Posted on June 25, 2023May 18, 2026 by Mel — 23 Comments

Canon AE-1 Review – Look Out! There’s a Monster Coming!

This Canon AE-1 review was originally titled ‘Why I Hate the Canon AE-1’ – But I decided against it. There are so many reasons I actually do hate the AE-1 it would be hard to know where to start or finish and it might have ended up like one of those horror TV shows that goes on for hours as people list the 500 greatest things of a thing ever, interspersed with paid for reminisces by people who never had anything to do with any of it, but gurn on about how it was ‘inspirational’ and ‘changed their lives’.

There are reasons I hate the Canon AE-1, its bland, soulless, made of plastic, has horrible ergonomics and it would be easy to simply slag it off, but I felt I should be more magisterial, above pettiness and personal prejudice and balanced.

I also considered as a title ‘C-C-C-Canon and the Terminal Cough’ but thought it would be too obscure. Of course the Canon devotees would have been quick to point out how unfair that was given the cameras age and the problems of old cameras in general and, in truth, it would have seemed cruel – rather like laughing at someone with dementia who is now mowing the lawn with a vacuum cleaner. Understandable but no less cruel.

All things considered and wanting to be fair I elected for ‘Look Out! Theres a Monster Coming’ after listening to a Bonzo Dog Album. The Bonzos help me maintain a sense of the surreal and bizarre which is sometimes needed when working on a camera.

So why the title then? Well the Canon AE-1 was most definitely a monster. A monster seller for sure being the first 35mm SLR to sell more than a million units backed by a monster marketing campaign which was got the AE-1 sold faster than anyone at Canon ever dared dream. But it was a monster in other ways too. It heralded the end of really high quality cameras and a shift to plastic. I have written in previous articles about the last of the quality cameras like the Pentax MX and the Minolta XD7. Now it’s time for a monster sized read looking at the scary monster that helped bring about their demise.

Going back…

Back in the 1970s the name of the game for the camera industry was to get more 35mm SLRs sold. It should be remembered that for the aficionado of film the 35mm SLR was where it was at, but in fact SLRs only accounted for a tiny portion of the camera market. The bulk of the market was point and shoots.

The problem with the point and shoot market for the manufacturers was they were cheap and that it was hard to sell accessories. Not even a flashgun as most of the point and shoots had an integrated flash so not much money to be made.

The advantage of the SLR for the manufacturers was once you got the customer to buy an SLR you could then sell them a flashgun, a bevy of lenses, maybe a motor drive. This all translates to money in the bank. Of course the manufacturers phrased it differently. ‘Give us your money’ isn’t ever going to be a sound marketing catchphrase outside of an armed robbery so the pitch to the punter would be they could be more creative, shoot like a pro, get amazing pictures and all for the cost of a few weeks wages.

The big headache though was getting people away from their snap-o-matic type Kodaks and this had two problems. Number one was getting the camera to do some of the work to make life simpler and number two was getting the price low enough to make it attractive. Remember in the 1970s with no mobile phones to take a picture for you if you wanted a snap shot of a graduation, a wedding or a family holiday it was film or nothing. However most people lacked any real interest in learning photography, they just wanted some pictures of family events. The point and shoot cameras of the 1970s did everything for you. All you had to do was a press a button and wind on. So the challenge to getting more 35mm SLRs sold was get the price right and keep it simple.

Canon had, until the AE-1, been something of a back number. The professionals all went for Nikon who had skilfully marketed themselves as the professionals choice or, after 1974, Olympus – the brash upstart now wowing pros with their dinky sized OM-1 and huge pile of lenses and accessories. Olympus had been able to wow some of the pros with their lightweight fully pro set-up by moving the goalposts to smaller size and lower weight.

Pentax of course had been the favourite of the well heeled but not terribly serious snapper since the start of the 35mm SLR revolution. That left Canon and Minolta fighting like two drunks locked out of the bar at closing time. By the mid 1970s both Canon and Minolta had very tired looking offerings that looked very dated. Minolta had the SRT which harked back to the 1960s and Canon had the FTb which, while newer, looked almost as old.

Both the SRT and the FTb are fine cameras but in the market space of the mid 1970s they looked like dinosaurs. Solidly constructed, reliable but heavy and bulky and, critically, requiring someone with at least some basic nous to get good pictures with them – serious semi-pros and the enthusiastic only and definitely not the average mum and dad market! Those semi-pros and serious amateurs were not a big enough market for anyone and certainly not if you wanted to be king of the heap.

Worse, with the recessions of the early 1970s people had been squeezed financially and the camera market had taken a hit. After all there are only so many people who want to buy an expensive luxury like a camera and the market for 35mm SLRs was showing shrinkage. What was needed was a bump in tech and/or price to get things moving again.

Minolta would go off on a mind bender and develop technical marvels like the XD7 but Canon wanted a bigger piece of pie and they clearly had a plan to get it. Years of making fine cameras had not bought them success – this time they would do it different.

Enter the AE-1 – Monster Sales

Canon probably realised eventually they couldn’t hope to compete with either Nikons prestige, the elan of Olympus or the pre-existing base of Pentax. Canons pro-offerings while amazing just couldn’t make headway against Nikons near monopoly position and the Pentax owners were likely to hold on to their darling Spotmatics until they faded to black.

So, Canon set out with boldness to create a new audience by bagging off the point and shoot users and the fence sitters by enticing them into dark side of 35mm SLR ownership. Muah ha ha!

Canon AE-1 Review: The Canon AE-1 35mm SLR with its standard 50mm f1.8 FD lens

Canon AE-1 with its 1976 Montreal Olympics Lens Cap — Canon AE-1 Review: Canon AE-1 with its rare 1976 Montreal Olympics Lens Cap

Launched in 1976 and promoted heavily through the Montreal Olympics the AE-1 would be the product to make all this happen. A 35mm SLR which would be mostly made of plastic and electronics to keep the price down and lure the novice with promises of amazing pictures plus they would look like a pro with an AE-1 draped round their neck.
The plastic body would save time milling out blocks of metal and the electronics would speed assembly. A typical mechanical 35mm SLR has around 1,000 pieces of precision parts inside. An electronic one cuts that in half or more. Less parts, fewer sub contractors, fewer assembly steps and automation of the production line becomes possible. All of this feeds into lower price for the end user. That’s goal number 1 nailed down. Now what about making it easy?

The AE-1 would introduce automation in the camera itself by providing automatic selection of the aperture. All the user had to do was select a shutter speed and focus and the camera would do the rest by automatically selecting an appropriate aperture. Now automatic modes on cameras were nothing new but they were expensive… the AE-1 changed all of that and coupled with the lowest possible price and a huge marketing push it was enough to turn the AE-1 into a monster. Want to shoot like a pro but cant be bothered to learn anything ? It’s ok the Canon AE-1 will do all the hard work for you was the essence of Canons pitch.

With a Canon AE-1 in your hands you too could shoot amazing pictures without ever bothering to learn anything.

Monster sized marketing

Canon, allegedly, spent as much on marketing the camera as they had in designing and making it. The camera officially launched at the 1976 Montreal Olympics and Canon had a bevy of sporting personalities all lined up to extol the virtues of the automation and sing in chorus about how easy it was to use. An endless stream of sporting personalities from tennis, golf, figure skating and rally driving lined up to start telling people on mainstream TV and media just how easy it was to use. All the hype pushed the AE-1 to record sales numbers in a very short space of time. They even roped in a few professional shooters to give it a ringing endorsement and a professional seal of approval.

Now a seasoned shooter might well wonder at the expertise of a golfer, a tennis player or a figure skater to make pronouncements about a camera but it most definitely worked as a marketing pitch.

I was always dubious about the sample pics from camera manufacturers and doubly so from the Canon AE-1 adverts. They showed a sophistication which I doubt was captured by an AE-1 and if they were being taken with an AE-1 it was being handled by an amazingly skilled photographer.

Canon AE-1 Advertisements — Canon AE-1 Review : A bevy of sporting personalities lined up to say how amazing the Canon AE-1 was and sing its praises.

The marketing and sales pitch is even evident in the instruction manuals. Canon pitched the AE-1 very hard indeed and each AE-1 came with the traditional very comprehensive manual that all camera suppliers provided back then but the AE-1 also came with a ‘Jack and Jill’ type instruction leaflet for the rank beginner.

Laudable really and this could be used by retail outlets to demonstrate how simple it all was and help steer people into the world of 35mm SLR cameras enabling Canon to potentially sell them a whole array of accessories not to mention the boost in sales volumes from the camera itself.

