Iconic 80's Film Camera gets an Overhaul - Minolta X-700 CLA & Repaint 

clicked for the camera, subscribed for the comedy.

I’m totally amazed at the amount of design work that must have gone into such cameras plus how they must have been built in the factory.

I'm really impressed by your knowledge, skill and tenacity! I could probably disassemble this but then the camera would be lying on my table forever until I throw it out because there is no way I am putting it back together...Kudos!

My takeaway lesson was that I will never try to take apart one of these :) Amazing work and great video, thank you.

Today i passed by an antique store and found a beaten up cheap canon professional film camera for cheap. After watching your video im very happy that i didn't brought it home.

Patrick, you are completely madman for trying this. I can't even imagine someone can have the patience to try this out. The final results actually look sick tho.

Wasn’t the video I wanted, but the video I needed. Nice work !! Came here for clues to a stuck MD coupler, and stayed for the craftsmanship.

I'm flattered you're actually explaining things as if I'll ever attempt anything like this

Well Patrick I’m 73 and live in New Forest U.K. my first proper SLR was a Minolta X700 and today I was working on a, you guessed it Minolta X700 and it went terribly wrong. I collect cameras and have several of these, but the one that I was working on was a recent purchase and it was missing a few parts, but really apart from that, oh and it won’t wind on, or fire! But we know don’t we, these little secrets that you used in this video, the latter one, connecting the two yellow wires together, was one that I wanted to try as I to watched the guy on RU-vid who knew what he was talking about as he shows you in the video and proved the point, no it wasn’t a trick, but you were right about the flex board, 🤬😩😳😢 I came to solder the wires as one had come adrift 🛶🏝️anyway, so having taken the bottom off, I thought great 30 min job and I’ll be 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂err well, the first thing I noticed was a black wire as well? 😏so I thought, no problem I’ll get one my other Xs and look at wiring, 🤦‍♂️ could I find out where it was supposed to go😱well off came the opinner bottom plate, with the six screws of different lengths and metal, of pops the spring from under eat and what do you know, ok you do know! But it travels down along the back of camera, disappears round under and reappears but tracing black on black is a pain, it runs parallel with the yellow wire and connects next to the shutter mechanism next to the yellow wire but where does it connect? So off with the inner bottom plate on the second camera, spring etc etc, I find it connects under that flex board 🤔😳🤦‍♂️ok David it’s fine, your fine, at this point I get a message from a women who has been in touch before about a storage heater I’m selling and it’s obvious she is either Chinese or of a nationality that uses things like, ok I buy you be there, I send tomorrow man with van! 😳so I reply, have you told them that they need to send two men as it’s heavy and etc etc, regards David, well I won’t bore you with the details but this went back and forth for two hours with 30 mins or 15 mins then asked me something else, all understandable as she said they would have an envelope with the money in! Then I started to suspect, please you go on this site and send me screen shot, check email, there is a site man with a van, I’m trying to sort camera and thinking, I don’t need this, I read the advert and note it talks of best Dollar for the work? 🤔🫢😵‍💫🥴 so I mention this and ask where are you located, never mind you be there tomorrow 1pm so I do my old man confused act! I’m sorry but I’m not here tomorrow, where you live, why so I know where to come tomorrow, no I’m not here where are you! Penny drops, I say your talking out your arse aren’t you, this is a scam 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🧐🤬🤬🤬🤬then I get a reply back police will come tomorrow 1pm I reply well they will be able to assist in getting the heater in van, no they come tomorrow to arrest you, Fxxk Off! So when you started talking about taking yours apart and, well you had me in stitches, the wires you are right do just keep popping off or even worse getting shorter and shorter as you try to attach I was putting extension pieces in and it just went from bad to worse! I was re routing the yellow one and well you took me back, made me laugh and the hours, weeks, months, years, decades, lifetime you spent on the project, is a true credit to you, think of it as a photo type 🤣😂🤣😂🤣Prototype! I think you would be better going on eBay and buying off cuts of leather where they tell you the gage and it’s cheap, but all in all you learned a lot, you have a unique camera and a full video of how to take apart and put back a Minolta X700 and I bet you could flog that, you have copy right on it and I for one would pay to have that as a reference. Sorry, I can’t hear you, what happened to the camera, it’s sat on the table in a worse state than when I started, but hey it’s past another day. I’ve subscribed and look forward to the next laugh/ learning session.. Regards David

This video is insane! Your channel is a breath of fresh air from the typical film photography content on youtube. Excited to see where you take this!

