Damit unser schöner thread nicht stirbt, hier Stoff zum reden:
EDIT: aktueller URI zur Übersicht
Ich habe letztens mal meine ganzen kleinen "Guides to the Minolta s (L)R System" durchgestöbert, sie an Hand der enthaltenen Objektive datiert, sortiert und dann die rückseitig aufgedruckten Seriennummern verglichen. Dabei ist mir aufgefallen, daß immer ein dreistelliger Zahlencode vorkommt. Und wenn man die erste Stelle als Endziffer der Jahreszahl interpretiert, und die beiden folgenden als Monatszahl, dann merkt man, daß das erstaunlich gut hinkommt, und die Reihenfolge stimmt. Man muß nur das Jahrzehnt ergänzen, was aber einfach ist. 404 steht dann für April 1974. Das E steht wohl für Englisch, obwohl ich nicht sicher weiß, ob es die auch in anderen Sprachen gab (vor den 80ern). Spätere Varianten haben eine weitergehende Codierung: Es folgt noch ein Buchstabe mit einer Zahl. In der Auflistung erkennt man, daß die Reihenfolge gut eingehalten wird. Meine Theorie: Es sind die Schlüssel der Auflagen. Wurde eine Veränderung im Inhalt vorgenommen, dann wurde der nächste Buchstabe genommen. War eine Auflage vergriffen, und es wurde die gleich Broschüre nochmal gedruckt, dann blieb der Buchstabe, aber die Zahl wurde erhöht. Vieles spricht dafür, aber es gibt auch einige Stellen, wo es nicht so recht passen will.
Hier meine Klassifizierung en detail (bin zu faul zum Übersetzen):
ZITATWhen I sort my system brochures after the order given by the three digit code (and adding the right decade), I see that the color alone is not always 'straight', but the size is. First there are the greenish ones, followed by the black ones, which tend to be some 2mm smaller. Then come the black or white ones, which are 5mm smaller. The next ones have the same size, but are only white with purple letters and have for the first time the language symbol (purple dot with white E) on the front cover. They list MD lenses for the first time as well. Then come the smaller brochures, but with the same color. Next ones are the rare blue/white ones, followed by the modern type with photos on the cover (with light variations). I would suggest the following classification (in short)(due to variations in the cutting process, the height might differ 1 or 2 mm):
Type I: 117mm, pale greenish, SRT drawing on front cover
Type II: 115mm, black w/ olive or yellow letters (highlighted white)
Type III: 110mm, white w/ green (black) letters
Type IV: 110mm, white w/ red (black) letters or black w/ white (red) letters, new coding
Type V: 110mm, white w/ purple (black) letters or black w/ white (red) letters and language icon, MD era
Type VI: 100mm, like Type V, later samples with additional coding
Type VII: 100mm, blue and white cover with new logo
Type VIII: 100mm, with a 2x4 matrix of pictures with slight variations
Types IV, V and VI needs some underclassification:
Type IVb: black with white (red) letters, code: SLR SYSX. ?E-** (US/Canada)
Type IVc: white with red (black) letters, code: SLR SYS. ?E-** (other markets)
Possibly there are brochures in other languages, where the code is like?F for french or so.
The same underclassification has obvioulsy to be done with Types V and VI.
