It actually had a Program Mode, even before the Canon A-1. Minolta called it "Green for Go" and you just have to put the camera in Shutter priority mode, 1/125 speed and lowest aperture and there you go, fully P mode on this beauty! I actually have 2 of them, my all time favourite SLR, not to mention the glass... Cheers!
The MC lenses were meter-coupled, the prior generation of lenses for the XE, I believe. The "Celtic" lenses were an inexpensive line of Minolta lenses. The early MD lenses (Rokkor or Rokkor-X) are considered the most desireable of the MDs. The original batteries were the silver oxides, and if you can find them are still the best. The 45mm f/2 set to hyperfocal on an XD series camera is one of the best street photography SLR setups one can find, because of the small overall size and incredibly quiet shutter.
the reason you are seeing a dark viewfinder when you use the depth preview is because it is supposed to show you the aperture and how much light is going through the lense. if you open your aperture, it will brighten the depth preview.....
Agree, I had a couple of analog cameras with depth of field preview and it did help a bit, but with the darkened viewfinder it wasn't (at least for me) possible to get a reliable impression of the DOF.
It actually had a Program Mode, even before the Canon A-1. Minolta called it "Green for Go" and you just have to put the camera in Shutter priority mode, 1/125 speed and lowest aperture and there you go, fully P mode on this beauty! I actually have 2 of them, my all time favourite SLR, not to mention the glass... Cheers!
Thanks! I love these hidden features. I'm going to put together as many as I can and make a separate video of them.
The MC lenses were meter-coupled, the prior generation of lenses for the XE, I believe. The "Celtic" lenses were an inexpensive line of Minolta lenses. The early MD lenses (Rokkor or Rokkor-X) are considered the most desireable of the MDs. The original batteries were the silver oxides, and if you can find them are still the best. The 45mm f/2 set to hyperfocal on an XD series camera is one of the best street photography SLR setups one can find, because of the small overall size and incredibly quiet shutter.
The X is for the electronic flash and is 1/100th of a second.
Love these cameras.
XD11 in USA. XD7 In Europe. XD in Japan
To my knowledge the lr44 is an alkaline battery. Nice review!
Ugh - you are correct. I had thought this was the designation for a lithium cell, but maybe LR44 was always an alkaline battery.
I have an X-700 and an X-370 and they both have horizontally-moving curtain shudders, IIRC.
the reason you are seeing a dark viewfinder when you use the depth preview is because it is supposed to show you the aperture and how much light is going through the lense. if you open your aperture, it will brighten the depth preview.....
I understand why it gets dark. I've just never found the feature to be that accurate - or useful.
Agree, I had a couple of analog cameras with depth of field preview and it did help a bit, but with the darkened viewfinder it wasn't (at least for me) possible to get a reliable impression of the DOF.
The shutter speeds should all be white in your camera. The 1/30 is just “slightly yellow” because it is dirty.
You're right. Dirty shutter speed dial.
I came to Minolta late as I was Given several by various kind people. THe lenses are very sharp ! Never senn your model here in UK Maybe not imported.
In the UK, this model was branded as the XD 7.