Minolta's flagship APS SLR of 1996 — interchangeable V-mount lenses, 14-segment metering, splashproof body.
The Minolta Vectis S-1 was the flagship of Minolta's two APS-format autofocus SLRs, launched in 1996 with the Advanced Photo System and built around the purpose-designed Minolta V lens mount. Minolta developed a full set of V lenses for it, from a 17mm wide-angle to a 400mm reflex telephoto, and the body was made in Malaysia; the later RD 3000 digital SLR shared the same mount.
It offers program, aperture-priority, shutter-priority and manual exposure plus five subject programs, metered by a 14-segment honeycomb pattern switchable to spot. Autofocus is CCD phase-detection with manual override on most lenses; shutter speeds run 30s to 1/2000s with 1/125s flash sync. A built-in guide-number-14 flash doubles as AF assist, a porro-mirror finder replaces the pentaprism for a splashproof low-profile body, and power is two CR2 cells; weight is 365g.
The mirror finder puts the eyepiece at the left of the back, unusual but flat and light, and with the compact 22-80mm and 80-240mm zooms it made a small travel kit. It suits collectors of the APS experiment and anyone wanting a full-featured SLR in miniature; an adapter even allowed Dynax A-mount lenses.
APS film ended production in 2011, so the S-1 shoots only expired stock and many examples now trade as collectables or with V lenses bought for adapting to Sony E via the MonsterAdapter. Check the camera powers up on CR2 cells, the film door motor cycles, the pop-up flash charges, and the top LCD is unbled; V-mount lenses have electronic aperture control, so a dead body cannot exercise them.