Minolta-35 Model IIB

Minolta · LTM mount · 24×34mm on 35mm film, measured (Leica Copies Japan; Mike Eckman measured 34.5mm). The 24×36mm printed in most references is contradicted by both measurements (see disputed) · 1958

Also known as: Minolta-35 Model IIB · Minolta-35 MODEL IIB · Minolta 35 Model IIB · Minolta 35 Model II B · Minolta 35 Model IIb · Minolta 35 IIB · Minolta 35 IIb · Minolta 35 II B · Minolta 35-IIB · Minolta 35 2B · Chiyoda Kogaku Minolta-35 IIB · ミノルタ35 IIB · ミノルタ35 II B · ミノルタ35IIB · ミノルタ 35 IIB · ミノルタ35 IIB型 · ミノルタ35 2B · ミノルタ35 2B型 · ミノルタ35 ⅡB · ミノルタ35 ⅡB型 · ミノルタ35 モデルIIB · ミノルタ35 モデル IIB · ミノルタ３５モデル Ⅱ Ｂ

Variants & identification

Variant	Mount	Years	Serial ranges	Production
Model IIB	LTM	1958–1959	105,010–113,976 seen (miyou55mane) 10501x–11397x seen (Leica Copies Japan) From about 103,000 (English Wikipedia)	About 9,000, miyou55mane's estimate from the serials seen (105,010–113,976); ys-223 says fewer than 10,000. No maker figure

The maker named only the E, F, II and IIB; the A to D are collectors' names for earlier unnamed bodies. A 'Model II type b' (the 1955 restyled Model II) is a different camera from the IIB, so a listing that reads 'II B' needs a look at the wind: a lever is a IIB.
antiquecameras.net lists a 'II B (Ver. I)' with a question mark, wondering whether a knob-wind IIB existed. No example is recorded, and miyou55mane and Leica Copies Japan know only the lever-wind camera.
A 'Minolta 35 Model III' never reached the shops. Japanese Wikipedia lists it as a 1958 prototype, a simplified Sky; Leica Copies Japan reproduces a photograph that a Japanese blogger identifies as the Model III and thinks it probably kept the screw mount; Mike Eckman instead treats 'Model III' as the planned name of the bayonet-mount Sky itself. The IIB was the last production Minolta-35.
Mike Eckman found no American advertisements or magazine coverage of the IIB, and all five IIBs in his eBay sample came from Japanese sellers, which led him to suggest it was sold only in Japan, though his own came from a US dealer. Leica Copies Japan records the 'EP' export mark on IIB rewind knobs, and Earth, Sun, Film, writing from the US, calls IIBs rare there but found its first on eBay, so the question stays open.
Lens-and-body fit: the self-timer sits close to the mount, and lenses with an infinity-lock catch low by the mount, such as the Leitz Elmar 5cm and 3.5cm and the Hektor 2.8cm, hit it and cannot be fitted (topgabacho; e-ektra, writing about his own IIB, says the Elmar and Hektor 'セルフタイマーに当たってしまい装着出来ない').

How to tell them apart (expand)

A lever wind: every other Minolta-35 has a wind knob. Seen from above, the black dials and the lower-case 'minolta-35' confirm it
'MODEL IIB' engraved, not 'MODEL II'; the restyled Model II type b of 1955 has the same angular top plate but a knob wind and chrome dials
No diopter ring at the eyepiece, which the E, F and II have

Model IIB:

Single-stroke advance lever with the frame counter in its hub, the only lever wind in the Minolta-35 line
Both shutter-speed dials and the counter finished in black with white figures (Hayata: 'シャッターダイアルやフィルムカウンターが黒字に白文字'); red index marks
'minolta-35' in the new lower-case typeface on the top plate, with 'CHIYODA KOGAKU' in a small font; every earlier body reads 'Minolta-35' with a capital M
'MODEL IIB' engraved on the camera; a Model II, including the type b, reads 'MODEL II'
New self-timer lever shape (Leica Copies Japan, miyou55mane); rewind knob knurled and kerfed (camera-wiki)
Larger finder window (about 14mm wide) in a narrower frame than the late Model II, and no diopter adjustment at the eyepiece
A roller added inside the hinged back
Usually fitted with the black-barrelled Super Rokkor 5cm f/1.8 with a chrome nose, engraved 'Chiyoda Kogaku' rather than 'Chiyoko'

Model IIB: The late Model II body (type b2) with a lever wind and a revised finder. miyou55mane, working through the serials, found no sub-variants of the IIB, and Leica Copies Japan does not split it into types.

Serial-range notes

105,010–113,976: IIB bodies seen by miyou55mane. 105,010 is the camera in a June 1958 advertisement photograph. Leica Copies Japan's recorded bodies run 10501x–11397x, and it owns 105911. 105,001 as a starting number is an inference, not an observed body. English Wikipedia puts the start at about 103,000.
106915, 110401, 112405: Single bodies: 106915 (with a 5cm f/1.8) and 112405 (with a 5cm f/2.8) logged by antiquecameras.net; 110401 sold as junk on Yahoo! Auctions in October 2026.

