The Minolta Vectis 300

Do you remember the APS format?  It was around for a short time in the 1990s and quickly followed the way of disc film as well as disco of the 1980s.  In retrospect it seemed like a last gasp of air for point and shoot film cameras before they pretty much went under.  And yes there even were underwater APS cameras as well (i.e. Canon Elph Sport, Minolta Vectis Weathermatic).

Some APS cameras were quite sleek and stylish such as the Canon stainless steel clad Elph series. (Visit the Canon Camera Museum). Minolta jumped on the stainless steel APS band wagon with the Vectis 300 in 1998.  I remember looking at one of these when they first came out at my local camera store (remember those?).  I kind of toyed with the idea of buying one but I wasn’t impressed with it overall. The Vectis 300 that I remember being on sale was silver in color and virtually all of the printed references to the camera such as magazine reviews (December 1998 Popular Photography) and advertisements portrayed this same silver colored stainless steel camera. So when I found one of these stylishly dressed up in black at a used goods discount store I was intrigued.  I don’t know if this is really a “collectible” but it does seem to be obscure if not rare. At a ridiculously low price of five dollars here it is alongside a banged up Canon Elph 2 ($3)!!!  (Shown in closed lens / off position because batteries are dead or cameras don’t work or both!)