Minolta XG-M Shutter/Metering Issue

<p>Greeting all, </p>

<p>I just bought a Minolta XG-M few days back from eBay. <br>

I loved the camera on the first sight and decided to play around the camera for a little before loading an actual film in it. <br>

However, on the third day, I notice some inconsistency from the camera itself. I found it difficult to be replicated but it goes like this. </p>

<p>The metering of the camera works fine (slightly slower than their digital counterpart but I read its normal). <br>

The problem is that, lets take for example, in this particular scene, the metering suggest that I should use shutter speed of 1/100 (mind you I am on AUTO mode) with LED beside the shutter speed (in viewfinder), and whenever I tried pressing it, the LED indicator would jump to the top of its range (indicating that the scene is too bright for my setting, and when I release my shutter button, the LED indicator would come back to 1/100. <br>

It happens to both higher and lower range of shutter speed. i.e.,<br>

<strong>LED blinking beside 1/500, shutter pressed, LED jumps to upwards arrow,</strong><br>

<strong>OR</strong><br>

<strong>LED blinking beside 1/5, shutter pressed, LED jumps to downwards arrow. </strong></p>

<p>I have tried replacing the battery and checking shutter speed manually (using manual mode). My camera will shoot on ALL speed but it is AUTO mode that I am having problem with. <br>

I also brought my camera to local film developer and he told me he has never seen anything like it. </p>

<p>Any input would be greatly appreciated. </p>

<p>This camera would benefit from a trip to John Titterington in Leawood, Kansas. He will let you know whether the camera can be repaired and what that might cost. The XG series Minolta cameras are pleasant to use when they are working but they are most often found in non-working condition. The first problem is the bad capacitors. The type of capacitors used in these cameras has a limited life. The capacitors themselves are inexpensive but the camera must be opened up so the old ones can be removed and new ones can be soldered in. If you are handy with electronics you might be able to do this yourself. The second problem is that the winding mechanism contains plastic parts which were not very strong even when they were new. Electronic parts other than the capacitors can and do also fail. The XG cameras were made for very light use and were, as they say in England, built to a price.<br>

The later XD cameras were somewhat better made but also suffer from electronics problems. While the X-700 also often needs capacitors it is a more sturdy camera than any of the XG models and can work well for a long time after being overhauled. If you like Minolta manual focus electronic cameras, find yourself an X-700, working or not working, send it to John Titterington for service and then enjoy using it. Using XG cameras is just waiting for something to go wrong. </p>

<p>I can confirm it's worth sending to John Titterington. I've bought a few cameras from him including an SRT-202, X-570 and X-700 all of which were overhauled by him. I bought them through eBay. With the X-700 I had a capacitor go bad after a few months and beyond his 90 day warranty and he fixed the camera for free.</p>

<p><strong>Jeff, </strong><br>

I believe sending the camera alone back to Kansas, have it repaired to John and have it send back to me is already sufficient for me to purchase a mint condition X-700. Since I am not living in Europe, Asia in fact. <br>

Would you be able to point me in direction that I may acquire the required parts of XG-M that I can solder it myself? I have done some electrical work previously and recently with my laptop (which costs a lot more than XG-M) so I think if I were to be able to get those parts, I may be able to open it up myself and fix the problem. <br>

Just to make sure you understood my problem correctly, AUTO mode works erratically, sometimes they shot, but on some scene, they keep showing me the downward/upward arrow and wouldn't shoot. But whenever I switch to MANUAL mode, they shoot just fine. Is this normally caused by faulty capacitors?</p>

<p><strong>Mark,</strong><br>

That sounds nice, would you be able to point me to his eBay seller page? I tried googling his name with eBay but fail to find anything significant.</p>

<p>John Titterington<br>

8109 Wenonga Road<br>

Leawood, KS 66206-1146<br>

e-mail: jtcamera@aol.com<br>

Someone online should have DIY repair info on the XG-M. Even if you get the electronics on the XG-M working properly, the winding mechanism may fail at any moment. For me, a mint condition X-700 is one which John Titterington has already serviced. If an X-700 has not been serviced then no matter how pretty it looks, it may stop working (electronics) at any time. I would rather get a non-working X-700 for $20 and get it serviced than get one for more money which may or may not be working properly, even if it looks nice on the outside. <br>

<strong> </strong></p>

<p>Jeff, <br>

Thank you so much for your advice. I got the information and components required to repair my XG-M (should I want to do it) and is pondering whether I should proceed with opening the camera and soldering the capacitors. <br>

Anyway, as mentioned by Mark before, he has bought several cameras from John and it worked fantastic for him thus far. Have you purchased camera from him before or you have only sent your camera to him to be serviced?</p>

<p>And,</p>

<p>I am seriously considering purchasing Minolta Camera again (even though I like their design the most among all film SLR), would Olympus SLRs or Nikon SLRs be a good choice as an alternative (that will last for a long time)?</p>

<p>UPDATE: </p>

<p>Was trying to clean the mirror moment ago due to some visible dust on my viewfinder after changing my lens. Used rocket blower and some microfiber cloth to clean it. <br /><br />I think I might have done something wrong because after cleaning, even though the mirror and focusing mirror looks clean (I used torch), from the viewfinder there are considerable more dust visible through it. Looked online for solution, tried using rocket blower from other direction, tried shaking camera, and also vacuuming through a straw (while being careful not touching focusing screen), nothing works. <br>

Some of the result suggested that there might be dust on the other side of focusing screen. <br>

Does anyone here know the safe way to open up my camera (to sufficient extent) to clear off the dust?<br>

I know it doesn't affect the IQ but if is really annoying shooting with these particles present. </p>