Perfect for mass-appeal. Many vintage camera geeks are mildly obsessed with the way a camera looks. The X is a no-nonsense tool of a camera. For one, the X is as black as it gets.
None of that. Buttons, knobs, levers, dials, leatherette, and switches are color-matched to the body, creating an unbroken silhouette of blackness with little aesthetic contrast. Even the hot-shoe is painted black. What little visual contrast does exist comes by way of the engraved and white-painted logos.
So is the Minolta X a stylistic black hole? For me, not really. But I enjoy black cameras. The waffle-grip endows the front and back of the camera with a certain refined ruggedness, and it gives the camera some visual weight.
And these multiple facets do a nice job of reflecting light at various angles, giving the blackness some shape and texture. This may surprise some photogeeks, but the X was also offered in silver chrome. This glistening jewel of a camera oddly lacked the Auto-Exposure Lock feature found on every other X and was only sold in Japan. But the X was never popular because of its looks.
What won this camera serious bragging rights was always its feature-laden spec-sheet and technical prowess. Today, these are still the primary reasons to own and shoot an X Minolta packed everything they could muster into the X Most importantly, the X is capable of three shooting modes for maximum usability.
In full manual mode, the photographer sets the shutter speed and aperture to make a proper exposure. The shutter speed selector dial is well-placed, and the edge knurling makes it exceptionally easy to adjust. Aperture Priority auto-exposure works as would be expected. Set the aperture to control depth of field, compose your shot, and shoot. The X automatically sets the shutter speed in step-less increments to achieve a perfect exposure. As with all Minolta cameras, the metering is flawless in even the most challenging of lighting situations.
With its exceptional light-metering system, intelligent microcomputers, and step-less shutter speeds, shooting in Program mode is about as effortless and effective as with any camera of any era. The MPS is capable of using shutter speeds of finer increments than can be selected manually.
The MPS makes the X one of the best point-and-shoot cameras in the world. Unfortunately, not everything with the Minolta X is purely blissful. The shutter, for one, is not the ultra-fast, vertical-traveling metal shutter of previous Minoltas. Instead, the X uses the more traditional and old-fashioned horizontally-traveling cloth shutter.
This may be a problem for shooters who use a fill flash in bright light, as is commonly done in portraiture. Additional cost-cutting came by way of ditching metal construction for plastic.
A drop from any reasonable height onto a relatively hard surface will most definitely result in a cracked and shattered shell. While metal is heavier, it does a better job of protecting those juicy innards. Not a deal-breaker, but certainly worth noting for those who use their cameras in more adventurous situations.
Further annoyances include excessive use of locking tabs on all control dials. Specifically, when switching exposure compensation or shooting mode, one needs to depress irritating little buttons to enable adjustments of these dials. The X uses an electromagnetically controlled shutter. In use, the X is pretty phenomenal.
All controls are well-positioned, allowing quick and effortless adjustments aside from the pre-mentioned dial locks. The exposure compensation dial is a joy, especially when shooting on a bright sunny day.
This conserves battery life and allows quick captures of spontaneously photogenic moments. Focusing is handled exceptionally well via the standard focusing screen. This matte focusing screen features a split image center dot with a surrounding micro-prism band.
It works great, allowing fast and accurate manual focusing with any lens. Additionally, Minolta created a bevy of swappable focusing screens, so shooters with specialty applications or different tastes can easily customize their VF experience. That said, these screens are exceedingly rare today, so finding your ideal setup may prove difficult diagonal split image, anyone? LEDs illuminate in the far right of the frame to display various bits of useful info, such as the currently selected shooting mode, the shutter speed, and exposure compensation status.
Below the frame, shooters will find a delightfully analog window displaying the selected lens aperture. In certain shooting modes the viewfinder sacrifices significant information.
This necessitates continual checking of the shutter speed selector on the top of the camera. Another viewfinder irritant presents itself when shooting in Program mode.
So while this shooting mode may be a technological masterstroke, the unhappy byproduct of this is that the shooter has no indication as to what aperture the camera has chosen.
Shooting in Program mode we have to point, shoot, and blindly trust that the computer-selected aperture will result in acceptable depth of field. In this mode, we can see the manually selected aperture ensuring confident knowledge of DOF , the automatically selected shutter speed, and any exposure compensation that we may be using.
Of the three shooting modes, Aperture Priority is the clear winner. It offers the most fluid and effortless image-making. Frame, shoot, and the camera has helped you make an incredible portrait with minimal effort. In any case, exposures are perfect every time. Today, this means that Minolta shooters are afforded a veritable cornucopia of exceptional glass of nearly limitless variety.
Features incorporated into the X include: Completely electronic automatic control of aperture and shutter speed in program mode. Touch-switch meter activation without having to depress the shutter release. Final check metering system after stopping the lens down the camera performs a final check to ensure that the exposure will be correct.
Unlike the earlier XD11, the camera does not show the selected shutter speed in manual mode, only the recommended speed. This is surprising, as the model below the X the X or X in some markets did show the selected speed. This is the principal cause of complaint for experienced Minolta users with the X body. A range of interchangeable screens was available see here.
Automatic exposure lock button. Remote shutter release that will accept both electronic and manual shutter releases. Silicon photocell TTL centre weighted meter, measured at full aperture for normal display, then at taking aperture for automatic exposure calculation, with a second meter for measuring off the film during TTL flash operation.
Automatic exposure range EV1 to EV Plastic body construction, encased in light metal, then painted black. Can be used with the Auto Winder G for motor driven sequences of up to 2 frames per second, or with the Motor Drive 1 for exposure sequences at up to an amazing 3. Exposure adjustment lever for up to two stops over or under exposure from the metered setting. Depth of field preview button. Plastic shutter blind attached to strap for tripod use.
PC connection for studio flash use. Audible and visible self timer LED. First manufactured in , the Minolta X is a single lens reflex camera. It has manual, aperture priority and programmed automatic exposure modes when used with MD lenses. MC lens can be used in aperture priority and manual modes. An immediate commercial success for Minolta, it was awarded the EISA "Camera of the Year" award in and was continually produced until , well into the autofocus era.
The camera is the last manual-focus camera body Minolta produced. As a mid-range consumer-grade camera, it lacks some of the features of Minolta's higher-end models such as the the earlier XD For example, the X retained Aperture-priority mode but dropped Shutter-priority mode in favour of more mass-market Program mode.
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