The whole thing was beautifully packaged for a novice with simple ‘how to’ instructions to guide the beginner in the unknown regions and dark art of 35mm photography with an SLR.

Instruction Manual — Canon AE-1 Review : Read the Manual – there’s a novel idea many could learn from today!

Canon Instructions - detail — Canon AE-1 Review : Canon really had it down. Simple instructions for beginners and and no sexism either! Radical stuff for 1976

Monster cut backs on quality

The AE-1 pretty much undercut everyone on the market. The price was very appealing and, of course, on launch it looked quite glitzy. A 35mm SLR camera with automatic mode normally the preserve of the top end of the market at a price that wouldn’t break the bank for too many people. But as ever it came at a price.

Prior to the AE-1, Japanese cameras had majored on amazing quality, all metal and precision engineering. The Canon AE-1 would put an end to that and Canon geared the AE-1 for low price – good enough would be the new watchword.
To be fair plenty of them are still running and over time it’s probably fared no worse than many similar cameras from its period. I’ll get into problems with this particular bit of 1970s kit a bit later.

Canon AE-1 Review: Plastic advance lever and top cover showing the wear down to the plastic base.

Canon AE-1 Battery door — Canon AE-1 Review: Plastic battery door – the cause of much woe for Canon AE-1 users

Underneath the feel of metal the AE-1 was plastic through and through. Canon disguised this by developing a brass plating that would bond to the plastic top cover. It feels like metal to the touch because of this and, for a black one, a natural brassing look as the paint wears. When it wears down a bit further you will find white plastic. The base plate of the camera actually is metal but its very, very thin.

The guts of an AE-1 are almost entirely plastic, internal levers and gears that were traditionally made of metal are all replaced with plastic parts as far as possible. Gone are the metal roller bearings and fittings and even the film advance lever is plastic.

Canon also adopted a very modular internal construction to cut down on assembly work. Many cameras of the period are assembled like fine timepieces. The Canon AE-1 is assembled more like a consumer piece of electronics. This all sped production and kept the costs down and profits up.

Looking at the Monster

The AE-1 is fairly traditional in its overall looks, its a tad bland but looks about the same as most mid market cameras of its period.

To make use of the shutter priority exposure the FD lenses designed to work with it and its predecessor the FTb all have a small press stud you press down to set the lens at its minimum aperture which is the ‘A’ position. Some of the older FD series use an ‘o’ instead to indicate this as they were geared for the FTb which lacks auto mode.

The top deck is quite clean looking with the film speed and shutter speed dial located under the film advance lever. On looks alone it’s quite a pleasing camera to look at but it does hide some problems. Being mostly made of plastic the film advance has known issues where the plastic studs underneath can shear off and cause the advance mechanism to jam. Theres no way of knowing what Canons quality position was. Typically Nikon and Olympus built their cameras for pro use and to withstand around 50,000 – 100,000 shutter actuations. Canon may well have cut this back a fair bit correctly assessing the average point and shoot user would only use at most two rolls of film a year. If the camera survived five years it would probably be good enough from Canons viewpoint.

Canon AE-1 Review: Canon AE-1 Top Deck – you can see the lens is set to its ‘A’ position for Auto Exposure

The Canon logo is in the old style script which gives the camera a vintage/traditional look and probably explains at least some of its appeal to younger users who are often very much into the retro look. The AE-1 does look the part at first glance especially in its optional black finish.

The camera is powered by a 4LR44 battery which is basically four conventional LR44 types bonded together and this is located on the front behind a fairly flimsy battery door. The catch to open this is a bit tricky and Canon supplied a hot shoe cover that had a small tab on it that could release the battery door. I have been looking for one of these forever but suspect most have been lost or users have snapped the tab off by now. Being mostly plastic the battery door is another weak spot on the AE-1 and broken doors are quite common.

The AE-1, like its predecessor the FT series, used a unique lens fitting called a breech lock. Instead of pressing a release button on the camera and rotating the lens like a conventional bayonet mount the FL and FD series lenses have a rotating ring around their base. You rotate the ring on the lens to release the lens from the camera. It’s locked in position by tension only.

The idea behind this is that lens changes don’t constantly grind against the camera mount ring and potentially cause problems with focus over time but, It’s far less convenient and tricky to manage a lens change in a hurry. Lens swaps are also aggravated by the difficulty in getting a rear lens cap back on which has to be aligned with the lens and then the lens breech lock has to be screwed down to lock the cap in place. It doesn’t sound so bad until you try to manage it standing up at an event.

Later FD lenses reverted to a more traditional bayonet fitting while retaining compatibility with the FD fitting. Sadly these New FD (nFD) types are almost all plastic and many nFD types are impossible to repair due to Canon using a lot of glue and pressed plastic rivets in their construction.

The AE-1 viewfinder gives around 93% coverage which is quite average (an OM-1 sets the high bar on this and gives about 97%). The viewfinder is nice and bright and has a fine ground matte screen with a split image centre and a micro focusing ring. Metering and battery check functions are performed by a single needle in the viewfinder with a mask that shows the cameras choice of apertures.

The nicest thing with the AE-1 by far is its electronic shutter release which is amazingly soft to trigger while retaining a good feel. It also happens to sound lovely when it shoots – it has a very distinctive sound. Some people hate it and I have seen it described a sounding like a screen door being closed onto a wet fish. Allegedly the shutter sound was sampled and used on the iPhone for the iPhones camera – there you are. People often can’t get good pics with the level of an iPhone’s automation and they couldn’t with the AE-1’s back in the day.

Theres no exposure compensation as such on the AE-1 but a small silver stud on the side of the lens mount will give a 1.5 stop over exposures to compensate for backlit situations. Just below the silver stud is a button that will activate the meter and give you a meter reading which seems a bit pointless as half pressing the shutter will do the same.

The AE-1 was never geared to use a motor drive but Canon did bring out an auto-winder for it. A motor drive did eventually arrive with the updated AE-1 Program which is compatible with the AE-1. Personally I’d be nervous of using a motor drive on a vintage camera that uses plastic gears. Motor drives are brutal on a cameras winding mechanism and doubly so when the gears are plastic. The Auto-Winder adds a lot of bulk and when loaded with batteries makes the AE-1 a heavy old brick to carry around. Like the AE-1 itself plastic abounds and the battery door for the autowinder is notoriously fragile.

Canon AE-1 with auto-winder — Canon AE-1 Review: Canon AE-1 with its dedicated Auto-Winder – It turns it into a complete brick to carry around

When using the camera the idea is you set the shutter speed you need, set the lens to ‘A’ and the camera will now manage the aperture for you. It seems an awkward way of running things and positively weird given the AE-1’s intended audience of rank beginners. Most people would favour depth of field. Seeing everything in focus rather than having precise control of shutter speeds which only affect things in motion.

I can’t bring myself to believe that little Timmy in the paddling pool or fluffy the poodle would be moving quick enough to require speed to be the primary hold up on getting a picture. It’s hard to understand why Canon chose shutter priority, especially as its a lot harder to do than aperture priority. Possibly the AE-1 was a kind of test bed for other products or maybe Canon felt the rank beginner would understand the effect of speed more easily than aperture and depth of field.

Shutter priority on a camera with a maximum shutter speed of 1/1000^th makes very little sense. Here’s why…

At shutter speeds above 125^th some action is stopped (certainly little Timmy in his paddling pool and fluffy the poodle). At 250^th pretty much everything is stopped and by 500^th anything but the fastest moving objects will appear as stationary. 1000^th will stop stuff like fast moving cars but for some very fast moving objects (tennis balls and golf balls for instance) you may need to go faster. Sports photographers tend to favour very fast shutter speeds.
So, for someone with a bent for photographing fast moving sports the AE-1 would fall a bit short on the shutter speed options. Frankly no professional sports photographer was likely to buy the AE-1 anyway.

So what about the rest of us?

Well lets assume you are loaded with ASA200 film and you have perfect sunlight conditions and a 50mm lens, your exposure options will be limited to the following: –

At 1000th you will be shooting at an aperture of f5.6
At 500th you will be using f8
At 250th you will be at f11/f16
At 125th you will be at +f22 and out of the range of some lenses.

You can see that your choices of speed and aperture are pretty much restricted to three possible options. Even the lowest speed you can use will stop the average level of action that the AE-1 audience was likely to shoot. And this is under ideal bright sunlight. On less ideal conditions you will be operating with potentially only two possible exposure solutions – corrected for backlight you may be down to a single solution.

