Questions of a new Autocord owner

[fmueller]

Hi All,

 

Sorry for the long post. If you are not a fan of the Minolta

Autocord, please don't bother to read on. I have some fairly

specific questions relating to this camera.

 

I am a long time user of manual focus Minolta SLRs. I always thought

that medium format was out of my price range, until I recently

discovered the Minolta Autocord. In Australia they are a bit hard to

come by, but I ordered one via eBay from the US. It arrived

yesterday and I am still very exited. I have spend the last several

days to read everything I could find on the Autocord on the Internet

and have put all the links in the link section of the corresponding

YahooClub (http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/minoltaautocord).

 

However, photo.net seems to be where the real Autocord freaks hang

out, and I am hoping to get answers on a few (actually a lot of)

remaining questions from you guys.

 

My Autocord was described by the seller as having a light meter and

the switch for 120/220 film. I concluded, that it could only be a

CDSII or CDSIII, because only these two models have both of these

features. Serial no. is 155257, which does not agree with a

CDSII/III model, according to the following web site:

http://www.wctatel.net/web/crye/a-cord.htm. However, endeavours by

members of this forum to line up serial number and model seemed to

have been inconclusive. I thought the determination of the model by

the above listed features to be more reliable and paid US$242.50 for

the camera based on this assumption.

 

Please note, the 120/220 capability itself was not very important for

me. However, since I do not own a light meter, and have no intention

to buy one in the near future, a reliable built-in meter was crucial

for me.

 

After receiving the camera, I can not find the 120/220 switch. I now

suspect that the seller might have never used 220 film and mistook

the double exposure lever for this switch. The shutter turns out to

be a Seikosha MX. Together with the serial no. all indications agree

that the camera is an Autocord LMX with selenium meter.

 

1. To safely rule out that my Autocord is not a CDSII/III, where

exactly would I find the 120/220 film switch?

 

2. Another distinction would of course be the existence of a

battery, which is required for a CdS meter but not for a selenium

meter. Where exactly is the battery in a CDSII/III? Also, is there a

switch to turn the meter off, to save the battery?

 

3. The CdS meter of the CDS models has received a lot of praise by

users, and has been called one of the best light meters ever built

into a TLR. Personally, I am impressed by the accuracy of the CdS

light meter in my Minolta SR-7 SLR (the first SLR ever to have a

built-in CdS meter). Can I expect the much older selenium meter in

the LMX to be comparably reliable?

 

4. Shutter speeds on my camera are B, 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 250,

500. I guess this would also disagree with a CDSII/III?

 

5. When setting the film speed on the meter, in addition to the

little arrow there are two additional marking, which are labelled 1

and 2, respectively. What are they for?

 

6. The distance scale is in feet only. All distances are in black,

only the 15 is highlighted in red. Why?

 

7. The exposure values on the shutter speed side are half in black

(B, 0, 1, 2, 3) and half in red (5, 6, 7, 8, 9). Why?

 

8. The exposure values on the aperture side are all in black, only

the 7 is highlighted in red. Why?

 

9. I assume the proper way to advance the film and cock the shutter

is to turn the handle on the right hand side of the camera clockwise

by a little more than 360 degrees and that back into the resting

position. Is this correct?

 

10. Is it normal that the frame counter only works when a film is

loaded?

 

11. I understand that the ring in the middle of the finder indicates

the metered area. There are also 4 lines forming a smaller square.

Does this indicate the area I will get in the frame, or will a take a

picture of everything that's in the finder?

 

12. Do all Autocords have built-in finder loup?

 

13. There are 2 big chrome knobs on the left hand side of the

camera. What are they good for?

 

OK, many, many thanks for anybody who might have read all the way to

this point and many thanks for your help in advance.

 

Regards

 

Frank

 

[jimh]

Ok, backwards, as far as I can. I don´t own an Autocord, just the older (1953) Minoltacord, so my answers could be wrong.

