Saved By The X-700

[User_502260]

<p>On Sunday I was shooting pictures with a Minolta X-700 at an indoor party. The roll of Fujicolor 1600 which was in the camera was finished and it was time to reload. To speed things up in the dark space I turned the shutter speed dial from A to 1/1000 so the leader frames would fire more quickly. A roll of Fujicolor 400 was now in the camera and I made sure the ASA was changed on the camera and showed on the flash. After I shot about ten frames I noticed that my shutter speed was still set at 1/1000. I thought those frames were just lost. When I picked up the film today all of the frames were good. What happened? I was using a Minolta 320X flash because I couldn't be bothered to find one of my 360PX units. By doing this I had regular auto using the sensor on the flash rather than the TTL flash available with the 360PX. I forgot that both flash units, as long as they are on and the flash has recycled, keep the shutter speed at 1/60. </p>

[Mike Gammill]

A feature I had forgotten about. Certainly very useful.

[mukul_dube]

<p>A life saver. I do not know, though, how much time was saved by making two exposures at 1/1000 sec. rather than at 1/60 sec. The X-700 has a focal plane shutter, and those guys usually move at a constant speed.</p>

[User_502260]

<p>When you are in a fairly dark room and your lens is set to f/8 and you need to advance a few frames to get the leader out of the way, leaving the camera on A (with the flash removed) can cause the shutter to stay open for quite a while for each frame.</p>

 

[mukul_dube]

<p>Yes, of course. I didn't think of that. Still, 1/1000 sec. seems a bit of over-kill.</p>