Frogmouth Cottage Photography

Snorkelling with the Minolta Weathermatic A

25 January 2026 Vintage Camera Test
Photograph of the Minolta Weathermatic A lying on a blue towel placed on grass, with a pool in the background.

I found this Minolta Weathermatic A in a box of old photographic “stuff” I acquired. The batteries were still inside and totally corroded, so I didn’t hold out much hope that it would work. But once I got the batteries out, the battery compartment looked fine. After a cleanup of the terminals and putting in some fresh batteries, the light meter was working. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the flash to work, but that didn’t make the camera unusuable. It’s a very odd camera to look at, and awkward to use on land, but get it into the water and it’s really well designed. The large controls are very simple to use, especially underwater. Taking photos doesn’t require a battery as the shutter is mechanical, so if the batteries are flat or not operational the camera can still be used manually.

The Weathermatic A is one of a series of bright yellow underwater cameras produced by Minolta in the 1980s. The “A”model takes 110 film. It’s an all weather camera, described by Minolta as “the ideal do-anything, go-anywhere photographic traveling companion. It is just as at home in a backpack on top of a mountain or skiing down one as it is at the beach or around the pool. Its rugged watertight construction and 110 format conveniences, such as drop-in cartridge film loading, built-in electronic flash, and compact size makes taking quality photos simple and easy in even the most adverse conditions.” It’s waterproof to 5 metres, has a wrist strap and chunky dials and levers that are easy to use underwater, and comes with a wrap-around yellow protective case. Key information about flash distance and focus distance are written on both the strap and the camera.

The first time I took this camera out was on land. It was very awkward to use and I took a lot of photos of my fingers, particularly when taking photos in portrait. It does take a little getting used to.

Photo of the sun setting behind trees and a weatherboard house. The sky is golden colour with a few clouds.
Photograph of a park surrounded by trees with a large curved piece of play equipment in the background. A Person is sitting on a wooden bench facing away from the camera.
Photograph of a windmill with a sign "Chocolate Apple Factory"on it. Next to the windmill are some othe shop buildings. On the lawn in front is a red and white cow sculpture.
Photo of a red vintage convertible car parked alongside a white building with a sign reading "MOVE"on it. In the background is a windmill and a sculpture of a yellow cow with tractor tyres for hind legs.

After testing it’s waterproofness in a sink of water, I brought the camera on holiday with me to Fiji and took it snorkeling. Underwater (or bouncing around on top in a life jacket in my case) the camera was much easier to use. The chunkiness and black and yellow colours really came into their own. No fingers were photographed this time, instead I managed to photograph sharks, coral, fish and my family. My land photos on the beach were much better as well. The hardest part about taking photos underwater was keeping the subject in the viewfinder long enough with all the bouncing around from the water. I preset both the aperture and distance before starting and tried to keep my photos to that depth of field.

Photograph of a yellow canoe on a high stand in front of two rows of hanging yellow life jackets. There are thatched buildings in the background and lush green foliage from a large tree over the top.
Photograph of a pile of mostly grey rocks and pieces of bleached coral.
Photograph a rocky outcrop covered in green foliage jutting out into a green/blue sea.
Photograph of a long speed boat with faded writing along the hull. The boat is sitting at the edge of the beach with blue ocean behind it and lush green mountains in the background.
Photograph of a path leading away from the camera through lush green foliage. In the foreground is an arrow shaped sign reading "Bure 26" pointing to the left.
Photoghraph of a coconut lying on the sand with water lapping around it. The coconut has a large red mark on the top side.

The blue lines through some of the images are an artefact of the lab scans.

The under water photos are definitely the best. All were taken on Lomography Tiger CN 200. I think this is where the camera really shines; some of the land based photos are good too, but the exposure is a lot harder to get right. Underwater I had the camera set to cloudy most of the time and this seemed to work even though the sun was constantly popping in and out of the clouds. On land I think the bright sun resulted in over exposure. All this aside, this camera will definitely be joining me on more beach holidays!

Photo taken underwater of a reef shark with a black tipped fin swimming amongst smaller fish. There are two types of fish - long thin silver fish and black and white stripped fish. The fish are swimming around a can that has been lowered into the water on a string. Another shark can be seen in the bottom right hand corner of the photo.
Photo taken under water of a reef shark with a black tipped top fin.
Photo taken underwater of two stiped fish swimming away from a large piece of coral on the right hand side. A third striped fish is heading in the other direction in the distance below them.
Photo taken under water of coral with sunshine patterns across the surface of the large flat coral.
Photograph taken underwater of a larger flat piece of coral surrounded by other smaller types of coral. The piece closest to the camera is lit by sunlight.
A photo taken underwater of two sets of legs with yellow flippers.

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