TC-1 is a luxury

point and shoot camera A point-and-shoot camera, also known as a compact camera and sometimes abbreviated to P&S, is a still camera (either film or digital) designed primarily for simple operation. Most use focus free lenses or autofocus for focusing, automatic syste ...

that was produced by

Minolta was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, lenses, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It made the first integrated ...

. It is a compact 35 mm clad in

titanium Titanium is a chemical element; it has symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

, equipped with a G- Rokkor 28mm 3.5

lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

. The TC-1 was equipped with a high quality lens and body, similar to other luxury compacts produced during the

Japanese bubble economy The was an economic bubble in Japan from 1986 to 1991 in which real estate and stock market prices were greatly inflated. In early 1992, this price bubble burst and the country's economy stagnated. The bubble was characterized by rapid acceler ...

era, including the Contax T line, Konica Hexar, Leica minilux, Nikon 28/35Ti, Ricoh GR series, and Rollei QZ 35W/35T. Expensive when initially released in 1996 with a suggested retail price of , it was produced in small numbers and since then has become collectible.

Design

According to Minolta, development of the TC-1 began when an engineer questioned why SLRs were too bulky to carry day-to-day, but compact cameras sacrificed image quality. It took experienced technicians 45 minutes to assemble a single camera by hand, as the 150+ delicate, miniaturized parts used were not suited for a high-volume assembly line. The outer shell is made of titanium, which gave the camera its name ("Titanium Clad"). It is approximately the same volume as three 35mm film cartridges. The camera operates in aperture-priority autoexposure, with four selectable aperture settings of , 5.6, 8, or 16. Exposure compensation of up to ±4 EV is possible in EV steps. One uncommon feature is the diaphragm, which used discrete circular

Waterhouse stop The Waterhouse stop or Waterhouse diaphragm is an interchangeable diaphragm with an aperture (hole) for controlling the entry of light into a camera. A thin piece of metal (the diaphragm) is drilled with a hole (the aperture); a set of these wi ...

s rather than a iris with multiple diaphragm blades. It has received praise for its ''

bokeh In photography, bokeh ( or ; ) is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in out-of-focus parts of an image, whether foreground or background or both. It is created by using a wide aperture lens. Some photographers incorrectly restr ...

'' (out-of-focus characteristics). In 1996, the Camera Journal Press Club of Japan awarded the TC-1 with the Camera Grand Prix. A special edition for the Japanese domestic market, finished in black, was built to celebrate Minolta's 70th anniversary in 1998 and limited to 2500 examples. As part of the same anniversary, 2000 examples of the ''G-Rokkor'' lens from the TC-1 were sold as a limited-production interchangeable lens in

M39 lens mount The M39 lens mount is a screw thread mounting system for attaching lenses to 35 mm cameras, primarily rangefinder (RF) Leicas. It is also the most common mount for Photographic enlarger lenses. True Leica Thread-Mount (LTM) is 39 mm in ...

; unlike the TC-1, the M39 version of the ''G-Rokkor'' was equipped with a 9-blade iris diaphragm, offering the additional aperture settings of , 11, and 22. All versions of the TC-1 were discontinued by 2007 and has become collectible since then.

Operation

The TC-1 controls and display are provided on the top panel, with the exception of the aperture selector lever, which is on the lens. A small leather patch on the front of the camera facilitates grip by the right hand. The button furthest to the right, when the camera is held by the photographer, is the shutter release. The photographer's right index finger is intended to select the aperture, then use the shutter release button. On the front edge of the camera is a slider which adjusts settings according to the position of the control dial. When the dial is in "HOLD" position, it is locked and the central button is required to turn the dial to the appropriate manual control. Moving clockwise from "HOLD", the camera provides controls for flash mode (on / off / "night-portrait" or fill), red-eye reduction,

self timer A self-timer is a device on a camera that gives a delay between pressing the shutter release and the shutter's firing. It is most commonly used to allow the photographer to take a photo of themselves (often with a group of other people), henc ...

(2 and 10 seconds), ISO (manual film speed), autofocus / manual focus distance, and

exposure compensation Exposure compensation is a technique for adjusting the exposure indicated by a photographic exposure meter, in consideration of factors that may cause the indicated exposure to result in a less-than-optimal image. Factors considered may include ...

. A button on the top edge of the rear panel, just under the control dial, engages the spot meter. The button between the setting adjustment slider and dial resets the focus mode to autofocus. On the left edge of the camera, a backlit LCD display provides feedback on settings while they are being adjusted. Illumination is turned on by a button just below the display on the top edge of the camera's back.

References

External links

* * Minolta cameras Point-and-shoot cameras 135 film cameras {{photo-stub