The Minolta SRT-101, an underrated tank of SLR

Intro

When looking at the market of used Single-Lens Reflex (SLR) released in the 70-’80s, I often come around the popular Canon AE-1, the Pentax K1000, Olympus OM and an overload of Nikon F3, FMA and Nikkormats.

If we put aside medium-format and solely concentrate on 35mm cameras, Nikon was king on the hill then. The brand that most professionals use. And for a good reason, the Nikon F family was excellent. I own a pair of Nikon F3 and F3T that I cherish very much, especially with the vast array of lenses available.

But I won’t talk about Nikon today. Instead, I want to re-introduce an underrated brand: Konica Minolta, particularly their popular SRT-101.

All photographs are my own.

The SRT-101

Simple, efficient and built like a Tiger II tank. That’s how I would introduce the Konica Minolta SRT-101, launched in 1966.

Mine is a long-term loan from my dad, who bought this camera in 1973 for 500 francs.

Minolta was an intermediate brand aimed at hobbyists and semi-professionals but was used by several professional photographers. I am most familiar with their SRT line and XG, which introduced more automatism in the following years.