The Minolta Autocord is my new love. Of all my cameras, she is a lady. She is delicate, she requires special attention, she is demure. I came back to her after a long absence (20+ years) and she took me back as though no time had passed.
My other camera, The Swede, is formidable; a Hasselblad 501CM manufactured in 2003. Pincay, the Canon R6, is named after Lafitt Pincay, the jockey. His lenses are named after racehorses. There’s Whirlaway, Secretariat, Cigar, and Ruffian to name a few.
Some are faster than others but, they’re all there to perform.
But the Autocord L, she’s a beauty. She was made in 1959 which was a good year for a Japanese twin lens reflex to be born. Minolta began to take their competition seriously and wanted in on the action. Rolleiflex was already out there stealing all the glory and there were others.
My little Autocord has a 75mm f/3.5 lens, uses 120 film, of course at a 6x6 format and has a top shutter speed of 1/500 sec.
Sometimes less is more. I don’t know what made me take her out of retirement. Maybe because she is so damn adorable.
Here she is:
Here’s what she can do:
