Minolta 700si

The Brilliant 700si

 I didn't need a Minolta 700si. I always wanted one but I didn't need it. I have a nice collection of user cameras and I prefer to spend the £50 (average 700si value) on buying films. But I got a notification of a new listing with a 700si for £5, so I didn't give it any second thought.

Minolta got in a bit of a muddle in the early 90s. The xi series was loaded with unnecessary features that gave very little to no control to the photographer. Despite the initial raving reviews of the 7xi, very few photographers managed to bond with it (me being one of them). The only cameras that kept Minolta alive where the 2xi, 3xi and Spxi - entry level models that sold well with amateurs. With the 700si, Minolta planted themselves back into the competitive arena of the advanced amateur cameras.

The Minolta 700si was the camera that the 7xi should have been from the start. There are some minor updates regarding the AF module and light metering department and some major ones involving redesigning the camera shape and layout as well as new mirrorbox and advancing system. But most importantly, a lot of the xi features where either dropped or being given the option to disengage them.

So gone are the sudden zoom ins and outs, gone are a lot of useless displays in the viewfinder. The auto-start can finally be disabled if you wish to and the shape of the camera is more conventional and easy to hold. All functions are easily accessed by a dedicated button and the turn of a wheel button. Also in came a memory button and a very useful spot function. But let's have a look on the good, the very good and the bad.

Rear view and the side flap door

The good
The 700si has been benefitted by newer electronics compared to the previous 7xi. AF feels slightly more responsive (as you would expect with newer electronics) but I haven't seen anything to support Minolta's wild claims of being able to track a car at the speed of 90 miles per hour (compared to 700kh/h on the previous 7xi). Also the algorithm of the 14zone matrix metering has been tweaked - I haven't seen yet the tendency I noticed in the 7xi to favour underexpose when faced with high contrast scenes.
The viewfinder looks clean and tidy again. Gone is the display on the viewfinder that was showing depth of field or speed (Ps or Pa). Instead it was replaced with a scale on the side showing spot measurements.
Also the loading and rewinding of the film is silent - an important feature if you ask me. The 700si is a much better camera to hold, the streamlined 7xi might look more space-age but in the case of the 700si I can easily wrap my hands around the chunky handgrip. One more welcomed addition is the depth of field preview accessible by a button on side of the lens mount.
Finaly, the extra pins on the lens mount used for the xi features would be used in the future to focus silent lenses (SSH lenses).

The very good.
Other than excellent AF and matrix metering, Minolta included a number of features that were useful and made sense to the advanced photographer.
- A memory button: although very poorly executed (see later comment) the memory button allowed the user to store a setting in the camera and quickly recall it when needed. I have stored f/2, central AF sensor and spot metering so when I want to take a portrait I just press the memory button and the camera is ready.
- A vertical grip: the VC-700 could be added to allow the use of AA batteries and also duplicate some button functions. It does add to size and weight though.
- Spot metering: when pressing the spot button, the camera takes a spot metering reading and on the left side in the viewfinder comes up a scale that shows  the difference in stop value in other areas if the picture. Very important as it allows you to fathom the scene contrast. This feature was first implemented in the professional 9xi.
- A feature that was used in the previous 7xi and is used also in the 700si is the hydraulic switch that understands whether you are holding the camera horizontally or vertically. This changes the AF frame lines and adjusts the distribution of matrix zones to reflect the vertical position.

The bad ideas
Of course the 700si comes with some shortcomings that according to Minolta's strategy will be addressed with the following 800si. These include:
- In many ways, the 700si remained crippled due to the expansion cards. And there is nothing that suffered more than the custom functions (you need a card for that - Canon was offering it as standard since the late 80s) and the spot metering (expansion card for up to 8 average spot readings). Multiple exposures came as standard but for anything up to 8 you needed a card. Also think that you can't use two cards at the same time. Pointless...
- As if the crippling of the spot function was not enough, Minolta failed to link the spot function with the selected AF point (the Canon EOS5 does it).
- The memory button: once you recall the settings there is no way of going back unless you press the "P" button or go through "Mode" button again. A second press of the memory button should have taken you back to where you were before.
- Although film ASA goes up on 1/3 stop increments, exposure compensation is only by 1/2 stop. Not sure what Minolta had in mind here....
- No dedicated "Continuous AF" mode. Minolta says you don't need it as the camera will detect movement and adjust focus. My experience is that most times it will but some times it won't...
- The horrible rubber grip: that becomes brittle and breaks. You can't do anything about it really - if it gets sticky clean it with pre-injection swabs (a couple of pounds for 100). You can cover it with black electrical tape if it starts breaking. It will not affect camera performance though.
- No mirror lockup. Minolta says you don't need that either so....

The Dream Team from the 90s

Minolta 700si Vs Canon EOS5 Vs Nikon F90x
These were the three top of the Advanced-Amateur range that the three big companies offered back in the early to mid -90s. How do they compare?
AF: the 700si sits between the F90x and the EOS5. The F90x has slightly newer electronics and a more powerful motor and that makes the F90x feel more responsive. If you select single point AF the difference between the three becomes even smaller.
Matrix metering: All three are brilliant. I give the edge to the Minolta for the very clever way of implementing the spot metering - had they linked the spot with the AF sensors, it would have been every professional photographer's dream.
Noise: Nothing comes close to the near-silent operation of the EOS5. The 700si is less noisy than the F90x though.
Viewfinder: little to chose between the Canon and the Minolta. The Nikon has the biggest and brightest of them all.
Weight: The Minolta is between the lighter EOS5 and the heavier F90x. The Nikon takes 4 AA batteries that contributes to the weight.
Ergonomics: I am slightly biased with this one since I have been using the Canon for almost 25 years (bought from new). Everything in the Canon seems so logical. All three cameras are super easy to use thought. The Canon is also much easier to hold too.

