Carena DF-300

This Carena DF-300 is a licensed copy of the Minolta X-300 SLR, made by the Seagull Camera Co. in Shanghai. I just repaired this camera earlier this year, 2019, ran two rolls of film through it and already I'm loving it!

Last night I soldered a new capacitor into my Carena DF-300 and now it works perfectly! There was a known capacitor issue in the Minolta X-300/X-370 cameras where a cheaper capacitor was used and it goes bad a lot of the times. This Carena DF-300 is a fully licensed copy of the Minolta X-300 and it was made in China, so this fix applies to the X-300/X-370 in general. To describe the capacitor issue, I've found that if the camera has fresh batteries, you turn on the camera and use the self-timer mode. If the light on the front of the self-timer flashes properly and then the camera just does nothing after 10 seconds, this indicates the capacitor is bad and needs replacing. This has always been the case for me, because I have about 17 of these Minolta cameras and licensed copies and a half-dozen or so has needed a new capacitor. The white arrow points to the area where the capacitor is. Between the base plate and the bottom of the camera, you can see one of the new, thinner capacitors and the older, fatter one I replaced. Hope this helps everybody out there who wants to fix their cameras. It's really not that hard of a job to do. I also want to point out that it seems you need to put the new capacitor in in a certain way. Along one side of the capacitor seems to be arrow point down. These need to go to the right side as show in the picture above - to the outer edge of the camera. I'm not sure if this makes a difference, but I must have got a few installed backwards and when I refixed them, keeping the arrows to the correct side, this has solved the problem. Your mileage may vary, of course. As an additional aid, to take off the base plate, there are four tiny screws that hold it on. Two longer ones on each end and two shorter ones toward the middle. I've found that the two longer ones are usually the hardest to get loose, while the two shorter ones come out real easy. And that's all there is to getting into where the capacitor is located.

A little quiet spot downtown. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Foma Fomapan Classic 100 B&W Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/8 Shutter Speed: 1/30 Date: February 22nd, 2019, 2.21 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals at 68 degrees Water pre-soak: 5 minutes Caffenol CM-RS: 11 minutes Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Ilfostop stopbath: 1 minute Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Hypam fixer: 9 minutes Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo-Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF-300 Foma 100 Feb 2019 04ef

An old Smokey Bear sign. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Foma Fomapan Classic 100 B&W Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/11 Shutter Speed: 1/125 Date: February 22nd, 2019, 12.11 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals at 68 degrees Water pre-soak: 5 minutes Caffenol CM-RS: 11 minutes Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Ilfostop stopbath: 1 minute Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Hypam fixer: 9 minutes Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo-Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF-300 Foma 100 Feb 2019 18ef

A picturesque old barn out in the country near my town. I've been photographing this same barn since back in the 1970s. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5, @35mm Film: Foma Fomapan Classic 100 B&W Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/8 Shutter Speed: 1/60 Date: February 22nd, 2019, 12.25 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals at 68 degrees Water pre-soak: 5 minutes Caffenol CM-RS: 11 minutes Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Ilfostop stopbath: 1 minute Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Hypam fixer: 9 minutes Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo-Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF-300 Foma 100 Feb 2019 20ef

These two birds were actually about 20 feet apart and only looked like they were beak to beak. The picture isn't real sharp because I only had a few seconds to switch lenses and shoot out the car window before they moved. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 70-210mm, f/4, @210mm Film: Foma Fomapan Classic 100 B&W Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/8 Shutter Speed: 1/125 Date: February 22nd, 2019, 12.33 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals at 68 degrees Water pre-soak: 5 minutes Caffenol CM-RS: 11 minutes Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Ilfostop stopbath: 1 minute Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Hypam fixer: 9 minutes Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo-Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF-300 Foma 100 Feb 2019 21gf

An old headstone near our town’s reservoir. Thomas Langford fought in the Blackhawk Wars of 1832. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Foma Fomapan Classic 100 B&W 35mm Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/125 Date: February 22nd, 2019, 3.11 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals at 68 degrees Water pre-soak: 5 minutes Caffenol CM-RS: 11 minutes Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Ilfostop stopbath: 1 minute Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Hypam fixer: 9 minutes Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo-Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF-300 Foma 100 Feb 2019 23df

Cattails at the edge of our local reservoir. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Foma Fomapan Classic 100 B&W Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/125 Date: February 22nd, 2019, 3.14 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals at 68 degrees Water pre-soak: 5 minutes Caffenol CM-RS: 11 minutes Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Ilfostop stopbath: 1 minute Water rinse: 1 minute Ilford Hypam fixer: 9 minutes Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo-Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF-300 Foma 100 Feb 2019 24ef

I canned up this goulash this past weekend of June 8th and 9th, 2019. I was down to only three quart jars of it, so I had to do some more to build my stock back up a little. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Agfa Photo Vista Plus 400 Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/11 Shutter Speed: 1 second Date: June 10th, 2019, 6.43 a.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF Agfa Vista 400 June 2019 0ff

A small brush pile I was burning in my yard. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Agfa Photo Vista Plus 400 Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/11 Shutter Speed: 1/500 Date: June 11th, 2019, 12.24 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF Agfa Vista 400 June 2019 12df

One of my favorite drive-in restaurants. They have a foot-long chili cheese dog that is my favorite menu item. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Agfa Photo Vista Plus 400 Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/1.2 Shutter Speed: 1/30 Date: June 14th, 2019, 9.23 p.m. Location: Harrisburg, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF Agfa Vista 400 June 2019 17ff

One of the items on Sonic's dessert menu is this ice cream sandwich that looks like a giant Oreo cookie. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Agfa Photo Vista Plus 400 Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/1.2 Shutter Speed: 1/30 Date: June 14th, 2019, 10.12 p.m. Location: Harrisburg, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF Agfa Vista 400 June 2019 18ef

My front porch, which I really enjoy. Sometimes when I have lots of guest over, I can bring more chairs up from the back porch. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5, @ 28mm Film: Agfa Photo Vista Plus 400 Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/3.5 Shutter Speed: 1/30 Date: June 16th, 2019, 12.49 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF Agfa Vista 400 June 2019 19ef

I hosted a cookout at my house the other day and grilled out some polish sausages, franks and hot dogs. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5, @40mm Film: Agfa Photo Vista Plus 400 Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/8 Shutter Speed: 1/60 Date: June 15th, 2019, 6.33 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF Agfa Vista 400 June 2019 20ef

An old cannon located at Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Agfa Photo Vista Plus 400 (expired 02/2017) Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/8 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Date: June 25th, 2019, 4.19 p.m. Location: Mt. Vernon, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF Agfa Vista 400 June 2019 25df

This bas-relief was about 3 stories high, cut into the side of a church in Mt. Vernon, Illinois Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Agfa Photo Vista Plus 400 Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/11 Shutter Speed: 1/250 Date: June 25th, 2019, 4.25 p.m. Location: Mt. Vernon, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF Agfa Vista 400 June 2019 26ef

I thought these penguins had charm. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Agfa Photo Vista Plus 400 Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/8 Shutter Speed: 1/500 Date: June 25th, 2019, 4.43 p.m. Location: Mt. Vernon, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF Agfa Vista 400 June 2019 28ff

This is the old train depot that sits in Dahlgren, Illinois. Camera: Carena DF-300 (Minolta X-300/X-370 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Agfa Photo Vista Plus 400 Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/8 Shutter Speed: 1/1000 Date: June 25th, 2019, 5.13 p.m. Location: Dahlgren, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo Flo 200: 1 minute Carena DF Agfa Vista 400 June 2019 31df