Lou_Meluso Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 <p>This came my way via a friend of a friend. He had a box of photo odds and ends and said I could have anything I wanted. It was so cute and tiny I snatched it right up. Its a Minolta Mini projector. I'm not sure of the date it was introduced but it's seems beautifully made. I'm guessing late 50's - early 60's, If anyone knows please chime in. It still works! The top opens up and the sliding film holder fits in front of the lamp. It can project two slides and while one slide is in the gate the other can be switched out. It's in marvelous condition and came in the original case. Here are a few pics, enjoy! </p><div></div> 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou_Meluso Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 <p>Side View</p><div></div> 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou_Meluso Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 <p>Inside</p><div></div> 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou_Meluso Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 <p>Lens<br> Thanks for Looking!<br> Anybody know when these were made?</p><div></div> 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael_linn Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 <p>Cute and beautiful!</p> <p>Looks brand new. I have no specific information, but the Chiyoko-Chiyoda trademark seems to have not been used after 1962.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
User_4525289 Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 <p>outstanding industrial design!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jason_hopper Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 <p>Minolta first lists this in 1956. There was an early version and a later version, yours is the early version. The later version went into the 1960's. Once had each with accessories.<br> Gee, now that you've started down this path you just have to get the Autochanger and the cooler.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauren_macintosh Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 <p>Sure is a lot smaller than my Zeiss Ikon Slide projector : they say small is nice boy that fits the bill well.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Gammill Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Very nice. I've heard of this one, but have never seen a picture. Thanks for posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Currie Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 <p>My Minolta Mini is not as nicely preserved as yours, but it came with a hard case and the autochanger. Inherited a few years ago from a friend who had bought it some time around 1961 in Japan while in the service, along with a Minolta 16 camera, which I also have. Here it is, with a stablemate, a TMC ("Made in Japan by the Taylor-Merchant Company). Similar in design and dimensions, but the two slide carriers are just different enough not to interchange. The "Rohar" 2.5 lens in the TMC is a pretty close match to the Rokkor, and both are surprisingly decent little projectors for small screen projection.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Currie Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 <p>Here's how the Minolta nestles in its case (alas, the case suffered from damp storage)</p> <p>The autochanger, by the way, works pretty nicely.</p> <p>edit to add: The TMC shown above also appears, I believe, under the "Cabin-Manon" name.</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter_de_waal Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 <p>They date back to the late 1950's. In any case, meet the "Minolta Autochanger" for the Minolta Mini projector!<br /> The Minolta Autochanger has a couple of spring-loaded stages, one of which you pre-load with slides and the other I presume receives the slides once your done viewing them. I found it in two boxes of stuff that with a Leitz Valoy II enlarger I recently purchased.<br /> It's yours for the price of the postage from New Zealand to the US. Consider it an early Christmas present. Send me a PM and we'll work out the postage once the Post Office re-opens tomorrow. (it's Labour Day today)<br /> Cheers,<br /> Peter</p><div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darin_cozine Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 <p>What a great little projector!<br> As an owner of like 5-6 kodak carousels, I can appreciate something small.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick_drawbridge Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 <p>Wow! Cute in the extreme, and what great condition it's in. With the going prices for slide projectors being at a very low ebb I'm often tempted to acquire one or two, or three... Too dangerous, by far! Thanks,<strong> Louis, </strong>for an interesting post.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony_lockerbie Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 <p>Great little thing for sure, and that crinkle finish is just so fifties!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mightypir Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 <p>I have a slightly later model that also came with a fan unit that fitted below the projector to cool the bulb!!!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Currie Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 <p>Louis, if you expect to use that Minolta regularly (and it's really quite handy if you still view slides) I would stronly encourage you to get that autochanger. It's especially handy for previewing slides when you get them back from the processor.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_cheshire Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 <p>I have been trolled. Thought this was going to be about the 127 TLR.</p> <p>These mini projectors were plentiful in the late 1950s and early 1960s made by everybody. I had one by Hope with a Hope lens. Another had an SDA lens which made me think "a Seventh Day Adventist lens?". Some even came without names. Most had no cooling fans but some did. I gave up buying these a long time ago but could not resist my most recent one in a green wood box with a really Japanese sounding name. Have to find that thing. Planned to sell it. This one is really intriguing.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starvy Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 <p>That is the best looking projector I have seen! I hope you get hours of pleasure from using it.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lou_Meluso Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 <p>Thanks for all the great comments and useful information, gang. Much appreciated!<br> <strong>Peter</strong> - You are so kind and generous, Thank You.<br> <strong>Matthew</strong> - Thanks for additional photos that show the auto loader mounted. Very helpful.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom_cheshire Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 <p>Ok, found it. It is a Corony by Hikari Denon. Green crocodile pattern covering on the case. It looks like a full size in the pic. but it is small.</p> <p><img src="http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums/af291/razl/pr1.jpg" alt="" /><img src="http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums/af291/razl/pr2.jpg" alt="" /><img src="http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums/af291/razl/pr3.jpg" alt="" /></p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jodys Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 <p>I have a Voigtlander Zett which looks nearly identical to that Minolta (but it's different, it opens by spreading the front like a clamshell), plus somewhere or other I picked up the Minolta half-frame version. They're so damn cute, and work remarkably well.</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrea_chiou Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 <p>Hi all,<br> I have one of these Minolta Mini slide viewers that came to me from an Aunt. It seems to work, only I have one problem. I cannot for the life of me figure out how the slide holder mechanism (shown laying flat in the picture of the equipment on this post) is supposed to be secured in front of the bulb. Theres simple doesn't seem to be a way to fasten it.<br> HELP!!!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrea_chiou Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 <p>Perhaps one is just supposed to hold it in place by hand. If that is true, it would be a little disappointing considering how robust the whole projector is otherwise!</p> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
10987481 Posted January 2, 2020 Share Posted January 2, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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