Minolta Freedom Zoom 70EX

The Minolta Freedom Zoom 70EX is a compact camera from the 90s and was sold on the North American market. The 35mm camera was built by the Japanese company Minolta. The model was aimed at hobby users, is equipped with an automatic and is easy to use. Instructions are needed in the fewest cases. The 35mm photo camera was also sold on the market under the name “Minolta Riva Zoom 70EX“.

The 35mm photo camera is equipped with a fixed lens. The zoom range is from 35mm to 70mm. The largest aperture is f/3.8 at 35mm. The lens is focused by a built-in autofocus system. The closest focusing distance is 60cm. The switchable macro mode allows shooting at a distance of only 48 cm.

The camera has a light meter. It is designed for films from ISO 25 to ISO 3200. The film speed is determined via the DX code. The shutter speed and aperture are set automatically by the electronics. The photographer has no influence on the settings.

The built-in flash provides sufficient light even in difficult lighting conditions. When taking a picture with ISO 100, the light reaches up to 4.6 meters. Of course, the flash can also be turned off. Or you can force its use to brighten up the picture, for example in strong backlighting. An automatic red-eye reduction mode is also available on the camera.

There is also a mode for portraits at night. In this mode, the shutter is opened for one second and the camera fires the flash. This way, the foreground is frozen and there is still enough ambient light falling on the footage.

The Minolta Freedom Zoom 70EX has a self-timer. This has a ten second lead time to get into position. There is also a thread for a tripod on the bottom. On the lower left side is an eyelet for attaching a camera strap or wrist strap.

The camera body weighs 255 grams without film. The dimensions are 13.4 x 7.2 x 4.8 cm. A CR123A battery (eBay / Amazon*) is responsible for the power supply. The batteries last for about 300 photos and are relatively cheap to get. The charge level is shown on the display on the top.

Films for the Minolta Freedom Zoom 70EX

The Minolta Freedom Zoom 70EX is a film camera and is loaded with 35mm film. 35mm films are still produced by various manufacturers. Possible films for the Minolta Freedom Zoom 70EX are the Kodak Ultramax 400* for color shots and the Ilford Delta 400* for black and white shots. Both films produce solid results with the Japanese model.

The negatives of the 35mm camera have a size of 24mm x 36mm. So at least 36 shots will fit on a normal roll of film. Film transport is automatic. The number of pictures taken is shown on the display.

Besides the normal model, there was also a model with quartz date. This model can be recognized by the imprint “Date” on the front and the controls on the back. It can imprint the date and time in one of the corners of the photos when they are taken. However, the calendar only goes up to 2019. It also requires a CR2025 battery (eBay / Amazon*).