Back
in 2016 we did a blog post entitled ‘Shot with film’. Looking at our blog stats, I was surprised to
find that this is the most visited post by far. I
mentioned back then that I would dig up some of my well used film cameras and
share them with you. Here is the first
one.
This
is my all time favorite SLR camera. Now before you photographers get all bent
out of shape, this is my favorite, not yours.
Having
owned and used what I consider many of the great ones (Nikon F2, F3, F4, Canon
F1, EF, Minolta XM, X-700, X-570, Leica R3, R4, R6, Leica M4, M6, Cl), the Minolta XE-7 easily
stands out.
The Minolta
XE-7 (the XE in Japan, and XE-1 in Europe) was built in
collaboration with Leitz, using an electronic Copal focal plane shutter. The release of which, is so smooth and
effortless that mirror lock-up was deemed unnecessary by the engineers that
designed the camera. This shutter was
also used in the somewhat smaller Minolta XD-7.
The Lecia R3, is based on the Minolta XE-7, with the R4-R6 camera series
based on the Minolta XD-7 camera.
I
bought this one tattered, dirty and well used.
After sending it out for a CLA, it has become my favorite. I have since purchased a few NOS Minolta XE-7s,
which I use from time to time, but this one has had countless rolls of film run
through it, doing duties at weddings, shooting models and rock bands, product
photography, studio work and architectural. In our
blog post 'Think of Something Pleasant', all of the film shots are with
this camera. At this time it is loaded with a roll of Tri-X 100 and I
take it with me
just to do grab shots of locations that I’ve been and interesting sites I
see.
If
anyone ever asks me to recommend a film camera, this is the first one that
comes to mind. It is extremely well made
and finished and has never failed to fire or let me down. Not ever.
In fact that is something I can say with every Minolta camera I
own. They don’t seem to break, even
under extremely hard use.
There
will probably be a dozen or so film cameras considered and I will try hard not
to take three years to get to the next one.
Stay tuned.
