Standard lens

 
Minolta 50mm F1.7 MD No8523474

It may strike some as being strange but I bought in 1998 a brand new 50mm 'standard lens' plus I had to wait 3 solid months for it to come in a container ship from Japan!
The reason I got one was I find this lens to be really useful for things like nature study and when coupled with either close up lenses or a macro converter gives me almost life-sized images.
I addition its f1.7 aperture makes it easy to use in dull conditions.
As the last version of the 'Standard 50', it lost the Rokkor branding and gained the Minimum Aperture setting lock introduced for the X700's program mode.

Wide Angle lenses

I have presently two:

Vivitar 19mm F3.8 62MM Filter thread
I bought this in 2000 new as it give a considerable wider field of view than a 28 or 35MM lending itself to creative shots. No:94102172















 
Tamron 28mm F2.5 49mm Filter thread. Type 02B No907710
I got this used in 1996 as I was not too impressed with some of the other MD fit wide angles I tried and didn't think Minolta's own though good were that great.
I really like this lenses resolving powers and the relatively bright image that aids focusing by hand.

Minolta X700

This camera actually won the 1982 EISA Awards in 1982 for it's facilities and general handing and remained available new unto 2000 which is an indication of it's popularity.
Introduced in 1981, it was the top manual focus Minolta body introducing Program AE as well as Aperture Priority and Metered Manual plus the first Minolta to have Through The Lens metered flash that makes life easier for flash and macro photography.
It had a dedicated data back for recording information and interchangeable focusing screens.

Minolta X9

Introduced in 1990 it's origins go to speciality photo retailers in the States who wanted a version of the X370n aka X300S in Europe with both a depth of field preview button for checking how sharp the image is at the taking aperture plus a 45/45 split crosshair viewing screen take make focus checking easier on horizontal as well as vertical images.
It was available new during the 1990's often with a 35-70 Zoom lens  and the 220PX flash as a bundle for those who were either students with limited funds or those of us who preferred the relative simplicity of manual focus cameras.
The availability of used really nice MC and MD lenses cheaply during that era as people traded up to autofocus models that couldn't use the older  manual focus lenses also helped, enabling you to put together a terrific quality outfit for little cost.
Indeed I used to amaze people with the quality my Minolta set up produced compared to their AF models which offered a lot of technology but a more hands on approach coupled with superior optics could beat.
The camera is a plastic version of the X300 which dates back to 1983 with a modern angled profile, rubberized grip and speed selector accessible from the front of the camera.
The one criticism I'd make of is the speed selector is purposely stiff when in Auto which I find difficult to turn having poor grip where those Minolta bodies that used a wheel shutter/mode selector on the top had a release button which was easier to operate.
It exposure system does aperture priority AE as well as 1 to 1/1000 sec manually but like the XD7 the flash isn't metered in camera something Olympus had done since 1976 in the OM2.

Conway

The Jetty at Conway Harbour, North Wales June 2008 taken with the 'Standard 50' on Fuji Superia 200 film and scanned at the lab.

The Minolta XD7 (XD II)

I first bought this body back in February 1996 from the now defunct Techno Camera store group in Stoke on Trent.
This body was first introduced in 1977 and phased out in 1983.
It was the worlds first camera with more than two exposure modes, metered manual, Aperture Priority and Shutter Priority autoexposure coupled with a system that overrode any suggestions if they fell outside of the exposure values possible.
The chassis formed the basis of the Leica R4 models.
It is a exceptionally well conceived camera body that has a clear easy to use top plate.
The shutter is a metal vertical design.
The flash is NOT metered by the camera and the sync speed is 1/100.
In 1979 a cut down version, the XD5 was introduced, removing the exposure compensation safe load  and aperture viewfinder display indications.

The lens you got  varied from dealer to dealer, so at launch you could have the 45mm F2 'pancake' with a 49mm filter thread and a choice of three 50mm lenses of F2, F1.7 and 1.4 apertures in 55mm filter threads which were adapted from the last MC (Mid 1970's) series just adding the extra lug for the minimum aperture for the XD7/5's shutter priority mode.
The above is the Mark II 50mm F1.7 from around 1979 though 1981 that saw it made smaller, lighter, taking the more in vogue 49mm filter thread and it was that which came mounted to my used XD7 but keeping the minimum aperture at F16 and the focus scale in green.

Photography

This is the introduction to a section where between things I talk about photography at least as I experienced it at the time looking at equipment  and its usage that was originally a stand alone blog
Photography for me was a passion from late in junior school through the boarding I school I attended where Andy and I often took pictures particular on school trips such as zoo visits, hiking and the school residential trips we went.
I also took pictures of things such as air shows and family holidays and it was that which eventually lead to me moving away from all in one cameras like my beloved Lubitel 122B medium format TLR, a Kodak instant camera I had for part of the eighties and the much hyped Kodak Disk system one I had toward a Single Lens Reflex camera system.
This part of the blog covers that film SLR system which will contain posts on the bodies, lenses and other accessories I have for the system as I put together in dribs and drabs at the time.
The Minolta Camera Co of Japan was take over by Sony electronics in the mid 2000's.