Testing a Minolta X700

First of all, I need to apologize for my long absence from this blog. I have not posted anything since September of 2021 when I tested a beast of an Olympus camera. The reason for my long absence is the loss of a loved one, my dear sister who passed away on October 2021 just 28 years old.

I was a bit unsure on how to reappear on this blog, but the opportunity came to me through a colleague who presented me with a Minolta X700 with three different lenses. She said it had worked when she last used it in the early 2000s, but that it had been sat in a storage somewhere in Canada where she is from. I gave it some new batteries and cleaned some contacts, attached a 24mm lens and off I went.

It was a bright and sunny winters day in the eastern innlands in Norway, and I went to Kråkvika and Fall railway station for the test. In the camera was a bulk rolled Agfa APX 100 film, a film I have struggled with previously, but I figured that it would suffice for the purpose of trying a camera in bright sunshine if I chose subjects that stands our by themselves.

Minolta X700 w 24mm Minolta lens. Agfa APX100 Rodinal 1/100 Stand

The images you see in this entry are unedited. They are just scanned with a Epson V600 scanner and simple Epson software as it is only meant for a test. I chose to go with Rodinal stand development for this outing because I have found it to work the best with the Agfa film I am working with at this point.

The shooting experience with the Minolta is very nice. I like the way it sits in the hand without being too heavy or too light. It seems to be without any light leaks and to be very well kept and maintained. The viewfinder is big and bright and it makes focusing very easy as opposed to other cameras I have tried where the viewfinder is dark and also somewhat scratched from many years of use. I also like the way the lenses attach to the camera and how sharp they are.