Minolta XE - The Minolta with Leica DNA 

I found this camera on Facebook Marketplace with a 50mm f1.7 lens for $80 and purchased it as my first ever film camera, beyond disposables. I’ve shot roughly 20-25 rolls since then (~8 months), and I’m grateful to have it as my starter shooter with its aperture priority, light but durable build and compatibility with cheap Minolta lenses. I hope to hold onto my XE-7 forever!

I have this camera and recently purchased the xd11, both are my go to cameras. I love the xe very much. I am selling my x700 and keeping my old srt 202. I'm also getting rid of my other cameras system. I have Pentax me super and a praktica MTL 5b. Will only keep my Minoltas and my digital camera. Tmax is one heck of a great film.

Loved, liked and subbed. I have the XD-11, I bought it with the 135mm F1:3.5 lens for £23 from eBay UK., (it was of course not working) But after 25 hours of stripping, cleaning and lubricating its as good as new and what a joy these cameras are to use. I shoot Fujifilm digital X-E3 and X-T10, because I love the retro look, feel and kind of shooting ergonomics they had perfected in the 1970's and never surpassed in my opinion. Your images are stunning and this channel is one in a million! Thank you!

Your videos are very informative and just all around peaceful! Thanks for the great content

Excellent video. I loved the way you pulled the details off the old cars into your photographs too. Thanks!

Really appreciate these excellent videos. I don't need another film camera but the XE sure looks great. As I watched I wondered what sort of interaction you have with other folks during your shoots. You must attract some curiosity.

Fantastic shoot and wonderful post. T-max 100 you say. I will definitely try that out. Honestly I bought an ex7, oh about 2or 3 years ago and haven't shoot with yet. But you certainly have shown me what I've been missing. I'm going to get some popcorn and watch this again and again. Thanks and happy shooting.

Very nice pictures, composition and the B & W tone. While a lot of young people are crazy about creating digital black and while photos and videos in recent years, I haven’t seen such nice contrast and gradient of true black and while photography for a long time.

i love Minolta cameras and lenses. I have several from the SRT102 - 202. Thank you for introducing me to this model. I'm gonna git me one !

Excellent! Good job my friend.

Enjoyed a lot. Thanks for another very informative and entertaining video. I have a Leica R3 Mot and my younger son a Minolta XE5, a simplified version of the XE7. Indeed, they are and look familiar, but they feel a bit different. Both a joy to use and to look at :)

I have my father Minolta SRT-101, a great camera especially from a mid-1960's camera. it has seen better days but it still work quite fine. I think Minolta are undervalued camera when it comes to film camera, they work great, lens are superb with a large choice. I even bought and adaptor to use those those lens on my Nikon Z and Fuji XT-20 and they still give great results.

I have Minolta XE still my go-to camera

Really very good info on the XE-7! I just bought one & Im excited to get started shooting with a manual focus SLR after shooting with Nikon digital cameras for several years. I got tired of chasing after an old Nikon and having to pay a fortune for something that might not work. I read about the XE-7 and was able to find one at a reasonable price. I subscribed! Looking forward to more!

An interesting and informative video. Thanks for sharing.

I owned a Minolta xe-7 that belonged to a photojournalist that covered the salvadorian civil war with it. I owned it for 19 years and it every aspect of it was ABSOLUTELY PERFECT until the day I left it on top of my car and rode away.

Enjoy your posts. Thank you! I’m a bit of a Minolta Fanboy. My first was an SRT-100. Now I have a 102, a 201, a Hi-Matic AF2, two 400si rigs and an a7. The 100 disappeared. No idea where it went. Stolen? That a7, BTW, is an amazing camera.

In reference to your interest in Minolta's - Was just watching the old movie "The Jewel of the Nile," 1985. There was a couple of scenes where Kathleen Turner, the heroine, is photographing with a black Minolta X-700 - I never paid attention to the "Minolta" name plate before, but I did notice that the X-700 name plate is the more modern "Minolta" with all capital letters and the "O" represented by an image of the world. In another scene she has a small Minolta speedlite mounted in the shoe. It had the modern "Minolta" name plate also. First time I ever saw a Minolta used as a prop. Thought it was pretty neat. Made me think of your channel!!

My goodness! Those colours on the cars attending the show. Just arresting! I wonder what they would look like on a colour film stock, with high vibrancy, shot on the Hasselblad 503cx with the 80mm Carl Zeiss lens? I bet they'd look like "heaven."

