Computer, Phone, Multimedia > Cameras, Video cameras
Minolta XD 7 With the XD 7 Minolta got it allright in 1977. In those days this was a very futuristic camera, becauseit possessed automatic exposure with aperture and shutter priority as well as
fully metered manualexposure. In fact thelater models with thegreen 's' (shutter priority mode) and thegreen '125' (1/125th shutter speed) wereearly program automats. Put everything on green and the camera starts with 1/125th shutter speed and chooses the aperture. But if it's not possible to achieve the correct exposureit changes shutterspeed untilexposureis right. In this case the camera chooses aperture and shutterspeed: programmed exposure. Besides this the XD 7's got moreexposure tricks on its sleeves. It's called the 'final check'. After stopping thelens down the camera performs a final check to ensure that theexposure willbe correct. This means exposureis very, very good. Even compared to todays computer steered measure-it-all fully automatic machines. But not only electronics ticked all theright boxes, also mechanically this is an extraordinary camera. With its 'full metal jacket' Minolta withstood the tendency to use the cheaper plastics of forexample the XG 9. In fact it's so good that again Leica took the XD 7 to be thebase of a Leica camera, theR4. So this is a solid metal camera, with a nicelook and feel. It's right in every way, heavy but not too heavy, largebut smaller and more comfortable than the XE-1. This is the Minolta camera I used most. Ibought this in 1981 and for years I only used this beauty. Today this stillis a very usable camera. If you don't mind manual focus anyway. With autowinder D (see the pictures) it's still a fast camera. One of Minolta's best! You can find the manual here (by the way XD 11 is the American ტელ: 551 90-93-89