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The Long Awaited Minolta XM, Minolta's Pro Heavyweight


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Although I've moved towards Nikon of late I always had a soft spot for Minolta, after my wife's brother gave me an XD11 which I used for family pictures for many years. A recent acquisition is a Minolta XM, sold in Japan as the X1 and in America as the XD. It was Minolta's bold attempt to rival Nikon for the pro market. The XM has aperture priority auto and metered manual modes when fitted with the AE prism, one of six interchangeable finders. It certainly rivals Nikon in weight, mine with finder and 50mm F/1.4 PG lens is slightly heavier than a similarly equipped Nikon F. The prism to me makes it look rather stern and frowning.

It has a horizontal titanium shutter which is electronically controlled except for the mechanical speeds of X and B. The shutter operates with a rather pleasant “snick”, much quieter than the Nikon, and the film advance is silky smooth.

Minolta seem to have been somewhat paranoid about the degree of battery dependence, even to the extent of providing two slots in the XM's special strap pad to carry spare batteries. Further, and more controversially, the camera has a system whereby if it detects low batteries, it locks the shutter and locks up the mirror, presumably to prevent incorrect exposures. It is reset by turning the special battery cover back and forth, so woe betide anyone who loses that. Not what a pro would want, the camera locking up in the middle of a shoot, scrabbling around in his pocket to find a coin. Another contentious feature is the touch pad on the front which activates the meter, a forerunner of the later annoying Maxxum eyestart system. Minolta seemed to have their doubts about this as they also put a metering switch on the back. I think these features were part of the reason it didn't succeed, as much as the lack of a power winder facility – you had to buy the XK Motor for that.


My XM came locked up and it took me a while to find out how to free it up. Eventually I got the mechanical speeds and the auto exposure mode working, but the metered manual speeds just locks everything up for some reason – at least it's usable, I suspect many of these now have electronic issues. I removed the finder for cleaning, but replacing it was tricky, I eventually discovered that you have to line up two red dots on the finder and body aperture followers, failure to do this can cause damage which I was lucky to avoid. Reading the manual first would have helped. As always. That's it and thanks for looking.

XM.jpg

XMr.jpg

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I was gifted one some years ago by a very generous acquaintance with the same 50mm and a 24mm. I couldn’t believe my luck! I had similar electronic issues with the meter and sent it away for repair only to have it returned with a huge dent in it! Ahhh! The ‘sensiswitch’ I never quite got, but it was certainly a well put together and unusual camera. I think I have a repair manual for it somewhere on the computer if it might be of use?

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12 hours ago, stuart_pratt said:

I think I have a repair manual for it somewhere on the computer if it might be of use?

Thanks for the offer Stuart, but no, any attempt to fix it would inevitably end with a box full of bits and a new addition to the dead camera box. I'm happy with the reduced functionality, at least it works in auto exposure and mechanical modes. I did remove the baseplate to reveal a bewildering  mass of gears, levers etc, however I was successful in freeing it up with my strategy of "poke around and hope". One tiny "W" spring fell out, couldn't see where from, but it seems fine without it.

Actually this is my second XM, the first one like yours went to a repairer, but unlike yours, never came back, dented or otherwise. I've not used him again.

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1 hour ago, NHSN said:

I like the patination of the camera.

Yes, there's something about well used all black cameras. Unfortunately this one had not been well stored and there was corrosion above and to the left of the eyepiece. I don't normally touch them up but this was unsightly so I repainted the area, not too neatly I'm afraid.

 

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Back when I collected SLRs, the XK/XM was a bit of a holy grail, second only to the XK/XM Motor. I used to scan the local Craigslists for people jettisoning their old film outfits in favor of digital, and then part out the individual items on eBay, keeping some item for myself. One day there was a CL ad for a "Minolta SLR" with a lousy pic of what looked like an XK (the prism was unmistakable) for $150. I nearly broke my ass getting to the seller's place. Almost perfect condition, except missing the plastic advance lever tip. I replaced it with the tip from and XD9 or XG9 (can't recall which) which was a perfect fit. I think I replaced the rear seals and the mirror bumper (this was pretty much routine for cameras if this vintage). It was possibly the centerpiece of my pro SLR collection, and the only example I ever saw in the flesh. The body was reminiscent of an old SRT on steroids - quite the beast.

XK.thumb.jpg.c6cde8460b9184044042549ff0b54e1d.jpg

Edited by david_carroll4
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10 hours ago, david_carroll4 said:

I think I replaced the rear seals and the mirror bumper

Yes, I did the same, although I doubt I will ever use the camera now. The 7 element 50mm F/1.4 PG lens seems to have been the standard on these. Mine came with a bit of fungus on the rear group, but it unscrews easily and I was able to eradicate it.

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