The Minolta AF-C is one of those lucky finds. A few years ago, I bought the camera at a church rummage sale. The camera looked mint, but things were in reality the opposite. After finding batteries for it, I discovered that there was a problem: the shutter button was locked. After quite a bit of thinking, I decided to open the base plate to see what was inside. This decision turned out to be a stroke of luck. I discovered that the shutter button is attached to a long metal strip that slides all the way through the camera in order to reach the shutter mechanism at the bottom. There was a small metal part which hooks to the shutter strip when the film gets advanced. This part was not hooked. So with the tip of my screwdriver, I slipped the parts at their proper place and to my surprise, it worked! I figured the camera probably was dropped at some point so I set it back on my shelf. It had been waiting for me to try it out ever since.
The camera was made somewhere in the early 80?s. There is very little information on it floating around the internet. Even Minolta doesn?t have any trace of it on their website. I couldn?t find an instruction book for it either.
When you look at the camera, the first thing that strikes you is how small it is. In my sense, it is probably about the same size as a Lomo LC-A. The camera is totally automatic. You set the ISO and the camera does the rest. Film advance is done using a thumb wheel. The lens is a fixed 35mm that opens up to a bright f/2.8. Exposure is calculated using a CDS cell and can handle a sensitivity range from 25 to 400 ISO. The camera operates entirely using either two CR1/3N Lithium batteries or four LR44 Alkalines. It also has a self timer. The camera comes with a separate dedicated flash that screws on the side. The EF-C flash uses two AA?s and has a 12 foot range at using 100 ISO film.
One thing that surprised me upon loading the film is the presence of an orange "film in" indicator just next to the frame counter. The sliding lens cover is also a surprising touch. The camera is perfectly quiet with just a slight voom-voom sound when you press the shutter. One complaint I have about it is the total lack of tactile feedback present in the shutter button. You have to press it slightly until you see a green LED light up. This means that focus has been acquired and the camera is ready to shoot. Only then can you move the camera around to change the composition. If the camera can?t get into focus, it locks the shutter release in order to prevent fuzzy pictures. One of the camera?s weak points is its dedicated flash unit. Its battery compartment is a little slide-in plastic cover. I highly recommend putting a piece of electric tape under it just to avoid running the risk of loosing this part. Also, the camera?s battery cover is a flexible plastic strip which could break with time.
Being so small, I decided it would be appropriate to use this camera in a more informal manner. So I set out with it in my pocket and tried it out both on interior and exterior shots. I loaded some cheap Chinese 200 ISO film and went around town. First thing that stunned me is how shy you feel with it in your hand. It?s almost too small to be taken seriously. Also the fact that you have absolutely no control over the camera?s settings is a bit nerve racking at first. On a cheap plastic camera, you know randomness will be a part of the image. But when using something that feels so sophisticated, it?s a whole other thing. I wanted to try and shoot ?off the hip? but just didn?t feel comfortable giving up the viewfinder.
When the film got back, I noticed that most of the pictures were correctly exposed. The negatives were pretty even in density for both inside and outside shots. I did notice that pictures taken facing the sun were often either grossly overexposed or grossly underexposed. The fact that those were taken outside in the snow tells me I probably was going pass the manufacturer?s specs. Snow is a tricky thing to expose correctly so I wasn?t expecting much. But given the right conditions, the lens is extremely sharp. Focus is always correct; the only un-sharp pictures were due to movement on my part. The viewfinder is also quite accurate.
All in all, it is a quite decent camera. If you stay away from backlight situations, it should provide very adequate results. If you want a small discrete camera, I highly recommend picking one up.
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