You can also see that a very shallow depth of field is out of the question under these conditions.
Now given that the only advantage of shutter priority is fast action events like airshows, racing cars, ice hockey and the like you can see that you will pretty much be restricted to a single shutter speed of 1000^th. Which really makes any idea of shutter priority pointless. The camera simply runs out of headroom for exposure options.

I always found it strange that given the AE-1 has a very limited capability of shooting fast action sports that Canon chose sporting celebrities to promote it. Apart from golf most sports folk were involved in stuff where you really do need fast speeds and expensive lenses. Way out of the price range of the intended user.
But that’s marketing – it’s never much to do with sense and everything to do with emotion.

Why didn’t Canon go the whole hog and have full Program mode? Simple – the electronics of the day were not up to it, at least not at a price that the potential users of the AE-1 would pay. Canon did eventually get program mode on the very much more expensive A1 a year after the AE-1 was released but the A1 was very much a premium amateur/semi-pro camera. In 1981 the AE-1 would be replaced by the AE-1 program which had a full program mode at a similar price and of course Minolta would launch the X-700 to go head to head with the AE-1 Program. While Minoltas X-700 would be a huge success for Minolta it never overtook the AE-1 which set a record of 6 million units sold in 5 years.

Resurrecting a Monster – Buying an AE-1 Today

By far one of the most common issues with the AE-1 today is the famous Canon cough. This shows itself when the mirror stutters on mirror up and/or is slow to react. The cause is dried lubricants deep inside the cameras guts. There are numerous web videos showing how to squirt oil inside to resolve this – it’s a stupid thing to do. The camera really needs a complete CLA (clean, lubricate and adjust). Squirting oil in a camera blindly will almost always result in a quick fix now and an expensive repair bill later.

People who specialise in Canon repairs have legendary horror stories of how much damage and how much extra work is required after well-meaning attempts by users to solve the ‘cough’. The AE-1 never suffered this in its heyday obviously as the lubricants were fresh. A well used one will have kept its lubricants moving about but many AE-1s were seldom used by their owners when new leading to the problems today. This is a common issue with many old cameras. BNIB (Brand New in Box) usually just means the camera will need servicing because lubricants will have dried out so don’t spend over the odds on a BNIB one – its no guarantee it’s a runner and will likely require a service.

As with any old camera you need to make sure it’s a 100% but its an even bigger risk with the AE-1 due to its heavy plastic use and the fact it’s using aged electronics. Jobs which would be simple on a mechanical camera are way beyond the skill set of most people with an AE-1.

The other issue afflicting the AE-1 is the battery door. Replacing this can be a bit of a nightmare as you need to get the top cover off the camera off. Like a Minolta SRT you have to preset the shutter speed to ‘B’ and the film speed to ASA 3200 otherwise the complex teflon cord inside which manages the metering will unwind and it will be no fun resetting it correctly.
That leads on to problem number three which is the teflon cord failing. It’s rare but it does happen and if thats happened to your camera you really need a pro to sort it out.

As already mentioned the large amount of plastic can cause issues. A common fault is part of the shutter speed/ASA dial underneath the rings can shear off. There are two small plastic tabs that can be broken. Once gone the film advance will jam up. With no spares easily available its another job for a pro.

Finally the electronics, while generally reliable, are now ageing. You are dealing with a camera thats 40 years old. The electronics are 1970s era and prone to failure like any electronics heavy camera of its period.

The other issues are common to most camera of the same age as the AE-1 which include things like shutter capping due to dried out lubrication on its shutter bearings and rollers. It’s always best to budget in a service when buying a used camera thats this old.

Shooting the Monster

So – whats it like to work with? I bought an AE-1 around 1979. I was deeply sceptical of an all electronic camera but I felt scepticism should rest on solid ground and experience rather than prejudice. Back then I owned a pair of OM-1s but I bagged a shot for a local paper which got me some unexpected cash and decided to buy myself an AE-1 and see what the fuss was about. So I bought myself a black AE-1 with auto winder and a few lenses and started shooting.

Canon AE-1 Stop Down Control — Canon AE-1 Review: The weird stop down lever, above it a preview button and above that the backlight control which gives a plus 1.5 stop.

I have to say almost from the off I just hated it. It just lacked any sort of quality feel. All that plastic translated into a cheap and nasty feel far removed from either my OM-1s or even a pair of humble Fujicas I owned at the time. Used as I was to gear from Pentax and Olympus it felt cheap and nasty. Even my old Zenith B was made of metal and felt nicer!
The film advance felt brittle, the stop down lever arrangement was horrible and the overall ergonomics made it feel like someone in the finance department at Canon had been allowed far too much say in its layout.

The only thing I liked was the very smooth shutter release which had none of the mechanical bind that even the best mechanical camera has. Its very smooth to trip the shutter with just the right amount of tactile feedback.

Over the course of around a year using the AE-1 it got used less and less. I found it awkward in manual mode where the viewfinder meter display does not give you a read out as such but only advises on the F stop the camera will select in response to the shutter speed you have selected. Normally I would prefer to work the other way round – select speed and then rotate the lens aperture ring to centre a needle. I found the AE-1 to be rather awkward in this respect.

For a serious photographer I found the AE-1s automatic mode to be more of an embuggerment than a help. All this would seem obvious now but back then it was a lot less obvious how the AE-1 would handle – for me at least, badly. On the upside the Canon lenses did render very well and I was quite pleased with them at least.

After about a year I sold my AE-1 on and just forgot about it. With my bump on tech I was sure the AE-1 would be a dead duck and a footnote in camera history and was now certain electronic cameras would be a fad. Time to go back to using the OM-1s.

The shoot of Amanda (see below) was probably the only good pictures I ever got from the AE-1 back then and I came to hate the AE-1 with a passion I usually reserve for dealing with Ryan Air.

When I came back to film a few years back I wondered if I had been too harsh on the AE-1 back in the day and as I had resolved to relive some salad days and past glories by collecting cameras from my past across the last 40+ years I decided to give the AE-1 another chance.

Was it ever as bad as I remembered when I had all the surety of youth? So, I acquired a minty one for another go.
The best I could say about it now is it’s not so bad as I had remembered but its very far from ever being a favourite. I still dislike its metering system when shooting in manual and still find it clunky and unpleasant to use. It’s pretty much relegated to being a shelf queen as a result. I just find it soulless and, for me at least, it makes taking pictures feel a chore instead of a joy.

Here’s two pictures taken 40 years apart with two identical Canon AE-1s , same camera, same lens.

Canon AE-1 Review : Amanda – Shot around ’79 with an AE-1 and FD 50mm f1.8

Canon AE-1 Review : Old American Car – shot with Canon AE-1, 5FD 0mm f1.8 and HP5 pushed to 800 ASA.

The Monster Returns

So why is it so popular? Why are prices sky high? And why do people want to own one now?

I think one word answers this – hype! But there are other reasons too.

People who had little or no exposure to cameras of the Canon AE-1 period have latched onto it. It was produced in vast numbers and the marketing hype of its day has propelled it to semi-mythical status. Look – lots of sports people used it. Mum and Dad had one and new age kid with trendy hair on You Tube has one too!

They were produced in the millions so I suspect it’s as Mark Twain once said of Chicagoans in hell – ‘The trouble with you Chicago people is that you think you are the best people down here, whereas you are merely the most numerous.’

When the whole redux of film started I suspect the AE-1 got a grandstand position. With so many produced it had to be good right?

Well not really because large sales numbers seldom speak of high quality, big sales volumes usually speak of marketing spend and getting the price down. The Fiat Punto is not a better car than a Ferrari because Fiat make more of them!

I think there is also a factor that for some it was probably the first ‘serious’ camera they owned and rather like people paying crazy money for Pentax K1000s out of fond memories for their youth they are into the nostalgia aspect. Those are the people who probably had little experience outside of the AE-1 and possibly still think of it as a professional camera. Some of these folk probably have fond memories of mum and dad owning one or maybe have even found mum and dads one hiding in the attic. Being left in the attic is the fate of many prosumer cameras and the AE-1 being so popular means there are probably millions of them hiding in the weeds.

People often bought an AE-1 for some event, maybe a few holidays but despite Canons best effort to make it simple it was still too much for many. Let’s face it some people can’t get a good shot even with an iPhone and so after a brief foray into creativity and the initial glow of feeling a pro many of them ended up as another regretful purchase and were consigned to the never never land of the attic. Too expensive to chuck in the bin but no use for the here and now. Left in attics and storage chests to re-awaken after 40 years.

