C41
Kodak Portra 400
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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The Minolta SR-7 (1962) shares the SR-1's mechanical chassis and SR bayonet mount but adds a coupled CdS exposure meter — a significant commercial step at a time when most competitors still relied on clip-on or separate handheld lightmeters. The meter is not TTL (through-the-lens); it reads from a sensor window on the front of the body and couples to the shutter-speed and aperture controls to provide an EV match-needle display in the viewfinder. All shutter and mirror mechanics are fully mechanical; the battery only powers the meter cell.
Reference
Recommended film stocks for the 35mm format your camera takes.
C41
Kodak Portra 400 is a professional C-41 color negative film known for flexible exposure latitude, natural skin tones, and fine grain.
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Kodak Tri-X 400 is a classic black-and-white film known for strong tonality, visible grain, and documentary character.
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Kodak Gold 200 is a daylight-balanced C-41 color negative film with warm color, moderate grain, and a classic consumer-film look.
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Before you buy used
About this camera
The SR-1's metered sibling — Minolta's first SLR with a built-in CdS exposure meter.
| Field | Value |
|---|
| Format | 35mm |
| Mount | Minolta SR bayonet |
| Years | 1962–1966 |
| Shutter | 1s – 1/1000s + B, mechanical horizontal cloth |
| Flash sync | 1/60s (X-sync) |
| Meter | CdS, non-TTL, match-needle |
| Modes | Manual only |
| Battery | 1x PX625 mercury (meter only) |
| Battery fallback | Full mechanical without battery |
Minolta's SR line in the early 1960s tracked the rapid evolution of Japanese SLR design. The SR-1 (1959) was meterless; the SR-3 added a self-timer and minor refinements; the SR-7 (1962) introduced the CdS meter and represented the commercial peak of the pre-TTL SR series.
The SR-7 was superseded in 1966 by the SRT-101, which brought TTL CLC metering — metering through the actual taking lens — rendering the SR-7's front-cell approach immediately obsolete. The four-year production run (1962–1966) corresponded exactly to the window between CdS meters becoming available and TTL metering becoming standard.
The SR-7 represents a specific transitional moment in SLR design: the brief era of built-in non-TTL meters. Before TTL metering, camera makers integrated CdS cells that read a wider field than the lens saw, and users accepted the exposure error as an improvement over carrying a separate meter. The SR-7 shows this compromise in hardware form.
For Minolta historians, the SR-7 is the direct mechanical predecessor of the SRT-101: the chassis, mount geometry, and shutter mechanism were refined rather than replaced when the SRT-101 shipped. Photographers who find the SRT-101 a formative camera can trace its architecture back through the SR-7.
Practically, the SR-7 is less useful as a shooter than the SRT-101 (non-TTL meter, harder mercury battery dependency, fewer service options), but it is a coherent historical artifact and a clean example of early-1960s precision Japanese manufacturing.
The SR-7 accepts the full SR / MC Rokkor lens range. Because the meter is not TTL, stop-down metering coupling is irrelevant — the meter reads a fixed scene angle regardless of attached lens. Exposure is set manually using the meter's EV match-needle as reference.
Compatible Rokkor highlights:
Later MC and MD Rokkor lenses mount on the SR-7 and shoot fine — the meter coupling is non-TTL so there is no mechanical incompatibility issue.
BW
Ilford HP5 Plus is a flexible ISO 400 black-and-white film with classic grain and strong push-processing tolerance.
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Kodak Ektar 100 is a fine-grain C-41 color negative film with saturated color and high sharpness.
View profile →Minolta SR-7
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