Any way to convert X700 to digital?

Hi,

 

I have an X700 that ended up on a shelf when I got my first digital camera. The

first digital is gone, replaced with a better one. However, I have this X700

that I really enjoyed using, and I wondered if there is a (relatively simple)

way to convert it to take digital images. Perhaps replacing the back? I'd love

to have the flexiblility of the different lenses again.

 

Another possibility is if there is a digital camera body out there that will

take the lenses that fit the X700.

 

I'm kind of new here, and haven't kept up with the tech side of photography for

several years. Hopefully someone can help me out.

 

Thanks for the help!

C

The simple way would be to go buy a label maker along with an A100 body. Using the label maker you print out one label saying 'minolta' and a second one with 'X-700' on it. You then cover over the Sony name and A100 on the new camera you bought.

 

Other than that, there is no simple way or any other way to convert the X700 to digital. You can buy an adapter to fit your MF lenses to the A100, but you can only use them in stop-down mode as there is no electronic connection between the body and lens. Taking pictures using step-down will slow you down quite a bit.

 

Minolta did try long ago to try and develop a 'digital' adapter to allow film cameras to use an electronic film, but that didn't go anywhere, so you're out of luck.

The marketing window for such a device lasted maybe a couple of years and nobody made it to market quickly enough. Once real DSLRs came out it had no future. There was one company that had developed a sensor and electronics that looked like a film cassette with the sensor sticking out like an unrolled tab of film. But they ran out of venture capital before anything was shipped.

Andrew, did you know that Minolta bought that company? This was before Minolta merged with Konica, and perhaps this ill-fated purchase may have helped to put Minolta into a position where it had to merge with Konica. And it is possible that Sony may have acquired the patents as part of its purchasing of the Photo Imaging Division from Konica/Minolta. Small world, isn't it?

If you go to rokkorfiles.com there is an article about a DSLR in Minolta MD mount. It is made in China and has about 6MP. From what I remember the software and instructions were only in Chinese. The reviewer had one funny comment. He (or she?) thought that the horizontally running cloth shutter, like the one in the X-700, might not be durable enough for the number of captures typically made with a digital camera. You notice I used the word captures and not photos. The Olympus DSLR cameras can use Minolta manual focus lenses with the proper adapter. I don't think you will have all of the metering or auto diaphragm functions but you can make images.

Wasn't that a hoax? an april's fool day joke? (1th of april). A seagull digital camera with minolta MF mount... later Antony told us it was fake.

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There was one article that was a hoax. Then to make amends, Antony presented a followup article that shows a real adapter that mount Rokkor lenses on any Four/Thirds system body (notably the Olympus E series and Panasonic/Lumix/Leica )

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<a href = "http://www.rokkorfiles.com/olympus.htm" > http://www.rokkorfiles.com/olympus.htm </a>

 

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More information on the adapter at Steve Gandy's Cameraquest:

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<a href = "http://www.cameraquest.com/adapt_olyE1.htm"> http://www.cameraquest.com/adapt_olyE1.htm</a>

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You can convert it to take digital images by buying a film scanner. I recommend a Coolscan V.

 

I use a scanner with two X-700s and it works quite well.