At the time, the majority of camera customers-regular moms and dads and grandparents-didn’t want to fiddle with dials and knobs but did want to take great pictures easily and quickly and cheaply. The XG1 arrived on shelves in 1978, right in the middle of photography’s autoexposure revolution.
#How to open a minolta camera pdf#
Download a PDF copy of the XG1 manual from Butkus. Manual: The basics of shooting with an XG1 aren’t particularly complicated to figure out even if you have never used a 35mm film camera before…but it never hurts to have a manual on hand. When photographers talk about an “authentic” 35mm experience, loading and rewinding film with the XG1 is what they mean. And again, you’ll have more difficulty shooting wide open outdoors.įilm advance and rewind: Both are completely manual and as old school as a film SLR can be. Also quite slow compared to entry-level digital cameras today. Depending on your film’s ISO, you might not be able to shoot wide open with a fast lens on a sunny day.įlash sync: 1/60. Slow compared to modern digital cameras, but not unusually slow for the time period. Shutter speeds are available only in whole stops in manual exposure. In the viewfinder, you can see what shutter speed the camera has chosen. Light meter: Yep, but it works only in aperture priority. It can take a fall I’m sure but not a bullet like Don McCullin’s battle-scarred Nikon.
#How to open a minolta camera pro#
At the time, the XG1 was very much considered a consumer camera, but it’s made of more metal than many pro and prosumer cameras today. That’s almost the weight of Canon’s 17-40mm f/4L lens, so it’s not really heavy at all. Weight and construction: The camera weighs in at 1.08 pounds without batteries or lens. I picked up a 20-pack from Amazon for 6 bucks.
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The officially recommended battery model is the “Eveready A-76,” but you can use any of the following models from any brand: 157, 303, 357, AG13, EPX76, LR44, S76, SG13, SR44. They are often more expensive than regular MD glass, but some photographers prefer the Rokkor build quality and coatings.īattery: Yes, the camera actually needs two batteries to work at all, and thankfully they are readily available and cheap. If you are feeling fancy, look for MD Rokkor-X models. There are a whole bunch of excellent and affordable MC and MD lenses available on the used market. The camera features Minolta’s MC/MD mount. If you buy from a respected camera retailer, you’ll likely pay more, but they will have thoroughly checked out the camera and accurately rated its condition.Īutofocus and lenses: No autofocus. Costs range from $15 for a body to $100 for a kit with a good 50mm f/1.7 lens. KEH, B&H, and Adorama sometimes have them in stock as well. You can find them all over eBay and in pawn shops. Happily, the cost of an XG1-neither an exotic nor rare camera-has remained fairly stable. The XG1 didn’t have quite the same effect on photography.Ĭurrent cost and availability: 35mm shooting is becoming en vogue again, so prices for used film gear have been steadily increasing. So the same year that the XG1 rolled off assembly lines, Eddie Van Halen erupted on Van Halen’s debut album and changed guitar playing forever.
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A later model called the XG-1(n), with a revamped body, replaced the XG1.ĭates: Manufactured from 1978 to 1981. Because the XG 1 and the XG-1 are essentially the same camera and function the same way, I’m going to sidestep the issue altogether and just call it the XG1 throughout this review. Minolta, however, included the hyphen in marketing material for both versions. Name: Is this camera officially called the Minolta “ XG 1” or “ XG-1” or “ XG1”? You’ll see it written all three ways, and the confusion comes because the first version of the camera has no hyphen on its front plate and a later version of the camera added the hyphen (along with a new company logo).