An
Introduction to Minolta 16 Subminiature Cameras
Why
would anyone who has spent over 20 years exclusively using Minox subminiature
cameras suddenly develop an interest in Minolta 16mm cameras?
I had seen photographs of these little cameras, and heard about them over the years, but it wasn’t until a colleague brought one in to work a few months ago to show me that I actually saw and handled my first one. A Model 16 II (first introduced in 1960), he told me he had purchased it from an Army PX in Viet Nam and carried it around since then. These were apparently very popular with soldiers in 'Nam as they were very inexpensive, tiny enough to easily slip in a shirt pocket (smaller than a pack a of cigarettes) and took very good pictures. It even had that wonderful little push-pull, "trombone" like sliding action that advanced the film and cocked the shutter, providing protection to the lens when the camera was pushed close, exactly like the classic Minox subminiature cameras. I was hooked.
This camera is all metal in construction, solidly built like a tank. Rugged,
simple, reliable and flexible, it had many of the virtues of the Minox cameras
I loved, and the added advantage of being ridiculously inexpensive. The
Minoltas used a drop in film cartridge that looked just like a Minox cartridge,
only larger. Loaded with 16mm film, they produced negatives that were also 
larger
than a Minox, leaving the potential for enlargements that would still be very
sharp. They had a very nice little range of accessories made for them to
maximize their usefulness, including a flash/tripod bracket, selection of
filtres, close up lenses, a hand held illuminated slide/negative strip viewer,
developing tank, etc. Most important of all, like the Minox cameras, they
celebrated the moment: being so small, they would always be instantly available
in a shirt pocket or the smallest of purses, ready to capture those photos that
many of us miss for not having a camera at hand when we need one. 40 years on,
these cameras were still functioning like new, and I realized I'd found another
new subminiature camera to love.
I purchased a lovely set complete with filtres, closeup lenses, slide viewer, reloadable cartridge, case, etc. for about $56.00 on an eBay Internet auction (the cameras themselves, in excellent condition, normally run for about $25 - $35.00 each). Being as impressed as I was with it when it arrived, I went to Gerald McMullon's excellent subminiature camera website (see the Resources section of this site) and began studying the rest of the line. I quickly decided that many of the Minolta 16mm cameras that came after the Model 16 II were of little or no interest to me. Having held one of them, they seemed to be getting more cheaply constructed (more plastic), bigger, and less flexible. Several of them had slow selenium cell metres, which degrade over time and are difficult, if not impossible to repair or replace nowadays (unlike Minox cameras, where D.A.G. camera repair still has a stock of new cells available for Minox cameras and metres that need them). However, during the mid-1970's, Minolta redesigned a new camera, going back to their roots you might say, and produced what I feel is probably the finest of the lot: the Model 16 MG-S camera.
The
MG-S returned to a smaller sized camera, being identical in size to a Model 16
II when fully opened (the MG-S is a rigid body camera, made of metal). In
addition to an improved lens, it incorporated a fast, accurate and sensitive
CdS metreing element, semi-coupled to a shutter preferred exposure setting
system: you select a shutter speed and the camera automatically selects the
appropriate F/stop. In addition, although undocumented in the owner's manual,
you also had full manual control if desired. The same 16mm film cartridge was
used, but with a larger negative size, allowing even better pictures (the MG-S
and later Model QT fit 18 pictures on a standard 16mm roll of film, whereas the
earlier models fit 20 exposures on the same film). In addition, like the Minox
cameras, the MG-S was designed from the ground up to be a full, system camera
with clip on filtres, close up lenses, a copy-pod, multiple types flash bulb
and flash cube guns, a hot shoe adapter for electronic flash, a right angle
"spy" finder, etc. This was a camera after my own heart, and I
quickly purchased one of these as well.
I hadn't intended to, but Gerald convinced me to purchase a Model QT later on, pointing out that while it had many of the MG-S features stripped out of it in order to make it more competitive (in terms of selling price) with the then new 110 Instamatic type cameras that were flooding the market, it featured a focusing lens of very high quality, had a mechanical shutter and aperture system that still functioned when the metre battery died, and, because it had a body almost identical in style to the MG-S that proceeded it, would therefore use many of the same accessories for it. It didn't take much arm twisting, so I added the QT to my collection as well.
And
there it has stopped, and is likely to. I have found the three Minolta cameras
out of the entire, 34 year line, that best suit my photographic style and
needs, and am very happy with them. Later, as this site grows, I may attempt to
document the other cameras in the line for historical accuracy, but I don't
actually own any and don't intend to collect them. Being a shooter more than a
collector, I tend to keep those things that work well for me and consequently,
get well used in the process. The Minolta 16mm subminiature cameras represent
an exciting, very inexpensive way to quickly and easily get involved in
subminiature photography, and the joy of always having a camera there when you
need one.
Please click on the links below to explore more about these wonderful little cameras. Bear in mind that some of the photographs are shown larger than life size in order to display detail.
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Contact me about Minolta 16 subminiature cameras at minolta16@comcast.net
© February, 2002 by D. Scott Young