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Minolta X-300

The story will sound familiar as it has been reported time after time on this blog but it applies to this camera too. I spent a considerate amount of time, back in the very early 90's trying to buy, what I thought, my dream camera that I could afford and there were many cameras that temporarily fitted this role before I ended up buying that Practika BMS. The Minolta X-300 and its “S” variant was one of them – broken-hearted after I realised I could not afford it (second hand market was not that big back on those days in Greece) I settled down with the Practika. I few months ago, I found this X-300 in a charity shop for lunch money so I went ahead and bought it for old time's shake.

Minolta was always making beautiful cameras, even the budget models like this one, are well made and with good fit and finish. The plastic top cover could easily pass for metal and despite being the X-700's small brother, it has everything you need: Manual and aperture priority and even AE lock button – Very useful. Shutter speeds are the sort of typical 80's range, 1-1/1000 plus B. Viewfinder is pretty decent, bright and gives quite good magnification. What I liked especially about this camera, is the fact that noise levels and vibrations are kept to minimum.

The X-300 uses the Minolta SR mount, which means that loads of excellent quality optics can be used. This camera came with the MD 50 f/1.7, a lens no stranger to me. Seriously, this lens represent
excellent value for money when you compare it to the Nikon/Canon equivalents.
Pictures from the test roll came out well exposed – no complains about this camera's performance.

Conclusion
I suppose the aim of this small post it to make a point that this is a very good camera to own and use. I see plenty going around and I haven't come across any ones that do not work well. Sure, these cameras were not owned by professionals but still they are very reliable units – possible more reliable than their bigger brother -the X700- that suffers the dead capacitor syndrome.
The problem is that this camera will struggle for attention on the used market. There are other models out there that hold the limelight and the X-300 has to compete with them. As it is now, the X-300 will survive mainly due to its low price and decent set of features that can offer. Usually it comes together with some quality Minolta lens that makes the offer even more tempting. Grab it when you can.

Comments

  1. Unknown14 February 2016 at 13:02

    Hi Thanks a lot for the posts in your blogs. I have just started with photography with determine to master in it. I bought a Canon EOS 300 V recently. Is there any blog or piece u have written about studying the techniques of the camera? Thanks a lot. Would really appreciate it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Panagiotis Giannakis14 February 2016 at 23:05

      Hi Timesa,

      I have a post for the EOS 300V here:
      http://www.manualslib.com/manual/24811/Canon-Rebel-Ti-300v.html

      If you need the manual, you can find it here, it explains all cameras function in depth:
      http://www.manualslib.com/manual/24811/Canon-Rebel-Ti-300v.html

      Enjoy.
      Pan

      Delete
  2. deafburglar19 March 2016 at 16:18

    This one is among my top 3 user cameras, although both my copies have a busted frame counter. It is ergonomically perfect and has everything one needs to take great photographs, the only thing missing is a DOF preview button (present on the X500). The X300 has the brightest viewfinder among all my manual focusing cameras (brighter than my ME Super) and one of the most "sensitive" microprism areas I have come across. It's really great that so many exist out there keeping the prices low!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dutch Wine Lover12 January 2017 at 10:18

    Good info. Have a X-300 since July 1987 (new) and today picked up two X-700's. One slightly used and fully operational, the other one looking almost new and... with a broken capacitor :)...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown26 July 2018 at 07:42

    the capacitors in the 300 and 500 are also likely to fail, luckily there's only one easily got at under the bottom cover. replace it with an equivalent dipped tantalum one and it will last forever

    ReplyDelete
  5. ronsurf20 December 2019 at 06:29

    I used to service a lot of these and I used to consider the X-300 a really good camera. Well made and well designed, easy to repair and pretty robust. Surprised these get so little acclaim - they are quality cameras.

    ReplyDelete

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