MINOLTA XD5 SLR PROFESSIONAL WITH 2 PROFESSIONAL LENS

Minolta XD-5

• Produced 1975, Minolta Corp., Japan
• Film type 135 (35mm)
• Picture size 24 x 36mm
• Weight 18.5oz (525g) body only;
• Lens SEE LENS BELOW
• Filter size 49mm screw-in
• Shutter Seiko electronic metal focal plane
• Shutter speeds B-1/1000 electronic, 1/100 mechanical
• Viewfinder SLR (fresnel, microprism spot) with shutter speed, over/under LED
• Exposure meter CdS center-weighted TTL
• ASA settings 25-3200
• EV Range EV 1-18 @ ASA 100 (with 1.4 lens)
• Battery two 1.5v silver button (S76/SR44)
• Accessory shoe, PC X and M Sync terminals
• Fast wind lever
• Mirror lockup (self timer only)
• Siblings and Close Cousins XD-9, XD-11

Overview

Well when you have one, you have to have two. The XD-5 is to the SRT 101 what the P30T is to the K1000, and now I have a nice two-body Minolta kit. And I think I can sum up my impressions in a word: sweet.

The XD-5 is the 'little brother' to the hallmark XD-11 (aka XD-7 in the US), a professional-quality modern multimode Minolta SLR mostly made of metal. The XD-5 was stripped of a couple of minor features (aperture readout, film transport check) but retains most of the goodies, most importantly the electronically-controlled Seiko shutter and the innovative multimode adaptive metering. Mmmm... yeaaah.

Here's how that works. You can set your meter mode switch to Manual, you know what that is. Meter reads and shows over/under arrows in the viewfinder but it's more like guidelines than actual rules. Or set to A for Aperture priority, and shutter speed gets set automatically; if you're out of range you'll see up/down arrows in the viewfinder. Now, if you set to S for shutter priority, you need to first tell the camera the minimum aperture of your MD lens by turning the aperture ring there, and then select a proper shutter speed. The camera does the rest and then some. If lighting conditions change, the camera will automatically adjust exposure to compensate, first by adjusting the aperture and then the shutter, attempting to keep as close to your original settings as possible while maintaining correct exposure. Cool!

this little SLR feels very good in the hands -- it's fairly lightweight and well balanced

Tips & Tricks

There is a release button for changing the ASA, and a lever for +2 to -2 EV bracketing. The shutter speed wheel includes both a sync speed X and also an O because Minolta loves you so much! No, it's a setting to fire the shutter mechanically in the absence of the battery at 1/100 (which also happens to be the sync speed), similar to the Nikon EM. Very cool to know it's there in case you need it. Maybe Minolta loves you after all...

With the Minolta Electroflash flashes (200X, 132X), a flash ready lamp shows in the viewfinder, and the camera automatically switches to sync speed when releasing the shutter. Sweet indeed.

Also there's a film memo holder with an ASA-DIN conversion table in it. And as I think I failed to mention there is available a slick little winder that shoots 2FPS on 4 AA batteries.

BECOME A PRO WITH THESE THAT COME WITH CAMERA

COMES WITH (SEE PICTURES)

-MC MAGNON AUTO ZOOM 1:5.6 75-300MM    MD CONNECT

-KALIMAR MC AUTO ZOOM 1:3.9 60-300MM  MD CONNECT