Any Minolta film fans on the forum?

Got a really nice black X300 / 50mm 1.7 coming this week. First dip into film since 2002! Just wondered if everybody here has gone digital now, and if so, is there a Minolta film forum anywhere? Thanks.

I still have a few Minolta film cameras (SRT-101, XD-11, Maxxum 7 and Maxxum 9), but I don't use them often enough.......

Check out the Dyxum Film Cameras forum; a lot of Minolta film users and a vast amount of knowledge among them.

Rich

Still have my Minolta Maxxum 7000 and 9000 along with some Minolta lenses. Have posted several times about getting back to film. But inertia has set in and digital is simply too convenient. Maybe some day.

Sorry for the slow response guys...thanks for the comments and user group / forum ideas. Just about to follow them up! Camera arrived - it must be at least 30 years old but looks like it could be three years old! Needs some shutter adjustment but the seller is doing that for me and everything else seems to work as it should.

I'm shooting more film than digital I reckon these days .

Most used cameras are probably a couple of Dynax 7's , and a Dynax 9 with Rollei Infrared in it .

For a lightweight system it tends to be a Minolta X500 and X700 .

I've got most of the Minolta manual focus and auto focus SLR's including the Vectis APS cameras .

And a full range of lenses to go with them .

Also some point and shoot Minolta's too .

I started off with Minolta as my first proper film camera ( after a cheap and nasty point and shoot )

That was a Minolta 7000AF that I bought around 1995 with the Minolta 35-70mm f/4 , 70-210mm f/4 and 50mm f/1.7 . All of which I still have .

Took a few months wages to save up for them , partly because we weren't payed much then and partly because if the amount of beer drunk .....

I bought the Sony a100 early 2007 so I could continue using my Minolta lenses .

Jessops in the U.K were flogging off a load of Minolta Gear just after Sony took over the camera division . I picked up a new Dynax 5 and kit lens for £30 , and new lenses for not a lot .

Around then people were also panicking thinking A mount was dead ( yep , stuck record !) And we're dumping their gear on eBay , so picked up lots of nice gear for next to nothing .

Apparently film died as well so everyone chucked lots of nice things on eBay for next to nowt !

Darkroom gear must have been very dead as that was being given away for free or next to free .

Turned out film isn't dead so prices have gone through back threw the roof  , but I've already got what I want . A camera I payed £5 ten years ago sell for £100 now . Funny how things go in circles ...

Other 35mm gear I have are Contax , Canon , Nikon , Olympus , Pentax , lots of Russian SLR's and range finder cameras etc .

Medium format gear is Bronica ETRSi , Kiev 88 , SLR'S , and loads of TLR's from Mamiya , Minolta , Yashica , Lomo , Voightlander  and the latest is a couple of Rolleicords .

And a bit of large format too , 5x4 and 7x5 .

All good fun and very affordable now compared to what the gear cost new or even used not too many years ago .

Have not used film in a while, other than some 4x5 for copying paintings.

Have kept and added to my Minolta 35mm film cameras: 2 Maxxum 9's several 7000's bought for the lenses, 2 XK's had for 30+ years, 1 XE-7, a nice X700 and several older SRT's and SR7. Also 3 Maxxum 70's the last film camera Minolta made.

I can't bring myself to get rid of them, besides they have virtually no value today.

Interesting note: I have a copy of the 1965/66 Blue Book that lists the Minolta SR7 with 58mm f/1.4 at about 80% of the cost of a Leica M3 body only. Just some food for thought.

neilt3 wrote:

I'm shooting more film than digital I reckon these days .

Most used cameras are probably a couple of Dynax 7's , and a Dynax 9 with Rollei Infrared in it .

For a lightweight system it tends to be a Minolta X500 and X700 .

I've got most of the Minolta manual focus and auto focus SLR's including the Vectis APS cameras .

And a full range of lenses to go with them .

Also some point and shoot Minolta's too .

I started off with Minolta as my first proper film camera ( after a cheap and nasty point and shoot )

That was a Minolta 7000AF that I bought around 1995 with the Minolta 35-70mm f/4 , 70-210mm f/4 and 50mm f/1.7 . All of which I still have .

Took a few months wages to save up for them , partly because we weren't payed much then and partly because if the amount of beer drunk .....

I bought the Sony a100 early 2007 so I could continue using my Minolta lenses .

Jessops in the U.K were flogging off a load of Minolta Gear just after Sony took over the camera division . I picked up a new Dynax 5 and kit lens for £30 , and new lenses for not a lot .

Around then people were also panicking thinking A mount was dead ( yep , stuck record !) And we're dumping their gear on eBay , so picked up lots of nice gear for next to nothing .

Apparently film died as well so everyone chucked lots of nice things on eBay for next to nowt !

Darkroom gear must have been very dead as that was being given away for free or next to free .

Turned out film isn't dead so prices have gone through back threw the roof , but I've already got what I want . A camera I payed £5 ten years ago sell for £100 now . Funny how things go in circles ...

