Minolta 16 Electro-Zoom-X

Innovation and creativity has always been a driving force behind Minolta products. The Electro-zoom X was purely an exercise in camera design. It was unveiled at Photokina in Germany in 1966.

The Electro-zoom X was an electronically controlled aperture-priority mechanical SLR with a built-in 30 - 120mm f/3.5 zoom lens giving twenty 12 X 17mm images on a roll of 16mm film. The shutter-release button and battery chamber are located in the grip. Only a few prototypes were built making it one of Minolta’s rarest cameras.  It resembles the later Minolta 110 Zoom SLR Mark II and the some 30 years later the digital SLR cameras with fixed zoom lens such as the Minolta Z1/Z2.

The zoom lens gave an  equivalent of a 50-200mm on a full-frame 35mm with aperture f3.5 to f16.  CdS, through the lens metering from 1/500th to 2 seconds and manual settings of 1/30 for flash bulb, X (1/125th) for electronic flash and B for long exposure. Film speeds of 25-400 ASA.  In auto-mode the shutter is set by the built-in TTL CDS meter from 2 seconds to1/500.  Manual shutter speed settings included 30, X (125), and B. Film format was 12X18mm in regular Minolta 16mm cassettes.  Film speeds from ASA 25 - 400.  The viewfinder has indicators for the shutter speed, aperture, under-/over-exposure warnings and a micro-prism focusing screen.


Last Updated on 24th June 2007