It’s kind of a vague thing to say, but the controls just “make sense” – or at least, they do to me. With no prior experience of using a TLR, I was prepared for all manner of difficulties, but it turned out that the Autocord is surprisingly easy to get used to. And to me, the experience of using a camera is just as important as the pictures. I’m not a professional, just someone who takes photos for fun. …better optics, easier focusing, and a more logical control layout than any other TLR. I don’t know if the Autocord is “better” or “worse” than a Rolleiflex, but I do know that even a “low end” Rolleiflex was outside my budget, while my Autocord – purchased off eBay, fully functional and in decent condition – was much more affordable. Just “borderline cult”.īut I have no complaints it keeps the prices down. This is peak Minolta – not famous enough to be in the Rolleiflex/Nikon class not rare enough to be a cult camera. A 1995 issue of Popular Photography included the Autocord in a list of “borderline cult cameras”. Funnily enough, the Minolta Autocord shares a similar fate, living as it does in the shadow of the Rolleiflex. I happen to think that compared to more famous brands like Nikon and Canon, Minolta’s 35mm SLRs and lenses were (and still are) underrated and underpriced – and I’ve always been partial to underdogs and good bargains. My first “real” camera was my father’s Minolta SLR, still in regular use. Meanwhile on the topic of disclosures, I also admit to a bit of a Minolta bias. Dante Stella, Mike Eckman, Casual Photophile, Tobias Key – praise the Autocord’s handling, design and build quality, reserving special plaudits for the Rokkor lens (which I’ll come to a bit later). While I may one day add a high end Rolleiflex to my collection, … the Autocord does everything the Rollei does, and does it for a fraction of the price.įull disclosure: I’ve only shot one roll of film with my Autocord so far, so I’m not qualified to write a proper review. And I don’t mind shooting without a meter – sometimes I use a phone app, sometimes I just guess.Īdvertisements: Popular Photography 1956 (left) and 1957 (right) showing both meterless and metered versions The Autocord and other TLRs It does not have a light meter, but I personally prefer the meterless Autocord variants (mainly for aesthetic reasons I’m shallow like that). My model is an Autocord I, manufactured in 1965. All variants share some common features including a superb taking lens – a Rokkor 75mm f/3.5 with four elements in three groups (Tessar-type). Other differences are relatively minor, like cosmetic changes to the nameplate or slightly different shutter speed sequences. Probably the most significant variation is that the L and CDS models have a light meter (selenium for the Ls, CdS for the CDSs).
Some take 120 film only while others take both 120 and 220.
Produced from 1955–66, the Autocord came in a number of variants. The Minolta Autocord is a fully-mechanical twin-lens reflex camera which takes 6×6 photos on medium-format film. Chiyoda aimed for the fences with their new camera … and hit it out of the park.
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