The Film Retriever

If there is an award for the most underrated camera, the Minolta X-700 is definitely within the top three. I am not joking, in a forum, people were asked to name the camera they think it is the most underrated and i suggested the Fujicas but one constant contestant was the Minolta x-700. Eventually a participant in that conversation offered his old X-700 to anyone who wanted it and this is how this camera landed on my hands (Thanks Richard). There are plenty of reviews on the Internet about the X-700 therefore I will not go into the historical bit of the story, just check out MIR's fantastic page for more information. I will just focus on how this camera feels after I've shot a couple of films with it. When i picked up the camera, the first overall impressions were..errr.. OK-ish.... Extensive use of plastic (remember, we are in the 80's), both top and bottom are plastic and the camera feels light without feeling cheap thought. A typical problem with th...

Another car boot sale find, just confirms my impression that there are plenty of great cameras out there that can be had for peanuts. This camera, together with the Sigma 28 f/2.8 and the winder-G cost me only £10. It was a buy-to-sell buy, i thought i would keep the lens and the winder for the Minolta X-700 that has recently landed on my hands and sell the XG-2... But i am not so sure if that's what is gonna happen. We are back in the distant 1977, the year I was born actually, and Minolta shakes the world once again with the new Minolta XD-11. The camera became an instant hit with professionals but with the production of the XE-series been seized the gap between the SRT-series and the new XD-series meant that there was potential for Minolta to capture the very lucrative part of the market, the casual shooter who would like a camera newer than the SRT but who couldn't afford the XD. The response to that was the XG-series. See this camera as XD's little ...