Testing a Minolta AF-Sv (aka the “Talker”)
My roll 30 for 2016 at 52Rolls, which catches me up numerically to the end of July. This camera is an oddity, with a nice lens. I will have to run more film through it but with ISO set 2 or 3 stops slower than box speed just to compensate for the meter. Check out the original post at 52Rolls for nearly the whole roll and more opinion about the camera.
A year and a half ago I published a post Testing a Minolta AF-S. For some inexplicable reason that post has been the most viewed on 52Rolls, with half a dozen views pretty much every day. Why? The camera is not all that special, though I do like the lens quality. So, it’s a mystery to me that I’d love to have cleared up in the comments section below.
I recently found a variant, the Minolta AF-Sv, which is in all but one important aspect the same camera. The v in the name is “voice” and that is because this camera, known as the Talker, talks (yes, that’s right) at you. It has a nearly incomprehensible voice telling you (along with warning lights in the viewfinder) there is no film, that it is too dark (in other words use the flash) and check distance when it thinks the subject is…
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burnt embers 
A good camera for people with poor vision but good hearing!
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Hi Val, their hearing would have to be very acute to translate the vintage electronic voice (with Asian accent) into something approaching English. One reviewer says if you fiddle with the on/off switch you can find a sweet spot that gives the instructions in Japanese – I tried but could not get there which is a shame.
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Maybe some instructor is using it as an example of good and clear technical writing?
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Hi Richard – I doubt that very much. Nothing particularly good or clear about it. I think it just comes up, for some reason, as the top item in a google search, a starting place for those interested in the camera (and similar numbered models because it comes up top of the list for them too).
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