Minolta Lens mount Compatibility

Good morning, gentlemen;

Wade, thank you for the response, and for the comments about the XD-11.

UpNorthCyclist, I have a comment and a question: First, thank you for your checking and reporting on the XD-11 capabilities.

And, what do you mean with this comment about "too much coffee today" that you mentioned? I do not understand that. What is it? How do you do that? Please explain.

Good morning, Nikolaa;

Yes, sir. Indeed there was a chrome top Minolta X-700 body, and it was produced mainly for the Japanese domestic market, but that was not the intent of the Minolta Camera Company Limited. The MinoltaUSA people chose to import to the USA only the black body version of the X-700 (it looked more "professional"), so the more durable finish chrome version really is not common in North America. My sample was bought in the middle 1980s in a US Air Force PX in Japan by a man I worked with on some projects back in Washington, D. C. during the 1960s. I had not realized at that time that he had a great interest in photography. I bought that chrome X-700 from his estate through his son, and it is one of my treasured cameras.

upnorthcyclist said:

Just for clarity, neither the XD nor the XE fully operate without a battery. The XD has an "O" position on the shutter speed dial that will allow the shutter to mechanically operate at 1/100 sec. if the battery dies, and the "B" (bulb) setting also can be used. The XE can use the "X" setting for manual exposures at 1/90 sec. in a pinch, and the "B" setting is also functional.

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Thanks for catching that. As I mostly hunt thrift shops and yard sales, I tend to group these by "ones I can test beforehand" and "pay and pray". =)

Regarding chrome and black finish, at the time typically cameras of the top tip of the range were always black only. May I mention Pentax LX in the Pentax offering, or Nikon F3, Canon F1 (and A1), Rolleiflex SL2000, Contax RTS (the Contax case is different as 139 and 137 were black as well).

Minolta competed in the "professional" camera arena with the XM (XK or whatever was called in other markets). It went against the Nikon F2 and the first series of Canon F1 when it appeared on the market (I go by memory). The XM was, again, black only.

Sadly, Minolta decided not to follow with a "professional" camera to compete with LX, F3, and F1new. The X-700 was, therefore, the top of the line. I think this is the reason why most importers (the Italian one as well) chose to only import the black one, because the top of the catalogue had to be black. Black = Professional.

The reason why black equals "professional" is more or less clear: less beautiful (for the majority, I guess), less conspicuous (very important with animals unless you are inside a tent or other hide), more prone to scratches. Non-pro users would prefer the chrome version: shinier and somehow more beautiful, and more scratch-resistant. Possibly cheaper. Black meant "specialized instrument" somehow.

When Olympus launched their OM-3 and OM-4 they were only black, as well (the OM-3Ti and OM-4Ti were obviously not black as you had to see the Ti ).

I had an SRT-101B for many years, replaced by an X-370, which still resides in the family with my grandson. The X-370 lacks some of the features of the X-700, but is otherwise a very competent replacement.

I currently use my Minolta MD lenses on a Lumix G1 micro-4/3 digital camera body, which was the first of the mirrorless digital cameras, and is now about 3.5 years outdated, but can be had on the used market for good prices. There are also a good selection of other micro-4/3 cameras released in the intervening years by both Panasonic in their Lumix models and also Olympus in their Pen series.

You need to be aware that, when used on such cameras via the appropriate micro-4/3 to Minolta MD adapter, the angle of view of such lenses will be equivalent to a lens of 2x the focal length, because the micro-4/3 sensor is half the size of a 135-format film frame. Thus, a 50mm f/1.2 lens, for instance, will be equivalent to a 100mm lens in angle of view, yet will retain the lenses original maximum focal ratio, making for very compact short telephoto lenses, useful for portrait work, for instance.

~Joe

Ralph Javins said:

And, what do you mean with this comment about "too much coffee today" that you mentioned? I do not understand that. What is it? How do you do that? Please explain.

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Heh - I'm either over-caffeinated or OC when I pound out a post like that at 1:30am...

Ralph, are MC and MD lenses compatible with SR series cameras? Any issues?

PS - Boy, that chrome X-700 is quite a find for a Minolta collector!

The chrome X-700 had the same meter switch as the original X-370. I have never seen a black X-700 with that meter switch style.

I have a funny story about the X-700. Years ago when I lived in Bergen County I went up to the Minolta headquarters/repair facility in NJ. The person ahead of me on line had an X-700 with a non-Minolta zoom lens attached. Her negatives showed many underexposed frames. The lens was removed and the Minolta technician couldn't find anything wrong with the body. I asked to see the body with the lens attached. The mode dial was set to P but the lens did not have a lock for the aperture ring. What was happening was that the aperture ring would slip off of the minimum aperture setting just from handling the camera and lens normally. The camera was then unable to use a wide enough aperture based on the P setting. A number of frames would be shot very near the minimum aperture and would be seriously underexposed. By making sure the lens stayed at its minimum aperture or by shooting in A (Aperture Priority) the user could get proper exposures. I have written about the X-700 more than once. At this point I will just add that the finder is very bright. I have six of them. One has a grid screen, one a plain matte scren and four have the original screen. The focusing screens are not easy to find. Last year I added a Motor Drive 1, two Power Grip 2 sets and a 100/4 MD.

