The Minolta XM is an SLR camera. It was Minolta's first model with an electronic shutter. It was introduced in 1972 as the Minolta X-1 at Photokina. One year later it was sold under this name in Japan. In 1974, it was available as XM in Europe and XK in North America.
The lenses of the photo camera are interchangeable. It comes with a Minolta SR bayonet. Mostly you meet the camera with the Minolta MC Rokkor 50mm f/1.7. You have to focus the lens manually.
The viewfinder attachment can also be changed on the Minolta XM. The AE finder comes with the option of metering. It is designed for films from ISO 12 to ISO 6400. On the one hand, you can take the metered values manually. On the other hand, there is an automatic. Here you set the aperture and the camera chooses the shutter speed automatically.
The fastest exposure time of the electronic shutter is 1/1000 second. Mechanically, 1/100 second and the Bulb mode are usable. Bulb mode opens the shutter as long as the shutter button is held down. The 1/100 second is also the flash sync speed. An external flash can be connected to the PC flash socket. The 35mm camera can be triggered by self-timer or with an additional cable release. A thread for a tripod is available on the bottom.
The camera body weighs 670 grams. The dimensions are 14.75 x 8.4 x 4.8 cm. Power is supplied by two 1.5 V silver oxide batteries, such as Mallory MS-76 or Eveready S-76.
Films for the Minolta XM
According to the instruction manual, the Minolta XM is designed for 35mm film. These films are still being manufactured and can be specified by almost any developing vendor. The film must be manually wound after each photo. There is a quick release lever for this purpose. The crank is used to wind the film back into the cartridge at the end.
Available photo films for the Japanese SLR that are easy to get are the Kodak T-Max 100* for B&W shots and the Kodak Portra 160* for color photos. Both films can convince in test reports and are well suited for everyday use. Of course, there is a wide range of other films for the camera.
