Looks like i've got a new hobby to start...

[AgentWinchester]

Sorry for such a stupid post, i thought maybe someone could help me here, on how to use this thing, or if i've shot myself in the foot on this purchase:

I was a at a thrift store closeout sale today, and i picked up a Minolta SR-T200 SLR camera ( according to google, a model C), a "MD Minolta Celtic 135mm 1:3.5" long range focus (?) lens (the aperture F-stops go from 3.5 to 22, if that means anything) and a Vivitar 55mm Skylight 1A filter for $12

I don't know what the lens and the filter are for exactly, but i do know they're not stock equipment.. Is there anything i need to know before proceeding with trial and error learning?

And again i appologize for such a stupid post, i don't really know anything about cameras axcept for what they tagught me in Communications Tech class.

[Filmboydoug]

Congrats, that is a nice camera for a beginner. I think its best for a rookie to start with an all manual, as it makes you learn what's what. A good way to learn is to buy yourself a book like the joy of color photography and try to duplicate the pics. That lens is fine, but also try to find a cheap 28-70 or 28-80 variable. As far as the filter goes, just leave it on the lens for cheap protection. And a warning, if the photography bug hits you, it will cost more $$ than vintage audio ever could.

[rallycat]

Sounds like a good buy to me. Minolta made first-rate lenses back then. You may have a problem with batteries for the light meter, though. Lots of cameras used a now-banned mercury battery - see if there is a 625 on the battery ( battery compartment probably on the bottom of the camera, unscrew with a quarter). If it has a 625 on the battery the light meter wants 1.35 volts and the readily available silver 1.5 volt SR44/357 batteries won't work right. And they are smaller too.

I'm going through this battery issue due to my old Canons; here's a link about substitutes & adapters that you might need.

http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/mercurybattery.html

[Nat]

There are substitute batteries which are the small button cells with a metal washer to make up the size difference. The won't be absolutely accurate, but built in meters rarely are (in fact any exposure is something of a balancing of contradictory demands), so I wouldn't sweat it too much, though you should use the battery check function occaisionally, since one of the virtues of mercury batteries was that they either produced proper voltage, or none at all, with a very very short interval between the two, whereas all the replacements loose power slowly, so that it is possible to get erroneous readings without noticing anything.
I would disagree with the recommendation to get a zoom for your standard lens. Zooms are slow, and rarely anywhere near as good a a fixed focal length lens, so you end up using slower speeds, hence more camera shake, or using a flash all the time, which give a sort of unreal look.
Normal lenses for Minoltas are common -- the SRT 101 and its related models were deservedly very popular -- built like a tank, fine optics, and ergonomically one of the best cameras ever made. After all these years, they are less problem prone than Nikons and Canons, and easier to use than Pentaxes.

[Wornears]

"And a warning, if the photography bug hits you, it will cost more $$ than vintage audio ever could."

Heed Filmboydoug's words! I work with pro photogs and you can't believe the amount of gear they've squirreled away over the years -- makes some of us look like mere dabblers. Yeah, it's their job, but typically they started out as amateur picture hackers and progressed into the pro ranks because they caught the bug so bad they had to make it their living!

Go to a used bookstore and look for HPBooks' photography books; they are very good for the beginner. Your Minolta is a great starter; I began with an Olympus range finder and used one of their SLRs for years for my motorsports editorial/writing work. Sold all of it to finance a laptop, and miss it every so often still.

[ManFromPorlock]

The simple -and cheap - way to put a battery in an SRT is to go to the supermarket and buy a pack of hearing aid batteries, size 675, which locally cost $7.00 for 6. Then go to the hardware store and buy a 7/16 x 1/16 neoprene o-ring (very common, maybe 60 cents).

Unscrew the battery cover (big round dingus on the bottom of the camera). On the inside of the battery cover, there's a sticker with some kind of instructions on it, something like a picture of the original battery showing how to put it in. Carefully remove this sticker (IIRC, I used lighter fluid to get it off) and make sure the surface is clean and dry.

Now, take one of the '675' batteries out of the pack, activate it and slip the o-ring around it; the battery is the right thickness but it needs the o-ring to get to the right diameter. Drop the battery into the battery well with the '+' sign facing you and screw the battery cover back in.

Move the meter switch (small round dingus OTBOTC) to 'BC' (battery check) and look through the viewfinder. You should see a needle sticking out into the field of view on the right side, and a square projection also on the right. The needle should be lined up with the square projection, showing that the battery voltage is OK. If it isn't quite lined up, don't sweat it, it takes the battery half an hour or so to come up to its design voltage once it's been activated.

The batteries are zinc-air, 1.38v, which is plenty close enough to the original battery's 1.35v. They don't last all that long in the camera (check using BC whenever you use the camera and change as needed) but their shelf life is something like ten years.

Try this and let us know how it works.

[AgentWinchester]

THanks for the help with the battery. Mine's reading fine, i might try a replacement later in the week so i know what works.

This thing may have to see a repair bench in the near future though, because the foam pad that the mirror bumps up against has disintegrated and is now in peices on the mirror and the veiwfinder screen above it. Not really a problem per se, but it's kinda annoying.

And is there any way to clean the camera body? Is it ok to use Novus for the plastic and maybe something to shine the metal?

Thanks again for all the help.

[ManFromPorlock]

Finding anyone to work on cameras is nearly impossible unless you're in a large city; then it's just hideously expensive. Fortunately, camera repair isn't that hard. There are many sources for Minolta SRT repair manuals on eBay, and supplies can be had from Micro-tools, whose light-baffle material is at: http://www.micro-tools.com/Merchant2/restore.htm.

That foam degrades into a sticky mess that Ronson lighter fluid will remove. HOWEVER, the surface of the SLR mirror is very fragile and you're probably better off if you leave any goo on it in place. Foam was used above the mirror in front, inside the rear of the camera where the edges of the back contact the body and inside the prism housing. It should all be replaced if it's bad, but you can live with it if you have to.

[ManFromPorlock]

A couple of other points: 'Celtic' lenses were a lower-priced line that Minolta made to compete with aftermarket lenses produced by Vivitar, Soligor, etc. They aren't bad but they're not as good as Minolta's 'Rokkor' lenses, either. The 135mm you have is a medium telephoto, useful but a little too strong for general use.

The 'skylight' filter you have filters out ultraviolet light, which film is sensitive to even though we can't see it. It shows up in photographs as haze (black and white film) or as an overall blue cast (color film). The reason many photographers leave this filter on their lenses permanently, though, has less to do with filtering out ultraviolet than it does with protecting the front surface of the lens.

Don't worry too much about cleaning the camera. A toothbrush moistened with windex will clear away much of the grunge and as for the rest, one of the best things about used cameras is that you don't have to sweat putting the first ding in it!

There are a great many Minolta 'Rokkor' lenses available on eBay for not very much money. You want MC or MD lenses; the 'autofocus', 'AF' or Maxxum lenses are for a later generation of cameras and won't fit. I've accumulated two each of 35mm (wide angle) and 50mm (normal) lenses that aren't worth listing on eBay, and I'll be happy to send you one of each for whatever contribution you care to make to AK. Send me a PM.