Other 35mm gear I have are Contax , Canon , Nikon , Olympus , Pentax , lots of Russian SLR's and range finder cameras etc .

Medium format gear is Bronica ETRSi , Kiev 88 , SLR'S , and loads of TLR's from Mamiya , Minolta , Yashica , Lomo , Voightlander and the latest is a couple of Rolleicords .

And a bit of large format too , 5x4 and 7x5 .

All good fun and very affordable now compared to what the gear cost new or even used not too many years ago .

My first DSLR bought almost by chance after years of P&S was a Sony A200 (wish I'd kept it - had a special colour with the right lens) then having recently decided to try film again it was a Minolta that came my way...sort of a coincidence really!

John KM/linhof wrote:

Have not used film in a while, other than some 4x5 for copying paintings.

Have kept and added to my Minolta 35mm film cameras: 2 Maxxum 9's several 7000's bought for the lenses, 2 XK's had for 30+ years, 1 XE-7, a nice X700 and several older SRT's and SR7. Also 3 Maxxum 70's the last film camera Minolta made.

I can't bring myself to get rid of them, besides they have virtually no value today.

Interesting note: I have a copy of the 1965/66 Blue Book that lists the Minolta SR7 with 58mm f/1.4 at about 80% of the cost of a Leica M3 body only. Just some food for thought.

I've lost count of how many 7000AF's I have that came as a rather bulky lens cap for a lens I was buying !

The time and effort needed to list them for selling , packing them up and going out to post them compared to how much money their worth means their just sat in a draw .

Elyharbour wrote:

My first DSLR bought almost by chance after years of P&S was a Sony A200 (wish I'd kept it - had a special colour with the right lens) then having recently decided to try film again it was a Minolta that came my way...sort of a coincidence really!

Well if you fancy trying out a Minolta autofocus camera then you'll have a good reason to get another or the a100 .

Or s Dynax 7d , if you can find a good fully working one .

The a200 list a few functions the a100 had but gained from a slightly better A/F and slightly better high ISO abilities .

It's the CCD sensors that gave these cameras , and the Minolta digital cameras their nice colours .

The later cameras mostly came with CMOS sensors which render colours differently .

I still have my a100 , but haven't used it in years after I replaced it with an a580 .

My main digital cameras now are the a900 with an a77ii as backup or sports/ telephoto shooting or a Sony NEX 7 if I want something that fits in a pocket .

sybersitizen wrote:

Elyharbour wrote:

... is there a Minolta film forum anywhere?

There used to be some, and I was active in them until around 2006 when I stopped using film for anything important. If you find any current ones, I imagine they're sparsely populated.

Ah a familiar face from the old days when this subforum was very active. Hope you’re well.

• Michael Fritzen wrote:

Hi,

on a cam this old it might be worth to check the light seals around the backside access door to the film compartiment. The foam seals may be desintegrating at the lightest touch (or even w/o any touch) and cause light leaking to the film.

Quite likely .

And while your giving it a refurb , the foam strip at the top of the mirror box to cushion the mirror often need replacing .

Make sure you don't get any gunk of the focus screen though .

I got into A mount backwards, using A mount lenses on my A7 bodies with LA-EA3 and LA-EA4. I then bought an A900 to have a more native body for some of the A mount lenses. More recently I got an Maxxum 7000 and a Dynax 7.

The Dynax 7 is a really nice camera. I've shot a couple of rolls with it. The 7000 I bought because it's the first-ish of the A mount line (would like a good 9000 to go with it), so it's more of a collection piece. I'll probably shoot one roll with it just for the hell of it, but it's nowhere near the camera that the 7 is... the new technology was too new and the overall feel is pretty gimmicky.

I just ordered a 7D to go with the Dynax 7 - since they're very similar in layout, and since I've been getting into vintage digitals lately. Kind of neat to have one of the last Minoltas and one of the few CCD A mount cameras.

Michael Fritzen wrote:

Hi,

on a cam this old it might be worth to check the light seals around the backside access door to the film compartiment. The foam seals may be desintegrating at the lightest touch (or even w/o any touch) and cause light leaking to the film.

Thanks Michael, the light seals were replaced before I bought it, but yes I've seen this with other old SLR bodies. First thing I check now as I get more interested in these old film cameras

Nostalgia! Like you I lusted after some early Minoltas, particularly in 1962 studying for "A" levels, after the Minolta SR7 was introduced. While still in school and with no money, I couldn't afford one. Later in the early 1970's, while in Montreal, got a used SR7 from Willorby's in NY city. Had it for many years at least into the 1980's when we had moved to Florida and moved on the the wonderfull Minolta XK's. Had several XK for 30+ years and still have a couple.

Out of interest I bought an adapter yesterday and put the Minolta 50mm f/1.7 MD lens from the X300 on my mirroless Fujifim X-T1. Wow, it's pretty damn good! I would happily use that on a modern digital camera...I guess many do.