I'm not (yet) into repairing vintage cameras but I really appreciate and admire the amount of pain you're willing to go through and the persistence you have to make this work.

This is an insane amount of work, props to sticking it out! My first camera was an x700. it died so I bought another one. Then that one died so I bought another one. Needless to say, I switched to an XE7

Subscribed. The thumbnail got me intrigued. I half expected this to be one of those "satisfying restoration" videos without narration. Turns out this was a very entertaining video. Your knowledge is impressive!

Oh, look!: my favourite activity - f*king with cameras; my favourite genre - a relentless repair; my favourite style - ruthless irony. What not to like? Subscribed!

Love your videos, the commentary is a jam, but the fact that you show a real picture about a project like this makes it even more awesome, and I think we can learn a lot from your experiences. Can't wait for the next video!!

Please never stop making these videos man, it’s all the buzz around cameras and photography enthusiasts and not to mention the neat comedic touch. Plus I’ve gotten into modding cameras and I’ve yet to do my first one which will hopefully be a canon new f 1 with a nice lime green leather replacement. Could you maybe do a video on the canon F1? Your awesome man keep it up

this is like if Grainydays repaired (and painted) cameras. Fantastic.

This was so awesome man, thanks for sharing this. Fascinating watching someone with this level of knowledge narrate through this entire process!

That's a lot of work! And I'm not talking about the camera job, but also the video shooting and production. It's a really useful lesson for all of us. Thank you!

Great video! It really was a joy to watch! Funny and interesting, best combination.

How are you not at 10k subs yet, even the ones with 20k don't publish such quality content. Great work dude

I could watch these for literal hours. Please keep doing what you're doing!

It’s beautiful! If only I have experienced in everything that’s to be done disassembling and assembling a film camera.

nice work on the video, comedic timing was spot on. Had me laughing my a** off every now and then. Had a fun time seeing the nitty gritty and disection of the SLR, keep it up

At about 3 and a half minutes in I soon realized why I am always getting told the the cost of repair can end up being the same as just buying the camera I’m working condition. Kudos to you for diving into this and giving us a peak.

Im not a photographer but I love these old classic cameras, and I love the way you presented

As someone who repairs these Pandora's boxes, I say, OMG!!!!! and congratulations.

This is terrifying. I like overhauling a lot of different things and have gotten interested in film cameras. I DON'T think I could deal with the delicacy. As much respect as you wanna take my man.

Holy crap. This is the first time I see someone doing this. Huge respect to you!

Loved it! I think it turned out great, next one will be perfect. I can't beleive you managed to put everything together at the end.

Great video and awesome Stormtrooper Minolta convert. I have 2 of these babies and I could never try what you have achieved. Well done, I loved the video.

You can either make/find stuff that would work or buy press plates to texture your leather parts, it would really elevate your work, thats the kind of easy details that really pop.

Just to say I knew your channel before it blew up. Great content keep it up!

So cool, I spent more than a few years with two X-700's around my neck when I was a photojournalist. I still have one on display in my man cave.

I’m glad I discovered your channel. I thoroughly enjoyed this video 😂 10/10

Damn...the quality of all your contents is amazing, I gotta be one of your earliest subscriber fr ❤✨️

you are a surgeon doctor specializing in almost human photographic bodies. Congratulations!

I like that the paint chips and the leather will get dirty. The more you use it, the more it'll show. It'll age. And that's cool.

damn, all I needed this sunday was a video from such a good content creator. Thx for making my sunday better

This channel is so underrated. It's like grainydays but camera servicing and customization

if one day you sold a camera reparing course, I would be the first to buy it. This is awesome

I’m just starting this thing, and I have to say, you are very good at concealing your method of recording where all the little doodads are coming from, and how you are retaining and organizing them. Wait, I’m dizzy…. I just need a moment to recover…. I’m having flashbacks of the two SRTs I destroyed trying to fix their meters. Amazing-so far.

this came out awesome. Can't tell you the sense of dread I saw seeing that wiring arrangement as you pulled the camera apart haha

The more u disassembled, the more my stress mounted. Putting this back together seems like memory magic to the layman.

