arhphotographic

When I first picked up this camera to take it out, I was met after a couple of shutter actuations, with a stuck film advance. Since this is a camera that requires batteries to operate there was only one thing to do, take the base plate off and have a look.

Nothing obviously wrong here. However the business side of things lay under that tripod plate.

With a couple of wires attached to this plate, due to the battery compartment, I had to be careful. A little poking and the mechanism was freed. Since I was here I thought it best to give the mechanism some lubrication. A few shutter actuations later and things seemed good. Not the most auspicious start🤨

Released during the fast moving technological 1980’s, this was the top of the XG range, introducing a number of features that future models would enhance. The XG-M is both a shutter priority or metered manual camera. The meter, along with the shutter, is powered by two 1.5v batteries. The meter is switched on with a touch of the finger on the shutter button, something Minolta called ‘touch switch’. In the viewfinder on the right hand side, there is a shutter speed scale illuminated by red LED’s. You also get an aperture readout on the bottom of the viewfinder, something that my camera is missing??

An exposure compensation dial is situated above the film speed dial, seen in the above photo on the left. On the right is the shutter speed selector with on/off switch underneath. The black button next to the dial, doubles up as the unlock for the shutter dial and as a battery check. The little window to the right of the button will confirm that film has been loaded correctly.

As far as lenses go, I have a 28mm f3.5 and 50mm 1.7 Rokker both of which were used during this first outing. What better way to try them out than to visit one of my favourite locations.

Similar to a Canon A series or Olympus OM double digit camera, the Minolta was very comfortable in the hand. While much plastic is evident in its construction, it is a solid camera with all the dials and buttons in the right places, so you can keep your eye to the viewfinder while operating it.

As I went to wind on the film after taking the above image, bang! the film wind on jammed. Nooooooooo. Rather than forcing the film wind on I tried moving it via the motor drive coupling on the base plate. With a few wiggles it came free allowing me to wind on. However I accidentally tripped the shutter and the picture below was taken, very artistic don’t you think 🙂

Peace and harmony restored to camera and operator 🙂

Despite the issue with the film wind on, I’m really pleased with the images coming from the Minolta XG-M. The Rokker lenses are nice and smooth to focus and more importantly produce the goods in terms of image quality. However difficult the lighting situation, like the one above, the Minolta responded by producing well exposed images.

I mentioned that the XG-M was similar to Canon and Olympus cameras, which may be regarded as preferred choices. However having used all these, I would have no problem recommending giving the Minolta a try.

I will be looking at the camera again with a view to resolving the stuck film wind on. The camera came with the power winder G but it doesn’t work properly, probably due to the film wind mechanism issue.

However I will definitely be using the camera again, simply because I enjoyed the experience so much.