Minolta-35 Model E and Model F

Minolta · LTM mount · 24×34mm on 35mm film, which Chiyoda Kogaku's own literature also gives as 24×34.5mm (see disputed) · 1951

Also known as: Minolta 35 Model E · Minolta 35 E · Minolta-35 Model-E · Minolta 35 MODEL-E C.K.S. · Model-E C.K.S. · Minolta 35 Model F · Minolta-35 Model-F · Minolta 35 MODEL-F C.K.S. · Model-F C.K.S. · Minolta 35E · Minolta 35F · ミノルタ35 E型 · ミノルタ35 E · ミノルタ35 F · ミノルタ35 F型 · ミノルタ35 IE型 · ミノルタ35 IF型 · ミノルタ35 モデルE · ミノルタ35 モデルF · ミノルタ３５モデルＥ · ミノルタ３５モデルＦ

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Model E (MODEL-E)	LTM	1951–1952	15,103–17,544 seen (miyou55mane) 1518x–1752x seen (Leica Copies Japan) From about 15,000 (English Wikipedia)	No maker figure. The bodies collectors have recorded run from 15,103 to 17,544, about 2,400 numbers
Model F (MODEL-F) · [object Object]	LTM	1952–1953	20,122–26,134 seen (miyou55mane) 2139x–2539x seen (Leica Copies Japan) 21996–25356 logged (antiquecameras.net)	No maker figure. The bodies collectors have recorded run from 20,122 to 26,134, about 6,000 numbers

Collectors split the earlier Minolta-35 into Models A to D, but the maker named only the E, F, II and IIB, and the E and F are the first bodies engraved with a model name.
The E and F manuals and the 1952 Asahi Camera advertisement show a 'Minolta Teleflex' reflex housing carrying a long black lens, and a short lens that Leica Copies Japan reads as a wide-angle of about f/4.5. Leica Copies Japan has found no reference to either lens or the housing in any Minolta documentation and thinks they were never released.
No list price for the E or F has been found in a period advertisement or catalogue.
The frame stayed at 24×34mm or 24×34.5mm until the end: the 24×36mm often claimed for the 1958 IIB is contradicted by Leica Copies Japan's and Mike Eckman's measurements.

How to tell them apart (expand)

'MODEL-E' or 'MODEL-F' at the top right of the front plate. Earlier bodies (Models A–D) read only 'Minolta-35', and the Model II reads 'MODEL II'
The early rounded body with a knob wind and no tripod pedestal or back-lock knob on the base plate; those arrive with the Model II
A flash socket on the back below the shoe, where the A–D bodies have a pressure-ball hot shoe
Polished-chrome finder-window surround, kept to the end of the F

Model E (MODEL-E):

'MODEL-E' engraved at the top right of the front plate, the first Minolta-35 to carry a model name; 'Minolta-35' and 'C.K.S.' on the top plate
Plain accessory shoe without the earlier centre pressure ball; a flash socket on the back just below the shoe instead
Diopter adjustment, set by turning the eyepiece bezel
Larger finder window than the A–D bodies, with a narrower polished-chrome surround and a new shape around the adjustment screw
MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN: Leica Copies Japan finds the marking on every E it has recorded
Self-timer with no numbers behind it

Model F (MODEL-F):

'MODEL-F' engraved at the top right of the front plate
Red numbers 1, 2, 3 on the plate behind the self-timer and a red ring on the self-timer knob: a three-step delay (3段時間調節式)
A different flash socket on the back from the E's; Leica Copies Japan, comparing photographs, says it is still not a PC socket
MADE IN JAPAN in place of MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN

Model E (MODEL-E): The body of the C and D with a new finder eyepiece, a diopter and a socket for flash in place of the pressure-ball hot shoe. Whether the 0.7× finder also arrived with the E or was already on the C and D is disputed (see disputed). Leica Copies Japan dates the E to 1951 and Japanese Wikipedia to November 1951; antiquecameras.net says February 1951, but the bodies it lists as E at 10216–12255 fall in the Model D range.
Model F (MODEL-F): The E with a graduated self-timer, a new flash socket and the end of the occupation marking. antiquecameras.net says none were exported. Leica Copies Japan notes the suggestion that the F was made for the home market but asks why, then, an English-language Model F manual exists; its copy carries the stamp 'Distributed by: MIURA TRADING CO., LTD.', a Tokyo firm whose role Leica Copies Japan cannot pin down.

