Minolta XE-7 & MD Rokkors?

[dave_beaumont]

<p>I have just been given a mint xe-7 and 3 MD Rokker-x lenses (24/2.8,50/1.4,75-200/4.5). Put in new batteries, added film and fired it up for the first time in twenty years.In auto the meter agreed with my Nikon D300....impressive!<br>

But the manual is unclear about the metering method as it doesn't mention MD lenses specifically.I get the impression the shutter can be released with the stop-down button in either inner or outer position. Am I correct?<br>

Thanks<br>

Dave</p>

[ken_l2]

<p>The MD series of lenses were the current models at the same time your XE-7 was made - so the info in your manual would pertain to the MD lens.</p>

<p>The metering on the XE-7 is done with the lens wide open, that is to say, not stopped down. If you were to stop down the lens for metering, the meter would 'think' that there is much less light available than is the case.</p>

<p>You probably can release the shutter with the lens stopped down, but it's not necessary, as the lenses will stop down automatically when the shutter is fired. The stop-down button on your camera is used solely for depth of field preview.</p>

[dave_beaumont]

<p>Thanks Ken, That clarifies the issue.<br>

Cheers, Dave</p>

[jamesdak]

<p>Lucky you, if you 24 performs like mine you will be really happy with it.</p>

[andylynn]

<p>That's a great kit you've got. WRT the MD lens thing - manual focus Minolta lenses came in pre-MC (lenses for the SR series), MC (for the SRT and contemporaries) and MD (introduced for use with cameras that have S and P autoexposure modes). Minolta did a good job of maintaining compatibility, with the only incompatibility being that lenses that are not MD can't be used in S or P. The XE's auto mode is aperture priority (A), which works equally well with MD and MC lenses - so you can use MD lenses, and you can also look for older lenses (like the classic 58/1.4 MC).</p>

<p>Don't release the shutter with the stop down button depressed. It will give you an overexposure.</p>

[dave_beaumont]

<p>Wow Andrew; just the opposite of Ken's advice; Am going out to shoot now and will use the stop down method as described for the MC lens in the manual.And Jim, I have the 24mm mounted.</p>

[andylynn]

<p>I don't think I was disagreeing with Ken's advice. Set the aperture you want on the aperture ring. Use the stop-down button to see your depth of field, but release it before firing the shutter or you might confuse the meter and if you're in Auto, cause overexposure.</p>

<p>This was my thinking when I wrote that:</p>

<p>The meter gets its information from the MC coupler on the lens and the position of the aperture ring - it knows from these the relationship between the lens's max aperture and the aperture you've set. So say you've got the ring close 3 stops (e.g., it's an f/1.4 lens and you've set the ring to f/4). The camera knows that when you fire the shutter and it releases the aperture, the amount of light coming through will decrease by 3 stops. So even though what it's seeing would indicate a shutter speed of 1/1000, it knows that it's actually going to need a speed on 1/125, and that's what it uses. If you hold down the DOF preview button, the meter sees that its shutter should be 1/125, but then it compensates by 3 stops and fires at 1/15.</p>

<p>But then this got me thinking. I don't have an XE but I tried the experiment on my XD and holding down the DOF button did not actually change the shutter speed, so clearly the XD's autoexposure system knows what's up and it's not a problem.</p>

<p>I was curious and went and looked at the manual for the XE. Looking at part 1 of the manual for the XE-1/XE-7 that's here: http://www.butkus.org/chinon/minolta.htm on page 22 it describes the procedure for use with MC lenses. At the time the manual was written, Minolta had not introduced S/P auto modes or the MD lenses that went with them (the MD lenses you have are newer than the camera - the XE was introduced in 1974, and MD lenses were introduced in 1977 - but this is not a problem) so what the manual is talking about is use of MC lenses versus pre-MC lenses, not MC versus MD. MD lenses incorporate MC technology and add an extra pin that the XE doesn't use, so for your purposes, MC and MD lenses are the same.</p>

[dave_beaumont]

<p>Andrew, your last paragraph is the info I had(but without reference to MD lenses), thus you can see where the doubt came from.<br>

So I depressed the the stop-down button,as per MC "full aperture" instruction, and shot a roll. It's out being developed and scanned to CD now.Can only wait to see results.Also backed up with my DSLR at equivalent settings just for fun.</p>

[antonio_bonito]

<p>Before opening the shutter the iris will close to the set diaphragm value so the amount of light that reaches the film will be exactly the same metering wide open or stop-down. For this reason the light meter should give the same values regardless wide open or stop down metering</p>

[bill_m4]

<p>Another nice thing about that camera is that there are some great deals on ebay. I picked up a 28mm lense in great shape for $15.</p>