For some it will be the camera they couldn’t afford when a kid and now want to own one and of course there will be people who started their serious photography with an AE-1 who now want to go back. I didn’t and I don’t – at least not with an AE-1.

Us oldies are often overcome with a feeling of nostalgia and sometimes things we used to own have a kind of totemic effect in making us feel younger.

Canon AE-1 Side top oblique view — Canon AE-1 Review: So beloved by modern film shooters but its hard to know why – a perfect mystery

Canon FTB — Canon AE-1 Review: The Canon FTb Early Version- No auto mode but no plastic either!

Beyond those reasons I really have no idea why it’s so popular, it’s nowhere near as nice to work with as many cameras of the same period. It’s immediate predecessor the FTb is a beautifully made camera albeit without any automation but these days, even with increasing prices, there are many cameras that are nicer to use than the AE-1 with the same feature sets and many of these truly were professional grade cameras with better handling.

The surprising thing is seeing people recommend it as a beginner camera. Its a very poor tool for a beginner in my opinion unless they are going to just use full auto the whole time. They would be better served by either a fully manual camera like the underrated Pentax KX to learn the craft or else something like the Minolta X-700 which handles a lot better in manual mode. Given the expense of an AE-1 in todays market there are better and less expensive options out there.

Monster on Sales Rampage Eats Everything

The AE-1 was historic in many ways, the first SLR to sell a million units, first SLR with shutter priority, first SLR to feature large scale electronics, first one made of plastic and of course it was the camera that turned round Canons fortunes and set them on course to eventually dominate the industry.

The biggest effect though was at a stroke it obsoleted a lot of other cameras and forced the entire industry to follow suite. As I have said in other articles, after the AE-1 almost the entire market moved away from super high quality, technical excellence to a kind of ‘good enough’ mindset. There would still be many fine cameras for the professional but even these would eventually bow down to the God of economics and market share.

Pretty much the entire industry was altered forever and many fine cameras, and even manufacturers, met their demise after the AE-1.

You could make a case for the AE-1 being pretty much the end of the line for Pentax and Olympus neither of whom would create a truly successful antidote for the AE-1. Minolta of course would punch back with the X-700 which played in the same market space as the later AE-1 Program and would actually come close to unseating it from its position as the biggest ever seller. Other manufacturers tried to grab some of this market with their own plastic bodied cameras but none would ever come close to the volumes that the AE-1 and the Minolta X-x00 series would go on to sell.

If the Olympus OM-1 had been a Zeppelin raid on the industry then the AE-1 was carpet bombing it. It would be left to Minolta though to drop the atom bomb when they perfected auto-focus for the masses at a low enough price to kickstart the AF revolution. With that said Minoltas auto-focus marvel owed much to the AE-1 – it too would be a plastic fantastic made from plastic mouldings and silicon chips with an LCD screen thrown in to boot and press button operation – no more mechanical controls, not even a wind on lever!

For Canon, after years of chasing Nikon for the pro market they had finally found the formula for success. Make it cheap enough, market it hard enough, get the sales volumes and be damned to technical excellence.

Canon AE-1 Review : The bottom line..

It’s fair to say the AE-1 was, and still is, one of my least favourite cameras but like Frankensteins monster the AE-1 is somewhat misunderstood – also like Frankenstien’s monster it has no soul.

It never was the professional or even semi-professional camera many these days believe it to have been, in fact it was only barely a prosumer class camera and was primarily designed with low cost front and centre to increase Canon’s market presence by undercutting the competition and creating a cheap camera for the masses.

It’s not a particularly good camera for learning with in my opinion but some of the original marketing hype still surrounds it as the perfect camera for the beginner. Much depends on what you define as a beginner. If you mean someone looking to learn the art of film photography or someone who just wants to snap-shoot? If its the former the AE-1 falls short, if its the latter its probably as good as anything else. It was aimed at people with little aspiration or real interest which is why it has, at least in my opinion, an undeserved reputation as the perfect beginner camera today. The subtlety between beginners and the uninterested in learning anything much has been lost over time.

Some of the AE-1 potential buyers and eventual owners would over time buy the Canon A-1 – a serious bit of prosumer hardware for the advanced amateur, some would move on to the premium Canon hardware like the F1 and even if they didn’t the AE-1 established Canon as a major player. It changed Canons fortunes for the better and gave them the solid market share they had lacked.

Canon AE-1 in full dress — Canon AE-1 Review: You could dress an AE-1 to make it look tough and professional but it was never a pro bit of kit

For many the AE-1 would have been their entrée to photography and any camera that can get people sparked up to the photography hobby has to be a good thing of itself almost regardless.

I could never criticise Canons approach. In marketing terms it was in fact genius – it bought them a huge success and if I were running the company it’s the move I hope I would have been smart enough to make. Shift the narrative, look for a new audience, find or make a new market. In Canons case the genius was to stop trying to play the traditional game and find a way to rewrite the rules. It was bold, it was undoubtedly risky but it worked!

With all that that said I am wistful enough to wish that high quality mechanical cameras could have found a niche outside of the rarefied air of Leica and Contax or that Canon could have created a camera with just a bit more soul.

No Post Found

Mel

Mel is one of the driving forces behind High 5 Cameras and writes all our articles.

Starting serious photography back in 1972. Over the years she got to shoot film with most of the major brands in 35mm and large format as both a studio photographer and content provider for websites in the early life of the web. These days she is rediscovering photography and has become the GOTO person for knowledge on camera repair advice.

www.high5cameras.com

Posted on April 16, 2023November 30, 2023 by Mel — 5 Comments

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide f1.8 AiS

A step by step Nikon 50mm Repair Guide f1.8 AiS with notes on managing the Series E version of the lens.

Copyright 2022 High5Cameras,
Free to use, copy and distribute so long as no charge is made for use,
distribution or access and authorship and web address is freely acknowledged.

The Nikon 50mm f1.8 AiS lens is almost identical to the late model Series E lens. Some of its cosmetics are slightly different but it uses almost identical construction. I have made notes through this guide to point out any major differences between the AiS and the Series ‘E’ version so this guide will help you manage either version.

Nikon 50mm f1.8 E series and AiS — Series E to the left, AiS to the right. The AiS is slightly longer. Lens construction is almost identical.

Nikon 50mm E Series and AiS — The AiS has slightly better coatings but either lens will return very sharp results.

You can see from the images above the second version 50mm f1.8 Series ‘E’ and the AiS version appear almost identical. The cosmetic difference is basically the focus barrel is slightly longer on the AiS with a slightly different grip pattern and the aperture control ring is also slightly longer with a bigger separation between the F stop markings on the lens and the repeater markings for the cameras Judas Window for aperture display in the viewfinder.

The Series E was a low cost version of the AiS for Nikons consumer cameras. The AiS version has better coatings but either lens will return superbly sharp results.

When new and in production the Series E was significantly cheaper than the AiS but internet hype has promoted the Series E version to such an extent that its now almost the same price as the AiS version on the used market.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide – NOTES BEFORE YOU START

The Nikon AiS 50mm f1.8 is a bit of a challenge. It’s nowhere near as tough as some lenses but it does have some booby traps to catch the unwary.

If you have read my guides on Minolta lenses you will know that Minoltas are usually very kind to beginners and you can afford to not worry too much about helicoil distances. That’s absolutely NOT true with this lens and you need to mark alignment points on EVERYTHING unless you want to spend the next 2 weekends reworking it!

The lens used for this Nikon 50mm Repair Guide was not in a good state. Focus was very stiff due to the oils evaporating inside the lens. This had led to haze on the glass and a very stiff focus. This is very common with these lenses especially if bought off places like eBay where sellers are generally clueless. The Series E that was done in tandem with this lens was even worse with a flakey aperture control, hazed glass and almost no lubricants left on the helicoils giving the lens a sloppy and rattly feel.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide – NOTES ON WORKING WITH THESE LENSES

Nikon are swinish at applying threadlock so an absolute must for this lens (and any others to be honest) is a decent set of JIS screwdrivers. Philips drivers can be totally relied on to round out screw heads on most Japanese gear and it’s a near certain result when working with Nikon lenses. If you hit a stuck screw apply some Isoprop or Acetone and wait, if its still stuck apply a bit more and wait. Last resort is heat as you will see with this lens. Brute force is seldom a good thing with this lens.

You can use acetone sparingly but be VERY CAREFUL – the lens is mostly plastic and acetone can melt the lens parts as well as the threadlock.

