Just curious, having two X-700's myself, as to what exactly the XD-11 can do that the X-700 can't? Can the XD-11 mount the MD-1 motor drive, or does it have one that can shoot at the MD-1's 3.5fps?
I'm sure many Minolta users would love to hear more about your relationship with Minolta. I'd personally love to know why they left the camera business and why their first DSLR took so long to come out.
There are few short answers to your questions.
The XD-11 conceptual is different form nearly every camera before or since. The intent was to build a full featured camera specifically designed to meet the real world requirements of a photojournalist focused working pro. A ultra flexible, fast responding, unit with no unnecessary frills added. The result contained invisible but highly appreciated capabilities. Things like balance, response, a near total lack of vibration and shock, minimum of controls, all functions viewable in the finder, and the worlds most sophisticated exposure system were of the most important aspects of the design. A system needed by the folks who shot Kodachrome (II and 64) and of necessity bracketed exposures as a matter of course when a shot really mattered and was static. A very real ease of use issue.The shutter release is electrical and the camera is turned on by touch. There is little or no delay between pressing the shutter release and the actual firing of the shutter, which is also done electrically. Substituting magnets and electronics for gears and springs, there are few mechanical parts to the shutter system, and is controlled by a microprocessor and is dead accurate and repeatable because of this. The action is very soft and impact free, and mirror lock was eliminated as not necessary, and the XK filled that perceived need anyway. Unlike the X-700 the shutter is titanium and runs vertical allowing for a higher flash sync speed. The flash system was intended for high voltage heavy duty use with professional flash systems like Balcar and Broncolor. The ultra useful groundglasses were interchangeable, but not by the user to insure accuracy and to keep the finder sealed from dust and dirt. You ordered your cameras with whatever groundglass you preferred. All were the then revolutionary Minolta accumatt type now standard on Hasselblad and Rollei and almost copied by many others. The all metal structure existed to maximize the robustness of the system and to provide strength and long term integrity which was a major problem for the pro at the time with most cameras regardless of source. (This was a common concern in all top level Minolta cameras from the SR-M forward). Although quite capable of the addition of a motor faster than the 3 frame per 2 second winder which was an intended integral part of the XD-11 design, such a device was never offered since it was contrary to any known need or desire, required a reload after 10 seconds, and was contrary to very concept which was intended to answer, added unwanted weight and bulk, and since there was the XK motor it was totally redundant and wholly unnecessary. Minolta culture demands that a high speed motorized camera is of dubious real world value without a motorized re-wind. My Leica M's were motorized anyway and were almost never taken off the low speed, which turned the motor into a winder, and my opinion was a factor in the final camera.
All this added up to a marketing nightmare. Features that were more subjective and hidden than glaringly obvious. Capabilities understood by users were all but invisible to the prospective customer and remote to posers and the unaware. Strengths intended for folks who thought nothing of putting 20 or more rolls of film through their cameras per day, every day. (about average for a magazine or annual report assignment at the time, I went through a case or more of Kodachrome, I.E. 300 rolls, every month). The person this camera was best suited for rarely if ever even glanced at a consumer photo fan magazine. Worse yet was the fact that this was a highly thought out working photographers tool which looked identical to the other cameras intended for the hobbyist and occasional snapshooter whose single camera lived in a dresser drawer loaded with very forgiving color negative film, and the XD-11 inexplicably cost twice or more as much as the X-700. The only obvious advantage held by the XD-11 was the ability to work perfectly and automatically in any mode, shutter or aperture priority and still provide all info in the viewfinder. This drove the headline bred marketing types to catatonic states. Touchy feeley stuff, subjective realities, bullet proof long term sustainable virtues, and valuable qualities that preserved reputations and income, were incomprehensible in the fierce fiction filled marketplace driven by Pop Photo, payola, quiet money, simple graft, ad space, distributors and Shutterbug.
For those who do not know- Kodak in Fairlawn N.J. picked up from the pro labs in NY in the evening and the film was back late morning the next day. The film was highly predictable for the high volume users since you could specify the emulsion batch you wanted and you could have a film supply devoid of fluctuations for months. This was very important to use since we could go a very long time before we actually saw most of what we shot. One way to infuriate a picture editor was to give them tons of identical images from overuse of motorized film eaters, to wade through (variation was desired, duplication bred hostility, bracketing was an essential accepted evil) as well as becoming a real burden you in terms of constant reloading. A winder met all needs on 99% of assignments. The high speed motorized 250 exposure XK or SR-M rig waited in the corner or trunk with the Hasselblad EL/70 exposure rig for use when needed.
