Minolta XG 1 advance lever issues

[tiffbrose]

>pbromaghin thank you for that information. I will definitely do more research and look to find one that's best suited for me. And will now know what questions to ask and what to make sure is done before buying. Thank you!

> E. von thank you I will definitely read through the PDF manuals before purchasing and I've got a good set of information from this thread. Thanks again for all your feedback. First post on APUG and it proved to be very helpful. I won't hesitate to ask questions in the future

>changtran I bought it off etsy and I'm not familiar with 35mm cameras at all. This is the first one I've ever even handled. I did check to see if everything worked when it first arrived. And everything seemed to be working. But the lever I mentioned wouldn't go all the way. And I thought it might've been because the batteries were not working and got new batteries instead. Anyway thanks for the concern.

> fstop thank you for confirming this. I believed it was but it's nice to be sure.

 

[Chan Tran]

I know what etsy is, and I would check all functions too, seven ways from breakfast. However, as indicated, the op is brand new at this and trying to get off the toe of the learning curve. A camera is a complex device; quite a lot of sellers think that if it goes "click" it works. Significantly, the op's camera arrived sans battery.

I thought the OP camera doesn't click. Am I wrong?

 

[E. von Hoegh]

>pbromaghin thank you for that information. I will definitely do more research and look to find one that's best suited for me. And will now know what questions to ask and what to make sure is done before buying. Thank you!

> E. von thank you I will definitely read through the PDF manuals before purchasing and I've got a good set of information from this thread. Thanks again for all your feedback. First post on APUG and it proved to be very helpful. I won't hesitate to ask questions in the future

>changtran I bought it off etsy and I'm not familiar with 35mm cameras at all. This is the first one I've ever even handled. I did check to see if everything worked when it first arrived. And everything seemed to be working. But the lever I mentioned wouldn't go all the way. And I thought it might've been because the batteries were not working and got new batteries instead. Anyway thanks for the concern.

> fstop thank you for confirming this. I believed it was but it's nice to be sure.

Something to keep in mind, a simple mecanical body with a center-the-needle meter (Nikon FM, Olympus OM1, SRT 101, Pentax Spotmatic) is an ideal learning tool and very simple to use.

 

[lookabird]

Just wanted to post a quick thanks to the OP and everyone who posted here. I suddenly experienced the same issue with my Minolta XG-1 that I bought second-hand a few months ago, except that mine had been working fine until the advance lever suddenly got stuck.

After reading all the posts, I nearly gave up but then decided to try someone's suggestion of using a coin and I fiddled with the screw at the base of the camera... everything was still stuck, but after a few minutes of fiddling, the camera miraculously started working again!

I do think there is an issue with the camera's mechanical parts and I doubt this is the end of it... but thanks to the posts here I now know that (1) I was probably overcharged for this second hand camera, since it is a cheap model with great tendency for problems... (2) there are many other models out there which are relatively cheap and which I can try, if and when I'm ready to advance from this model.

So thank you and hope that the OP's camera issue was resolved too

 

[TheOtherCoral]

*I NEED HELP*

So a while ago (probably last summer), when I was rewinding my film I believe, I ended up taking the whole rewind knob off. And then reassembled it incorrectly.

I've reassembled now, and I believe it's correct, but I cant get the current roll to wind up into the canister and I don't want to ruin this roll!

What do I do??

Camera is Minolta XG 1.

 

[dynachrome]

The XG series must be the least reliable line of manual focus cameras Minolta made. The cameras have many plastic internal parts and electronics which have not aged well. The last XG-M models are considered to be the best of the XG series. The XE and XD series are difficult to get repaired. If you want an electronic manual focus Minolta, I can recommend the X700. Its electronics (capacitors) are easy to get serviced and they are much better made than the XG models. The other Minolta series I can recommend is the long list of SRT models. Rather than try to buy one of these, or an X700 in this condition or that condition, just buy an inexpensive one and send it to John Titterington (find him on Google). He will thoroughly overhaul the camera for a reasonable price and you will then have a camera you can enjoy using and depend on.

I have some XG cameras, including ax XG-M sitting new in the box. When they are working, they are pleasant to use. They are light in weight and have bright finders. I just wouldn't want to spend too much buying or fixing them because as soon as one thing is fixed, something else breaks. John Titterington has repaired many Minoltas for me and does beautiful work. A person might buy an XG camera and have great luck with it. That would be the exception which proves the rule.

 

[mcfitz]

*I NEED HELP*

So a while ago (probably last summer), when I was rewinding my film I believe, I ended up taking the whole rewind knob off. And then reassembled it incorrectly.

I've reassembled now, and I believe it's correct, but I cant get the current roll to wind up into the canister and I don't want to ruin this roll!

What do I do??

Camera is Minolta XG 1.

if I understand correctly, you want to remove and not lose a roll of film that you cannot rewind into the canister, for whatever reason.

You need a light tight environment, either a film loading dark bag, a darkroom, or a place such as a room or closet you can make entirely dark.
In total darkness for the camera and film, make sure the rewind release on your camera has been pressed, open the camera back, remove the canister from the left side of the camera and carefully start to rewind the film by hand into the canister. It should come away from the right hand side of the film take up.

If you develop your own film you may as well load the film onto a developing reel while in the dark environment, rather than rewinding it into the canister.

Good luck, it's a real pain to face losing an exposed roll of film because it can't be rewound.
I hope this replies to your question.