Centon DF-300

This Centon DF-300 is a clone of the Minolta X-300 and it even has the Centon-branded lens on it.

Another clone of the Minolta X-300 I picked up recently off eBay.

I just got this camera earlier this week and ran a roll of black and white film through it yesterday. It takes the Minolta MD mount lenses, and you can see I've got one on in the picture. The reason it takes the Minolta mount lenses is because it is an officially licensed camera by Minolta, made in the Chinese Seagull factory and is actually a rebadged Minolta X-300. When Minolta moved their production to China in 1990, they had the Seagull factory take over building their manual-focus cameras. This was one such camera and Seagull used many different names for this camera. I have found at least 13 different names their Minolta X-300 copies went under. Names such as: Centon DF-300 Soligor SR-300 MD Kalimar KX 5000 Vivitar V50 Seagull DF-300 Seagull DF-300A Seagull DF-300X Carena DF-300 Carena SX-300 Phoenix P-3000 Revue DF-300 Safari DF-300 Samyang DF-400x Texer EX-3 Zenit DF-300 Zenit DF-300x Kinon X-380

Each year in my little town, the high school seniors go on a week-long trip to Washington, D.C., and the juniors get to paint their names on the side of this building. They used to paint them on the viaduct before it was torn down. I got to paint my name on the viaduct a long time ago, and still a long time before they tore it down around 1996 or so. These names were part of the Class of 2017. Camera: Centon DF-300 (Minolta X-300 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5, @32mm Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 B&W 35mm Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: F/16 Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec. Date: August 26th, 2016, 4.37 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing chemicals: Caffenol CM-RS: 11 mins. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Ilfostop Stopbath: 1 min. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Hypam Fixer: 7 1/2 mins. Water Rinse: 4 mins. Kodak PhotoFlo 200: 1 min. Centon Fuji Neopan 100 2016 03ef

This is an old building downtown, five blocks from my house. It used to house the Norris City Auto Parts, but hasn't done so for over two decades. Now, it is an antiques store. I've always liked the architecture of the building. Camera: Centon DF-300 (Minolta X-300 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5, @28mm Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 B&W 35mm Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: F/8 Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec. Date: August 26th, 2016, 4.51 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing chemicals: Caffenol CM-RS: 11 mins. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Ilfostop Stopbath: 1 min. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Hypam Fixer: 7 1/2 mins. Water Rinse: 4 mins. Kodak PhotoFlo 200: 1 min. Centon Fuji Neopan 100 2016 08ef

There used to be a building here to the right, with an alleyway that ran between them. Camera: Centon DF-300 (Minolta X-300 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5, @28 Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 B&W 35mm Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: F/8 Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec. Date: August 26th, 2016, 4.54 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing chemicals: Caffenol CM-RS: 11 mins. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Ilfostop Stopbath: 1 min. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Hypam Fixer: 7 1/2 mins. Water Rinse: 4 mins. Kodak PhotoFlo 200: 1 min. Centon Fuji Neopan 100 2016 09df

Brass numbers denoting an address downtown. Camera: Centon DF-300 (Minolta X-300 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, @70mm Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 B&W 35mm Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: F/8 Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec. Date: August 26th, 2016, 5.05 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing chemicals: Caffenol CM-RS: 11 mins. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Ilfostop Stopbath: 1 min. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Hypam Fixer: 7 1/2 mins. Water Rinse: 4 mins. Kodak PhotoFlo 200: 1 min. Centon Fuji Neopan 100 2016 14ef

A flag holder downtown. Camera: Centon DF-300 (Minolta X-300 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5 Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 B&W 35mm, @70mm (macro 1:4) Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: F/8 Shutter Speed: 1/125 sec. Date: August 26th, 2016, 5.08 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing chemicals: Caffenol CM-RS: 11 mins. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Ilfostop Stopbath: 1 min. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Hypam Fixer: 7 1/2 mins. Water Rinse: 4 mins. Kodak PhotoFlo 200: 1 min. Centon Fuji Neopan 100 2016 15df

A local mansion that the owners stopped living in and it sits vacant, unused. They moved to a little house right behind it. It is one of the oldest homes in my little town of Norris City, and is the only mansion. Camera: Centon DF-300 (Minolta X-300 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5, @28mm Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 B&W 35mm Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: F/5.6 Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec. Date: August 26th, 2016, 5.44 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing chemicals: Caffenol CM-RS: 11 mins. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Ilfostop Stopbath: 1 min. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Hypam Fixer: 7 1/2 mins. Water Rinse: 4 mins. Kodak PhotoFlo 200: 1 min. Centon Fuji Neopan 100 2016 22gf

This is the bell that used to be in the Ebenezer Methodist Church, which was founded in 1838. The church was raized back in the early-1980s, but the cemetery remains. I often go to the cemetery to get pictures, as it's only about a mile from my house. Camera: Centon DF-300 (Minolta X-300 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, @40mm Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 B&W 35mm Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: F/8 Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec. Date: August 26th, 2016, 5.48 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing chemicals: Caffenol CM-RS: 11 mins. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Ilfostop Stopbath: 1 min. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Hypam Fixer: 7 1/2 mins. Water Rinse: 4 mins. Kodak PhotoFlo 200: 1 min. Centon Fuji Neopan 100 2016 23df

This is another one of the old headstones located in Ebenezer Cemetery, about a mile from my house. Camera: Centon DF-300 (Minolta X-300 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Zoom 28-70mm, f/3.5, @50mm Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 B&W 35mm Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: F/8 Shutter Speed: 1/60 sec. Date: August 26th, 2016, 6.02 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing chemicals: Caffenol CM-RS: 11 mins. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Ilfostop Stopbath: 1 min. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Hypam Fixer: 7 1/2 mins. Water Rinse: 4 mins. Kodak PhotoFlo 200: 1 min. Centon Fuji Neopan 100 2016 24ef

One of the really old headstones located in the Ebenezer Cemetery, which was founded in 1838. Camera: Centon DF-300 (Minolta X-300 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 B&W 35mm Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: F/1.2 Shutter Speed: 1/250 sec. Date: August 26th, 2016, 6.10 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing chemicals: Caffenol CM-RS: 11 mins. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Ilfostop Stopbath: 1 min. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Hypam Fixer: 7 1/2 mins. Water Rinse: 4 mins. Kodak PhotoFlo 200: 1 min. Centon Fuji Neopan 100 2016 26ff

Three cameras that are identical in design but not name. Two of them are Jazz 206s and one is a Bell and Howell 250. Camera: Centon DF-300 (Minolta X-300 clone) Lens: Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm, f/1.2 Film: Fuji Film Neopan Acros 100 B&W 35mm Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: F/8 Shutter Speed: 1 sec. Date: August 26th, 2016, 8.58 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing chemicals: Caffenol CM-RS: 11 mins. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Ilfostop Stopbath: 1 min. Water Rinse: 1 min. Ilford Hypam Fixer: 7 1/2 mins. Water Rinse: 4 mins. Kodak PhotoFlo 200: 1 min. Centon Fuji Neopan 100 2016 34ef