The Minolta Autocord is truly a fine camera. The legendary lens is sharp. The innovative loading kept the film plane flat, a groundbreaking departure from the Rollei design. And despite its age and cosmetics, mine was a well-functioning sample. Cosmetically, it is a bit rugged, but with my hippie strap, it looked totally cool.
It was simply a matter of the right camera at the wrong time. I tried to content myself with scans from the lab, since my dedicated film scanner is only for 35mm. My enlarger in the darkroom is a Leica Focomat, also for 35mm.
I toyed with the idea of getting an inexpensive flatbed scanner. but I am afraid I will just constantly dismay at not realizing the full potential of the larger negative. This has been a nagging problem, even with 35mm. When I shot some velvia slides recently, I was shocked to see the disparity between what I saw with the loupe and projector, versus the scanned image on my computer screen. And this was with a dedicated film scanner.
A new enlarger? I think the direction I am heading is away from that.
I am happy, however, that the person who bought the camera is a photography teacher in Massachussetts. This camera deserves to be put to good use. And if a student or two gets hooked by this little old wonder, so much the better.
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