If you allow me to be shallow and superficial, I will add that the Minolta is the prettiest of the three. It has some small details (i.e. horizontal lines on the AF assist lamp) reminiscent of the late 80s.

Crash Test during -5oC. It did well...

A few other quirky stuff
There are a few more things that come with this camera and you might not like in the beginning but you get used to them quickly. First of all, the AF button on the back has a dual function: you press it and rotate the wheel to select another AF point or you press it to lock focus. This means that some times you are trying to select another AF point and the camera goes wild trying to lock focus.
Another thing that I don't like much is that when you disengage the Eye-Start, the projected AF points in the viewfinder disappear. If you move the camera to bring it to your eye they re-appear. Sometimes this doesn't work as flawlessly as it sounds, it has happened that I put the camera in my eye and there are no AF points. Especially annoying if you have selected a single sensor and you don't know where it is on the viewfinder. In these cases the AF points will re-appear when you tap the Shutter button.
Finally, just a reminder - the AF in the 700si works slightly different from the Nikon/Canon equivalent. When all sensors are active, it tends to use the middle sensor which is a cross-sensor and more accurate. Nikon and Canon will use the sensor which is on the subject closer to you. Minor detail but just saying...

Using the Minolta 700si
I went a bit over the top using the 700si - I used it during sub-zero temperatures early in the morning and during a snow-storm in January. In these conditions it will be the Nikon F4 or F5 that will come out with me. Overall the 700si did well despite the amount of snow that started gathering on top of it. A couple of things to notice though: you just cannot open the flap door when wearing gloves - if you want these sort of ergonomics you are in the Nikon F4 territory. Another odd thing is that, after 3 hours covered with snow, when I finished the film and the camera (silently) rewinded the film, it displayed a message "Help" on the display panel. I think these conditions were a bit too much for it. I removed the battery and brought it home where it spent some days laying on silica gel sachets. Everything is working well again. Next time I will go back to my old trusty F4 for this sort of weather.
But all pictures from the film came out great - I leave a few samples here.

Conclusion
A brilliant camera - a true photographic tool. It comes as no surprise to me that it trimmed down the sales if the professional 9xi. Unfortunately, in line with Minolta's designing strategy back then, all omissions will be addressed with another model later on - the 800si, the Minolta that had everything as standard.
The 700si is a great camera though - it will do everything you ask it to do and it will do it right. A modern classic.
Highly recommended!

Lasting impressions [23 April 2021]

This is a very likeable camera - over the last few months I shot more and more films with it.

The "HELP" error is a very general way for the camera to indicate that there is something wrong. The most common culprits include errors with advancing the film, problems with the aperture mechanism, problems with power supply (dirty contacts), cracked circuit board, not property shut film door (the sensor is playing up), problems with the LCD panel, etc etc etc... The manual says to remove and put back in the battery, that should sort it and not worry about it. If it remains locked then send it for service.

Correctly identifying what is wrong is a rather costly task, a qualified Minolta technician needs to be called in. If I believe internet wisdom, 8 out of 10 times the "HELP" message is associated with problems on the aperture mechanism - being electromagnetic, parts of it start losing its magnetism. Not much you can do about it apparently, only solution is spare parts from a donor camera until that fails too. Oh Minolta, you didn't learn from the 7000/9000 failings... Anyway, in my case, removing the battery seems to be sorting it out for a number of frames before it is displayed again (maybe a couple of times per film). As it is, I will still use it as I like it but it won't be the camera I will be reaching out to when I plan a photo-trip. Such a shame really as I like this camera a lot.

Lasting impressions (Apr 2022 update)

Just returned from a 10 days trip to Poland and the 700si was my camera of choice. I shot three films whilst there so here is another update. The second day I went shooting,  the camera experienced heavy downpour of rain which led to it seize for a while. Dried it with a towel and carried it inside my coat to warm up a bit and soon went back up to action. For weather like this I will stick to the Nikons (F4, F5).

So, what are my overall impressions using it a bit more? Good overall but there are a few things I found annoying.

* If you are coming from modern DSLRs with multiple focusing points and cross-type sensors, the AF of the 700si might feel unsophisticated.  It is good at locking focus on subjects in the centre but focusing and recomposing is a technique that you will be using more often than you think. Also on a couple of occasions, the lack of cross-type sensor was obvious: the AF jumped whilst I thought it had locked focus or when trying to recompose. Having said that, the Nikon F90x is not much better.

* Towards the end of the first film, the camera rewound it at frame #34 and displayed a "Help" error. A couple of times before that, the motor appeared to be struggling to advance the film. I assume that with time it has become more sensitive to resistance and the slightest resistance from film will trigger the rewind mode. I also suspect tgst cold weather might have something to do with this - all thr times i experienced the "Help" error,  was with rewinding the film during cold weather.  There was no issue with the other two films thought.

* I missed a couple of pictures fiddling with the "AF button" instead of pressing the "Spot Button". I know, they are not even close but it happened. It would have been great those two buttons to have swapped position.

* There is just no way I would ever get used to the buttons close to the lens mount. The exposure compensation button just feels in the wrong place.

* The "Spot Button" is a godsend gift. So easy to use. Also, I used the memory button very often, pity it has only one memory setting.  

* As with everything in life, the proof is in the pudding and the 700si brought back home well exposed and accurately focused pictures. Because of the excellent performance of the 700si, I started becoming more and more curious about the Dynax 800si. If I find one cheap, I'll grab it. I am leaving you here with some of the pics from that trip. All taken with Ilford Pan 400 developed in HC110.