The Minolta X-700 is a 35 mm single-lens reflex film 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.
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 expensive horizontal traverse silk shutter, enabling maximum sync
speed of 1/60 second, and operated by an electromagnetic shutter
release. Nonetheless, the X-700 was awarded the European "Camera
of the Year" award in 1981, and its competitive pricing resulted in its
becoming the most successful Minolta camera since the SRT line.
This is the camera I used between the Asahi Pentax Spotmatic and the
Sony Digital Mavica. It was light weight, easy to use, and
achieved good results.
(In Collection)
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