Minolta XM
The Minolta XM came on the market in 1972 and was built around the beginning of 1980. The XM was Minolta's attempt to gain a foothold in the professional camera class and to stand up to the established competitors from the Nikon ( Nikon F and Nikon F2 ) and Canon ( Canon F-1 ) houses. For this reason, the XM was designed and built with enormous effort, always with the aim of being even better than the big competition.
The result is an extremely progressive and courageous camera with impressive features for the 1970s: the XM has an interchangeable viewfinder, automatic timer, electronically controlled shutter with a large time range and an extremely solid housing. An interesting feature of the XM is a sensor switch on the right front of the camera, which automatically switches on the camera's measuring system when you hold it.
The disadvantage and criticism of the XM was the lack of a motor connection (motor connection was not designed for the XM). To meet the demands for a motorized XM, Minolta brought the XM Motor (a modified XM with a permanently integrated motor unit and reinforced transport mechanism) onto the market in 1976. A new automatic viewfinder was delivered with the XM Motor, which has an extended measuring range and whose measuring cell reacts faster. Even so, the XM Motor was not a success either. The professional photographers had doubts about the reliability and stability of an electronic professional camera.
The XM was Minolta's top of the line non-AF camera generation. The XM offered a lot of functionality and quality, but never managed to break out of the shadow of the professional models from Nikon and Canon. It remained the only professional Minolta model with an interchangeable viewfinder. It was only in the age of autofocus that Minolta tried again to enter the camera profile warehouse with the Minolta 9000 AF and later the Minolta Dynax 9 .
Data and equipment features
The Minolta XM is a 35 mm reflex camera with TTL light measurement. The lens connection is the Minolta-SR bayonet , the associated lenses are called "MC-Rokkor". With the introduction of the first multi- automatic SLR Minolta XD7 in 1977, there was a changeover to the more compact MD rokkore set up for automatic shutter control, which can also be used with the XM.
- Clasp
The shutter of the Minolta XM is a horizontal focal plane shutter with very thin, epoxy-resin- coated titanium roller blinds. This shutter is electronically controlled and works from 1/2000 second up to a full 16 seconds. The shutter speed is set “classic” using a shutter speed button on the top of the camera. The manual shutter speeds can be set from 1 to 1/2000 seconds using this button (plus X and B). With aperture priority (AUTO position on the shutter speed knob, but only with the AE and AE-S viewfinder of the XM and XM motors), the camera controls shutter speeds from a full 4 seconds to 1/2000 of a second. The flash sync time is 1/100 second.
- Shutter speeds slower than one second
Shutter speeds of up to 16 seconds are possible. To do this, B must be selected on the shutter speed dial and the shutter speeds 2, 4, 8 and 16 seconds can be set using a lever (under the shutter speed dial). With the AE-S automatic viewfinder, the automatic shutter speed range even goes up to 30 seconds.
- Measurement system and measurement characteristics
The XM's measuring system is integrated in the AE or AE-S viewfinder. This means that “integrated” exposure metering and aperture priority are only possible with these viewfinders. The film speed range of the XM is between 12 and 6400 ASA.
- Self-timer, dimming lever and mirror lock-up
The self-timer on the XM is mechanical and can be variably adjusted using the self-timer lever. Stopping down to check the depth of field is done by pressing a button next to the lens bayonet, which is also used to activate the mirror lock-up (manually folding up the oscillating mirror before the release).
- Viewfinder
The XM has interchangeable viewfinders. There are a total of six different viewfinders that can be used on both the XM and the XM motor. Only two of these viewfinders offer exposure metering and aperture priority. These automatic viewfinders have an eyepiece shutter and a separate switch for the camera's measuring system. On the top of the automatic viewfinder is an exposure compensation scale for taking correction values into account. For all other viewfinders, the exposure must be determined using an external exposure meter. Flash units are connected to the XM using an accessory shoe. This can be pushed onto the camera housing using the film rewind button.
- Viewfinder information
The viewfinder of the XM offers a large and clear viewfinder image. 100 percent of the image field and the aperture set on the lens are shown. In addition, with the automatic viewfinders, a time scale is visible on the right-hand side of the viewfinder image.
- casing
The XM has brass top and bottom caps that have been painted black. The back panel cannot be removed.
- Dimensions
- Camera: 48 × 84 × 147.5 mm
- Weight: 670 g
- AE viewfinder: 50 × 76 × 65 mm
- Weight: 225 g
Power supply: two 1.5 V silver oxide batteries (e.g. EPX76)
equipment
Exchange seeker
- Automatic prism viewfinder AE: Standard viewfinder that offers automatic timing (with 2 CdS cells connected in series according to the Minolta CLC exposure measurement principle ["Contrast Light Compensation"])
- Automatic prism viewfinder AE-S: initially standard with XM motor and later also with XM (exposure measurement with blue silicon cell)
- Prism viewfinder P: simple prism viewfinder without exposure meter
- Light shaft finder W: compact folding light shaft finder with magnifying glass
- Magnifying viewfinder H: fixed magnifying glass viewfinder with 6.2x magnification
- Tracking prism finder M
Adjusting washers
For the XM there are 10 matt and clear glass panes (P, M, PM, G, L, H, S, C1, C2 & C3) as well as a micro-honeycomb pane (AP, the forerunner of the later micro-honeycomb technology of the XG and XD- Series). The focusing screens are changed by removing the viewfinder. Depending on the focusing screen, exposure compensation values are sometimes necessary (setting on the AE viewfinder of the XM).
Versions
The XM was sold regionally under different names, in America as XK and in Asia under the designation X-1. The functions and equipment are identical in the XM, XK, X-1.
literature
- Minolta XM instruction manual (German), o. J.
- Minolta AE-S finder owner's manual (English), 1976
- Plain finder, high-magnification finder, waist-level finder owner's manual, 1974
- Josef Scheibel: The Minolta book II - reflex cameras XM, XE-1, XE-5, XM-Motor and the whole system, 1977 2nd edition Heering-Verlag ISBN 3-7763-3381-2
