To wit, i really, really, really like my Minolta XD-11 - it is the smoothest, sleekest camera i've ever owned. It fits in my hand very well, has A/S/M exposure modes (the 1st 35mm SLR to have all 3) - though i only use M mode. I replaced the original camera covering with some awesome stuff from cameraleather.com (GripTac - LOVE IT!!!!!!! )and it's simply excellent in-hand. The viewfinder is crazy bright and clear - love it.
However, i just don't get on with the LED shutter speed 'read-out' in the viewfinder. I strongly prefer the match-needle system of my Minolta SRT102/202 cameras. I feel i can get a better understanding of far over/under exposed i'm going than what the 'exacting' LED read-out tells me. I can't see just how far in-between shutter speeds/exposure i actually am. Kinda like a speedometer in a car with only 10MPH graduations instead of an analogue dial which shows every subtle change in speed.
I was going to say the XD-7/11 too. My copy has slowly revealed an African Hornets nest of issues, including but not limited to:
- Battery drain; drained a brand new Duracell set within 2 1/2 days.
- Shutter lag; by the end of a 36 roll it was over
10 seconds. (!)
- Irratic meter; only half of the 36 roll were properly exposed. The rest were under-exposed to
varying degrees.
In short, it's totally unusable as a photographic tool. I dont know what to do with it, Im not sure how much it'll fetch like this...if theres one silver lining its that the leatherette miraculously hasn't shrunk at all.
I also dont like the LED meter execution. I prefer the way Canon do it in the A1/AE1, but neither outdoes a classic match needle, as you said.
Furthermore the veiwfinder ticks me off. Sure its bright, but has poor eye relief, speaking as an eyeglasses wearer. I've tried Nikon's high eyepoint type and they for me remain the gold standard, but the OM series and AE-1 Program are pretty good. Minolta seems to have gone the opposite way and made a "low eyepoint" style, to better fit the body shape. I noticed it in the 7000 too.
The whole experience was gutting, to be honest, to have such anticipation slowly transfigured into a hollow sadness . Its put me off ALL pre-80's cameras entirely. Next time I'll just buy a black FM2 and be done with it. Variety may be the spice of life, but only if those spices work!
