Minolta Hi-Matic S2 – The One I’ll Never Part With

Grandma was an artist, a painter. Her specialty was dramatic landscapes á la Bob Ross—you remember Bob Ross, the gentle spirit that graced public television while painting “happy little trees” into beautiful oil paintings of mountains and barns and streams. The smell that I always associated with Grandma’s little house wasn’t one of freshly baked cookies or flowers from a garden. It was a distinct mixture of paint and linseed oil. And you could throw in some cigarette smoke if my aunts and uncles were visiting. Combine that olfactory blend with the gentle song of Mourning Doves, and you get a glimpse of the idyllic memory I have of Grandma’s house. Funny how one’s senses can erase nearly 50 years so it seems like yesterday that I sat on the cool, concrete steps of her porch.

Grandma came to live with us when I was about ten years old, and it was then that I realized how much we were kindred spirits. But while she tried to pass on her techniques of wielding a paintbrush, I was better with a sketchpad. The agonizingly long wait to apply that next layer of paint was… well… as exciting as watching paint dry. What fourth grader has the patience for that? Perhaps that’s why I found photography more to my liking. I could create an image in a relatively short amount of time and then move on to the next idea to capture on film.

Beyond that I really don’t know why I was so drawn to photography, but after clicking away with the family’s Instamatic on vacations, I wanted a “real” camera. Real, to me, meant 35mm. In middle school, I couldn’t afford an SLR, and the internet with its plethora of used camera sites and ebay was still a couple of decades away, so I started shopping for a 35mm fixed-lens camera from a local department store. Grandma offered to contribute funds to help with my purchase. After much deliberation, I decided on a Minolta Hi-Matic S2 I found in the Sears catalog. Those of you familiar with Minolta’s Hi-Matic cameras know this was the era when the highly esteemed metal rangefinders were evolving into a more plastic fantastic point-and-shoot variety. I didn’t mind. Heck, I didn’t even know about the previous Hi-Matics at that time. I just knew this was a brand new 35mm camera and its all-black exterior with the purple coated lens looked really cool to me, and to make it extra special, it was something that Grandma was helping me acquire.

I’ve had the Minolta Hi-Matic S2 for over 45 years now. While it was eventually replaced by a series of SLRs as my main go-to camera, the little Minolta was and is still one that I’ll never part with. I waited a little longer to get my first SLR because I wasn’t about to trade it in or sell it. It was too special to me.

By many accounts, it probably seems like a pretty average camera. The specs are similar to a good number of other models of that era: 38mm/f2.8 lens, built in flash, lightweight form. In fact, it was trumped by one of its own siblings, the Minolta Hi-Matic AF2 which added auto-focus to the mix. A camera that would focus itself was all the rage in those days, so the lack of auto-focus in the S2 likely made it less appealing to the average consumer. Focus is achieved via zone focusing or simply estimating the distance based on the easy-to-read distance scale on the lens. When you turn on the flash, the distance scale is backlit by a soothing blue-green light so you can even focus in the dark. I got pretty good at judging the distance to my subject, and with a little practice I found it wasn’t a hindrance at all. I also liked the fact that it didn’t have an automatic winding motor as those typically sounded like rocks in a blender. Plus, winding manually gave me more of a hands-on feel, and that was important to me. At that time in my photographic journey, it’s just what I needed.

It would be a couple of years before I moved on to a Minolta SLR, but that one little S2 birthed an affinity for the mind of Minolta that exists to this day (never mind the fairly lengthy detour I took with Canon’s EOS system along the way). When it comes to vintage manual-focus machines, I still favor Minolta.

These days you can find a Minolta Hi-Matic S2 online for well under $100 or in the bargain bin of a local shop for maybe $10 if you’re lucky. It’s not glamorous, but it’s finished nicely and mine works as smoothly as the day I got it. With a glass Minolta lens, an auto-exposure system that has proven to be quite accurate and reliable, an on-board flash that only fires when you ask it to, and quiet, smooth operation, what more could you want in a little point-and-shoot (more accurately a set focus, point, shoot, and wind film) camera?

Is the nostalgia of my first 35mm camera and the love and memories of Grandma clouding my judgment when it comes to my fondness for this little gem? Probably, but that’s ok, isn’t it? This camera still turns out very pleasing images over 45 years later. Photography encompasses so much more than the resulting images we take. It’s about capturing images on film or a digital sensor and creating memories in our hearts and minds in the process. Some will say that cameras are only tools, but for me they are also doorways to the past and windows to the future. When I use my older cameras, I remember bits of the past when I shot with that same model, and I look at how I might be able to create memories with it in the days to come.

Is the whole resurgence of shooting film an exercise in nostalgia? Maybe for some, but there are plenty of younger people new to the craft that are embracing the medium as well. I immerse myself in it for a variety of reasons, and if part of it is nostalgia, then so be it. I don’t care. I’ll admit that some of it is just handling the cameras and admiring the little marvels for what they are even when they sit unloaded. There are so many reasons, and I don’t know that I can count myself a member of any particular camp of fellow travelers. I just know that I enjoy it the way I enjoy it.

I recently started another roll through the old S2 when I took a short trip to Chicago. Having a few frames left upon my return, I scouted my local downtown where we have a couple of old, historic theaters from the age of the silver screen. They seemed to be a good subject match for this shoot. I used Cinestill 400D, not knowing if I wanted color or B&W, figuring that I could always play with that in post, and my local lab only does C-41 development, so it was kind of a no-brainer. Yeah, I know I could do my own development, and I did some of that years ago, but that’s one camp I haven’t committed to just yet. I also kind of like having the color channels to “filter” the results when turning them to B&W. I was fairly pleased with the results and had a few keepers from that roll. At least I know Grandma would like them.

Thanks for reading. You can see more of my images at
mikemphoto.smugmug.com

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