Minolta slr's

[Les Sarile]

My XK and XE-7 . . .

XK & XE-7 by Les DMess, on Flickr

Of all my mirror lockup capable cameras, the XK has the quietest shutter.
The XE-7 has the smoothest full stroke then any of my other cameras.

 

[Nokton48]

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

Red Ringneck Lizard #1 MLU SRT with 80cm F8 Rokkor Uber Reflex Tele. On the right, Red Ringneck Lizard #2 MLU SRT with 800mm Fll Apo Rokkor-X. It's a 400mm f5.6 Apo Rokkor-X with the matching 2X Apo Tele-Converter is first class glass. Makes an Apo Uber Tele but glass but 1 stop slower than the 80cm. Good to have both depending on lighting conditions. Original SRT Cable Releases on both cameras, these are the best releases not expensive. With mirror lockup you can get sharper pictures. Only a few of my SRT's have this important feature. The screens in these cameras work well, I focus on the outer glass and can see it all.

Best way to use these lenses is on a gimbal mount which I bought on Amazon. Works great

I bought the Apo Rokkor-X from the Real Camera Company in the UK for a great price. The rear mount on the Apo 2X Converter was broken and very not right. MAC at Camtronics bought a replacement rear mount and swapped it out for me, Happy Happy!

 

[Nokton48]

Just back from two day trip to the underwater Aquarium in Newport Kentucky. I took my fave SRT100 with 58mm MC F1.2 lens, fully tricked out with original hood, Minolta UV filter, Eyepiece Diopter LOL, original SRT Eyecup, and TomA Silver Softie Release, with my black hairtie trick. Eight rolls of bulk loaded HP5+ rated at EI 1600. Very low contrast and low key, dramatic spotlighting here and there. 1/60 and sometimes 1/30 used exclusively. CLC metering flawless. Much more fun than shooting with Cellphone. Exposed five rolls at 1600, now how best to push two stops? Years ago I gave old Tri-X 50% more time for one stop, doubled development time 2X for two stops. Hard to overdevelop pushed film. When in doubt give it more in my book LOL. Do have some Microphen I bought a few years ago, my present go-to is D23 1:1 like the simplicity and also the results. Ideas Welcome for pushing!

Interesting fun self assignment. Challenging after all these years. Have five rolls to push to 1600 prolly in Paterson System 5, will spin five rolls together on a Unicolor Uniroller. As I did when I was seventeen years old. Minolta SRT100 was bought brand new with 55mm F1.9 MC Rokkor in 1973. An old friend

Street Shootin SRT Bodies by Nokton48, on Flickr

The Ole Boy on the left, is what I used this weekend. What a blast. Wrapped in Green Kangaroo Skin from Cameraleather

 

[Helge]

Just back from two day trip to the underwater Aquarium in Newport Kentucky. I took my fave SRT100 with 58mm MC F1.2 lens, fully tricked out with original hood, Minolta UV filter, Eyepiece Diopter LOL, original SRT Eyecup, and TomA Silver Softie Release, with my black hairtie trick. Eight rolls of bulk loaded HP5+ rated at EI 1600. Very low contrast and low key, dramatic spotlighting here and there. 1/60 and sometimes 1/30 used exclusively. CLC metering

What’s that?

 

[Cholentpot]

Just got the Minolta bug again.

Shot my 7000i and a 3000, someone scored a 50mm 1.7 for $10, previously I only had the 35-70 which is an excellent lens but really only for outdoor shooting. Now I want to get one of the later autofocus minolta bodies. This never ends...

 

[Paul Howell]

I recently bought a 101 and had it serviced, it is a second body to a X700. I have been shooting with it at the local zoo with a 200 and 300, (and shame of shame a Vivitar non S1 80 to 210 zoom.) The metering is pretty good, winder is smooth, full read out in the viewfinder, only grips are that the Minolta 300 4.5 aperture ring is a bit too far out to be read by either the 101 or X700 and the motor drive for the X700 is not auto rewind. I am going be shooting wildlife later in the summer, will take my Minolta 9 and AF lens as the longest lens I own for the 101 and 700 is the 300.

 

[Nokton48]

Just back from two day trip to the underwater Aquarium in Newport Kentucky. I took my fave SRT100 with 58mm MC F1.2 lens, fully tricked out with original hood, Minolta UV filter, Eyepiece Diopter LOL, original SRT Eyecup, and TomA Silver Softie Release, with my black hairtie trick. Eight rolls of bulk loaded HP5+ rated at EI 1600. Very low contrast and low key, dramatic spotlighting here and there. 1/60 and sometimes 1/30 used exclusively. CLC metering

What’s that?

You can see 'em on both cameras ^^^. Hairties in black from the local supermarket. Got darned tired of photographing the interior of camera bags! Arg This stops it cold. Fits tightly under the Tom Abrahamson Rapidwinder Softie. Like it was made for it

 

[xkaes]

Here's my latest find.

 

[Helge]

What’s that?

You can see 'em on both cameras ^^^. Hairties in black from the local supermarket. Got darned tired of photographing the interior of camera bags! Arg This stops it cold. Fits tightly under the Tom Abrahamson Rapidwinder Softie. Like it was made for it

So you remove them every time you use the camera?
Otherwise the idea of a soft release would be kind of lost.

 

[Nokton48]

So you remove them every time you use the camera?
Otherwise the idea of a soft release would be kind of lost.

