Manual film speed setting, Minolta si cameras...

[joeyk49]

How do I manually set the film speed for non-DX film on my Minolta 450 si ?
I bought the camera used, without a manual...

[Thane Bitter]

How do I manually set the film speed for non-DX film on my Minolta 450 si ?
I bought the camera used, without a manual...

[color=black]The bad news, the 450si reads the film speed via the DN coding on the cassette only, the engineers neglected to add a manual setting on the camera. For film cassettes that don't have DX coding the camera assumes a film speed of 100 ISO. [/color][color=black]But don't let that stop you, I used to have the same issue with my Minolta 3xi when I started to use bulk film a non-DX coded cassettes. My 2 cent solution was to take a strip of aluminium duct tape (has to be conductive) cut to the size of a DX label and used small cut squares of electrical tape to mimic the DX label. It’s not a graceful solution (duct tape never is) but it works. [/color][color=black]If you go to Minolta's website you can download a PDF file of the 450si manual. I think this link will take you there http://kmpi.konicaminolta.us/eprise/.../max_450si.pdf [/color]



[color=black]WOW! I thought that I was the only Minolta user here! We are not alone ![/color]

[joeyk49]

Very cool Thane, thanks.

I'll see if I can outwit the chip...

Do you put the electical tape in the black spaces or the silver?

[joeyk49]

...or purchase dx encoded cassettes...

The problem is that I have three rolls of Ilford Pan F 50 and I don't know of anyone selling cassettes with the appropriate encoding.

[noblebeast]

Porter's camera - www.porters.com - sells dx coded stickers in various speeds that would fix your problem. I think that's the correct address for them - check 'm out.
Try this:
dx labels

Joe

[Thane Bitter]

Very cool Thane, thanks.

I'll see if I can outwit the chip...

Do you put the electical tape in the black spaces or the silver?

[color=black]Hey Joeyk49,[/color]

[color=black][color=black]Your right, just cut out small square pieces of electric tape (conversely masking, or clear tape would work, but I found electrical tape easier to work with) and place them over the sliver; sorry I was a bit vague. Clearly the trick is knowing what area to cover, long ago I had created a page full of diagram but naturally I can't find it right now. However a quick Google I found a website that I have to say is way better then what I drew up. [color=purple]http://www.bythom.com/dxcodes.htm[/color][/color]

[color=black]You need not worry about the exposure and latitude portions of the code, a quick check of both of my Minolta bodies’ shows that they only have one row of contacts (film speed). At the time I came up with my duct tape solution I only had 2 reloadable cassettes, but if you have more I think Noblebeast's idea is better, less time fiddling about and more time shooting film. [/color]

[/color][color=black][/color]