Recognise something about this font? Yes you are correct, this font is based on the classic minolta font used on the prism of the early Minolta manual focus slr's from the SR-2 right through to the XD series.

Well known minolta expert and collector Justin Bailey has spent some time working with the true-type font software, and has developed this "minolta classic" font for use in all applications. It is still progressively being upgraded to address issues such as capital letters (unfortunately there are no examples of capitals in minolta literature) and accents, but in the interim it is available for you keen minolta collectors out there to download and use. Of course, as new upgraded versions become available they will be hosted here for download.

You may note that he used the more characteristic m/n humps of the pre-1965 logo, very noticeable even in small point sizes. Not every character looks exactly like it is engraved, some minor differences had to be made for better read-ability. The e in particular has two slightly different forms in different cameras, neither of which was completely satisfactory, so one was made that is very similar to the original minolta 'e' but looks better.

It is more legible in larger point sizes, which is partly due to the bodies of the letters being so short, only the ascenders are tall. I would recommend boosting any document that you'd written in Times New Roman up two points, this is just how some fonts are.

I should also point out that the font displays better on screen at some sizes than others. However, it always prints well (as shown below).

To download the font and install it to your computer, simply follow these directions:

Download the font by right-clicking on the link below and selecting the 'save target as' option. Then select your desktop as the save destination.

Open the start menu and select control panel (or in some operating systems, select start/settings/control panel).

Once at the control panel, click Fonts. Go to 'Install New Font' in the File menu, and choose the MinoltaClv1_2.ttf file from the desktop.

In Mac OSX click Font Book under Applications (found by opening a new Finder window). Choose Add Font from the File menu, and MinoltaClv1_2.ttf (you might be asked to set user privileges if there are multiple profiles on your computer).

When you install it on Windows, the font file will be copied under the name Minolta Classic into the \Windows\Fonts folder. When you install it on a Mac, the file will be moved to the font folder, so if you want to keep a copy you should make a duplicate.

Note: If you are installing a newer version of the font, first remove the old one by locating Minolta in the font management, clicking on it, and pressing Delete. Now you can install the new version clean.

The font should now be installed on your computer, and be available to all applicable programs. To use it, select Minolta from the Font menu in your word processor, graphics editor, or whatever.

This is a TrueType font, it should work with most operating systems and printers (PC TTF fonts will not work on old versions of the Mac OS). You can report bugs to red_bailey[no spam]@hotmail.com. (simply remove the [no spam] before sending).

 

Download the Minolta Font by right-clicking here, and selecting the 'save target as' option. Minolta Classic True Type Font Version 1.2 (80.7 Kb)

 

Minolta Classic is based on the 1958 logo font from the Minolta Camera Co. (Chiyoda Kogaku Seiko, K.K.), which is a registered trade-mark of Konica Minolta Holdings, Inc. The author has licensed it for free, non-commercial use to all Minolta fans. However, donations of Minolta equipment and literature are gladly accepted! Please address any offers of donations or suggestions for improvement to Justin Bailey at the email address above.

My thanks on behalf of all Minolta fans go to Justin for his great work in developing this font for us all to use.