Glass Bodies a variant-level encyclopedia of vintage lenses and cameras by iwillpat

Minolta Repo

Minolta · Fixed lens · 18×24 mm on 35mm film · 1962

Also known as: Minolta Repo S · Minolta Repo-S · ミノルタ レポ · ミノルタ レポS

Variants & identification

Variant Mount Years Serial ranges Production
Repo (1962) Half-frame 1962 — No figure published
Repo-S (1964) Half-frame 1964 — No figure published
  1. 1962 or 1963: camera-wiki dates the Repo to 1963 and Ilott Vintage and the reviewing literature to 1962. Minolta's own dating was not found for this entry.
  2. The Repo-S carries a six-element 32mm f/1.8 where the Repo has a three-element 30mm f/2.8 — a different lens, a different shutter. It is here as a variant because Minolta sold it as the Repo's upgrade under the same name, as Olympus did with the Pen D3, and the two are always written about together.
How to tell them apart (expand)
  • A match needle on the top plate rather than in the finder
  • The S has a visibly larger, faster lens than the Repo's small triplet

Repo (1962):

  • Rokkor 30mm f/2.8, a triplet, single-coated
  • Citizen leaf shutter, 1/30–1/250 and B, working EV pairs; selenium match-needle meter read on the top plate
  • Scale focus with indents at 1.2, 3 and 5 m

Repo-S (1964):

  • Rokkor PF 32mm f/1.8, six elements in five groups, amber-coated
  • Seiko shutter, B and 1/8–1/500; selenium meter uncoupled, needle only
  • No accessory shoe, to keep the body small (Ilott Vintage)

Specifications

Format
18×24 mm on 35mm film · 72 exposures
Finder
Direct-vision optical finder · no rangefinder image
Shutter
Leaf: Citizen on the Repo, Seiko on the Repo-S · 1/30 – 1/250 and B (Repo); 1/8 – 1/500 and B (Repo-S)
Film advance
Thumbwheel
Meter
Selenium, match-needle on the top plate; uncoupled on the Repo-S
Country
Japan

Where sources disagree

First
  • 1962 (Ilott Vintage; spaq.in; most collector accounts)
  • 1963 (camera-wiki)

Better supported: Unresolved

One year apart and no Minolta document to settle it.

What reviewers say

History

Minolta made two half-frames and called them both Repo. The first, of 1962 or 1963 depending on whom you read, is a small camera with a single-coated Rokkor 30mm f/2.8 triplet, a Citizen shutter from 1/30 to 1/250 that works in light-value pairs, and a selenium match needle on the top plate rather than in the finder. Focus is by scale, with detents at 1.2, 3 and 5 metres that let the thumb find a zone without looking. The Repo-S of 1964 is the same idea with much more lens: a six-element Rokkor PF 32mm f/1.8, amber-coated, in a Seiko shutter running to 1/500, with the meter still uncoupled and the accessory shoe left off to keep the body small.

Almost nothing has been written about either. The one full account read for this page, a roll through a Repo, found a camera in which every part had been “meticulously designed and produced exactly as it should be,” a triplet sharper than its specification suggests with a soft glow in the highlights, and the two familiar complaints of the class: EV pairing that leaves no choice of speed or aperture, and seventy-two frames to finish. No production figure exists for either.

Expand Collapse

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.

Example photos

Sample photo wanted — shot with a Minolta Repo? We'd love to feature it (with credit).

Live listings

Asking price, USD: a median of $130 across 11 fixed-price listings on 2026-09-06 (middle half $120–$180). First day tracked.

Asking prices from the listings scanned, not sales; junk-flagged rows and auction lots excluded; other currencies are not converted.

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Related: Agfa Parat · Fujica Half

Sources (3)

Every page here is assembled from public sources, and the gaps are real ones. If you own this camera, know a serial number I'm missing, or can see where I have it wrong, tell me — corrections, serials and sample photos are all worth having.