The tie slips underneath the release, fits tight, and keeps it from depressing. Just tug on it and it pops right out of the way. Takes a moment to move it out of the way, so release can be depressed. Works great. The other end of the hair tie is looped through the camera strap round ring. So it stays out of the way when using. No downsides for me

 

[Trask]

My XK and XE-7 . . .

XK & XE-7 by Les DMess, on Flickr

Of all my mirror lockup capable cameras, the XK has the quietest shutter.
The XE-7 has the smoothest full stroke then any of my other cameras.

I see you've got the "better" (in terms of CdS vs silicon) flat-front meter for your XK. I've read that the earlier model, which protrudes somewhat in the front, lets the user meter a scene and then apply +/- exposure compensation by moving a lever on the back of the meter, which sounds very convenient to me. Does your meter permit that? Just curious -- I have a handful of Minoltas, SRTs and a later 570, and several Rokkors including the 85mm, but I've no experience with an XK, so wonder what I'm missing!

 

[xkaes]

It's kind of hard to see in the photo of the XK with the AES finder (above), but on the front of the shutter speed dial, there is a black tab. If this is pressed in, it can be moved to the left or right, and a scale on the back side of the shutter speed dial is marked from -2 to +2 in 0.5 settings.
The tab is not spring-loaded, so it does not automatically return to 0 when you release it. It stays where you set it, until you return it to 0.

 

[CMoore]

I am still in awe of those 2x 800mm lens.!
Were Canon/Nikon producing something similar at that time.?
Than You

 

[Paul Howell]

Not sure Nikon stopped making it, they did make a 2000 reflex, Konica made a 800, 1000 and 2000 as well.

 

[Les Sarile]

I see you've got the "better" (in terms of CdS vs silicon) flat-front meter for your XK. I've read that the earlier model, which protrudes somewhat in the front, lets the user meter a scene and then apply +/- exposure compensation by moving a lever on the back of the meter, which sounds very convenient to me. Does your meter permit that? Just curious -- I have a handful of Minoltas, SRTs and a later 570, and several Rokkors including the 85mm, but I've no experience with an XK, so wonder what I'm missing!

The AE-S meter cel is silicon and is therefore more responsive and has more low light sensitivity than the AE. But it also no longer has the dual CDS cels that allows the CLC metering mode.

The Auto Exposure Override Control on the AE is spring loaded and goes back to neutral when released while the AE-S is not spring loaded and stays in place when released.

Minolta XK AE & AE-S finder by Les DMess, on Flickr

 

[Huss]

I much prefer the AE head over the AE-S head, which is why I sold the latter and kept the former.

 

[xkaes]

The XK (and it's siblings) with the AE finder, and the XE-7 (and it's siblings) were the last Minolta cameras with the CLC metering system.

The metering saw changes after these cameras. Minolta called it "Final Check" metering, and it was quite a change -- if not an improvement. On the XK and XE-7 cameras, the metering for automatic exposure is done at full-aperture and the meter-coupling (MC) system modifies the exposure mechanically. It just estimates what the exposure should be, since the lens is actually not set at the final f-stop when the meter reading is taken. Beginning with the XD-11, a meter reading is displayed at full aperture, but there is a "Final Check" after the lens stops down -- just an instant before the exposure is made. Minolta states that this is more accurate than mechanically estimating what the exposure should be, and that this approach allows for last-instant changes in the illumination of the scene. While this is true, the old CDS cells were inadequate for the task. They function too slowly for reliable use, so the XD-11 was equipped with costly but responsive, silicon cells. Also, the CLC metering method of the XE-7 was dropped in favor of a simpler center-weighted method. Once again, some prefer this approach, while others think that the CLC method is more advanced. One problem for photographers with different cameras is that they can get different exposures of the same scene when using different cameras.

And, of course, the CLC method has other problems when the camera is turned vertically.

 

[Helge]

The XK (and it's siblings) with the AE finder, and the XE-7 (and it's siblings) were the last Minolta cameras with the CLC metering system.

The metering saw changes after these cameras. Minolta called it "Final Check" metering, and it was quite a change -- if not an improvement. On the XK and XE-7 cameras, the metering for automatic exposure is done at full-aperture and the meter-coupling (MC) system modifies the exposure mechanically. It just estimates what the exposure should be, since the lens is actually not set at the final f-stop when the meter reading is taken. Beginning with the XD-11, a meter reading is displayed at full aperture, but there is a "Final Check" after the lens stops down -- just an instant before the exposure is made. Minolta states that this is more accurate than mechanically estimating what the exposure should be, and that this approach allows for last-instant changes in the illumination of the scene. While this is true, the old CDS cells were inadequate for the task. They function too slowly for reliable use, so the XD-11 was equipped with costly but responsive, silicon cells. Also, the CLC metering method of the XE-7 was dropped in favor of a simpler center-weighted method. Once again, some prefer this approach, while others think that the CLC method is more advanced. One problem for photographers with different cameras is that they can get different exposures of the same scene when using different cameras.

And, of course, the CLC method has other problems when the camera is turned vertically.

CLC is really only suited for manual. That is when there is a thinking photographer behind the lens.
It negates the need for pointing the camera down in horizontal shots to not meter the sky. But needs consideration for vertical orientation.

Last check is a unique solution to accurate aperture and shutter priority with old lenses. Better than Nikons solution. Only made possible by an electronically controlled shutter and super fast metering.