Remember – There is no such thing as luck in repairing optical equipment, if you do it right, using skill and patience you will be rewarded with a perfectly operating lens. A rushed or bodged job will result in the lens being devalued, unpleasant to use and possibly unusable so…..take your time, get the right tools and materials, don’t take shortcuts or advice from people who know less than you (check out my camera history here).

The biggest issue with the 50mm f1.8 AiS is the very tricky focus helicoil distances. I have made lots of notes throughout the this Nikon 50mm Repair Guide so make sure you read the entire guide before starting work.

You will need the following tools and parts to action this Guide

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide f1.8 AiS – Disassembly

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide - Removing or replacing the beauty ring from a Nikon AiS

First step is to remove the beauty ring. On the 50mm AiS this is relatively straightforward with a rubber cone.

On the ‘E’ Series 50mm f1.8 these are very thin and very fragile. Too much pressure will cause the ring to distort outwards and jam.
If the beauty ring is stuck apply some Isoprop and wait. You may need repeated applications.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide - Nikon AiS and E Series front fittings

With the beauty ring removed this reveals the filter ring and front lens groups retainers. Note the filter ring screws sit on top of the filter ring while the cut outs sit over the front optic retaining screws.

On some Series E versions the lens retainers are countersunk underneath the filter ring so you will only see the filter ring screws.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide - The filter ring screws on the Nikon AiS and E series 50mm Lens

First remove the filter ring. This is secured with three small screws. Use a JIS driver here to avoid damage to the screws heads.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide - The front element retaining screws

Now remove the three JIS screws that secure the front element group.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide - Removing the front elements group on the Nikon AiS and E Series

The front element group can now be lifted off. Store this somewhere safe. Don’t bother cleaning it just yet. This lens can be a pig and you may end up doing multiple rebuilds.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide - Nikon Ais showing oil contamination

This lens had very severe oil contamination. You can see the oil is present on the front lens group mounting plate and on the top of the focus helicoil. This is a typical issue. The internal glass has also hazed badly from oil vapour.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide - Nikon AiS focus barrel retainers

Now remove the focus barrel. This is retained by a thin metal retainer.

Before you remove this set the lens to infinity.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide - Nikon AiS focus barrel issues

Note the relationship between the focus barrel retainer screws (RED CIRCLE) and the inner helicoil lobes (YELLOW ARROW).

These are critical on reassembly. Failure to get the relationship right will mean the lens focus will jam as you move towards back towards infinity as the lobes will catch on the focus barrel retainer ring.
Note the aperture control spring – this is discussed later in the guide – you need not worry about this if it is secured to its fittings.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide - Nikon AiS and E Series 50mm focus barrel

And now the focus barrel can be removed together with its inner metal retaining ring. The retaining ring can be removed for cleaning but it is a very thin piece of metal so needs to be handled with care.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide - Measuring helicoil gaps — Measuring helicoil gaps

With the lens at infinity measure the distances between the helicoils (I usually use some very fine jewellers drivers to get an estimate of the width between the helicoils) and also put a mark on each helicoil and one on the lens body so you know where the zero point is for infinity….

This pic was taken a bit later in the process but it gives you an idea where you are marking

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide - The Nikon 50mm AiS mount ring

It’s now time to turn the lens over and start work on the rear of the lens.

Remove the three JIS screws using a JIS screwdriver. These screws are usually VERY tight. Nikon loved the use of thread locker so if they don’t turn out easily apply some Isoprop and wait. A JIS driver is essential for these as they can be rounded out very easily.

The mount screws on this lens were particularly troublesome so I had to resort to extremes.

What you see here is the core of a high powered soldering iron (30W) applied to the screw heads. You need to do this until they are too hot to touch. This will melt the thread locker but you need to be VERY careful as the aperture ring is plastic. Mindfulness at all times!

With the three screws removed the lens mount can be simply lifted off.

Note that the aperture lever on the mount engages with a slot on the lens body.

From this point on the lens must be supported by a cap at the rear as otherwise the rear optics will be in contact with any surface.

Take note of the orientation between the aperture lever (YELLOW) and the aperture slot for the mount (RED).

This is one of the less amusing aspects of this lens. The two aperture controls have to be aligned on reassembly together with the lock tabs AND the helicoils.

Lift the aperture ring off. Unlike many lenses there is no small bearing or spring to worry about.

Put a mark on the lens body where the black index mark is on the silver coloured ring. This should also be the mark you made for the focus at infinity

This will help you orientate it later when replacing it and also will help you reorientate the lens for mounting if you are forced to do a partial rebuild to get the infinity focus right.
You can see here a mark has been made both on the lens body and the helicoils for infinity focus.

Remove the three screws around the silver index collar.

Remove the silver index collar.

Remove the focus lock tabs. There are two. One on either side.

These screws can be VERY tight and bonded with thread lock. Be careful with acetone or heat here as most of the core of the lens is plastic.

The two helicoils can now be unscrewed.

With this lens it is really critical to have these marked for infinity and also a mark where the helicoil separates so you know where the thread entry point is. It is well worth reading Richard Haws guide on working with helicoils HERE.

This is a shot from an earlier guide on the 1st generation Series E guide and shows the inner helicoil separation.

I didn’t get a shot of this lens but they look almost identical anyway.

And here’s the outer helicoil being removed from the lens body from the earlier guide. The lens body to the right is a little different but the basic principle is identical.

Nikon AiS 50mm f1.8 stripped down — Nikon 50mm Repair Guide – All Parts

With the lens almost completely stripped you can now clean all of the lens body work.
Note that the rear element group, diaphragm and inner helicoil are all one piece. You are advised not to take this to pieces.

If you have fungus in the rear groups you can use acetone very sparingly to remove the rear group retainer but be very careful about spacers. You will also need a lens sucker to extract these and replace them. If the fungus is between lenses in the front group it’s a write off. The front group is a sealed group and cannot be disassembled.

The optics on this lens were ok and just needed the outer and inner facing glass to be cleaned. To remove oil I use a dilute Isoprop solution – 50/50 with water plus breath and a microfibre cloth.

Once fully cleaned the helicoils are lubricated with Helimax XP. As with most lenses you need to get the dosing right for the helicoil lubricant. Like many plastic bodies lenses this one needed a very tiny amount of lubricant on its outer helicoil metal/metal threads but a thicker dose on the metal/plastic threads.

The core of the lens contains the rear optics. Cleaning the old grease off of these is a careful job as this part contains the rear optics and the diaphragm. I normally use cotton wool balls to remove as much of the old lubricant as possible and then apply a dry toothbrush to get the remains of the old lubricants out of the threaded parts and then use more cotton wool balls. Once its close to clean I use a very lightly moistened cotton ball with some Isoprop to make sure its fully clean. You have to be VERY careful with this.

The other threads are cleaned out with alternate doses of hot soapy water and Isoprop and finally all threads are chased out with a cocktail stick to make sure the are completely free of contaminants like old dried lubricant.

All metal and plastic parts, with the exception of the lens core, are thoroughly cleaned of lubricants that had leaked. This includes the front face of the inner helicoil, the focus barrel and the mounting parts of the front optical assembly.

Do not clean the front optical unit inner surface until you are ready for final reassembly – you will see in the reassembly phase you may have to remove this a few times while setting the lens up so don’t clean its inner surface until you are sure all is working well.

Nikon 50mm Repair Guide f1.8 AiS – Reassembly

When reassembling do not over-tighten any screws. This lens can be a pig and you may end up disassembling. The name of the game is lightly tighten stuff down. Test the lens and if all is well go back and retighten screws after you are sure all is working well.

First lubricate lightly the outer helicoil and rethread it to the lens body. Assuming you marked the lens up appropriately earlier you need to find the thread entry point that allows the same distance to be achieved between the helicoil and the lens body AND the marks you made to align at infinity.

Now insert the inner helicoil using the same approach. The outer helicoils inner face has been given some lubricant but a bit extra is added to the threads on the inner helicoil.
Thread the inner helicoil into the outer helicoil using the marks you made to find the thread entry points and that the distance is the same as when you took it apart and the marks you made earlier align.

Like the Series E the AiS version is no fun. Nikon designers could be cruel! As well as the helicoil distances you have to meet the following as well.

The inner helicoil must align with the lock tab positions and…..