The Patience game is strong with this one...🙏 Solid work,... Subscribed

One of the few videos YT's algo that am glad it suggested. First time to watch you but definitely subscribed 🙌

I love the censoring sounds and the way he's just truthful with how difficult some parts of fixing the camera. Subbing

Nice paintjob!!! And a big respect to the disassembling. I worked on my Minolta XE to change the focusing screen. It was peanut in contrast to your work on the x-700. Well done mate.

This is the motivation I needed to fix my gummed up shutter. Awesome video btw, love the comedy and easygoing style.

AWESOME VIDEO. VERY FUNNY. THIS IS VERY WELL PUT TOGETHER AND THE VOICE AND CHARACTER FIT PERFECTLY. THIS IS REFRESHINGLY DIFFERENT FROM VIRTUALLY ALL OTHER CHANNELS LIKE IT. LIKE HOW ITS MADE CROSSED WITH SOUTH PARK. I LOVE IT. SHARE THIS CHANNEL FAR AND WIDE GUYS PLEASE. THIS GUY DESERVES IT. VERY ENTERTAINING AND EDUCATIONAL. THIS GUY COULD ACTUALLY TEACH IN LA. YES I KNOW... INCREDIBLE. ALL THE BEST DUDE

First time watcher here.. and I gotta say YOU KNOCKED IT OUTA THE PARK - AMAZING WORK X700 was my first manual camera and sits v close to my heart. You mentioned you take work for fixing cameras??? I've got a bunch of cameras with quirks & derps that need repair but my local shop turned me away (too many times to count). Please fix my cameras! I'll pay extra if you make videos of them :D

When you fully submerged the plastic parts in lacker thinner, I immediately covered my mouth with my hand in shock! haha this video is so stressful, but damn you really are persistent. Great work :)

wow, that teardown was intense. Kudos.

Yes, that's the content people needed! Thank you for recording it.

That teardown was terrifying. Definitely am never ever ever going to do this to any of my cameras, haha

Dude that video is awesome. The way you made the video is just fantastic.

Gotta say, this looks pretty snappy. I'd rock that.

Just thought I’d let you and everyone else know that my profile picture and my account banner picture was taken with my X700! This was my grandpas old camera and I know he’s up in heaven smiling knowing his old family camera is being put to good use again by me :)

You need to pat yourself on the back more dude, I get that learning and discipline is the way forward but your work is outstanding! It's great to see you putting your skills to work and every vid you upload I'm glued to the screen! Props dude keep it up!

I've been using minolta cameras since around 1985 and I have an infinite love for them regardless of any and all opinions. I've always wanted to take my srt-101 apart to try and fix it but after watching this video I think not. ha. Very fascinating, informative, entertaining and one of few videos I have watched from beginning to end. Thank you for making this and I would so buy a white one of those. ;p Thank you for making this! Oh and you just netted yourself a subscriber. :)

Love old film cameras. While surfing attempting to find how to fix my XG-7 I came across your video. As would be expected its film advance lever is frozen. The camera was used for many years and performed as expected. Then it began having an attitude, sometimes the film advance would not turn other times it would. Finally I gave up the ghost, put it on the shelf. After about two years I gave it another go, wow it worked. Walked about the house performing shutter actuation happy as I could be. Then, sadly it again copped an attitude, lever will not advance. Cleaned the battery holder in the camera, and the actual screw in battery holder, still cannot get it to work. Because the bottom of the battery holder looked corroded and the paint or metal was off I put a sliver of aluminum foil in that screw in holder hoping it would be good for connectivity. The BC switch will not light the BC light, my guess is it has a errant bottom capacitor. Did the ebay thingy, purchased a XG-M. Edit 2024-03-01: the XG-M arrived, used its battery holder, BAM, the XG-7 now works. The entire issue was the XG-7 battery holder corroded, causing the bottom conductivity paint or some such to be removed.

Love this video, your curiosity and the ability to have fun through mishaps is admirable. Looking forward to more educated and entertaining videos from you.

I came to the video just to relax. Stayed, liked and sub'd because of this: 16:24

this is a great video from the script, to the video work, and the tips! awesome work man

This was a really calming experience! Keep up the great video editing!

That coffee with vintage dust was probably good

Too bold of you to share your bank balance That genuity earned you an eternal subscriber

Amazing work, congratulations! Keep on !