 

13. Pull them out to load film spools

 

11. Part 1 - don´t know, part 2 - no, the finder is actually a bit smaller than the actual image. I guess the lines are a help for rectangular composition

 

10. Don´t know with the Autocords, but on my Minoltacord and my Yashicamat you need to install the upper film spool for the counter to work

 

9. The winder should stop when it´s ready. If it doesn´t, I guess it´s broken

 

1. This is really only a guess, but it should be resided at the pressure plate and work by moving the plate in/out

[jimh]

When I think about it, I guess 9 could happen when no film is installed too.

[audidudi]

<P>In order:

 

<P>1) The pressure plate on the back will have cutouts so that it can be rotated 90 degrees for 220; also, there's a knob near the counter that must be turned so it points at "24 exp."

 

<P>2) The CDS has two round projections in front of the viewfinder; one contains the CDS cell and the other contains the battery. The switch is located on the one with the battery.

 

<P>3) The meter in my LMX is accurate enough for negative film but not transparencies.

 

<P>4) Yes, the later Autocords use the 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 progression.

 

<P>5) Filter compensation.

 

<P>6) Beats me? Hyperfocal distance at f/22, perhaps?

 

<P>7) Again, beats me.

 

<P>8) Dunno.

 

<P>9) The film crank usually needs to be wound only 1/2 turn or so (but will sometimes need a longer crank at Exposure No. 13) and then you reverse the crank to cock the shutter.

 

<P>10) Yes.

 

<P>11) The circle in the finder screen of the CDS models indicates the metering area but on the other Autocords, it's simply a focusing aid. If you think about it for a bit, you'll realize that a long, narrow selenium strip can't meter with a circular pattern...

 

<P>The grid lines are for those who wish to shoot 4x4 SuperSlides, which will fit into a 35mm projector. Of course, this means you have to physically cut down the film and mount it a SuperSlide frame (Gepe still makes them) and Mamiya makes a nice cutter for doing this. (If you can find an old Microtek 35t+ film scanner, you can also scan the Superslides as it scans a 38mm x 38mm square area, unlike most film scanners which scan only 24mm x 36mm.)

 

<P>12) Yes.

 

<P>13) You have to pull them back to release the film spools. If you turn them slightly, they will lock open, making the job easier.

 

<P>All in all, it sounds like you've got an LMX and frankly, at $242.50, you paid too much for it. Mind you, I have one, too -- in fact, it's my primary camera these days -- and I prefer to my other two Autocords because I like the older 1/2, 1/5, 1/10 shutter speed progression a bit better. That said, I believe my non-metered Autocord III (Ser. No. 456494 and the latest one I've ever heard of) may take slightly better pictures when using 220 film but it's hard to tell.

 

<P>One important tip: Always use a lens hood with these cameras! I have found that even when pointed well away from the sun, the impressive contrast and resolution suffers noticeably otherwise.

 

<P>Anyway, good luck and enjoy your camera. If you're curious, you can check out my photo.net Autocord image gallery at the URL listed below...

 

<P>http://www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=140389

[art_haykin]

You might consider checking with:>>craigcamera.com, or:>>manualsRus.com<<for an owner's manual.

[roger_michel]

very good comments so far. i have an old manual so can help on the elusive 6 & 7: 15 is considered the "snapshot" setting. by this, i presume they mean, as suggested already, that 15ft is hyperfocal setting at f22. i would not use the camera at f22 for this purpose. coverage is nearly identical at f16, and there is a much less severe diffraction penalty at f16. the numbers on the shutter speed side are black/red to serve as warnings for handholdability. i cannot really make sense of all that is written, but i suppose they are making assumptions about typical aperture settings (or perhaps at those low EV, they consider the camera not to be handholdable even at max aperture). finally, i do NOT believe you overpaid AT ALL if the camera is fully functional. maybe you could have saved $30-$40 if you really beat the bushes, but i have also seen the lmx sell for a lot more in good condition. the fact is, for 240 bucks (i know it sounds like a lot more in aussie bucks -- $475???), you got one of the great camera deals of the century. rolleis, autocords, yashicamats just can't be beat, dollar for dollar, by anything else in the usable vintage world. and don't really on the meter Se or CdS. you can do much better, with only a little bit of experience, with your eye. when you think about it, you are only dealing with about a 5 ev range for outdoor shooting. and interiors are usually too dark to get an accurate reading anyway. those older meters are mucho nonlinear in low light.