….The relationship of the aperture lever must be as pictured. The aperture lever has to be to aligned so that the lever is at the 6 o clock position while the mount aperture connector is at the 3-c-clock position and…

(Note this pic was taken a bit later – its only to show the relative positions of the aperture, lock tabs and detent slots for the aperture control ring.)

…The detents for the aperture ring are also in the right position alongside the aperture lever on the lens body. It’s not as hard as it sounds but you need to be aware of this now before you commence reassembly. Apply a light smear of lubricant to the detents – just a small smudge is enough.

Once you are happy that all is well and alignment of the interior parts is correct and the helicoil distances are in close approximation to what you measured before disassembly you can replace the focus lock tabs. Do not over-tighten just yet- you may need to make changes later.

Replace the silver ring using the mark you made earlier and replace the three screws.

If for any reason you couldn’t or didn’t mark the helicoils for infinity its best to leave this ring off for now and come back and add it later. Without this ring it’s much easier to grip on the outer focusing helicoil when testing. The mark on the lens body will help you sort out orientating the lens to the camera mount.

Replace the aperture control ring making sure it goes OVER the aperture lever on the lens body.

It needs to be put on by placing it vertically downwards NOT from the side.

Replace the mounting ring making sure the aperture lever on the mount ring locates into the slot on the lens body.

Replace the front optical unit after suitable cleaning. I use a mild Isoprop solution and then breath with a microfibre cloth and a final blow out with a rocket blower.

Note the fittings on the optical unit carrier. The holes are for the lens retaining screws while the slots are for the filter ring.

Replace the three screws that retain the front optic.

Note the brass outer helicoil…..

You can now mount the lens as it is on a known camera and using the brass outer helicoil get focus on a distant object. I usually use two radio towers which are around 8 miles distant. I can use a collimator but this only works well if you have a reference lens.

Heres the lens mounted on a trusted and reliable F-301.
The focus barrel is now placed over the lens with the infinity mark aligned to the index mark and lightly secured with its three screws for a final test.

If testing is good and the lens operates freely from end to end of focus throw the focus barrel can be secured.

Bear in mind a lot of this lens is plastic so don’t go mad on tightening stuff. Safest method is to use the small JIS driver between thumb and forefinger and tighten using just your thumb and forefinger. When it feels tight thats tight enough.

If the focus jams then chances are you have not enough space underneath the lobes of the inner helicoil OR positioning is in some other way incorrect. In which case your only option is to rebuild.

If for any reason you were unable to make markings for thread entry points or infinity focus you may end up reworking the lens. I have had one where the focus was jammed so it was not possible to get useful markings.

The filter ring screws on the Nikon AiS and E series 50mm Lens

With the focus barrel on you now only need to add the filter ring and…

Replace the beauty ring using a rubber cup.

Notes on the Aperture Control Spring

You will have seen earlier that the aperture mechanism uses a spring on the front face of the diaphragm BUT… the real power in the aperture control is the spring located in the mount assembly. If you have a very slack diaphragm the chances are it’s the spring in the mounting plate. On the inside of the lens mounting plate you can see a small spring is hooked over the hole near the aperture lever. This can come free if while cleaning you have dislodged it.

To reconnect the spring you need to remove the three recessed screws around the edge of the mount plate. Ignore the screw that stands proud of the rim and just remove the three recessed screws.

With a little bit of wriggle the inner black part of the mounting will come free allowing you access to the spring. When replacing be aware of the slot that allows the camera side aperture lever to move.

Here’s the spring with its fixing. It’s end simply loops into the hole.

DO NOT remove the screws on the aperture lever – these are fine tuned by the factory for the aperture and are very much best left alone.

Mount the lens for a final check, check infinity and focus throw and also make sure the lens stop down is working correctly.

Thats it – I will wish you all the best of luck with this lens – it can be a complete perisher.

It is a superb lens when clean and operating well and I hope this guide will have allowed you to return this lens to pristine condition.

This Nikon 50mm Repair Guide article can always be improved. If you have any questions and or comments we would love to hear them below. Mel.

No Post Found

Mel

Mel is one of the driving forces behind High 5 Cameras and writes all our articles.

www.high5cameras.com

Posted on March 30, 2023May 18, 2026 by Mel — 15 Comments

The Last of Us – Minolta XD Series – XD, XD7 and XD11

Minolta XD Series

On the 1st September 1914, a small grey bird fell from its perch at Cincinatti Zoo……

The mid 1970s saw a rash of camera developments. While these produced amazing technological marvels the headlong rush to ever more sophistication while keeping the price down meant compromises. The first casualty of any price war is almost always quality.

From the early 1960s to the late 1970s the Japanese camera industry had flourished. It had created a solid reputation for quality through and through and even consumer grade cameras were built to a quality that is almost unimaginable today.

Technology had crept along slowly with features being added every few years. Self returning mirrors, auto lens indexing, through the lens metering and open aperture metering had taken a long time to implement and progress had been slow but, by the mid 1970s, the pace was stepping up.

In 1973 Minolta launched the X1 which was the result of almost 10 years development. Its most stunning achievement though was the automatic aperture priority system. Now instead of having to match aperture and shutter speed the photographer could simply set aperture and let the camera manage the shutter speed accordingly. Minolta had not been the first to do this but the X1 was the first truly pro camera to be able to offer it. Sadly the X1 was priced well beyond the means of the average user in the early 1970s and was pitched firmly at the pros as Minolta (Like Canon) hoped to drag some of them away from Nikon.

Rich in features offering almost everything a Nikon F could do and more with a titanium shutter which was electronically controlled, swappable prisms and focus screens and a stunning array of lenses dubbed as the MC-X series.

The MC-X series produced some of the finest manual focus lenses ever made including the Rokkor 50mm f1.4 PG one of the best 50mm lenses ever. But, despite its brilliance the X1 never found favour with pros who distrusted new fangled electronics and clung firmly to their Leicas and Nikon Fs – the lack of a motor drive did not help but fundamentally the market was too nervy about electronics – the X1 was simply too far ahead of its time and too out of step with it.

Minolta XE- and XD7 — The XDs immediate predecessor the XE. The XD would cram even more electronics into a smaller sized package AND be more ergonomic too!

To leverage the expensive development time of the X1 Minolta produced the XE in 1974. The XE would drop a lot of the X1s features like the removable prisms and meter heads but would retain the same high quality build and, of course, the Aperture Priority system. The XE was quite expensive as well but at least was possible for the aficionado photographer to attain so long as they carried on living with mum and dad and eating catfood. Its size though clearly showed its X1 heritage. It was rooted firmly in a generation of cameras that had bloated in size. Unfortunately for the XE it was launched the same year as Olympus released the ground breaking OM-1 – The industry would never be the same again (well at least for a few years anyway).

The massive size reduction in the OM-1 design forced all manufacturers to focus on slimming down their offerings and this sounded the death knell for the XE – it simply looked like a bathing beauty from another age, Victorian plumpsome now out of step with the anorexic demands of the modern world. There was more misery in store for Minolta when Canon launched the AE-1 in 1976. A camera with shutter priority auto mode AND a low price tag.
The AE-1 would go on to be the first 35mm SLR to sell more than a million units.

Minolta XD Series XD7 and Olympus OM-1 — The XD7 – only slightly larger than an OM-1 but jam packed with goodies.

Minolta though were ready to pull a rabbit out of a hat! Enter the Minolta XD Series, the last super high quality Manual Focus 35mm SLR. Yes I know about Contax, Leica and the Nikon FM2/T but those were very limited production run cameras of a few thousand units and with a price that couldn’t be mentioned unless the customer was sat down with a paramedic, a syringe loaded with adrenaline and a defibrillator on standby. People may have fainted when the XD price was mentioned in the local camera shop but they would have a full blown heart attack or stroke if someone mentioned the Leica or Contax price – they were firmly geared at a (very) limited market. Some of these up-market retro style cameras sold in production runs of a few thousand at most.

The Minolta XD Series launched in 1977 a year after the Canon AE-1 and went toe to toe with all comers offering the first camera ever with Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Full Manual AND a ‘secret’ Program Mode and the whole lot would fit inside a box not much bigger than the manual only Olympus OM-1. The XDs technical specification didn’t stop there. It had an exceptionally bright focus screen and full display information in the view finder for metering, shutter speed and aperture in all modes, a stepless vertical metal bladed Seiko shutter with amazing accuracy and final check metering system where the camera would carry on metering and making fine adjustments in both auto modes right up until the last moment. Add in electronic shutter release, a built in viewfinder blind and an SPD meter cell and it all added up to a very sophisticated camera indeed. In fact the XD may well have been too sophisticated because even Minolta made no mention of the Program mode until the second generation of the camera. The program mode is a kind of unintended consequence of what Minolta called Automatic Speed Compensation or ASC.

