Minolta XE-1
Introduced in 1974, this certainely is one of Minolta's best. In fact it is so good that Leica decided to make practically the same camera under the name R3 in 1976. The XE-1 is by all means a very solid camera. It offers automatic exposure with aperture priority, or full manual exposure control. To todays standards it's a very usable camera. Little drawbacks are, that it's impossible to attach a winder or motordrive and it hasn't got the very bright 'acute matte' focusing screen of the XD 7.
Leica made this camera even slightly better. They did put in a very bright focussing screen and replaced plastic parts by metal parts, like the viewfinder cover or the on/off lever on the back. So the Leica feels even more solid. It might well be that Leica's R3 is the best 'Minolta' ever made.
Though this camera is not in the '7-range', at least not under her European name, to me it sure is a '7-range' camera. Which means a camera for the serious amateur or even the pro. Moreover it was sold in the USA under the name XE-7 which would make it full member of my '7-range'. Unfortunately a USA XE-7 is sold for about twice the price of an European XE-1 on Ebay. That's the reason this camera ended up in my collection with the XE-1 tag.
One of the big pros of this camera is the very refined Copal shutter. It's is such a smooth and silent shutter, you'll hardly find another camera with such a nice shutter (except for the Leica R3). Furthermore, with this camera you'll have no mercury battery problems. They run on a pair of cheapo-everywhere-available 1.5V SR44's.
In summary: when you're interested in a vintage camera and still love to photograph on film, the Minolta XE-1 is an absolute nobrainer.
I have no PDF of the instruction manual, but Mike Butkus does, so:
http://www.butkus.org/chinon/minolta/minolta_xe-1/minolta_ex-1.htm
Leica made this camera even slightly better. They did put in a very bright focussing screen and replaced plastic parts by metal parts, like the viewfinder cover or the on/off lever on the back. So the Leica feels even more solid. It might well be that Leica's R3 is the best 'Minolta' ever made.
Though this camera is not in the '7-range', at least not under her European name, to me it sure is a '7-range' camera. Which means a camera for the serious amateur or even the pro. Moreover it was sold in the USA under the name XE-7 which would make it full member of my '7-range'. Unfortunately a USA XE-7 is sold for about twice the price of an European XE-1 on Ebay. That's the reason this camera ended up in my collection with the XE-1 tag.
One of the big pros of this camera is the very refined Copal shutter. It's is such a smooth and silent shutter, you'll hardly find another camera with such a nice shutter (except for the Leica R3). Furthermore, with this camera you'll have no mercury battery problems. They run on a pair of cheapo-everywhere-available 1.5V SR44's.
In summary: when you're interested in a vintage camera and still love to photograph on film, the Minolta XE-1 is an absolute nobrainer.
I have no PDF of the instruction manual, but Mike Butkus does, so:
http://www.butkus.org/chinon/minolta/minolta_xe-1/minolta_ex-1.htm
