Minolta Memo (1962)

The Minolta Memo is a 16mm subminiature camera from 1962, one of the more obscure entries in Minolta's early-1960s push into the pocket format. It was a Japanese-made, fixed-lens camera that shot 10×14mm images on 16mm film loaded in cassettes, and it carried a selenium cell exposure meter — meaning it needed no battery to set exposure. At introduction it was priced at ¥9,800.

Documentation on the Memo is thin. What the record shows is a simple, no-frills subminiature — the kind of camera you'd slip into a pocket for a day out. The selenium meter suggests automatic or semi-automatic exposure, but the research provides no focal length, no aperture range, no shutter speed range, and no viewfinder details. Weight, dimensions, and film advance specifics are likewise unrecorded in the sources available. The camera appeared in period retailer guides and electronics advertisements, indicating it was distributed through conventional channels of the era HiFI-Stereo (August 1986, p.127).

It's worth noting the exact relationship between the Memo and Minolta's better-known "Minolta 16" series (the 16, 16 EE, 16 EE2, and 16MG) isn't documented. Collectors today occasionally encounter the Memo at camera fairs or online auctions, but current market values and typical failure points are not recorded. If you own one, you hold a genuinely rare piece of Minolta's subminiature history — one that remains largely undocumented.

Known specifications:

- Film: 16mm in cassettes

- Format: 10×14mm images

- Exposure: Built-in selenium cell meter

- Lens: Fixed-lens (no focal length or aperture documented)

- Introduced: 1962

- Original price: ¥9,800