Type I
=======
(no changes)
Pale greenish with white drawing of SRT 101 with black MC Rokkor-PF 58/1.4, wherein is written
Minolta SR
-35mm single lens
reflex camera-
LENSES AND
ACCESSOIRES
175x117mm, 48p. inside, code:
LA-? IE
(backside lower left) where? is a three digit number
Known samples (codes exactly written like on brochure):
LA-605 IE (Dennis)
LA-607 IE (Dennis, Andrew, Andrea)
LA-608 IE (Andrew)
LA-703 IE (Henrik)
LA-80101E (jasnhopper)
LA-803IE (Dennis)
LA-808IE (Andrea)
LA-810IE (Andrea)
-> earliest: May 1966
-> latest: October 1968
Not fitting into the pattern:
No. 815A (Japanese Language)(Andrea)
Type II
=======
Black brown background with the words "A GUIDE TO THE MINOLTA SR SYSTEM OF CREATIVE PHOTOGRAPHY" in brownish-olive, pale olive or yellow letters in ten rows, in each row is one word white, so that there is the whole sentence in white in vertical orientation, one word below the other. 175x115mm, 40-48p. inside, code:
SR. SYS. ?E
(backside lower right)
Known samples:
SR. SYS 906IE letters: dark olive (Dennis, Andrew)
SR. SYS.910E letters: brown olive (Dennis)
SR. SYS.006E letters: yellow (Dennis, Andrew, Andrea)
SR. SYS.006E letters: pale green (Henrik)
SR. SYS. 101E letters: ? (Andrea)
SR. SYS. 106E letters: pale olive (Dennis)
SR. SYS. 107E letters: ? (Andrea)
SR. SYS. 108E letters: ? (Andrea)
-> earliest: June 1969
-> latest: August 1971
uncoded:
My uncoded brochure is identical to 906, but it lists the Auto Rokkor 55/2, so I guess it's earlier. It has those darker olive letters, too.
Andrea, you have an uncoded brochure, too. Where would it fit into?
Type III
========
like Type II, but white and aproximately 5mm smaller. White background with green (black) letters. 175x110mm, 40p. inside, code:
SR. SYS. ?E
(backside lower right)
Known samples:
SR. SYS. 201E (Andrea)
SR. SYS. 205E (Henrik)
SR. SYS. 207E (Andrew)
SR. SYS. 210E (Dennis)
-> earliest: January 1972
-> latest: October 1972
Type IV
========
This is the brochure of the MC-X era. Although only the US and Canada lenses where branded with orange ROKKOR-X, the MC-X series of Rokkor lenses brought a completly new cosmrtical design as well as some other modifications. I distinguish to sub-types of brochures: Type IVa for the north american market with Rokkor-X lenses and Type IVb for the other markets with non Rokkor-X lenses (only the engraving makes the difference). It's very interesting to compare brochures of the same date but for different markets. The US brochures (Type IVa) list the Celtic line, which is not the case in the other brochures, therefore the Leitz stuff is not listed there, but is in Type IVb brochures. And the text has changed a bit: Instead of MINOLTA SR SYSTEM it now is MINOLTA SLR SYSTEM.
++ Type IVa ++
Black, like Type II, but background letters are white and highlighted letters are red.
175x110mm, 52-56p. inside, code:
SLR SYSX. ?E-**
(backside lower left) where ** is a character and a number (like B2)
Known samples:
SLR SYSX. 404E-B2 (Dennis)
SLR SYSX. 408E-C1 (Andrea)
SLR SYSX. 410E-D1 (Andrew)
SLR SYSX. 502E-E1 (Dennis, Andrew)
SLR SYSX. 603E-H1 (Dennis)
SLR SYSX. 605E-I1 (Andrew)
SLR SYSX. 608E-J1 (Andrew)
-> earliest: April 1974
-> latest: August 1976
++ Type IVb ++
White, like Type III, but background letters are red and highlighted letters are black. 175x110mm, 60p. inside, code:
SLR SYS. ?E-**
(backside lower left) where ** is a character and a number (like B2)
Known samples:
SLR SYS. 304E-A2 (Andrew) (56p.)
SLR SYS. 312E-A3 (Andrea)
SLR SYS. 408E-B1 (Andrea)
SLR SYS. 411E-C1 (Andrea)
SLR SYS. 509E-F1 (Andrea, Henrik)
SLR SYS. 512E-F2 (Dennis, Andrea)
SLR SYS. 603E-G1 (Dennis, Andrew)
SLR SYS. 606E-H1 (Andrea)
-> earliest: April 1973
-> latest: June 1976
Type V
========
The first MD Rokkor's appear on the market, and the brochures have a slight update: The non-X brochures have a more purple or magenta inscription and a language icon on the front cover: A purple/magenta dot with a white E inside. Same format like Type IV but now with 64p.
