Minolta XG series

Minolta XG-A

The Minolta XG-A is a part of the XG series. This series was sold from 1977 to 1984. It started with the XG-7. The XG-A was the simplest of the series. It is a manual focus SLR camera body with automatic control of shutter speed. Its predecessor, the XG-1, had a full scale manual mode; the XG-A had only a selector for under- or over-exposure (seen in the photograph).

XG-1

Aperture priority and Manual mode

The Minolta XG-1 was a dual mode camera. It was the second to appear in the XG series. It had an aperture priority mode "A" which obviously is metered. Metering is done by half depressing the shutter button. The shutterspeed then selected by the camera is shown in the viewfinder by a red LED. In the "A" mode you can "force" the camera to under- or overexpose your pictures by up to two stops.

Curiously, the manual mode is non-metered. Reviews on the web suggest Minolta wanted to avoid confusion. The XG-M, a later model in the XG series, had a metered manual mode with a little red "M" warning the user he was not in the "A" mode.

Body and features

The XG-1 has a metal body that feels light when compared to a body of the Srt series. A red dot lights up when using the selftimer. On the back of the camera body there's a DIN/ASA conversion table. On the (earlier) Srt series, this table had been circular. The accessory shoe is a hotshoe, but a separate X flash connector is present near the lens barrel. Next to it you'll find the cable release connector.

Links

• the XG series on Rokkorfiles.com