The X-1 (alternatively the XM or XK depending on the market) featured various modifications and customizations in line with Nikon and Canon’s offerings from earlier decades. But by the end of the 1960s, Minolta was already looking ahead to an improved CLC and a professional system camera, the X-Series. The SR-T line of cameras is a bit of a rabbit hole, with various versions of models and parallels running all the way to the 1980s. To achieve this, Minolta had to modify its lens mount to allow aperture settings to be mechanically communicated to the camera body while still an SR-Mount these new lenses are often called MC-Mount. CLC is held up as the first semi-intelligent metering system for SLRs. But it wasn’t only TTL metering Minolta mounted two metering cells one through the lens, the other on the body calling the system CLC or Contrast Light Compensation. The next step for Minolta was implementing TTL or Thru-The-Lens metering, which came in 1966 with the SR-T line of cameras. Minolta made several advancements on the SR line through the next five years, with the last camera being released in 1962, the SR-7. The SR-2 and SR-1 cameras used a bayonet lens mount known as the SR-Mount. Minolta’s first entry into the SLR world came in 1958. The XD is a camera with a rich history and is seen as the next step forward in Minolta’s marked improvements of their SLR cameras and technologies behind them. Meter: SBC Centre-Weighted TTL EV1 ~ EV18 ASA-100, ASA-12 – ASA-3200 Shutter: Metal Verical Travel Focal Plane, 1/1000″ – 1″ + Bulb Lens: Interchangable, Minolta SR-Mount (MD) Model: XD (Japan), XD-11 (North America), XD-7 (Europe) Thanks to Bill Smith for loaning this beautiful camera out for its review! While they are a bit more expensive on the used market, thankfully, when you’re in a good group of film photographers, there is always someone who has the camera you want to give a test run. The same camera, only a different market. And that something better is the Minolta XD, or in this case, the XD-11. But the XE-7 lead me down the rabbit hole of the 1970s of Minolta’s technology-sharing agreement with Ernst Leitz because, of course, there was something better. More recently, the XE-7 has been my Minolta SR-Mount of choice. All my early experience with photography came in various Minolta cameras, from my family’s Riva Zoom to my first personal camera, the Hi-Matic 7s and the first SLRs in the SR-T 102 X-7a. And the Minolta lineup is a unique cross-section of camera technology through the post-war 20th Century. I’ll admit, I have a soft spot for manual focus Minolta cameras.
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