For some reason, I loved this camera from the moment I picked it up. The rough, textured cover is delightful to hold and it is just the right weight for me. Look at it…

The first thing I did was change the seals as they were completely degraded.

With that done, the camera was ready to go, spick and span. I loaded it with a very expired Kodak Vision 800T, set the meter for 50ASA and took photos of “Spring Flowers” in my garden.

Maybe the ‘spring’ is very literal, but I love them. The exposure was spot on and the 50mm f1.7 lens captured them perfectly, with beautiful bokeh and colours.

After seeing these results, I loaded another very expired film and headed off to Formby with some friends. This time the film was Orwo NP27 which was age damaged and grainy.

Again the results were spot on.

Oooh this seems to be my expired-film camera…so let’s try another, the tail end of an expired roll of Ilford Colour 400 again set to 50asa.

I have previously tried the X-300 and liked that, but this camera I adore. I even used some Cokin filters on a couple of these. I feel this is my play camera and I can’t wait to use it again.

I could write heaps about this camera, but there is already so much out there. I am going to let my photos do the talking. But if you want to read more about this 80s/90s camera, then check out these links:
https://mikeeckman.com/2023/06/minolta-x-700-1981/
https://cameralegend.com/tag/minolta-x-700/
https://www.35mmc.com/02/09/2022/the-whole-roll-24-exp-hp5-minolta-x-700-minolta-md-50mm-f-1-7-by-robert-kapp/
https://dustygrain.com/minolta-x700-review/
https://casualphotophile.com/2015/08/08/minolta-x-700-camera-review/