We LOVE the Minolta Riva Zoom range of cameras and decided to take one of them for a weekend away. This is our full review and gallery of the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom.
What is the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom?
The Minolta 150 Riva Zoom is a lovely little camera. It is fully automatic, and has a good range of functions. The Minolta 150 Riva Zoom was manufactured in the year 2000, making it of the most recent 35mm film cameras.
The camera is compact and has a lovely metal front plate. One of our favourite things about the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom (and its other Riva Zoom counterparts) is how quiet the camera is.
A lot of automatic 35mm film cameras have loud motors in their lenses and are quite noticeable when you turn the camera on and off. Somehow, the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom film cameras are really, really quiet.
As well as this, their buttons and mechanisms feel really sleek and high quality.
What features does the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom have?
The Minolta 150 Riva Zoom has all the functions you would expect from a 35mm point and shoot film camera.
The main features of the camera:
- Fully automatic settings
- 37.5mm to 150mm zoom lens
- DX coding for ISO settings
- Built-in flash
- Self-timer
- Red eye reduction setting
- Weighs under 200g without the battery
Sample Images with the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom
We took the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom on a weekend away to Cornwall and really enjoyed using it. The camera was so quick to focus that we didn't miss any great moments.
The camera powered on and was ready to take photographs within a matter of seconds. It was light and easy to carry with us everywhere.
Whilst the camera did show some slight chromatic aberration on a few of the shots, these were mainly when the lens was extended to the full 150mm. At the other focal lengths, the lens of the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom performed really well.
The autofocus of the camera was also particularly impressive. The camera was quick to focus, and the focus was accurate in all of the shots we received, whether they were close-up or far away.
Is the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom good quality?
As you can see from the sample images from the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom, the camera has a good quality lens. The lens performed well when zoomed out, but did perform much better when not zoomed all the way out to 150mm.
Whether the lens was zoomed in or out, the autofocus was very quick and accurate. It is an ideal camera for people who like stealthy film cameras. Not only because of how quick the camera can be, but also because of how quiet the mechanisms are.
The Minolta 150 Riva Zoom feels very high quality, with satisfying clicks on each button. The mechanisms are really quiet and this also gives it the luxury feel.
Overall, after using many 35mm point and shoot film cameras, the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom feels like one of the most luxury, affordable 35mm film cameras. Its lens is good and can keep up with the amateur photographer easily and effectively.
We highly recommend the Minolta 150 Riva Zoom for people new to film, people looking for a camera to take quick images, and those who like a stealthy, compact point and shoot film camera.
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Article written by: Max
Max is the owner of Cameras By Max. They work full-time repairing and refurbishing all the 35mm film cameras you see on the website. Their favourite camera (at the moment) is the Olympus XA, and their favourite city in the world is Edinburgh.