Serial-range notes

15,103–17,544: Model E bodies seen by miyou55mane; Leica Copies Japan's recorded E bodies fall inside it (1518x–1752x), as does the Science Museum's 15480. English Wikipedia puts the start of the E at about 15,000.
20,122–26,134: Model F bodies seen by miyou55mane; Leica Copies Japan 2139x–2539x and antiquecameras.net 21996–25356 sit inside it. English Wikipedia starts the F at about 17,000, below the highest E bodies recorded (17,544 by miyou55mane, 17127 by antiquecameras.net). miyou55mane takes 26,134 as the end of the knob-wind Model I line (A to F), about 26,000 bodies.
10216–12255: Listed as Model E by antiquecameras.net. These numbers fall in the Model D range of Leica Copies Japan (910x–1059x, 1134x) and miyou55mane (#9,236–12,255), so they are probably Ds.

Specifications

Format: 24×34mm on 35mm film, which Chiyoda Kogaku's own literature also gives as 24×34.5mm (see disputed) · 8 perforations per frame · 36 exposures
Finder: Combined coupled rangefinder and reverse-Galilean viewfinder in one window (透視逆ガリレオ式), with diopter adjustment · 0.7× magnification
Base length: 40 mm
Effective baselength: 28 mm
Shutter: Horizontal cloth focal-plane; the leading and trailing curtains wind onto separate drums (Hayata) · T, 1, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8 and 1/25 on the front slow-speed dial; B, 1/25, 1/35, 1/50, 1/100, 1/200 and 1/500 on the top dial (miyou55mane; the Science Museum record for body 15480) · flash sync FP (Ei Mook 735 table), through a socket on the back below the shoe; no X setting, which first appears on the Model II type a2 · self-timer
Film advance: Knob, self-cocking, with automatic stop (ノブ式セルフコッキング自動巻き止め)
Back: Hinged, with a fixed take-up spool
Meter: None
Designed by: Miyabe Hajimu — Designed the Minolta-35 of 1947 (Leica Copies Japan, which doubts he was involved in the later refinements)
Weight: 730 g
Dimensions: 137 × 76 × 62 (Ei Mook 735 table) mm
Country: Japan
Accessories: Minolta Flash Unit Ub and Flash Unit B.C.B., recommended in the English Model E manual (Leica Copies Japan) · A dedicated accessory finder supplied with each wide-angle and telephoto Rokkor, since the finder has no frame lines (Leica Copies Japan) · Three filters (yellow, orange, green) in a celluloid case, listed in the Model E manual

No bright frames: Leica Copies Japan regrets that frame lines were never added to the Minolta-35, so any lens but the standard one needs an accessory finder. Base length and effective base from Leica Copies Japan and camera-wiki; magnification from the Ei Mook 735 table.

Figures we worked out rather than found: The production estimates in the variants (about 2,400 E and 6,000 F) are spans of the serials collectors have seen, not maker figures.

Where sources disagree

Format

24×34.5mm: English Model E manual and a sheet packed with the Model E (both via Leica Copies Japan); Larry Huffman, as reported by Leica Copies Japan, measured 34.5mm with callipers on the E, F and II; Japanese miyou55mane gives 24×34.5 from the Model D on
24×34mm: English Model E brochure, English Model F manual, Leica Copies Japan's models table; topgabacho says the E and F went to 24×33 and then 24×34
24×33mm: antiquecameras.net, for both E and F
24×36mm: Science Museum catalogue record for body 15480

Better supported: 24×34mm, nominal

Chiyoda Kogaku itself gave both figures, the E manual saying 34.5 and the F manual a year later 34. Measurements of later Model II bodies conflict with Huffman's: This Old Camera's callipers give 33.8–33.9mm, and Leica Copies Japan's ruler gives just under 34mm on a type a2 and a little over 34mm on a type b2. The museum's 24×36 looks like a generic entry.

Magnification

0.7× first appeared on the Model E, the A–D bodies being 0.33× (miyou55mane; topgabacho, 'E型でファインダー倍率が0.7倍と上がり'; Hayata, 'ファインダー窓が大きく倍率も大きくなったミノルタ35E'; Ei Mook 735 table, I型 0.33, E型 0.7)
0.7× already from the Model C, the E changing the window and eyepiece but not the magnification (Leica Copies Japan; camera-wiki)

Both sides agree the E and F are 0.7×; the disagreement is over which earlier bodies were.

