ad is from Camera 35 magazine 1958 issue 4.</p><div></div>

<p>Wonderful,<strong>Rob</strong>, and congratulations; it's great to see a fine camera in competent hands, and you have a story-telling quality that reminds me of the great E.B.White. Living, as I do, in back-blocks New Zealand, both the locations and your experiences are familiar, though we don't have much of an issue with beavers.... Thanks for a really enjoyable post.</p>

<p>Now there's a camera I've never even heard of, and the image quality of that Rokkor is stunning. Typical of a Rokkor I suppose, they all seem to be great lenses. Is yours uncoated? It sure has a lot of contrast. Thanks for posting the pics.</p>

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>Great post, and what a wonderful place to live.<br>

Interesting camera too !</p>

<p>Avery nice find and you even got some lenses too! Wonderful shot of the old barn.</p>

<p>Rob,<br>

Glad to see you got the Minolta set and are having fun with it. The advertisement from Marc mentions "bayonet mount" -- is this a Leica M-mount or Minolta's own thing?<br>

Always happy to see a shot of White Dam Falls or environs; I like the northern deciduous woods and don't get out to our local versions often enough. What's the status of the Rolleicord?</p>

<p>> <em>a baby Robin that just left the nest. It was ok with getting its picture taken,</em><br>

Too young and dumb to know better<br>

> <em>but there were these two stupid birds that just kept dive bombing me. I don't know what their problem was.</em><br>

Lack of young and dumb! The last three years a robin family made its nest amongst the supports of our front porch awning. It was fun to watch mom and the babies through the high window on the front door, but the price was bird poop all over the cars in the driveway (right under the main flight path from the nest) all summer.</p>

<p>Thanks guys for all the positive posts. <br /> Michael, the status of the Rolleicord is as such:<br /> I just finished off the first roll of film. I dropped it off to get developed. My processor has just changed locations and is still setting up his new shop. I'll be up north next week on vacation and the film will be ready by the week after. I'll post the results and camera porn then.<br /> The camera has Bay 1 filter mounts. It came with a Bay 1 yellow filter and a 32mm slip on red filter. Strangely, the 32mm slip on (three wing) is practically a perfect fit. I have other 32mm slip on stuff... including a 32mm slip on to Series VI adapter... hmmmmmmm... Lots of Series VI stuff here. This could be fun.<br>

The bayonet mount on this camera is a mystery to me too. I don't have the first idea what an Leica M works like or even looks like. On this one, you set the focus on infinity and push the button in the focusing lever. Then you rotate the lens barrel to the right and pull it off. It works smoothly. When you put on the next lens, make sure it is set for infinity too. There are two red (orange dots, ok, so I'm half colourblind). Make sure they are aligned.</p>

<p>Good to see a Super A put to good use. Great shots and informative post.</p>

<p>Great images and I am jealous of a couple of your lenses. <br>

In 1957 Minolta was set to release a camera called the "Sky". It was a Leica M3 clone using the M3 mount. It would have been a spectacular camera. However, Leica sued Minolta and had the production of the Sky halted. Only 100 prototypes were ever complete.<br>

<img src="http://www.huffman.tk/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/minolta_sky_1957.jpg" alt="" width="284" height="207" /><br>

Minolta was also developing the Super A and because of the lawsuit used a proprietary bayonet mount on the camera. While I love my Super A, I would really love to get my hands on a working Sky.</p>

<p>Wayne,</p>

<p>Thanks for sharing that history. I had never heard of the Sky.</p>