On 1/20/06, Jim Apilado <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I owned a Minolta, and a Konica. My first Minolta complemented my large > Honeywell Pentax H3 that I got way back in 1962. I wanted to tote a small > camera with me all the time. The Minolta 16 fit the bill at the time. > Much later, I got a Minolta CLE which was based on the Leica CL body. I > still have CLE and use it once in awhile. > I've own a couple of Konicas. The first was the Konica Autoreflex that let > the user choose to shoot full frame or half-frame. My second Konica was > there compact 35mm. > Let's hope Samsung-Pentax will prosper.
I've got a couple of Minoltas as well, but I can't say that I've such fond memories as you do. I bought them all in the past few years, very cheaply and very used. I have a little Minolta HiMatic F, a compact fully auto (no manual overide) RF. Takes surprisingly not-horrible photos, especially since I paid $12 for it on eBay. I rarely use it anymore, since my Leica CL (more on the CL later) is only slightly larger, but is of much higher quality and flexibility. Perhaps the most unusual cam I have is my little (and I mean ~little~) Minolta 16 II. It's my little "spy camera". I think of it as a "poor man's Minox", although it's a fair bit larger than a Minox. Takes 16mm film, but as I don't have a film cassette, I can't load it, so I can't take photos. I think I paid around $15 or $20 for it on eBay, but the cassettes (often loaded with terribly outdated film - one buys them for the cassette, not the film) cost around $25US, and by the time one pays shipping, converts to Canadian and possibly pays taxes and duty, it turns into a $50 item - not worth it in my books. So the Minolta 16 sits on a shelf, a conversation piece and nothing more. It would be fun to shoot some with it, at least one roll, just for the fun of it. And, last but not least, my Leica CL has a body made in Japan by Minolta. Designed by Leica and Minolta jointly, manufactured by Minolta, with a lovely little lens made in Wetzlar, Germany, I quite love my little CL, and it's likely my most used camera over the last few years (it would be a close race between the CL and my LX). BTW, Jim, I envy you having a Minolta CLE that works. Working ones are really hard to find these days. As CL's are fully mechanical, they can be kept going almost forever, and a look at eBay at any given time will show on average about 1/2 dozen listed. CLE's with all those electronics in them, have (on average) long since reached the end of their life cycles. These are, don't forget, 30 year old cameras by now. As their demise is almost always electronics-related, they're virtually non-repairable. Too bad, because I've heard they were lovely little cameras. I'm glad you still use yours once in a while. So, yes, Minolta's demise is a passing that affects us all, I suppose... cheers, frank -- "Sharpness is a bourgeois concept." -Henri Cartier-Bresson
