Tag Vietnam

Minolta SR-T 101 from 1969

Chris and Carol 3 Comments

We’ve got a wonderful vintage classic from Minolta – the venerable SR-T 101. Actually, quite a groundbreaking camera back in its day with many never before seen features and functions. This one was purchased by a young man serving in the U.S. Army in South Vietnam in 1969.

It was a combat camera having flown with him on several missions aboard a helicopter over the Mekong Delta region. He told me that he purchased it almost as soon as he arrived in country at a Post Exchange in Saigon. Despite its exciting beginnings, it’s made it to today with no dents and only a few bright spots in the satin chrome finish. It’s a fully mechanical camera – the shutter operates independently of a battery from Bulb to 1/1000 of a second. A battery is only needed to operate the TTL meter.

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This good-looking Minolta has received a complete inspection and has been meticulously cleaned inside and out by me. I tested it with a fresh 1.5v alkaline battery and the light meter works just fine. It will be off by about 1/2 to 1 full stop but when shooting with negative film the wide exposure latitude of film usually makes any exposure differences unnoticeable.

That’s a “fresh” roll of expired Fujicolor film (from 2010) and the original soft body cap from Minolta. For more details and to see additional pictures of it, visit our online store at https://www.ccstudio.com

Or you can purchase it directly from here – I’ll ship nearly worldwide. Please drop me a line for a shipping quote to your country. In the USA, I will ship it USPS Priority Mail for only $6.00  Just click on the “Pay with PayPal” button below.

Many thanks for stopping by! Chris

Minolta SR-T 101 35mm Film Camera

Vintage (100% fully working) 35mm SLR from Minolta - the SR-T 101

$49.00

We forget how special this was at the end of such a traumatic and tragic year – 1968

Chris and Carol Leave a comment

It was a great way to bring such a horrible year to an end. Vietnam and the Tet Offensive, Bobby and Martin taken from us. The USS Pueblo and crew captured. Convention riots and the “protest” at the Mexico City Olympics. Colleges under siege – My Lei murders and a lost submarine. Hair opens on Broadway and 2001: A Space Odyssey in theaters. We get Nixon. The USS Pueblo crew returns and America sends three humans into orbit around the moon in December. We see the Earth as a little blue and white marble in the blackness of space. 1968 – I was 14 and took in every minute of it.

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The Apollo 8 mission brought the events of 1968 to a hopeful close. Could we really land humans on the moon! Apollo 8 got us going. Could Vietnam end? No more assassinations – please. Nuclear weapons flying on B-52s over our heads and U.S. Navy Sailors perish on a sunken submarine (USS Scorpion – 99 Sailors).

You couldn’t jam more stuff into a year if you tried in a thousand lifetimes.

Chris