The Minolta XD-7 (sold as the XD-11 in

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and as the XD in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

) is a semi-professional 35mm SLR

film camera A movie camera (also known as a film camera and cine-camera) is a type of photographic camera that rapidly takes a sequence of photographs, either onto film stock or an image sensor, in order to produce a moving image to display on a screen. In c ...

manufactured by

Minolta was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, lenses, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It made the first integrated ...

from 1977 until 1984.

History

The Minolta XD/XD-7/XD-11 was developed in collaboration with

Leica Leica may refer to: Companies * Ernst Leitz GmbH, later divided into: ** Leica Biosystems GmbH, a cancer diagnostics company ** Leica Camera AG, a German camera and optics manufacturer ** Leica Geosystems AG, a Swiss manufacturer of surveying and ...

, and its design influenced the

Leica R4 Leica may refer to: Companies * Ernst Leitz GmbH, later divided into: ** Leica Biosystems GmbH, a cancer diagnostics company ** Leica Camera AG, a German camera and optics manufacturer ** Leica Geosystems AG, a Swiss manufacturer of surveying and ...

. Marketed in 1977, it was sold in Europe as the XD-7, in North America as the XD-11, and in Japan as the XD. It was avalaible in two versions, one chrome and one black. It was Minolta's first SLR camera to feature both

shutter priority Shutter priority (usually denoted as S on the mode dial), also called time value (abbreviated as Tv), refers to a setting on cameras that allows the user to choose a specific shutter speed while the camera adjusts the aperture to ensure correct ...

and

aperture priority Aperture priority, often abbreviated ''A'' or ''Av'' (for aperture value) on a camera mode dial, is a mode on some cameras that allows the user to set a specific aperture value (f-number) while the camera selects a shutter speed to match it that ...

automatic exposure modes, as well as a program automatic mode, albeit not described as such on the camera or in the manual. The camera also offered fully metered manual exposure as well as

depth of field The depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and the farthest objects that are in acceptably sharp focus (optics), focus in an image captured with a camera. See also the closely related depth of focus. Factors affecting depth ...

preview and an eyepiece shutter. Also, included were fully mechanical "O" (1/100 sec) and

bulb In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

settings, which allowed it to operate without a battery. The XD-7 was the top-of-the-line Minolta camera when it was in production and retains a reputation for quality. It was Minolta's last

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-bodied SLR design before the company switched to

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with the X-700. There was also a less-expensive version of the XD-7 called the XD-5. Introduced in 1979, the XD-5 was mostly identical to the XD-7 but without some higher-end features like the eyepiece shutter or the display of the selected shutter speed in the viewfinder in manual exposure mode. A black variant with a viewfinder diopter instead of the eyepiece shutter called the XD-S was also offered in Japan. Many professional photographers have used the XD-7. One of the best known is Harry Benson, who often acknowledged the XD-7 in the various photography books he published in the 1980s.

Specifications

* Exposure range of EV 1 to EV 18 (ISO 100 and f1.4). * Exposure correction from -2 to +2 EV. * Minolta SR lens mount * Flash sync at hot shoe or terminal at 1/100s. * Electronic vertical-travel metal shutter with electromagnetic release. * Mechanical shutter mode available at 1/100s. * Shutter speeds of 1s to 1/1000s plus bulb setting. * Stepless control of shutter speeds in aperture-priority auto-exposure mode. * TTL center-weighted metering (silicon diode). * 94% viewfinder coverage. * Acute Matte focusing screen with split-image bi-prism surrounded by microprisms. Four screens available, replaced by technician. * 0.87x viewfinder magnification. * Viewfinder information depends on operating mode: ** In aperture priority, shutter speed is indicated by LEDs. ** In shutter priority, aperture is indicated by LEDs. ** In manual mode, recommended shutter speed is indicated by LEDs. The chosen shutter speed is shown in a separate window. ** With Minolta X-type flashes, flash-ready is signaled by blinking over-range LED. ** Aperture setting is shown in all modes. * Battery: 2x LR44; 2x SR44 or equivalents; or one CR1/3N. * Mechanical self-timer. * Depth of field preview. * Film memo holder. * Safe-load signal indicating film present and correctly spooled. * Film advance release allowing multiple exposures. * Motorized film advance possible with Minolta Auto Winder D.

References

Sources

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