Minolta Dynax 404si

The Minolta Dynax 404si is an autofocus - SLR . Except for the lock, it was made entirely of plastic (including the bayonet flange) and was one of the most compact and lightest SLR cameras for the 35mm format at the time . Although Minolta mainly aimed at beginners with this camera and equipped it with motif programs in addition to the usual fully automatic, time and aperture automatic functions, functions were also offered that were of particular interest to advanced amateur photographers.

Trip lock

To prevent accidental triggering of the camera with the lens removed , Minolta has provided the camera with a shutter release lock. An officially undocumented way of deactivating the release lock ensures that it can still be used on telescopes , microscopes and third-party lenses (especially those with an M42 thread via adapter ). To do this, set the function wheel to multiple exposure , hold down the P and self-timer buttons at the same time and switch the camera on. The trip lock is then deactivated until it is reactivated in the same way. Other Minolta cameras also have this type of lock, but the method of deactivating them varies from model to model.