Flash sync

Not a PC socket on either the E or the F; two different sockets, neither identified (Leica Copies Japan, from photographs; topgabacho says the E's is 'まだドイツ式接点ではない', not yet the German type)
PC socket from the Model E (camera-wiki)
Standard coaxial PC socket from the Model F, at about serial 17,000 (English Wikipedia)

Better supported: Not PC on either

Leica Copies Japan dates the first PC socket to the Model II type a1.

First

1951 (Leica Copies Japan; Ei Mook 735 table)
November 1951 (Japanese Wikipedia)
late 1951 (English Wikipedia)
February 1951 (antiquecameras.net)

Better supported: late 1951

Weight (grams)

730g, with dimensions 137×76×62mm (Ei Mook 735 table; the same figures as the Model I)
800g total weight, in both the E and the F user manuals (Leica Copies Japan)

Neither says what was weighed. Leica Copies Japan weighed a bare Model II type a2, the same early body, at 584g, and gives the E and F manuals' dimensions as 135mm base-plate length, 75mm height and 31mm base-plate width.

What reviewers say

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History

The Model E of late 1951 is the first Minolta-35 with a name on it. The earlier bodies, which collectors call Models A to D, are engraved only “Minolta-35”; from the E, Chiyoda Kogaku engraved “MODEL-E”, and then “MODEL-F”, at the top right of the front plate. Mechanically it is the same Leica-thread camera as before: a die-cast body taller than a Barnack Leica, a cloth focal-plane shutter to 1/500 set on two dials, a knob wind, a hinged back with a fixed take-up spool, a self-timer and a single window for rangefinder and viewfinder. The E added a diopter, adjusted by turning the eyepiece bezel. It also dropped the pressure-ball hot shoe of the earlier bodies for a plain shoe with a flash socket on the back below it, and it has a larger finder window with a narrower chrome surround. The F of 1952 differs by a self-timer with three marked delays (red 1, 2, 3 on the plate behind the self-timer and a red ring on its knob), a different flash socket, and MADE IN JAPAN where the E reads MADE IN OCCUPIED JAPAN. camera-wiki names the self-timer marks as the only difference; Leica Copies Japan and miyou55mane add the socket and the marking. The Model II replaced both in February 1953 (Hayata, Japanese Wikipedia).

The sources disagree on two details, and the disagreement is set out under disputed. The first is the finder. Japanese sources, the Ei Mook 735 table among them, give the A–D bodies 0.33× and the E 0.7×. Leica Copies Japan and camera-wiki put 0.7× on the C and D already and say the E changed only the window and eyepiece. The second is the frame. Chiyoda Kogaku’s English Model E manual says 24×34.5mm, its Model E brochure and the Model F manual say 24×34mm; Larry Huffman reported 34.5mm measured from the E on, while later Model II bodies measured by others come out close to 34mm. Either way it is not the Leica 24×36, and Leica Copies Japan measured its own IIB at 24×34. Flash is a third, smaller argument. camera-wiki and English Wikipedia say a PC socket arrived with the E or the F. Leica Copies Japan compares the sockets in photographs and finds two different types, neither of them PC, with PC first appearing on the Model II.

Serials run on from the earlier bodies. Collectors have recorded E bodies between 15,103 and 17,544 and F bodies between 20,122 and 26,134, which puts the E at a few thousand and the F at more than twice that. No maker figure is known. The bodies antiquecameras.net lists as E at 10216–12255 sit in the Model D range. The usual lens is the Super Rokkor 45mm f/2.8. Its versions without the aperture window and with a focusing lever date from this period, and Leica Copies Japan ties the six-digit lenses with the revised depth-of-field scale to the F.

The Rokkors made for the camera all fit, but not every Leica-thread lens does. The self-timer sits right beside the mount, and topgabacho reports that it stops lenses whose infinity-lock catch sits low by the mount from going on, such as the Leitz Elmar 5cm and 3.5cm and the Hektor 2.8cm. Leica Copies Japan likewise says it gets in the way of other makers’ focusing levers. The finder has no frame lines, so a 35mm, 85mm or longer lens needs an accessory finder in the shoe. When buying, check the engraving first, since a body without a model name is an A–D. Then check the shutter: two lots on Yahoo! Auctions in 2026 were described with faults, a Model E with a shutter that catches and a Model F with a sluggish trailing curtain. Those auctions closed at ¥10,000 (E, September) and ¥9,500 (F, June), auction results rather than dealer prices. Neither body has an X setting for electronic flash.

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