[fmueller]

Many thanks to all who responded. I start to love this group. Some very knowledgable and helpful people around here.

 

We are doing very well on my list of questions, actually I think Roger just nailed down the last two of them.

 

Let me just pass on some words of wisdom in summary. You guys seem to be much less pleased with the built-in Autocord meters than other users. Reading the Autocord section of Robert Monaghons MF page yesterday (http://people.smu.edu/rmonagha/mf/autocord.html) I got a feeling that both, the selenium meter and the CdS meter are quite accurate, and usable even for slides. This agrees with my own experience of the CdS light meter in my Minolta SR-7 SLR (roughly the same vintage). I would not hesitate to use it for slide film. However, it seems to be improved over the Autocord's CdS meter in that it has two metering ranges. At low light levels a switch allows you to remove a blind in front of the cell and you read the value from a different scale.

 

The main draw back of the Selenium meter seems to be not its inaccuracy, but its insensitivity at low light levels. I wandered around with it inside last night, and found that it basically doesn't get off the 0 reading except when pointed directly at a light bulb. I think it will be ok for outdoor use, but inside I can simply forget about it. However, this might not really be a problem with a fairly slow lens, where you might want to use a flash anyway.

 

BTW - has anybody noticed that the hot shoe on the Autocord is reversed? When I try to mount the auto flash units of my SLR system, they point backwards. What's going on there? Do I need a special flash?

 

Regarding the 'focusing aid' in the middle of the screen; I did have doubts how the meter could possibly only work in that area and thought about the focusing aid option. However, it seemed to be more of a focusing obstacle to me ;-)

 

Finally, the price, I paid US$45 for shipping, but got around the GST. Don't report me to the tax office, but you are welcome to contact me privately if you want to know how. In total I paid A$566. The camera is in top shape. There is about half of the leather missing of the thin ring on the finder cover. There is a tiny little bit of paint scraped off at the left hadn side at the back. Leather is coming lose in a few other places. I will re-attach that myself, have previously done it for several SLRs. Otherwise the camera is like new out of the box. Accessories are the original lens cap and a non-original Minolta strap and maroon Tamrac case. I will try to get a few $ out of the seller for the misrepresentation, which I am sure was unintentional. If it works great, if not not. A$566 sounds expensive but is comparable to the price of a my wife's Olympus mju: zoom 140 - I know which camera I prefer ;-)

 

Cheers

 

Frank

[audidudi]

With regard to mounting a flash on an Autocord, I attach it to a dead Power Grip 1 (intended by Minolta for their 35mm cameras), which gets it up and away from the lens and also makes a convenient handle for when I shoot handheld. Pretty much any camera store should be able to provide you with something similar (but less fancy) for not much money.

 

As for the exposure meter, mine is accurate only outdoors -- as Frank and Roger have pointed out, it's not very sensitive -- and even then, only between EV11 and EV15 with ISO100 film. Still, with practice, I have learned to get decent results without using my meter (Sunny f/16 and all that) and relying upon fill-flash to cover me when it's a bit dimmer than bright sunlight.

 

Finally, as for the price, I'm glad to hear I might be wrong since it would mean my three Autocords are worth more than I suspected (and/or paid for them). Not that I have any plans to sell them, of course...

[roger_michel]

b&h has a cheesy autocord with a dead meter for $300 at the moment. the shoe is not reversed. it was just not built to be used with shoe mounted flashes. you have a great camera. i never worry about price with vintage cameras. if the price is in the right ballpark, and the camera is worth it to you, buy it. the classic camera trail is awash in tears of those who let great cameras get away for the sake of a few dollars (AUS or US) and later came to regret it.

