Minolta Dynax 300si: manual and user guide
The Minolta A-mount autofocus SLR, for 35 mm film. Its original manual, then the essentials for using it.
View the manual on butkus.orgOriginal scanned manual · 55 pages · in French and English
Manual scanned and put online free of charge by Mike Butkus, whose library runs on donations. The link opens his model page, where you can download the PDF.
Getting started
- Battery Open the compartment cover by pushing the tab in the direction of the arrow, slip in a 6 V 2CR5 lithium battery as shown on the cover and press firmly to close. Each time you switch on, a symbol shows you the battery status. If it blinks and the camera won’t fire, change the battery.
- Lens Remove the caps, line up the lens’s red index with the red mark on the mount, then turn clockwise until it clicks. To remove it, press the release button and turn the other way.
- Loading In subdued light, open the back by pushing its catch down, put the cartridge in and pull the leader to the red mark, with the film lying flat on the rails. Close the back and set the switch to ON: the film advances by itself and the counter shows 1 (if it blinks, open the back and start again). DX-coded film sets the film speed automatically, from ISO 25 to 5000.
- Your first photo When you switch on, it’s in P mode, fully automatic, and in autofocus. Put the AF frame on the subject, press halfway and wait for the focus signal in the viewfinder, then press the shutter button all the way, smoothly. Until the subject is sharp, it won’t fire.
- Rewinding After the last shot, it rewinds by itself. To rewind before the end, with the camera switched on, press the rewind button. Wait for the counter to show 0 and the film symbol to blink, then open the back and take out the cartridge.
What it can do
- A fully automatic P mode, active every time you switch on, and five subject programs: portrait, landscape, macro, sport and night portrait. Press the program selector several times to cycle through them.
- Shutter speeds from 30 s to 1/2000 s. Exposure is always automatic, in P mode or in one of the subject programs.
- Autofocus that tracks a moving subject, and that you can lock: shutter button halfway on the subject, then reframe without letting go. In Sport mode, it switches to continuous focus by itself.
- Manual focus: press the AF/M selector, M.FOCUS appears, and the viewfinder lamps still help you.
- Two drive modes, single frame or continuous at one frame per second, and a 10 s self-timer, set with the same button. To cancel the countdown, set the switch to LOCK.
The flash
- The built-in flash has a guide number of 12 and covers the field of a 28 mm lens and longer. The flash output is controlled by TTL metering and the flash recycles in about 2 s.
- The flash mode button chooses between AUTO (fires by itself in low light or against the light), forced flash to fill in shadows in broad daylight, and flash cancel. Another button turns on the red-eye reduction pre-flashes.
- Range at f/4: from 1 to 3 m with ISO 100 film, from 1 to 6 m at ISO 400. In low light, it also fires bursts of flashes to help the autofocus, up to about 5 m, except with flash cancel or in Sport mode.
- Remove the lens hood, stay more than a metre away and at 28 mm or longer: with some zooms, the bottom of the picture may come out dark. It can’t be used with the AF 28-70 mm f/2.8, AF 300 mm APO and AF 600 mm APO.
- On the shoe, i, xi and HS series flashes mount directly, an AF 1000 series flash with the FS-1100 adapter. With a 3500xi, 5400xi or 5400HS, the built-in flash can control the flash off-camera, without a cord.
Which lenses?
- Minolta A bayonet mount: according to the manual, all Minolta AF lenses fit.
- The manual describes the AF 35-70 mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom: 7 elements in 7 groups, minimum aperture f/22-27, focusing from 0.5 m, 49 mm filter, 210 g.
- With an xi series lens or a power zoom, manual focusing is done by pulling the control ring backwards, then turning it.
- The angle finder, the viewfinder magnifier and the CD-1000 macro diffuser can’t be used.
Good to know
- Without a DX code, it sets itself to ISO 100. Don’t use infrared film.
- If rewinding stops before the end, whatever you do, don’t open the back: put in a new battery to finish it.
- Never touch the shutter blades, either with your finger or with the film leader.
- According to the manual’s tests at 20 °C, a battery lasts about 70 rolls of 24 exposures without flash, 25 with flash on half the shots, 15 with flash on every shot. It works from -20 to +50 °C. In the cold, keep a spare battery warm in a pocket.
- With the self-timer, if your eye isn’t at the viewfinder, fit the eyepiece cap: stray light would throw off the metering.
Dynax 300si specifications
- Format
- 135 film, 24 × 36 mm frames
- Mount
- Minolta A bayonet, for Minolta AF lenses
- Shutter
- vertical-travel focal-plane, electronically controlled, 30 s to 1/2000 s, flash sync at 1/90 s
- Focusing
- TTL phase-detection autofocus, from EV -1 to 17 (ISO 100), flash burst assist, or manual
- Metering
- TTL, 8-segment honeycomb silicon cell, EV 1 to 20 (ISO 100, 50 mm f/1.4), separate cell for TTL flash
- Sensitivity
- ISO 25 to 5000, automatic by DX code, ISO 100 for uncoded film
- Viewfinder
- fixed roof mirror, 90% coverage, 0.75× magnification (50 mm at infinity), set at -1 dioptre
- Flash
- built-in, guide number 12, covers 28 mm, recycles in about 2 s, accessory shoe
- Power
- one 6 V 2CR5 lithium battery
- Dimensions and weight
- 147 × 101 × 68 mm, 380 g
In the shop
The Minolta Dynax 300si in the workshop
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