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Minolta Vectis S-1

The Minolta Vectis S-1 is a full featured, autofocus, SLR camera introduced by Minolta in 1996 for use with APS (Advanced Photo Systems) film. It uses the Minolta V-system lens mount and only a small array of both prime and zoom lenses were produced within this system. The S-1 has many of the features found on 35mm SLRs of the time; including the ability to focus automatically or manually (though some of the Vectis lenses were auto only), program exposure control along with full manual, shutter priority, and aperture priority. The camera also has a built-in, pop-up flash and an advanced TTL meter that can be switched to a spot metering mode. If you were or are an APS user, this is one of the more versatile APS cameras you can own.

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Minolta Vectis S-1

Let us take a day to appreciate what could have been with the APS format.⁠

Launched in 1996 by Kodak, APS (Advanced Photo System) was meant to be an upgrade on the 35mm format. The rise of the digital market, combined with its failure to gain ground with professional photographers caused the APS format to be discontinued by 2011. Not that long ago, really!⁠

⁠The main ideas behind APS were several-fold. The film was self-contained in a special cartridge prior to exposure, after exposure and even after processing. Your film always stayed in its canisters. The film also used a magnetic layer to store information from the camera; this took a couple of forms, the most common being aspect ratio. Most APS cameras, like this Minolta Vectis S-1, could photograph in H, P, or C modes:

⁠H = High Definition, a 16:9 aspect ratio
P = Panoramic in a 3:1 ratio⁠
C = Classic in the tradition 3:2 ratio⁠

⁠The camera recorded your chosen ratio in the film itself, which would then communicate with the printer, allowing the negative (which was a full frame of exposure regardless of setting) to be cropped into the appropriate print size. Some cameras could record even more info, such as date and time or exposure data, which would then be printed on the back of the final prints, along with the film cartridges ID number for easy referencing.⁠

⁠While APS was quickly forgotten by most, we still have many customers who religiously scour the internet for leftover film to feed their favorite APS cameras. It is not an uncommon occurrence for us to get orders of APS film in the shop for both developing and reprinting. Perhaps if this format had come along even five years earlier, it might have made a much larger impact than it did. Despite its relatively obscure place in the history of photography, we have a certain respect for how APS tried to innovate film photography.

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Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc

sales@bluemooncamera.com
(503) 978-0333
(503) 978-0370
8417 North Lombard Street
Portland, OR 97203

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Minolta Vectis S-1

Minolta Vectis S-1

Blue Moon Camera and Machine llc