Minolta 9000: Who uses a Program Back Super 90?

[Andreas Thaler]

There is a multifunctional back for the Minolta (Maxxum) 9000 that probably puts everything comparable in the shade. The energy consumption alone with six SR-44 batteries is certainly a record:

Program Back Super 90​

Program Back Super 90 (PBS90) features: Seven exposure modes, including three user-selectable exposure programs; automatic bracketing of up to 9 exposures; an intervalometer with settings for start time, length of interval, number of exposures per interval, and number of groups of exposures; concealed data imprinting of exposure data, consecutive and fixed numbers, date, or time along edge of frame; and a multi-spot-metering memory that stores up to 8 readings from the camera's built-in meter. The PBS90 is extremely advanced, opens up many interesting possibilities, but is unfortunately very complex to use. It has a bad user interface, with ten small and confusingly labeled rubber buttons where the text wears off quite easily (rendering it impossible to control the back), the LCD display is of low contrast and lacks backlighting, and the back is also fragile. The biggest drawback is in the custom program modes; this is a useful feature, but is hampered by a surprising control issue -- when activating a user program, it is not possible to use the camera's shutter speed and aperture control levers, instead you have to use the small buttons on the back. Also, the imprinting of data still occupies a part of the picture, and forces you to crop pictures afterwards or mount your slides in exactly one way, not giving you the ability to nudge the picture around in the frame. The final straw is that the back is rather thick, moving the physical back of the camera away from the viewfinder, which in turn makes it hard to use for photographers wearing glasses. The back requires six SR44 (V357) button cells, four in a compartment accessible from the back, and two requiring the film compartment to be opened.

www.9000.org - backs

https://www.cameramanuals.org/minolta_pdf/minolta_program_back_super_70-90.pdf

Does anyone use this back on their 9000?

 

[Paul Howell]

Not me, I've been looking for one, the last one saw was more than I am looking to pay.

 

[Andreas Thaler]

Not me, I've been looking for one, the last one saw was more than I am looking to pay.

I have one, but I haven't had the courage to put it into operation yet

 

[neilt3]

I picked up both the 90 and 70 ( for the Minolta 7000AF ) about 20 years ago.
Probably paid less than £20 each for them.
More of a collection piece than to use for their original function, though I have used the intervalometer on them several times .

 

[Andreas Thaler]

I picked up both the 90 and 70 ( for the Minolta 7000AF ) about 20 years ago.
Probably paid less than £20 each for them.
More of a collection piece than to use for their original function, though I have used the intervalometer on them several times .

How did you get on with the controls? They say these are are awful.

 

[neilt3]

How did you get on with the controls? They say these are are awful.

It's a complex piece of kit , to make use of all its functions is very complicated.
One thing that's user adjustable is the set-up for programme mode , but as I shoot in aperture priority or manual exposure mode , this doesn't serve a purpose.
For intervalometer setups , I bought one of these; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15188698...-gdd1HhSPK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Apart from an intervalometer setting , it works as a standard cable release .
You can swap the cable ends to use on several brands of camera .
Much easier to use too .

 

[Andreas Thaler]

It's a complex piece of kit , to make use of all its functions is very complicated.
One thing that's user adjustable is the set-up for programme mode , but as I shoot in aperture priority or manual exposure mode , this doesn't serve a purpose.
For intervalometer setups , I bought one of these; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15188698...-gdd1HhSPK&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
Apart from an intervalometer setting , it works as a standard cable release .
You can swap the cable ends to use on several brands of camera .
Much easier to use too .

Thanks!

 

[ogtronix]

I was so excited about, uh, repairing my camera that I went and bought one of these. It's the thing I was probably most excited about with the 9000AF. I've not had a chance to really use it in anger though outside of the data stamp with exposure info.

I think i'd have to use it more to give a proper review, but the first impression was that it's quite chunky and makes the camera a little more awkward to handle without the motor winder on - like I feel my thumb wants to ride up higher and i'm fighting to keep the thing afloat with my little finger. Although my not 100% faithful recreation of the old front grip out of sugru could be contributing. It's also a shame that it loses the little window to see what film you have loaded in it. The plastic is a different style to the rest of the body and accessories, with a gritty possibly glass-filled feel to it. There's also some chipping around the buttons that were probably there from the factory. Maybe an artifact of this being a low run item?