Minolta XD Series - XD7 35mm SLR — The Minolta XD – truly one of the most beautiful manual focus 35mm SLR cameras ever made.

Minolta had to make some cut backs from the XE in order to keep the price the right side of sanity (and maybe reduce the casualty count in shops as potential buyers swooned when the price was announced – in 1979 an XD with an f1.7 lens cost around 6-7 weeks wages for the average person in the UK) but the cuts aren’t huge, a few of the internal gears are plastic but the XD is almost entirely made from metal. The overall feel and handling retained the XEs super high quality including the buttery smooth winding and film advance of the XE. And, don’t forget, the XD has a lot more tech inside its tiny body than either the X1 or the XE had to manage.

Minolta XG1 Advert — The XG was geared to the mums and dads and the budget conscious…

Minolta XD7 advert — While the XD was geared for the well heeled tech head and afficiando.

To hoover up the low end market Minolta released the XG7 the same year as the XD7 and you can see the XDs influence in the XG styling.

Unfortunately for Minolta the price of the XD7 was way too high and they sold fewer XDs in its entire production run than the lower cost, lower quality X-700 achieved in the first two years of production.

The price wars of this period meant even the low cost XG7, already a budget camera, would be cut down to produce the even lower cost XG-1. In time the XG series would eventually develop into the XG-M which would be the basis for Minolta biggest ever seller the X-700 which would be produced long after the XD was gone but that’s another story…

Minolta XD Controls — The Minolta XD Series winder and shutter speed dial.

Minolta XG shutter speed dial — You can see the XD Series styling in the lower cost XG.

What you paid for and got with the XD was the last truly high quality manual focus 35mm SLR – Lets take a look…

The XD (XD7 Europe and XD11 for the US) featured a beautiful sleek and sophisticated exterior design – for me the most beautiful SLR ever made. It’s small, with rakish looks and a superb feel. Early models were covered with a soft touch vinyl leatherette. Sadly over time this tended to shrink badly making many XDs look shabby. Later ones replaced the soft touch vinyl for a more traditional leatherette. The whole feel is of the XD is quality ( what else would you expect when Leica were partnered with Minolta to develop the XD) AND it’s also beautifully ergonomic. It just FEELS right in your hands.

Minolta XD Series - A pair of Minolta XD7s — Sleek and sophisticated – a pair of XD7 cameras. Note the nearside one is showing shrinking leatherette.

The controls on the top of the camera are well laid out with the shutter speed/mode selector dial overhanging the front of the camera allowing you rotate the control with your middle finger. Touching the shutter button will activate the meter which will turn off after shutter release or immediately you remove your finger. The shutter release is electronic in all modes other than O (manual shutter at 100^th for folk who don’t check batteries) and B so its rather slick and the mirror uses an air piston to damp down vibrations giving the camera a very smooth feel when shooting.

Minolta XD Series - Minolta XD7 top deck view — Clean and well laid out top deck of an XD-7

Just to the side of the shutter speed dial there is the mode switch which controls whether you are are fully manual mode, aperture priority or shutter priority. Program mode is accomplished by turning the mode to Shutter priority (S), set the shutter speed to 125^th (in green on the later versions) and putting the lens to f stop marked in green. Errrr why if it’s in program mode do you turn the shutter speed to 125^th?

Well the way the Minolta XD Series works is this – if you’re shooting in shutter priority the camera has control of the aperture in a very precise way – it may well be shooting steplessly between aperture stops BUT the XD will also change your selected shutter speed if it feels you have called it wrong. As a result setting 125^th as the best average speed means the camera will increase or decrease shutter speeds giving a ‘secret’ Program Mode. Minolta called this ASC (Automatic Speed Compensation). The XD was so far out in front Minolta didn’t really start promoting the Program Mode until the second revision of the camera when they coded the 125 setting in green and started promoting the ‘Green for Go’ mantra- set the mode to the green S, set the shutter speed to the green 125 and the lens to its smallest f stop coloured green – simples eh! Nikon would do the same later on with their Orange coloured markings.

Some churlish people suggest this may have been a gimmick to save Minolta having to reinvent the camera when Canon eventually got a full program mode for their A1 a year later but I suspect it was just not considered – the pace of change was so fast it was probably just not understood by Minoltas sales and marketing people.

Now this Automatic Speed Correction causes some people to pull out their hair, rend their clothes and gnash their teeth. I mean whats the point of shutter priority if the camera will just ignore you? The answer is the camera won’t ignore you. It will try to manage it for you, opening the aperture to the required amount for the speed you set but if you have done something daft the camera will try and manage as best it can so you don’t waste film. A good example of where this comes into play is this; If you have the camera in SP mode but have forgotten to set the lens to its minimum aperture and have the lens set at f11. It limits the camera to shooting stops between f11 and its minimum stop which may be f22. So the camera has fewer lens stops to work with. So if the light isn’t sufficient the camera cant open the lens any further than f11 soooo it will slow the speed down. You might have set the camera at 250th but when you press the shutter the camera will take a Final Check reading and decide to go at a 30th because you have limited its available stops.It’s rather laudable really. So if you really, really, REALLY need f16 at 1/4 second then you are best off in manual mode.

Theres an argument to be had that shutter priority is of limited use on ANY camera that can’t support faster than 1000th and that argument holds some water too but you’ll have to wait for the forthcoming Canon AE-1 article to find out why.

The Minolta XD Series tends to favour aperture over speed when it’s in its (secret) Program mode where the X-700 tends to favour speed. For this reason a lot of people including me consider the XDs program mode superior.

Minolta XD7 in SP mode — Late model XD with its ‘Green for Go’ Shutter Speed Dial and its mode control.

Early model XD shutter speed dial — An early model XD – lacking the green coded 125th but you can see the MD lens has a green coded f16 position.

Something to consider is that XD, when it’s in shutter priority mode, relies on an electromagnetic stop down for the lens which is very finely tuned. To make this work the lens needs very light and balanced shutter blades as the electromagnetic activator together with the final check metering means the lens needs to be able to stop down smoothly and quickly in a stepless manner AND react quickly to possible changing light levels. Minolta bought out the MD series lenses to work specifically with the XD.

The MD lenses all have very fine and thin aperture blades and an additional tab to tell the XD what the lens minimum aperture is. You can use almost any Rokkor lens with the XD but if shooting in shutter priority with an older lens the camera may not achieve accurate exposures as the lens may simply not react quickly enough and you won’t get any warnings if you forgot to set the lens to minimum aperture. In Aperture Priority or Manual mode it makes no difference – the lens will just stop down to whatever you set on the lens but as already stated in Shutter priority mode the camera may choose to finely tune the aperture setting and this may not work so well with non-MD lenses.

An additional hazard with a non-MD lens is the camera has no idea what the minimum aperture the lens can manage is…it’s the MD tab on the lens that tells the camera this information. So you could be in a position where the camera wants f22 but your lens only goes as far as f16. The camera will run the shutter as fast as it can to compensate but chances are you will be badly overexposed especially if the light is sufficient to demand faster than 1000th.

Lens not stopped down for SP mode — Lens is not set at minimum aperture, camera will NOT warn you!

MD lens with a minimum aperture of F16 engaged. Note lever position.

MD lens with a minimum aperture of F22 engaged. Note lever position.

Like any serious auto-mode camera the Minolta XD Series has exposure compensation of up to 2 stops. Personally I find the exposure compensation a bit fiddly on the XD – you need to press the lever in towards the centre of the dial and then turn it to its required position. It’s a good idea to stop it being accidentally turned but it’s also rather tricky to get right. Early models had the exposure compensation lever outboard. Later ones moved it inboard to stop the lever getting snagged.

Minolta XD Series exposure compensation on the early model — Minolta XD exposure compensation on the early model.

Minolta XD Series exposure compensation on the later models — Minolta XD exposure compensation on the later models.

In all auto modes the XDs, Seiko metal bladed vertical shutter operates in stepless mode plus the XD has what Minolta called ‘Final Check Metering’. In most cameras the moment you press the shutter the settings are locked in place – not so with the XD which will keep metering and adjusting shutter speed and/or aperture right up to the moment the shutter opens. This gives the XD a very tiny delay when taking a picture which some people find disconcerting. It is a tiny delay of milliseconds but humans being what we are most people can detect the small delay and some find it a bit odd. With that said the shutter action is very slick. the electronic release gives the camera very smooth pull off with almost no mirror slap thanks to the air piston which cushions the mirror. The Minolta XD Series are some of the quietest SLRs I have used thanks to its very smooth shutter and mirror action.