I've been casually keeping an eye out for a Power Grip 1 for a couple of years for my XD-11 and 320X flash. They are a rare thing these days, especially finding the complete set - usually when you see one they are missing a part or two. I finally got one the other day, virtually unused, with all the components - even the original boxes and instruction manuals.

I had to find a scrap Power Grip 2 with the AA battery holder, as the Power Grip 1 didn't offer this option. They use the same battery and charger, but the original Ni-Cads are long clapped-out.

I was surprised to find that, when using the Power Grip 1 with the 320X flash, the dedicated functions of the flash to the XD-11 are lost unless the Remote Sensor Adapter is used. In lieu of the Remote Sensor Adapter a simple sync-cord can be used to connect the flash to the camera's PC socket, but then the flash doesn't "talk" to the camera - no connection to the second pin on the flash shoe.

The Remote Sensor Adapter is actually a pretty cool tool. The flash sensor on the 320X flash is a removeable plug-in module. The adapter makes it possible to mount the flash sensor on the camera's hot shoe and to position the flash off-camera, closely approximating the amount of light the camera actually sees at the lens. Once the X-700 came out with OTF flash control, the need for this went away. The set-up can be used on any pre-OTF-flash camera and works quite well.

Joe VanCleave said:

I currently use my Minolta MD lenses on a Lumix G1 micro-4/3 digital camera body, which was the first of the mirrorless digital cameras, and is now about 3.5 years outdated, but can be had on the used market for good prices. There are also a good selection of other micro-4/3 cameras released in the intervening years by both Panasonic in their Lumix models and also Olympus in their Pen series.
~Joe

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Joe, do you know if the MD lenses will work on the G3? My wife just got one last summer and it might be kind of cool to try.

The solution

Well it seems that I have found a solution to my problem. A rather inexpensive one... I managed to fix the camera

I seems that some of the gears had jammed or rather locked up, and so the film advance lever (sorry not sure what the proper name for it is) had jammed and simply refused to move, even with new batteries.
I assumed that one of the capacitors died, but everything seems to be working now (fingers crossed).
The "A" setting works fine, and everything else is running smoothly, apart from the Battery Check light, it doesnt want to turn on...I then figured that the the bulb had burned out, but the light works fine with the self timer activated. ...who knows whats going on inside.

Ill go though a roll of film and then see if anything else needs "tinkering".

And as for the Chromed X-700, and black being the professional color, well I guess it comes down to how you look at it. A professional would see his camera as being a tool for his work and any color that wasnt needed or caused him to be noticed would be seen as a nuisance, whereas the amateur (myself) I see it as a being visually pleasing as well as being a tool. I cant help it, I like shiny objects

upnorthcyclist said:

Ralph, are MC and MD lenses compatible with SR series cameras? Any issues?

PS - Boy, that chrome X-700 is quite a find for a Minolta collector!

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Good morning, UpNorthCyclist;

That is one of the nice things about the SR series of Minolta cameras. With the exception of a couple of lenses where the MD tab or something equal interfered with the head of a screw on the front of one of the SR cameras (I can't remember which right now), all of the lenses can be used on all of the cameras. The difference is that you will not get any of the automatic features of the MC or MD tab equipped bodies when you put a later lens on the earlier SR body. Treat it as a fully manual lens, just like the original AUTO ROKKOR lenses, and everything works fine.

The thing is not really that I have a Chrome X-700, but that I have a Chrome X-700 that was purchased in Japan by a man I worked with in Washington, D. C. back in the 1960s.

Then there is the point that you guys all keep me on my toes with this stuff. With the question about the Minolta XD-11 possibly having a "Program" or "P" mode also as does the X-700, I had to dig out the manual and check. While I was doing that, someone else stepped in and provided the information. No, the XD-11 does not have a "P" mode, but it sort of can do something like that over a limited range, but it is not a full "Program" or Automatic mode like the X-700. You guys do keep me busy.

Then there is the point about my possibly being a collector. Thanks to APUG, I have learned that the difference between a collector and a "hoarder" is that the collector also keeps records of the camera, the serial number, when and where he got it, the price paid for it, and possibly other information about the history of the camera such as the last CLA. Due to the voluminous multi-page inventory of my photographic equipment in stock, I have been saved from being successfully accused of being a "Minolta hoarder."