This video reminded me of my self 5 years ago when i cla and do a custom paint job of pentax spotmatic sp for a living.

What a great work and final result! Now I want to deep clean my own X-700 :)

Hello Patrick! I landed on your video while looking if it was worth opening up a recently acquired X700 to clean the viewfinder..... and damn I loved it! Subscribed on the spot! Never anybody has said so many truths about camera repairs on a video. Have come back a couple of times already and you made chuckle again. Excellent work!

I enjoy your journey of fixing and modding cameras! Looking forward for more!

Super brave with an amazing memory, awesome.

I have no experience painting cameras (or painting anything for that matter), but I do enjoy tinkering with them. I’ve always wandered about the feasibility of a DIY hammertone paint job.

Patrick, thank you so much for making this video. Your comedic timing was pretty fucking cool and the final result was good, too! What a nice channel you have, it brightened a very meh week for me. Thank you lots! You earned yourself a new sub!

Not long ago you could bring this camera to a repair store, and it would have been fixed for not too many dollars. Now it’s very, very expensive, good job. What a lot of work. Better capacitors are those ceramic capacitors.

best film photography video of the year

AWESOME!! Overengineered Japanese Products!!! but such a great video and what you do! thanks!

Incredible video man. Keep it up. Really well put together.

This channel is awesome, love these videos!

This was fun to watch and kept laughing. 😂 Great job and it looks amazing!

Love the camera tear down aspects and the comments on methodology. Wish you had a P.O. Box listing for items to be sent in as I do have a camera needing some tlc

Oh man this makes me want to try to cla a couple of cameras again 😅 I’ve taken apart (to some degree) a few old film cameras now. A couple fixed and couple changed the problem and a couple I totally borked. So interesting tho!

Great video! I’ve done a quite few leather changes to old film cameras and I found out that guitar amp skin is the best for these! It is very thin 😊

That actually looks pretty fun other than the electronics. Great job, very satisfying.

yes, yes, yes. I have found a true GEM on the tube!!😅

Having done this type of work with 80’s Japanese dive watches… 🍿🤓👏✌️ As for the stripping/painting, not sure I should offer any advice, cuz that’d make the next video way too short 😅😂 Fearless, don’t stop!

Wow, this was amazing to watch. I am as bad as it gets when it comes to fixing things or any type of technical stuff( cant even assemble Ikea furniture! ) so for me watching something like this makes you a super hero lol. But seriously though, amazing work on a camera im actually getting from a friend a little while from now hopefully :) You got a new subscriber as well :) /Martin.

The content, your personality are both great. I honestly feel inspired to customize my own camera. I hope to see more videos soon! I love how feel included, even with my limited knowledge in this field. (love the OSHA approved vent)

Man I get that you had a lot of trouble here but WOW the results are good

This is absolutely fantastic! Very interesting and inspiring. Now I wanna go CLA my own cameras. Question though; what's the difference between using isopropyl alcohol as opposed to hydrogen peroxide? I mean, why use the latter for cleaning the mirror, and the former for seemingly everything else? Great video Patrick, thanks for sharing - and I certainly don't mind your sense of humor, haha! Although the audio is very low. Cheers /Fredrik

Great video. Convinced me to pretend like early 80's cameras don't exist and never to try and take one apart lol

Just binged your channel, absolutely love this content and I can't wait for more. Great style

I’m so excited for whatever your next vid is!!!

Awesome stuff. In regards to the lifted pads from soldering, having a clean and well tinned chisel or bevel tip around 400f is key. That is assuming they used leaded solder which most older electronics did.

It was fun to watch someone else wade into a full resto like this. And no, it is not a matter of your skill--the f#$king pads will lift off all brands. The Canon ones are on a plastic ribbon strip that simply peels off. Good times! The real key is to photograph, photograph, and photograph every detail--keeping parts sorted by the area they were removed from. Dollar General and cheap plastic containers are your friend! Congrats on a fine custom resto, and enjoy the frames. I have two Canon A-1s and an Argus C3 waiting on me in various states of destruction. The Argus will be a piece of cake...

Do a Nikon F3 next in white. Stumbled on to your channel and...just wow. Amazing work

The algorithm brought me here. I'm heavily impressed

Really cool project! Turned out fantastic.

i love project like this, maybe some day i wil have the courage to do one but its a little more difficult to do here in brazil but the result always looks amazing