This is getting far to lengthy. There is even more to the story. Suffice it to say. Minolta was very different for the others. It was run by one man, Sam K. from the first year when it sold a total of $25,000 worth of product till the end when it was selling $2 Billion a year. Sam is a great guy by anyones measure and possesses quite a unusual mind for a business person. He is fair and considerate almost to a fault, clever and funny to everyone's surprise. His Minolta like the mothership in Osaka marched to its own different drummer. It was a company driven by product people, all of which had their own personal passion for photography. Even the manufacturing side was driven by passion about what they did. Meeting Minolta people was always a refreshingly different, valuable experience. I was a Nikon (EPOI) stockholder and I personally knew the entire executive hoard. I was a Leica "favored photographer" and had many friends there. I Knew Victor Hasselblad. I knew people at most of the others. Kodak had a photographer and reporter covering me using the first Autofocus Minolta's to shoot the Live Aide concert for Life Magazine. I was very well connected within the photo biz.
The people of Minolta were a breed apart. An entire company driven by photography, light and creativity. Originally family owned, modern corporate precepts were in every way secondary to the mission of understanding, creating, and making things that were distinctive, laudable, original, and worthy of intense pride of accomplishment. A big part of what they did was patents, sub systems and components used by other manufacturers. Retail cameras were almost a second thought to thought itself. (which is what Minolta has resolved to, today). They never seemed to really care about selling cameras, sales numbers, or the dynamics of the marketplace, unlike almost every other Japanese camera company. Only Kyosera, (Contax/Yashica) and maybe Fuji were close to being as extreme as Minolta.
The sales department was a fraction of the size of the other big camera companies. The mission was totally different. Some like Nikon, Konica, Sigma, Pentax were driven by marketing which planned product based on perceived saleability and market control. Sell, sell,sell. Canon, Olympus, Mamiyia by accountants who allowed high quality product based on ultimate profit potential. Produce, produce, produce. Minolta, Contax and parts of Canon and Fuji were driven by research, innovation, the factories, and sheer passion for what they did. Originate. innovate, manufacture.
Minolta culture gave us the XK, XD-11 and ultimately the Maxxum. It also impeded Minoltas' commitment to what we call the DSLR. Minolta was deeply aware of the realities of digital design and the attendant pitfalls. They were the first camera company to embrace them broadly. The groundbreaking, industry defining, Maxxum 7000 was little more than a microcomputer connected to a few magnets and motors, a film transport and a viewing system. It defined SLR camera design for the last 25 years. It began with the XD-11, and the quest to eliminate every mechanical, and tension based subsystem which were prone to wear, aging, inaccuracy and required maintenance, which was the cornerstone of the concept.
The culture abhorred short product life. Nobody wanted to nor would commit to a DSLR product which was market viable for one year (or really even less), which is what we got from Nikon, Canon and Kodak. Even though I love, even till today my Kodak Pro 14n, I knew it was a absurd proposition when new, and it was the only machine even at its $10,000 which even came close to what it could do, and it took 8 manipulated years to achieve better. Minolta could neither produce at a loss or usurp another companies base product just to prove a management goal (blunder), which is what Kodak did. (another very long, very strange, and unfortunately, very ugly story). Pride would not allow the Nikon route, and the result was even worse. There was no way to anticipate the impact a combination of arrogance, hubris, and stupidity combined with mindless corporate greed would have on the global photo world. (Sometimes simply shortened to K.O.D.A.K. but there a lot of others to blame also) Worse yet was the incredible, soulless, Konica marriage which blindly imitated a doomsday cult. Yet in the end, its lateness is in a rational world, debatable, a nice camera has emerged from all this commonly known as the Sony A900 and a great one is about to be thrust upon us. Soon.
Sorry for all the omissions but brevity was necessary...
Fred
That's the beauty of the X-700 to me. It can do all that stuff, for me. I'm the Pop Photo kinda guy it was designed and marketed for.
). the minolta glass back in the day was most excelent.
