Jul 10th, 2012

The Tiniest of the SLRs: Minolta’s 110 Zoom Mark II

by doc.
Filed under: analog, found, photo.

110 SLR

110 film has always been a novelty. Sure it’s easy to load and fits in tiny cameras, but the films size could never compare with the shots you’d get on 35mm or standard. So while you’d expect to see plenty of 110 children’s cameras on eBay, you’d be surprised to find a couple SLRs out there too. Like Minolta’s 110 Zoom SLR Mark II. A fully functional SLR camera, with nice optics and features, but at a ridiculously small size.

In 2009, the last of the 110 manufacturers stopped producing this size film, making many of these old cameras useless, but now that Lomography has started producing this film again, it’s a great time to score a 110 camera for cheap. I’ll post some of my 110 shots here as soon as I get them, but I’m excited to see how Lomo’s Orca B&W film turns out, and to get a roll of their newly announced color 110 too. See a great list of 110 cameras on SubClub.org.

110 SLR

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  • http://twitter.com/Steenaire Christine Clarke

    I can’t wait for you to post the photos off of that thing!

  • Dave

    Congrats on finding one of these! I haven’t seen one in a long time! Pentax also made an even smaller 110 SLR with interchangeable lenses and accessory motor drive.  Sometimes I’d shoot with my parents 110 instamatic then develop the 110 film at home, making little grainy 4×5 prints. Fun stuff!

  • Pingback: Journey Into Analog: expired 110 color – DocPop.org

  • Momoreti2004

    I brought one, where can I buy the films.

  • http://docpop.org/ DocPop

  • Pingback: Journey Into Analog: 110 on Midmarket – DocPop.org

  • Protogonus

    I used the first 110 Zoom version for years and took fabulous pictures with it loading Verichrome Pan (ISO 125) which was the sweetest B&W film ever made in any format. I developed it in Acufine diluted 3:1 with extended development time and the grain was perfectly fine up to 5×7 on an 8×10 piece of paper, which looked GREAT and stood out even in shows.

    Handling the film was a snap with stainless steel rollers, two of which could fit into the 35-mm roll film tank just perfectly. On the whole, I took my best pictures with this system for years until the camera finally pooped out for a reason I can’t recall. By then, I had switched to a Rollei 35S anyway and used Tri-X in that with Acufine extended-time for super fine grain. But I never forgot that sweet Minolta machine!

  • Protogonus

    Forgot to mention I always used a +1 yellow filter to render skin tones accurately and improve the sky, as the 110 Zoom was used mostly for portraiture. The fine print of all Kodak B&W films says absolutely that a yellow filter is necessary for correct gray-tone rendering in sunlight.

  • http://docpop.org/ DocPop

    The original 110 looks awesome. I’d love to try one some time. I’m hella jealous of that Verichrome Pan 110 film, it sounds amazing. I’ll have to find some examples on Flickr.