Minolta A5 rangefinder film camera – analog camera done right!

The Minolta A5 is as simple as any rangefinder film camera can get. No electronics, no unnecessary features, well built and reliable – a true mechanical wonder. If you are looking for a simple, beautiful, fully mechanical 35mm rangefinder film camera, then look no further. Upon first glance, the Minolta A5 reminds me of an (un)popular Leica rangefinder camera the Leica M5. The M5 might be called the ugly duckling of the Leica M cameras, but I find this Minolta really good looking. Plus, it won’t break your bank.

I love the Minolta A5’s minimalist design and round edges as well as the color combinations and fonts used. Aside from the aesthetic, the Minolta A5 rangefinder camera also has good ergonomics.

Looking at the top, the Minolta A5 has 2 distinct features – a manual reset shot counter and a unique looking rewind knob. The shot counter does have its upside and downside. The upside is that no spring is needed hence one less moving part not prone to failing. The downside is that you need to remember to reset the counter every time you load a fresh roll. Also found on the top plate are the advance lever, shutter button, and cold shoe.

At the heart of the camera is a ROKKOR-TD 45mm f2.8 fixed lens. While the shutter is a citizen shutter with a speed of Bulb to 1/1000th of a second. The lens is nothing special but is very capable and produces nice images. You can also find the flash sync port on the lens. Both the camera and lens are made in Japan.

On my test roll, I found that the lens can be susceptible to flares so adding a lens hood is a good idea. The camera usually comes with its original lens hood, but looking for an alternative is also easy to find.

The bottom and back of the camera is also as simple as it gets. At the bottom, you will find the tripod mount and a rewind button. While at the back, is the viewfinder and a nice looking ASA (ISO) dial. Again, since this is a fully mechanical camera, setting the ISO doesn’t affect the exposure. It’s just there to remind you of what speed film you are using.

Speaking of the viewfinder, the Minolta A5 has one of the largest viewfinder I saw in a rangefinder camera. It’s a pleasure to look at and the frame lines and rangefinder patch is very bright. Plus, it also has a parallax correction when you focus. The only downside here (as well as other rangefinder cameras) is that you can’t see any of your exposure setting through the viewfinder.

Now to the best part, sample photos! The photos here are shot on a Kodak 400 35mm film. All metered using sunny16 or using a Light meter phone app.

Adding nostalgia to our family photos 🙂

I’ve also tried using flash at night time. Since the camera only has a cold shoe, you need a flash with a flash sync cord. You attach the flash using the flash sync cord to the flash sync port located at the lens to trigger the flash. No TTL here so metering with flash can be tricky but it’s no rocket science.

I loved using this camera and is really digging its design. Also, the beautiful viewfinder is a welcome surprise. It’s well built and with bare essentials only, although it might be too bare for others looking for more features. But then again, personally I shoot for the analog experience and this is as analog as it gets. I think this will now be my next go-to rangefinder film camera after my Olympus. If it wasn’t for for the fast f1.7 lens of the Olympus 35-SP, then the Minolta A5 would have taken the cake.