Uncle Jonesy's Cameras: The Return of an Old Favorite

Once upon a time I was a decidedly Minolta person. The first SLR I ever bought was a Minolta XG-1, which I purchased new from a camera store in Atlanta with part of my first-ever teacher paycheck. Soon afterward I added a SR-T201. I shot dozens and dozens of rolls of film with those two cameras before the XG-1 froze up one day. That's when I began dreaming of owning a Minolta X-700. It was the coolest-looking camera in the Minolta brochures that I collected meticulously. Popular Photography, of which I was a devoted subscriber.

And that grip . . . and it was all black. Being a Minolta user, it seemed to be the logical choice for my next camera. Because we had two young children and a lot of future memories to capture, my wife was onboard with the idea, and ordered a brand new X-700 from a camera store that advertised in

My excitement was off the charts when the package arrived and I unboxed my new X-700, and I put it to use right away. There were so many things about that camera that I liked. Because of the afore-mentioned grip, no camera before (or since) felt so right in my hands. I also loved the touch-sensitive shutter button that activated the meter the moment your finger made contact with it (the meter also would shut itself off a few seconds after you took your finger off the shutter button, thus saving battery life.) Being able to see aperture and meter-selected shutter speed information in the viewfinder was really nice as well. However, I never used the camera's most noted feature: programed exposure. When you set the camera for "P" for program, it would choose an appropriate aperture and shutter speed for a correct exposure, turning the camera into a manual-focused point-and-shoot SLR. I stuck to the same aperture-prioity metering that my old XG-1 used.

My daughters, Megan and Amber, and the Georgia folk artist,
Howard Finster in the mid 1990's. Taken with the X-700.

Nevertheless, it was this camera that recorded so much of my family's history (mostly on slide film). And did I mention that it was black?!

And yet, I eventually sold it and bought a Nikon FE from my brother, Kelley (who by this time was a Nikon user). Even now, I'm completely sure why, but I have given in some thought during this eighteen-month old film resurgence that I am currently experiencing. I think it may have had to do with the way the camera worked in manual mode. When you select a shutter speed manually, the camera shows what it thinks the shutter speed should be (using LED lights), but it does not show you what shutter speed you selected. You have to bring the camera down from your eye and look at the shutter speed dial to see what you have selected. Why Minolta left this out when designing their "top-of-the-line" camera beats me, especially when metered manual is found on the Minolta X-570, a camera that lacks the program setting. Even though I was striving to become a more creative photographer, I was still quite dependent on a meter. In the viewfinder of a Nikon FE, you see all exposure choices, and the camera shows you it's shutter speed suggestion with a match needle. And let's face it. I couldn't help but wonder if my Minolta lenses were up to the quality that Nikon is known for. I made the switch.

Recently, my wife, Debbie, and I were in Seattle visiting my youngest daughter when Kelley called to tell me that he had come across a clean X-700 on sale somewhere for $10.00 and bought it for me.

Not only did his thoughtfulness touch my heart, but also I was genuinely excited about using am X-700 again. These days I am much less dependent on a meter (thank you, Rolleicord), so the manual issue doesn't mean as much as it did. And yes, nostalgia has a lot to do with it, too. When Kelley gave it to me, it was like getting back an old friend. And it still felt good in my hands.

It also makes good photographs, as it turns out. The 50mm 1.7 lens is tack sharp, even though it is missing the rubber grip on the focus ring. Although my photography has been limited by the demands of the new school year, the X-700 has become my favorite 35mm at the moment, and the two Nikon bodies that I own haven't been used in two months. Hmmm . . .

Currently, the X-700 has some expired Fuji Sensia slide film in it, and I am looking forward to using the E-6 developing kit I bought from the Film Photography Project store. When Ektachrome reappears later this year, I believe it might the X-700 that gets first crack at it.

Cloud Reflections on the Westin, Chattanooga. Kodak Gold 200, self processed.

The new Westin Hotel in Chattanooga now occupies the former headquarters
of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee. Kelley and I always called it
the "gold building" growing up. Kodak Gold 200, self processed.