++ Type Va ++
Like IVa, but with white E on front cover. 170x110mm, 64p. inside, code:
SLR SYS?E-**
Known samples:
SLR SYSX 706E-J5 (Andrew)
-> earliest: June 1977
++ Type Vb ++
Like IVb, but with purple dot with white E on front cover. 170x110mm, 64p. inside, code:
SLR SYS?E-**
Known samples:
SLR SYS 612E-J1 (Dennis)
SLR SYS 703E-J2 (Andrew)
SLR SYS 704E-K1 (Andrea)
SLR SYS 706E-K2 (Dennis)
-> earliest: December 1976
-> latest: June 1977
Type VI
========
Like Type V, but considerably smaller. Later samples have an additional coding.
++ Type VIa ++
Colors like Type Va. 150x100mm, 64p. inside, code:
SLR SYSX. ?E-**
SLR SYSX. ?E-**-O+++
(backside lower left) where +++ is a two or three digit number (50, 100)
Known samples:
SLR SYSX. 708E-K1 (Andrea)
SLR SYSX. 709E-K2 (Andrew)
SLR SYSX. 801E-L1 (Henrik) (Henrik, you wrote "801-L1" w/o E - a typo?)
SLR SYSX. 811E-N3-O100 (Andrea)
SLR SYSX. 905E-O1-O100 (Andrew)
SLR SYSX. 907E-P1-O100 (Andrew)
SLR SYSX. 910E-Q1-O100 (Andrew)
SLR SYSX. 002E-S1-O100 (Andrew)
-> earliest: August 1977
-> latest: February 1980
++ Type VIb ++
Colors like Type Vb. 150x100mm, 64p. inside, code:
SLR SYS?E-**
SLR SYS?E-**-O+++
(backside lower left) where +++ is a two or three digit number (50, 100)
Known samples:
SLR SYS 708E-L1 (Andrea)
SLR SYS 803E-N1 (Andrea)
SLR SYS 805E-N2 (Andrew, Andrea)
SLR SYS 807E-O1 (Andrea)
SLR SYS 808E-P1-O50 (Dennis)
SLR SYS 810E-P2-O100 (Andrea)
SLR SYS 903E-P4-O100 (Andrea)
SLR SYS 905E-O1-O100 (Andrea)
SLR SYS 909E-P1-O100 (Andrea) <- interesting, no typo?
SLR SYS 005E-R1-O100 (Dennis, Andrea)
-> earliest: August 1977
-> latest: May 1980
Type VII
========
Same format as Type VI, but different cover: Only white and blue with the new Minolta logo in white on blue background. No further spec's. So far apparently all brochures were printed in Japan, now there are german brochures printed in Germany with a completly different code.
Known samples:
>Printed in Japan:
O104F-A1 french (Andrea)
>Printed in Germany:
531316/5.81 german (Andrea)
Type VIII
=========
Last version of manual system brochure, new logo in blue on white background, on the left side of the front cover is a 2x4 matrix of small photos, two of them showing a woman. I have two variations with different women. 150x100mm, 64-72p. inside. Code inside back cover. There is a 10 digit ISBN number (9229-9103-08).
Known samples:
>Printed in Japan:
0202-C2 english (Andrea)
0306-I1 english (Dennis, Andrew)
0307-I2 english (Dennis, Andrew)
0403-K2 english (Andrea)
0708-K14 english (Henrik) copyrighted 1984
0107F-B1 french (Andrea)
0110F-C1 french (Andrea)
0307F-E1 french (Andrea)
>Printed in West-Germany:
531.319/4.84 <--> (german)(Dennis)
I also own a sample w/o any code (german language), which might have been cut off due to wrong positioning (all the adresses are positioned very low). I dates in the first half of 1981, propably.[/quote]
Mittlerweile sind es schon wieder deutlich mehr geworden, wie man in der Tabelle sieht. Kein Wunder es hat sich ja auch Syoji Nishida eingeschaltet /wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wink.gif" />