The compact Minoltina AL-S is well suited to the task of grabbing shots on the street. In addition to the sharp f1.8-40mm Rokkor lens, the camera provides full manual adjustment of aperture, shutter speed and focus. That means the hyperfocal aperture and distance setting can be easily selected to ensure getting the shot without fumbling around with camera adjustments.
Using 400-speed film in sunlight, the shutter may be set to a motion-stopping 1/500th of a second. With the aperture at f-16 and focus at 10 feet, everything will be in sharp focus from about five feet to infinity. A thumb lever allows rapid and inconspicuous film advance. Strap lugs permit hanging the camera around the neck to shoot from chest level.
12 comments:
Very nice. Your Minoltina sounds like a great little camera. I appreciate you explaining the settings you used.
You're welcome.
I have a number of cameras that have all the fundamental features one wants for street photography. I'll probably feature a couple more here soon.
A lot of other cameras in the collection meet most, but not all, of the requirements. For instance my Vito II is a super little travel camera, but it lacks strap lugs. My Leica-copy FED and Zorki are compact and have great lenses, but their focal plane shutters are a bit too noisy -- the same being true of the Contax-copy Kiev IIa. All of my fine slr cameras, including the Pentax and the Contaflex suffer the same noise problem.
Of course the truth is that street photography can be -- and has been -- done successfully with any old camera. I've seen people use box cameras, 8x10 sheet film cameras and just about anything else. I suppose the real key to success is being adequately familiar with your equipment to know how it is going to perform in the anticipated circumstances.
Nice pics! I just got this camera and find that the rangerfinder is pretty dim. Is this noraml? If not do you know of anything I can do to fix this?
Thanks
Josh
It is pretty easy to take off the top of this camera to clean the viewing windows. However, the main problem with any of the old rangefinder cameras is a lack of contrast in the double image that is used for focusing. The surfaces of the little semi-transparent mirrors that form the focusing image deteriorate over the years. Don't try to clean that little mirror if you take off the top as the surface is very easy to damage.
One thing you can try is to improve the contrast from the outside. Put a very small dot of tape on the front side of the big viewfinder window. That will sometimes give you some additional contrast in the focusing image.
Another thing that will help is to use a fast film so that you can select smaller apertures, yielding greater depth of field which helps compensate for small focus errors.
It is possible to replace the little mirror elements inside, but that is a little tricky and risky.
P.S.
Rick Oleson has a very good illustration on his site of the procedure for applying the tape on the viewing window to improve contrast:
http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-165.html
Ah great, thanks for the help! :)
Mike,
My Minoltina AL-S is being repaired for an oily shutter. I can't wait to take it for a Sunny 16 walk for street photos.
Hi, Mike! So, this camera only takes black and white photos?
Any old film camera will make pictures in black and white or in color depending on what film you choose to use. Strangely, some recently made digital cameras have been designed to make only black and white images.
Thanks, Mike. I was really searching for this information. I was afraid that I could only take black and white photos with my Minoltina, but now I feel calmer.
Hello Mike, it's me again. Look, I have the Minoltina Al-s and I have a big doubt. I hope you can help me.
My trouble is that the shutter courtains don't open. I know this camera don't need battery, but I wonder if it need to get charge in some way, maybe with light in the selenium cell or something (I have this thought because, sometimes, I put light in the cell or in the interior part of the camera and the courtains works for a while!!) or I actually have to take it to fix.
I have to say that the camera is always in the sheath in the dark, so, hardly ever receives light.
Your blog in amazing, thanks for all the info and sorry for my bad english haha.
A light meter that does not work in the Minoltina ALS would not prevent the shutter from working. It is possible that the shutter needs to be cleaned as was the case with my Minoltina when I first acquired it. To get at the shutter for cleaning, you need to remove the black ring in front of the lens to get into the shutter from the front.
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