When you said car shot and bw film I was skeptical but wow these turned out so clean. I really need to revist tmax (and bw film in general) also loved the lens changes

Beautiful, creative images throughout! Love your post processing on all these images. Very straight, clean, and nice contrast. What do you soup your T-Max in? What do you use to scan & post process your b&w images? Note - You were giving exposure and lens specs up to the red '78 Vette, around 13 minutes, using the Vivitar 135. After that you gave no more data. I, like most photographers, love knowing the specs. It looks like you changed lenses again from the white Firebird to the end? 50mm? What f-stops on these last few shots? Have to say, when I see videos like this, it inspires me to pack up a camera, and shoot somewhere like this, hand holding. Just walking around at events like this, camera in hand, has to be one of the purest forms of photography. Thanks for sharing.

Leica did a mistake with the Leica R3, because Leica insisted to make their own electronic in the Camera which often did malfunctions, that did not happen with the Minolta XE/XE-1/XE-7. Again later Leica did the same mistake with the Leica R4 which led to misfunction, that did not happen to the Minolta XD/XD-1/XD-7 Camera, so, do not get an early version of the Leica R4, even better, avoid the Leica R4 ! Leica started the cooperation with Minolta, because Leica lost money in production of making the Leicaflex Cameras which was all mechanical. So Minolta has quite a history which keep going on now with Sony who bought Minolta. The Minolta XD-7 was very popular among professional photographers in Europe. I like the digital Sony Cameras which is about the size of the analog Cameras from the late 1970´s to early 1980´s Cameras.

Nice pix ! Pls a comparison XD-7 vs XE-7. Thanx !

90 degrees and you are wearing a black shirt and jeans? Sweet Minolta. They made their own lenses from along the glass to grinding the optics.

Very enjoyable video and very beautiful photos! Thank you. My first decent camera was a Minolta, the Minolta AL, I believe it was called. When I moved on to more advance equipment, I always admired, was attracted to, and considered buying Minoltas, but somehow I never got back to them...except once, in a way, when I was on temporary duty in Japan and bought a Leitz Minolta CL, which was just a Leica CL rebadged for Minolta's home market. It was an absolutely superb, beautiful little gem of a camera, clearly in a different league quality-wise from anything I previously had owned, and I've always felt Leica made a mistake by discontinuing it rather than developing it further (as Minolta later did with its own Minolta CLE). It's too bad that Minolta is gone now, and I'm not a fan of Sony---too many buttons and dials all over the camera body and too complicated menus. Today my only remaining film camera is an Olympus OM-1, another little gem of a camera, but I hardly ever shoot film anymore. Film costs money to buy and money to develop, whereas digital is free; and with digital there's no disappointment afterwards, finding out the focus was off or the exposures were wrong or the framing wasn't the best; instead, you can see the results right away, fix any problems, and reshoot if necessary. So while I very much enjoy shooting film (and not least for its relative simplicity), its disadvantages (vis-à-vis digital) rule it out.

i got a xe-1 last year, near mint, this is a brick with a smooth shutter which sound i like...a great old camera i like to use..

If you are feeling lucky you could buy one of these cameras said to be non-functional because the mirror is locked up. It will lock up if there is no battery. But it will also lock up if the two magnets inside stick together and that is difficult to fix (we're talking removing leatherette). I am considering one, partly due to that 50mm f1.4 lens. The top shutter speed of 1,000 is a bummer. The pentaprism mirror is said to be prone to deterioration.

I agree, T-max is fantastic. I do miss Agfa, however!

Wonderful camera. I have 3 of these, and unfortunately each needs a different repair. With the exception of my XG7, and XE7, all of my other Minolta have been bulletproof.

Great photos! Which developer do you prefer for TMax 100?

You used an Exakta in one of your shows, have you tried any other DDR cameras? The Werra, Praktina, and Certo might be fun. I could loan you a Werra.

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Great composition and exposure results with this camera and film stock. Did you use Dark Room for scanning?

When you photographed the cars, did you keep it on the AUTO setting? Great self portraits (old timer talk for "selfie") after 14:00!

What film do I need for this

Good call on the switch to 28 - my ROKKOR 28 and 58 are my favorites on my XE (and adapted to my A7iii as well). I see some familiar cars in this video (I'm from ATL and a car guy as well). Subbed!! Ever need a co-shooter ( film or digital ) look me up. I certainly need to get out more - haha. | @freshouttafocus

My minolta MD mount cameras(SRT101,XD11,X700,X570) still surviving, but AF mount cameras(a9000,a8000i,a707si,a600si) became rubbish......so sad.