Specifications

Format: 24×34mm on 35mm film, measured (Leica Copies Japan; Mike Eckman measured 34.5mm). The 24×36mm printed in most references is contradicted by both measurements (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), no diopter adjustment · 0.8× magnification · none parallax correction
Base length: 40 mm
Effective baselength: 32 mm
Shutter: Horizontal cloth focal-plane (camera-wiki); Hayata, describing the series from the first model, says the leading and trailing curtains wind onto separate drums, unlike a Leica · T, B and 1 to 1/500 (Mike Eckman). T and 1 to 1/25 on the front slow-speed dial, set with the top dial at its red 1/25 (Mike Eckman; earthsunfilm); the top dial runs to 1/500 in the old sequence with 1/35, 1/50 and 1/100 (Mike Eckman) · flash sync FP and X (Ei Mook 735 table), through a socket on the back below the shoe. Mike Eckman calls it PC, as Leica Copies Japan does for the sync from the Model II type a1 on; e-ektra calls it the same type as Leica's · self-timer
Film advance: Single-stroke lever, self-cocking with automatic stop, which can also be worked in several short strokes (一操作レバー式セルフコッキング自動巻き止め、分割巻き上げ可能, Ei Mook 735 table); counter in the lever hub
Back: Hinged, with a fixed take-up spool, opened by an Open/Shut dial on the base plate; a film roller added in the back
Meter: None
Weight: 595 g
Dimensions: 137 × 79 × 44 body only (ys-223, measured; Leica Copies Japan measures 135mm base plate and 79mm height); 137 × 76 × 80 in the Ei Mook 735 table, which includes the lens mm
Country: Japan
Original price: ¥42,800 with the Super Rokkor 5cm f/1.8, the Japanese list price in 1958 (Leica Copies Japan, which calls it the advertised price and shows it in a 1958 Chiyoda Kogaku brochure; miyou55mane gives the same figure and shows the box marked 'IIB' and 'F1.8 50mm') (today ¥269,000)
Accessories: Ever-ready case redesigned for the IIB, with chrome trim and pivoting metal D-rings (Leica Copies Japan) · Black screw-in hood with a chrome base for the Super Rokkor 5cm f/1.8 (Leica Copies Japan) · Minolta Junior B.C. flashgun, shown in the Japanese IIB manual (Leica Copies Japan) · Accessory finders for the 35mm, 85mm and longer Rokkors, since the finder has no frame lines

Magnification from the Ei Mook 735 table, Leica Copies Japan, camera-wiki and ys-223; 40mm base and 32mm effective base from Leica Copies Japan and ys-223. The whole field is the 50mm view and there are no frame lines or parallax correction (ys-223), so any lens but a 50mm needs an accessory finder. ys-223 finds the eyepiece small and the finder hard to use despite the higher magnification; Mike Eckman calls it usable with glasses and praises the contrast of the tinted rangefinder patch. Leica Copies Japan describes a rectangular eyepiece frame where earlier models had a round one; Eckman calls the eyepiece round.

Figures we worked out rather than found: The production figure of about 9,000 is miyou55mane's span of the serials seen, not a maker figure. · Perforations per frame and 36 exposures are inferred: English Wikipedia and Mike Eckman both say the 24×34 frames are spaced wider apart rather than packed closer, which keeps the Leica-standard advance.

Where sources disagree

Format

24×34mm: Leica Copies Japan, measuring the frame from its own IIB (body 105911); English Wikipedia, which says the IIB kept 24×34 with wider spaces between frames
24×34.5mm: Mike Eckman, measuring the negatives from two rolls
24×36mm: Japanese Wikipedia, miyou55mane, ys-223, topgabacho, camera-wiki, endoscopy.jp and antiquecameras.net; Leica Copies Japan traces the claim to Sugiyama's Collector's Guide to Japanese Cameras

Better supported: 24×34mm, measured twice

The 24×36 figure is repeated widely, but no one who has measured a IIB found it. Leica Copies Japan credits the Swiss collector Renaud Laemmli with pointing out that the frame never grew.

Announced

May 1958: Leica Copies Japan, Japanese Wikipedia (1958年5月発売), miyou55mane (発売は1958年05月), English Wikipedia
March 1958: Hayata Camera Lab (昭和33年（1958年)3月に発売)

Better supported: May 1958

miyou55mane's earliest body, 105,010, appears in a June 1958 advertisement.

