Minolta X-700

The Minolta X-700 is a 35 mm single-lens reflex camera introduced by Minolta in 1981. It was the top model of their final manual-focus SLR series before the introduction of the auto-focus Minolta Maxxum 7000. It used the basic body of the XG-M with electronically controlled stepless speeds, but added full program autoexposure in addition to the XG-M's aperture priority and metered manual modes. It also introduced through-the-lens (TTL) flash metering, and added exposure lock and interchangeable focusing screens to the XG-M's features. Based on the X-700 chassis, Minolta later launched the cheaper models X-300 and X-500. The X-500 lacked the X-700's program exposure mode, but featured a fill-in flash mode. The X-300 was the basic model of the late X-series. It lacked TTL flash metering and program exposure mode, it did not show the f-stop-setting of the lens in the viewfinder and it did not have a depth-of-field control button. Basic parts of all three cameras, i.e. shutter, viewfinder, mirror system, and light metering system were identical.

Motivated by the huge success of the low-priced Canon AE-1 and other, consumer-level cameras, Minolta followed suit in the new camera's design by offering more external camera features. This had the effect of lowering the budget for the camera's internal mechanism. In a step backwards, the new X-700 was not equipped with the fast vertical metal shutter of previous XE and XD cameras, and was instead fitted with a less...
Read More