Ralph Javins said:

The thing is not really that I have a Chrome X-700, but that I have a Chrome X-700 that was purchased in Japan by a man I worked with in Washington, D. C. back in the 1960s.

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Am I misreading this sentence? It reads to me that you bought your chrome X-700 in the 1960s. I bought my SRT-101, which I still have, in 1969 when it was near the pinnacle of 35mm SLR development. It didn't compare with the Nikon F for features at the time, but it was way cheaper and as much as I could afford. I bought my X-700, which I also still have, in about 1984 when it was the top of the Minolta range and I thought it had only been around for 2-3 years, which sounds silly in the modern context of digital stuff which has an insanely short product life cycle.

Good morning, WotALegend;

Well, I thought that I had sufficient space between the purchase by and the fact that I had worked with him in Washington, D. C. on some projects that took place back in the middle and late 1960s. No, the camera was purchased in the summer of 1983. I had worked with him in the 1960s.

I still think that it is a remarkable co-incidence that I have wound up with what was Clarence's camera.

Sorry about the confusion. In any case, I do have a chrome X-700 that had a full CLA last year, and I expect it to continue working for another 20 to 30 years, and I do have in stock the needed replacement capacitors for the shutter circuit if anything happens there. That is not expected as this one was made while the production line was still in Japan before it was moved to Indonesia.

By the way, of the dozen or so Minolta X-700 cameras here, plus a few of the X-570 and X-370, I have finally "experienced" my first capacitor failure, but it was in an X-500 (the European X-570) that came to me in that condition, so it did not happen to me while the camera was in use. The repair was quite simple and took only a few minutes to perform.

Ralph Javins said:

That is one of the nice things about the SR series of Minolta cameras. With the exception of a couple of lenses where the MD tab or something equal interfered with the head of a screw on the front of one of the SR cameras (I can't remember which right now), all of the lenses can be used on all of the cameras. The difference is that you will not get any of the automatic features of the MC or MD tab equipped bodies when you put a later lens on the earlier SR body. Treat it as a fully manual lens, just like the original AUTO ROKKOR lenses, and everything works fine.

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Thanks, Ralph - that's what I thought, nice to have confirmation.

This thread has gone far afield from the OP's original question, but I've learned a few things from it!

Ralph Javins said:

Sorry about the confusion. In any case, I do have a chrome X-700 that had a full CLA last year, and I expect it to continue working for another 20 to 30 years, and I do have in stock the needed replacement capacitors for the shutter circuit if anything happens there. That is not expected as this one was made while the production line was still in Japan before it was moved to Indonesia.

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Thanks for the clarification Ralph, and the confusion was mine.

The only problem I have had with my X-700 is that the frame counter no longer returns to zero when the back is opened. It only drops to 14, and doesn't really bother me so I haven't done anything about it. In this part of the world good camera mechanics are few and expensive now, and it would probably cost me more than the camera's current value to get it fixed.

As a matter of interest, when did Minolta move production from Japan to Indonesia? I have never really thought about it but would now assume that mine was made in Japan because it has (still) the gold JCII "Passed" sticker.

One of my X-700's ( I have 2) has the same frame counter problem but I just ignore it. Both cameras were bought new in 1984 for a trip to Europe. Both had a capacitor failure within a month of each other last year. I replaced the capacitors (not hard) and now they are working fine.
I kind of panicked when they both went bad and started buying SRT's as a mechanical back up.
At the same time I saw the ad for an XD-11 body with a buy it now price of only $34.00 so I couldn't resist. I'm glad I didn't.
I need a huge camera bag and more arms to shoot with them all.

wotalegend said:

. . .

As a matter of interest, when did Minolta move production from Japan to Indonesia? I have never really thought about it but would now assume that mine was made in Japan because it has (still) the gold JCII "Passed" sticker.

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Good morning, WotALegend;

Some dim memories here, but I believe that the transfer of the X-700 production line to Indonesia happened in the middle or late 1980s, and then the transfer to China for the last three years was right at about 1999 or 2000, and production ended in 2003. That was over 20 years for one model of a camera, and its variants, which was pretty impressive for a 35mm camera in modern times.

The JCII stickers could still be applied on cameras made in other manufacturing facilities noting that the maker was still a Japanese company. If the parts and the assembled camera met the standards of the JCOIITI, the Japan Camera and Optical Instruments Inspection and Testing Institute (the current full name of the organization), the JCII sticker could go on those cameras also. It was easier to just keep the older smaller designation on the inspection approval sticker.

A similar practice has been found here in the United States where many of the parts and assemblies for the Ford Motor Company were actually made in Canada (the Windsor engines for example), and the full size Dodge (Chrysler Corporation back then) vans final assembly did take place in Canada, but they were warranted in the United States by Chrysler. In today's economy it is almost impossible to avoid having some parts of a piece of equipment that are not made "off shore." This has been developing for a while.