The Minolta V2 (Rangefinder)

Posted by: Tim Lewis aka Paps July 11, 2025

The Minolta V2 (Rangefinder)

Minolta V2 Rangefinder

A lot of folks are not old enough to remember, but in the heyday of film, Minolta was at the top of the food chain for several years. For many of us growing up in those days, our dream cameras were Minoltas, and it was for good reason. Serious photographers carried serious cameras, and Minolta was among them.

My generation grew up in the SLR onslaught of photography. We had the point-and-shoots and pocket cameras that were very affordable, most using 120 film, but the pros used SLRs. Their appearance virtually made rangefinders vanish from most catalogues. You could see through the lens, you could easily snap on (or screw on) different focal lengths, and they were built like submarines.

Before this change, though, most companies in the '50s and '60s were in the preliminary stages of the "technology war" that would follow and that still continues today. Rangefinder technology was changing by the late '50s, and cameras were becoming more and more advanced. Each camera manufacturer tried to offer the public something the other companies had not developed yet, and many of the features would be instantly carried over onto SLRs.

Onboard light meters, changeable lenses, and faster shutters were making cameras more and more capable. Even if those advancements use questionable methods, like in the case of the Minolta V2 rangefinder (something I'll get into later). The reality was that companies had to compete or die, and a culmination of rangefinder advancements converged in the world of Minolta around 1958.

This peak, for Minolta, would be short-lived. The V2, introduced that year, was followed by the V3 but preceded by the V1. Minolta would continue to make other rangefinders up until the 1980s, such as the CLE, but they shifted their primary focus to SLRs after the V3. Also, many of the rangefinders that would follow would incorporate some type of electronics and automatic functions that the V series did not have (with the exception of the V3's light meter).

The Minolta V2 is not an easy camera to find on eBay, and the V3 is even harder, particularly for working models that have been tested. The claim to greatness that Minolta had counted on with the V2 was an incredibly fast leaf shutter in a camera that contained no electronics. Not even a meter. The V1 claimed a shutter speed of 1/1000th in a world where the ceiling only required two zeros (1/500th). The V2 bumped that up to 1/2000th, and the V3 went even faster at 1/3000th, or at least they 'kind of' did.

Keeping in mind that in those days, the real test of a fast shutter speed was how quickly it could stop action in a frame, it can be argued that Minolta did exactly what they set out to do. They built a tank of a camera with an incredibly fast shutter that required no batteries to operate. Today, we take for granted the ability to open our aperture wide and create bokeh with fast shutter speeds. The faster the shutter, the wider the aperture. However, this was not the primary concern of past photographers. They wanted to capture athletes in mid-air and birds in flight. They had much less lofty demands than we do today.

That's not to suggest that bokeh cannot be created with ND filters on the slower shutters. But it was not a selling point for gear, like it is today. It's difficult to find a review on a lens today that doesn't get around to the "bokeh" discussion. And while it can be argued that creating bokeh is the easiest part of photography, we'll save all of that for another day.

The V2 was only produced for about 18 months, and the V3 release cut its debut short. This adds to the difficulty in locating one. The copy I am reviewing came from Japan, with a case. Listed as Mint +5, with shipping, I paid about $140.00. They can be found for much less, but given the small number of them around, I wanted to be certain that I didn'thave to spend hours repairing one before I could use it.

On a side note, I have learned from buying many vintage cameras to always spend a little more money on those that are listed as including the original case. The odds of a functional camera are greatly increased because the camera was probably well stored inside that same case before it was discovered and sold.

The specs are as follows for the V2....

35mm, with a fixed 45mm f/2 Rokkor-PF lens. This lens is well regarded for sharpness and clarity, but being a Rokkor, this is not a surprise.
The lens is manual focus, of course, there are no electronics in the camera, not even a meter. The minimum focusing distance is 2.6 feet.
The viewfinder contains automatic parallax correction and a bright yellow lumi-frame for framing the image. I am fortunate in that my copy has somehow defied the typical vintage rangefinder plague (the faded or missing focusing paint on the rangefinder mirror), and it is easy to focus.
The shutter, as stated (with soon-to-be-explained caveats), is 1 second to 1/2000th second plus Bulb.
There is a cold shoe mounted on top, and mine also has a self-timer that I find annoyingly placed on the lens barrel.