[roger_michel]

it's probably against the rules to mention this, but in the event anyone is looking for a nice rollei, i saw a great deal when i was in nyc over the weekend. rare cameras (they have a website -- www.rarecameras.com) on 26th street has a very good user rollei 2.8 whiteface for the asking price of $1300. would he take $1100, maybe. anyway, $1300 is about the best i've ever seen for a nice (a few scuffs here and there, but generally very nice AND the meter works perfectly) whiteface. needless to say, everyone has their own idea about cosmetics and you should look at the pics on the website, but it was a neat camera and i was very tempted. i should also mention that b&h has a BEAUTIFUL rolleiwide at the moment (getting VERY hard to find) for $2800. high, but go find another one. it is in mint- condition. maybe they'll negotiate on the price a little.

[ron_shaw]

In reguards to the selenium meters accuracy, I have a cheap Vivitar 35 handheld meter, using a selenium sensor, and I find it very accurate for outdoor use. I even use it on 4x5, with excellent results. Its main problem, as Frank mentioned, is sensitivity. Not usable indoors. I use it as a backup now, since I got a Gossen meter which has better low light sensitivity, as well as incident metering, which I prefer to reflective.

[fmueller]

Jeffrey - Do you have to reason about the price with me? I can't believe you have three Autocords and don't understand the urgent need for PPJ (post purchase justification) ;-)

 

Many thanks for your answers.

 

Frank

[audidudi]

If it makes things easier for you, Frank, try thinking of it this way: You didn't pay too much for yours, you just bought it too soon... :^)

 

Seriously, these are great cameras and the fact that I've bought three of them over the past three years for just under $500 total should not influence how you feel about yours. I was just surprised that they're (apparently) selling for so much money these days. I guess this means other photographers are finally realizing how good they really are!

[fmueller]

Hi All,

 

Justin �Red� Bailey, fellow Autocord user, collector of everything Minolta, and a legend in the online Minolta community for his encyclopedic knowledge of the subject, was kind enough to scan an Autocord user�s manual for me, and make it available in the files section of the Minolta YahooGroup (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/minolta/files/Instruction%20Manuals/).

You can down-load it as 12 individual JPEG files in colour and excellent quality.

 

To make finding it and down-loading for people with a stable Internet connection a bit easier, I tried to put the same manual as one zip file in the files section of the Autocord Yahoo Club (http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/minoltaautocord). However, I quickly realised that the Yahoo Clubs (as distinct from Yahoo Groups) don�t actually have a files section, just photos. Grateful for any suggestions regarding an obvious place to make the zip file available online.

 

Enjoy!

 

Frank

[her_chong_chang]

Hi All:

I just got a autocord CDS III from eBay,but sadly the battery are dead,and there are no way to buy a new PX-1 battery anymore,so I wonder how you keep your CDS meter going?

Does it possible to convert the meter so it can use battery we can get Today?

Many Thanks

Chang

[fmueller]

The PX-1 has gone out of production several years ago and chances of still finding one are slim. In some countries, notably the USA, all mercury batteries have been banned by law. However, in most countries the PX-625 (made by Varta) is still readily available. I know for a fact that this is the case in Australia, Germany and Canada. However, I am not sure about the situation in Taiwan (I am guessing that this is were you live because of the .tw email address).

 

If you can still get the PX-625 it is a perfect substitute for the PX-1. It has the same voltage and discharge characteristics but is slightly slimmer. If you put a PX-625 and a small spacer (eg a thin coin) in the battery chamber of your CDSIII you should be fine.

 

If the PX-625 is not available in Taiwan you would have to use one of the substitutes like the criss adapter or wine cells. If you do a search on these subjects on the web, you will find plenty of information.

 

PS: After receiving this response by direct email Her-Chong Chang informed me that PX-625 batteries are still available in Taiwan.

[jeffpolaski]

try this forum ---

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/minoltaautocord/messages/1?viscount=100

 

I borrowed a friend's Autocord and decided to get it overhauled as a present to him (it was his father's camera). Steve Serota at Camera Care did a fantastic job on it. He also retrofitted the CDS battery chamber for a modern battery. Steve has CLA'd several old classics for me and I can recommend him highly. www.camera-care.com