Weight (grams)

595g, body only: Leica Copies Japan (measured) and earthsunfilm
596g, body only, and 852g with the 5cm f/1.8: Mike Eckman
600g, body only: ys-223 and e-ektra, both measured
860g: Ei Mook 735 table, which e-ektra reads as the camera with its lens

Better supported: About 595–600g for the body

Serial notes

105,010, the lowest body seen (miyou55mane); 10501x (Leica Copies Japan)
about 103,000 (English Wikipedia)

Better supported: 105,0xx

What reviewers say

Mike Eckman (blog) — Superb build and an outstanding Super Rokkor 5cm f/1.8, but a plain finder, a 1/500 top speed and nothing to set it apart in 1958; a good camera rather than a great one. His negatives measured 34.5mm wide, not 36.
ys-223 (blog) — The finder is the weak point: 0.8× on paper, but a small eyepiece, a 50mm field only and no frame lines or parallax correction, little advanced since the first Minolta-35 and well behind the M3 or Canon P.
Hayata Camera Lab (blog) — Repair shop's write-up with test shots on the Super Rokkor 5cm f/1.8: clean-looking pictures with pleasingly bright colour, a lens it still calls attractive.
e-ektra (blog) — Heavy for its size at 600g for the body, loads easily through the hinged back but the spool barely grips the leader, and Elmar and Hektor lenses foul the self-timer, signs of loose product planning.
Earth, Sun, Film (blog) — Owner of two IIBs found in the US: solid, balanced and dependable once the curtains check out, with a clear finder and bright patch; side-by-side tests found the 45mm f/2.8 and 5cm f/2.8 more capable than their reputation.

History

The Model IIB of 1958 is the last Minolta-35. Chiyoda Kogaku built it on the late Model II body, the angular type b2 with the cast shutter cover and the Open/Shut dial on the base plate. The main changes were these. A single-stroke lever replaced the wind knob, with the frame counter in its hub, and it can also be worked in several short strokes. The finder went from 0.7× to 0.8× on the same 40mm base, an effective base of 32mm, and lost its diopter adjustment. The camera got a new face: black shutter dials and counter with white figures, a reshaped self-timer lever, red index marks and the lower-case “minolta-35” that Minolta used on its SR-2 and later cameras. Everything else is the Minolta-35 as it had been since 1947: a die-cast body taller than a Barnack Leica, a cloth focal-plane shutter to 1/500 on two dials, a self-timer, a hinged back with a fixed take-up spool and one window for both rangefinder and viewfinder. It came with a new standard lens, the Super Rokkor 5cm f/1.8, in a black barrel with a chrome nose, engraved “Chiyoda Kogaku” where earlier lenses read “Chiyoko”. It listed at ¥42,800 with that lens, less than the ¥49,000 the Model II with the 5cm f/2 cost in Japan in March 1957 (a US Department of Commerce figure quoted by Leica Copies Japan).

Most references, Japanese Wikipedia and camera-wiki among them, say the IIB at last took the full 24×36mm Leica frame. Those who have measured one disagree. Leica Copies Japan measured its IIB at about 24×34mm, and Mike Eckman measured negatives from two rolls at 34.5mm wide, spaced further apart than normal. English Wikipedia also gives 24×34. This page follows the measurements. The release date is less contested: May 1958 in most sources, March in Hayata Camera Lab’s article. The October 1958 SR-2 overtook it, and production stopped around the middle of 1959 by Hayata’s account, after about a year by Mike Eckman’s; e-ektra says about two years. miyou55mane has seen bodies from 105,010 to 113,976, and estimates about 9,000 made. miyou55mane found no sub-variants, so a IIB is a IIB. Do not confuse it with the Model II type b: that is the 1955 restyle of the Model II, with the same angular top plate but a knob wind, chrome dials and a “MODEL II” engraving.

When buying, check the shutter curtains first. Earth, Sun, Film names holed, loose or stuck curtains as the usual Minolta-35 fault, and Mike Eckman finds these shutters fail more often than on most screw-mount bodies. The junk IIB on Yahoo! Auctions in October 2026, body 110401, would not fire and was offered with its leather case at a ¥4,470 buy-it-now price. Check the slow speeds on the front dial, which work only with the top dial at its red 1/25 setting. e-ektra warns that the take-up spool does not grip the leader firmly, so it slips out easily; his first roll came back with almost nothing on it. Any Rokkor screw-mount lens fits. Not every Leica-thread lens does: the self-timer sits right beside the mount, and lenses with a low infinity-lock catch, such as the Leitz Elmar 5cm and 3.5cm and the Hektor 2.8cm, hit it and cannot be screwed home. The finder shows only the 50mm field and has no frame lines, so the 3.5cm, 8.5cm and longer Rokkors need an accessory finder in the shoe.

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This history is AI-written, from the sources listed at the foot of the page. Where the record is silent it says so rather than filling the gap — but no human wrote these sentences.

Photographs

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Live listings

【中古】 MINOLTA minolta-35 MODEL IIB ミノルタレンジファインダー革ケース付訳あり — ¥11,000 · Rakuten Rakuma
Minolta-35 MODEL IIB ミノルタ３５モデル ⅡＢケース千代田光学 Lマウント L39 LTM Minolta CHIYODA KOGAKU 2 II B 日本 JAPAN カメラ — from ¥15,500 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-11
minolta-35 モデルIIB レンジファインダーフィルムカメラ Super Rokkor 50mm F1.8 MODEL ⅡB 千代田光学 — from ¥49,800 · Yahoo! Auctions Japan · auction 2026-11-11

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