Minolta Alpha 303si

The Minolta Alpha 303si is an SLR camera from the manufacturer in Japan. It was introduced to the public in the 1990s. It was not manufactured in Japan, but in a factory in Malaysia. It was sold mainly in Japan.

The model is functionally almost identical to the Maxxum 450si. This model was sold to photographers in North America. Other similar models include the Maxxum 400si, Dynax 500si, Maxxum RZ430si and Maxxum RZ400si.

The Japanese camera has the possibility to change the lenses. For this purpose, a Minolta A bayonet has been built into the camera. The photo camera is equipped with an autofocus and thus automatically focuses on the subject.

Usually, the camera can be found with a zoom lens. There is a wide range of suitable lenses for the lens mount. All Minolta AF lenses can be used. MD or MC lenses cannot be used.

The Minolta Alpha 303si has a built-in light meter, of course. It is designed for films with a sensitivity of ISO 25 to ISO 5000. The film speed is read out via the coding on the film cartridge. The available light is measured classically through the lens.

The exposure mode can be selected from a number of options. There is a program automatic, which leaves all settings to the camera technology. There is also aperture priority and aperture priority. There are also modes for sports photography, portrait photography, night portrait photography, landscape photography and for macro photography. Exposure compensation of plus-minus three stops can be used in the automatic exposure modes.

Of course, there is also a manual mode. In this mode, the user can choose the aperture and shutter speed. The options for aperture depend on the lens. For the shutter speed, you can choose between values from 1/2000 second to 30 seconds. There is also a Bulb mode for long exposures. The sync speed is 1/90 second.

The SLR camera has a fold-out built-in flash. According to the manufacturer, this has a guide number of 12 (ISO 100). It can be switched on if desired and has a charging time of about two seconds until it is ready. There is also a fill-in flash mode and an option to reduce the red-eye effect in pictures. There is an option to connect an external flash from Minolta.

The camera is equipped with a self-timer. It has a lead time of ten seconds. There is a tripod thread on the bottom. This is very practical, for example for group photos or long exposures. It prevents the camera from shaking during long exposures, for example. But of course, selfies are also possible with it.

Another function is the panorama mode. It can be used by turning a knob on the side of the camera body. In this mode, the image is cropped in the camera to give the impression of a panorama.

The SLR camera has the ability to imprint the time of capture into the images when the photo is taken. A clock with a calendar is built in for this purpose. This data can then be imprinted in a corner of the photo.

Power is supplied by a 2CR5 battery (eBay / Amazon*). This battery can easily be purchased online. Among other things, it powers the display for showing information such as settings and number of images taken. The motor for film transport is also powered by the battery. Operation without batteries is not possible.

Films for the Minolta Alpha 303si

The Minolta Alpha 303si is designed for 35mm film. There are still suitable films for this film format. These include films such as the Kodak Portra 160* for color photos and the Kodak T-Max 400* for black and white images. A number of other manufacturers also produce film for this format. These include Rollei, Adox, Foma and Fujifilm. One roll fits about 36 images in the camera.