Minolta XG-SE

The Minolta XG-SE is an SLR camera from the manufacturer Minolta. The model was sold to photographers from 1979. The camera was produced in Japan.

However, it was sold only outside the Asian country. It is an export version of the Minolta XG 1. The “SE” in the name stands for special edition. Special is the completely black housing of the camera and the new focusing screen. Otherwise, it is identical in terms of functionality.

The lens of the 35 mm photo camera is interchangeable. It comes with a Minolta SR bayonet. In many cases, the 35mm camera comes with the Minolta MD Rokkor-X 50mm f/1.4, but there are many other lenses available for the SLR. The camera does not yet have an autofocus system. The focus has to be adjusted manually on the lens.

For this, the Japanese camera has an exposure meter. The exposure is measured with metering cells through the lens. Films from ISO 25 to ISO 1600 can be used. The shutter allows shooting at 1/1000 second to 1 second.

In the manual mode of the Minolta XG-SE, exposure time and aperture are freely selectable. In this mode, the exposure is not measured by the camera, but must either be measured externally or estimated. In addition, there is an aperture priority mode. In this mode, the aperture is selected by the user and the camera technology automatically selects the shutter speed. Exposure can be corrected with exposure compensation.

For long exposures at night, the SLR camera has a Bulb mode. In this shooting mode, the shutter is opened as long as the shutter release button is held down. The camera should be mounted on a tripod for this purpose to avoid camera shake. The camera can be released with the self-timer or an external cable release. The self-timer has a lead time of ten seconds.

An external flash can be connected via cable or hot shoe. The maximum usable shutter speed is 1/60 second. Faster shutter speeds cannot be used.

The dimensions of the Minolta XG-SE are 13.8 x 8.8 x 5.2 cm according to the user manual. It weighs 505 grams. Power is supplied by two SR44 batteries (eBay / Amazon*). This type of battery is still readily available today.

Films for the Minolta XG-SE

What type of films are needed for the Minolta XG-SE? The camera is designed for 35mm format films. This type of film is still produced by various manufacturers and can be processed by most photo labs without any problems.

Possible films for the Minolta XG-SE that can still be bought without any problems are the Kodak Gold 200* for beautiful color images and the Ilford Delta 100* for stylish black and white images. Of course, there are a variety of other films as well. Most of them can be used with this camera. The films should only be within the sensitivity range of the exposure meter.

The film transport of the camera is mechanical. After each shot, you have to rewind to the next frame. There is a counter on the top for the number of photos taken. There is a crank for transporting the film back into the cartridge. The back must not be opened until the material is back in the cartridge. Otherwise, all the pictures may be lost.