Just acquired a nice Minolta X-700. In it’s day (1981) it was Minolta’s top manual focus camera. It was also Minolta’s final manual focus camera. After this came the Maxxum 7000, the world’s first autofocus single lens reflex camera.

It came with a Minolta MD 50mm f2; Rokinon MC 80-250mm f4.5/4.8; Rokinon MC 28mm f2.8; Rokinon MC 135mm f2.8; a Focal 2x teleconverter; a Vivitar 3500 flash; a Soligor Power Winder G and various manuals. All the lenses have haze filters and front and back caps. There’s also a nice leather camera case and a case for the teleconverter. The seller had even been kind enough to include a battery. I bought an adapter for my Sony Nex and tried out all the lenses, but I hadn’t tried the camera with film until today so I didn’t know if the body was working properly. I’m pleased to say that everything seems to work well.

I like this camera. It’s not too heavy and fits nicely into my hands. The depth of field and exposure lock buttons are within easy reach. It’s known for its Programme auto-exposure mode and TTL flash, neither of which I’m likely to use much. I used it in Aperture priority and it worked well. I believe the metered manual mode has a quirk: it shows the recommended shutter speed in the viewfinder rather than the shutter speed that’s actually set. This is apparently remedied in the otherwise less sophisticated X-570.

To test the camera body I went to the Old Saint Peter’s Church in Van Cortlandtville.

Some black and whites from the same camera at the same location to follow in the next post.

The Church

Red leaves on stone

Spectacular flowering bush. I’d like one of these on my grave.

Isaac Sacker gravestone

Fall leaves on a grave marker