The Minolta SRT MC II [my favorite film camera?]

The Minolta SRT MC II [my favorite film camera?]

Today I have in my possession the SRT-MC-II by Minolta. This relic of the late 70’s is a solid piece of craftsmanship that will likely be working for decades to come. So lets grab some coffee and see what this camera is all about.

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So here it is, the SRT-MC-II. Obviously, based on the beginning of its name, this camera is part of the SRT line of cameras from Minolta. It may look somewhat familiar if you you’ve watched our video about the SRT-100. The SRT-MC, its predecessor, was sold as a slightly downgraded version of the SRT-101. In 1977 the SRT line received some updates, and agreements for distribution were reached with K-Mart and JCPenny for the SRT-MC-II. The updated cameras were a slightly downgraded version of the SRT-201, just like how the MC was with the SRT-101.

It may sound less desirable when you hear “downgraded”, but the downgrades have nothing to do with the capabilities of the camera. The SRT-201 displays the aperture and other information in the viewfinder, whereas the SRT-MC-II only has the light meter exposure assist needle and lollypop thing. Other than that, it has the same shutter speeds, up to 1/1000th of a second, and the self timer on the front, so you can take the 70’s equivalent of a selfie I guess.

You may also notice this button here, it is not for releasing the lens, it is a depth of field preview button. If you hold this down, it sort of lets you see everything with the aperture opened to the setting you have it at. I guess thats useful somehow? I mean, if you push the button and only see darkness, you may need to adjust your aperture settings.

To open the camera so film can be loaded, you just pull up on this winding knob. There you go. I’ve got some Ektar 100 from Kodak loaded in the camera, so, to make sure we’re getting the correct information from the light meter, lets set the ISO on the knob here. You just lift up on it, and then turn it until the correct number is showing, 100 in this case. Now you can push or pull that if you want, which, for those of us not familiar with photography speak, it just means setting a lower or higher ISO setting to over or under expose the film.

By the way, this thing is like a brick. I think I mentioned that about the other SRT camera we looked at before, this is the same. It is a solid camera that has lasted about 50 years, and will probably last another 50 years or more. It’s also fully mechanical, so there are no electronic pieces that are going to burn out and leave you with something only usable as a paperweight or doorstopper.

Well, now that we’ve had a good look at this thing, let’s take it out into the field and see how it does.