Now on to the shutter explanation. The only way to obtain speeds like 1/1000 and 1/2000 on a non-electric leaf shutter was to not allow the leaf shutter to open all of the way. The shutter blades are angled, and this restricts the actual aperture to the following....

f/4 at 1/1000th and f/8 at 1/2000th. These are color coded on the barrel, 1/1000 in blue and 1/2000 in red, with the same on the aperture dial. Blue f/4 to f/22 and red f/8 to f/22 lines are on the barrel, as a reminder.

This camera is heavy, heavier than cameras of its era. 784 grams vs Leica's M3 at 580 grams, but this was by design to increase its durability. The shutter speeds available (even if only really usable in bright sunlight with fast film) were a milestone and the marketing point for the V2. It predated Canon's R2000 by over a year.

For some reason, Minolta was in such a hurry to release the V3 with an even faster shutter that they somewhat tripped over themselves and cut its production short. Then, shortly after the release of the V3, the Nikon F SLR was released, and the rest, as they say, was history.

The V2, in theory, has a mechanical interconnection that prevents the user from accidentally setting the aperture beyond the limits designed for the 1/1000th and 1/2000th shutter. Apparently, on my copy, this connection is either broken or has been 'repaired' by someone who did not get it reassembled properly. So in my case, I have to use caution and pay close attention to the lines on the lens barrel in order not to underexpose my images by selecting a dysfunctional aperture setting for the two fastest speeds.

The camera was designed with a Light Value System, which, on a properly functioning model, would prevent the wrongaperture setting with the wrong shutter speed. Similar to an EV system, it would also make it possible to change both the aperture and the shutter in one turn, maintaining the relationship between the two for proper exposure. Sadly, mine does not have that function either.

While I've pointed out the downside to the limits on the faster shutter speeds, specifically the need to still use an ND filter in order to open the aperture wide in bright light, let me point out an overlooked positive. On vintage cameras with only a 1/500th top shutter speed, I often find myself 'maxed out' in bright sun in order not to overexpose the image. Even with the shutter at 1/500th, I often have to close the aperture all of the way down to keep from putting a filter on the lens.Not exactly the best scenario for using any lens at its sharpest.

This particular 45mm by Rokkor shoots sharpest between f5.6 and f8 (as most do). With a slower shutter speed, unless I used a filter, I would rarely be in this 'sweet' spot while shooting in bright light. But even with the limitations of the 1/2000th speed, I can keep this lens at f8 and still be well exposed while knowing that I only need to change the shutter speed as the light changes. Quite a difference in the cameras of this era. At f8, I am using the lens at its best, and I have all of the shutter speeds at my fingertips in order to keep it there.

Shooting with this camera reminds me why I struggle to enjoy using rangefinders. I find myself being slowed down as I struggle to focus. In addition to my old eyes trying to discern if the image is split or whole, I also have to stop with each new lighting condition and take a reading from my lightmeter app on my phone. Or I have to have to give it my best guess.

For me, personally, this is why I dislike manual rangefinders. Particularly those without meters. They have two 'choke-points' that distract me from thinking about the image itself and force me to focus on equipment. There are probably many out there who do not feel this way, and I salute them. But for me, if I use a rangefinder, I am much more relaxed and focused on things around me if I have some type of meter and/or automation in the camera. Models such as the Hi-matic 9 or the AL-F are examples.

The Snap

Would I buy this camera again, if it stopped working? Probably not. Given the slew of choices out there, even within the Minolta line-up, I would probably choose one of the models I described above. Could I recommend this camera to others? I could, as long as I could make them understand its limitations and they had a firm understanding of rangefinders in general.

One thing I have noticed about Minolta rangefinder cameras is that they all produce great photos and many use similar lenses. Our choices in cameras boil down to the experience of using them, particularly given the freedom to choose across time spans of decades, to find one we like best. A freedom that didn't exist for users when many of these cameras were released.