The LCD is a little on the pale side. Seems this is a result of age though and there might be ways to improve it. But yeah the user interface really is kinda weak. The big problem with it is that it overrides the two jog sliders on the main camera body, so you have to use those little rubber TV remote buttons on the back to adjust aperture or shutter values. With the pale LCD its also a little hard to see exactly what you have selected. The in-finder LCD and top LCD do reflect the selected value... sort of. The back operates in quarters of a stop but displays them as like...

with the 2 meaning 2 quarters of a stop more than 4. But this isn't reflected in the other LCDs so you'd just have to try keep count if you're looking through the viewfinder as you change values. It also means you've gotta mash them buttons quite a bit and I don't believe there's any setting to change the increment value.

The interesting and potentially very useful features like multi-spot metering and auto exposure bracketing only work if using the back's program mode, overriding the camera's controls, unfortunately. It might not be as much of a problem in practice when out and about though since I guess the whole idea is for things to be way more automatic and hands free once set up.

I'm complaining about it a bit, but I still think it's very cool. I especially like the graph showing the exposure value distribution of all the recorded spot meter readings. I'm not sure if any other camera does that. The UI isn't really too complicated either and you can figure out most things (maybe not the bracketing) without a manual. But you should still probably temper expectations if you get one.

 

[Andreas Thaler]

I was so excited about, uh, repairing my camera that I went and bought one of these. It's the thing I was probably most excited about with the 9000AF. I've not had a chance to really use it in anger though outside of the data stamp with exposure info.
View attachment 386895 View attachment 386896 View attachment 386908
I think i'd have to use it more to give a proper review, but the first impression was that it's quite chunky and makes the camera a little more awkward to handle without the motor winder on - like I feel my thumb wants to ride up higher and i'm fighting to keep the thing afloat with my little finger. Although my not 100% faithful recreation of the old front grip out of sugru could be contributing. It's also a shame that it loses the little window to see what film you have loaded in it. The plastic is a different style to the rest of the body and accessories, with a gritty possibly glass-filled feel to it. There's also some chipping around the buttons that were probably there from the factory. Maybe an artifact of this being a low run item?

The LCD is a little on the pale side. Seems this is a result of age though and there might be ways to improve it. But yeah the user interface really is kinda weak. The big problem with it is that it overrides the two jog sliders on the main camera body, so you have to use those little rubber TV remote buttons on the back to adjust aperture or shutter values. With the pale LCD its also a little hard to see exactly what you have selected. The in-finder LCD and top LCD do reflect the selected value... sort of. The back operates in quarters of a stop but displays them as like... View attachment 386915 with the 2 meaning 2 quarters of a stop more than 4. But this isn't reflected in the other LCDs so you'd just have to try keep count if you're looking through the viewfinder as you change values. It also means you've gotta mash them buttons quite a bit and I don't believe there's any setting to change the increment value.

The interesting and potentially very useful features like multi-spot metering and auto exposure bracketing only work if using the back's program mode, overriding the camera's controls, unfortunately. It might not be as much of a problem in practice when out and about though since I guess the whole idea is for things to be way more automatic and hands free once set up.

I'm complaining about it a bit, but I still think it's very cool. I especially like the graph showing the exposure value distribution of all the recorded spot meter readings. I'm not sure if any other camera does that. The UI isn't really too complicated either and you can figure out most things (maybe not the bracketing) without a manual. But you should still probably temper expectations if you get one.

Thanks for the report!

A wonderful toy with possibilities that lead you into new areas of application.

Together with the system flash 4000 AF, the CG-1000 powergrip set and the motor drive md-90 with bp-90 battery holder, a real photo robot

 

[ogtronix]

Was playing around with the super program back and found a trick to let you have focus priority without continuous shooting. The back is nice enough to have the continuous winding halt at the end of a bracketing sequence, and it also lets you set a bracketing sequence of just a single frame. Doing so of course has it halt after every shot till you disable bracketing mode.