Minolta XD Series - XD7-Seiko-Shutter Seiko metal bladed vertical shutter — The XD7 uses a stunningly accurate vertical metal bladed shutter from Seiko.

The XDs viewfinder is a kind of fusion of old and new, LED lamps to show the metering but a classic Judas Window to show aperture and a mechanically operated film strip to show the selected shutter speed. When you move from manual or aperture priority to shutter priority a mechanically activated mask shows either shutter speed or aperture. It’s a neat trick. Personally I find the information in the viewfinder of an XD a bit of information overload.

The over expose and underexpose LEDs can be confusing. No metering lights = you didn’t stop the lens down in shutter priority mode, over LED blinking in shutter priority mode = camera will increase shutter speed, under LED blinking = camera will reduce shutter speed.

It all makes for a complex viewfinder and complexity leads to mistakes. Your eye has to move around a lot to work out what’s going on – look right for metering, down for settings, look center for focus.

I have lost count of the times I have swapped from manual to AP mode and fired off shots assuming the camera has control of the shutter only to find out later I was still in manual – there are no indicators to specifically alert you to what mode you are in – its a powerful tool but you need your wits about you if you don’t want to get wrong footed.

Viewfinder in Manual or Aperture Priority. Metering on the right, what you have set on the bottom. — Viewfinder in Manual or Aperture Priority. Metering on the right showing cameras suggested speed or what it will shoot at if in AP mode. Speed and aperture settings on the bottom.

Viewfinder in Shutter Priority. Cameras choice of apertures on the right. What is set up on the bottom - you should be seeing a green minimum aperture from the lens. — Viewfinder in Shutter Priority. Cameras choice of apertures on the right (note its going for somewhere BETWEEN f11 and f16). In SP you should be seeing a green minimum aperture from the lens.

You also have to remember (especially in manual mode) the meter LED is just the camera telling you what you SHOULD set – not what IS set. For knowing what you actually set you have to glance downwards at the shutter speed indicator. For myself I prefer a simpler viewfinder arrangement.

The camera settings along the base of the viewfinder are driven optically and mechanically as mentioned and the problem with this is you need decent ambient light to illuminate these. That’s what the small window on the face of the cameras prism housing is for – providing light for the shutter speed film strip. Like any arrangement using this method if you are shooting in a dark location you cant see a thing as there just isn’t enough light to illuminate either the Judas window for the aperture indicator or the film speed film strip inside the camera.

The standard focus screen features a split image centre with a microprism collar and a very bright focus screen that’s very finely ground for focusing on the matte area. There are few screens better, though the Minolta X-x00 series do in fact slightly trump the XD screen.

Minolta XD7 Viewfinder Blind — Minolta XD7 viewfinder blind in closed position with white dot so you know whats happening.

XD7 Film Safe Indicator — Buttery smooth winding plus a film safe indicator to show film is transporting ok.

Minolta XD7 Focus Screen — Removable focus screen – the two screws indicated release the screen.

Other features with the XD7 / XD11 include a neat built in viewfinder blind for long exposure or self timer work. The blind features a white dot when closed so you don’t go thinking that you have a lens cap on. The film safe indicator which appears on quite a few Minolta cameras is a red stripe that moves from left to right, if you can see this moving when you wind on then the film is being transported ok onto the take up spool – it also handily acts as a warning that there is film in the camera.

The Minolta XD series featured a removable focus screen. This is a lot easier to deal with than on the XG series or the X-x00 series. Just inside the lens mount ring on the top of the light shield are two small screws. These come out along with some small pieces which retain the screen. A warning here don’t lose any of the parts, they are almost irreplaceable as indeed are the focus screens themselves. The XD series has an AcuMatte screen which is very easy to damage with careless handling – never use chemicals on it! While changing focus screens on an XD is easier and a lot less risky than on the XG or X series its still a lot more fuss than on an OM-1 or Pentax MX which have a simple locking tab and cradle which holds the screen. Personally I almost never change focus screens – theres very little need for most of us to ever do so.

Minolta XD7 in black finish — Also available in black… The black version of the XD featured a black chrome finish. This is one of mine sporting an MC-X 50mm f1.4 lens.

The XD7 and XD11 was available in a black finish which has a more satin look than traditional black finish work. Unlike most cameras which used a black enamel over a brass base coat the XD is done with a black chrome developed in conjunction with Leitz. It’s very hard wearing and tends not to brass with age. When new the black finish was a significant cost upgrade and as a result there are relatively few of the black XD models around. They normally carry a hefty price premium in the used market as a result.

Shooting the Minolta XD Series

The Minolta XD Series is a wonderful shooter, equipped with Minolta glass it’s capable of great results. I tend to shoot mostly in manual or AP mode as most of what I shoot is quite static. As ever the real magic is in the glass but the XD has a very accurate shutter which is a big asset. Most horizontal cloth shutters have a 20% variance in performance but the XD’s Seiko shutter really hits very close to its intended speeds so you can rely on it getting the exposure right. Metering is centre weighted but my experience is it can easily be fooled by backlight through the viewfinder so I always use an eyecup on mine to reduce any light leakage through the viewfinder which could affect the meter.

I also found from experience that the metering in the XD can be upset by the use of a red filter. Normally adding filters doesn’t cause an SLR with TTL metering to be affected but I found the meters on three XD samples could all suffer bad under exposure of an estimated 2 stops when combined with a red filter. This is a consequence of the SPD cell used for metering. SPD cells require a blue mask to ‘tune’ them to the right light wavelengths the use of a red filter can upset some cameras that use an SPD cell depending on their blue mask and this leads to the camera failing to read the light correctly when red filters are in place.

The nicest thing about the Minolta XD Series though is the superb ergonomics. It just sits well in the hand and its controls are very smooth and well positioned. It feels, like most Minoltas, as though it was designed by people who actually used cameras rather than propellor heads in the design team or a bean counter in the corporate finance dept. Personally I find the exposure compensation lever a bit fiddly and I have found from experience its very easy to misread what the camera is telling you with the multiple read outs in the VF. Thats more of an issue for me as I shoot so many different cameras.

Minor quibbles aside its a beautiful camera to work with and I curse the fact that back when they were in production no one ever showed me one in my local camera shop.
Back then I can seldom remember seeing a Minolta camera other than a point and shoot in any of the shops I frequented which is a pity as at one time the XD would have suited me very well. Certainly better than the horror show which was the Olympus OM4Ti I inflicted on myself in an uncharacteristic moment of ‘brand loyalty’.

Some samples using an XD from a hiking trip in the Elan Valley, Wales are below….

Elan Valley, Garegg Ddu Dam
28mm Minolta MD3 with Polariser & Kodak Ultra 400.

Elan Valley, Craig Goch Dam
Rokkor MC-X 50mm PG 1,4 Red Filter & Ilford HP5.

Minolta XD Series : Buying an XD7 or XD11

A cautionary note here for anyone excited enough by this article to be lusting after Minoltas finest creation… The XD, although beautiful when running can be a horror when things go wrong. To get all the features into a tiny body meant Minolta had to use every inch of space. It’s incredibly dense inside and consequently a tough camera to repair. Few camera techs will work on them thanks to the scarcity of parts. It’s also a very complicated beast with its fusion of old school mechanics and high tech electronics. Never, ever buy one with supposedly easy to fix issues – chances are it wont be.

XD-7 with the top cover removed — An XD-7 with its top cover off give a glimpse of how complex it is – almost beyond state of the art in its day!

Even cleaning the film speed resistor tracks is tough on an XD. Just taking the top cover will test most peoples patience thanks to the very complicated and tricky to reassemble film speed ring.

The Minolta XD Series can suffer some relatively simple maladies, the most common is the air piston that manages the mirror can get gummed up resulting in the camera really taking its time to get the shot off. It’s not super difficult to do but it may well be beyond the skill of the average user.

XD-11 Film Speed Ring — The very fiddly and awkward to assemble film speed ring.

XD-7 air piston — The air piston assembly is not too bad but may be beyond the skill of some.

XD-7 Fusion of the old and new — The XD is a fusion of old school springs and string plus 1970s Hi-Tech.

By far the biggest risk to the XD is people using old flash guns where the flash gun trigger voltage can fry the XDs 1970 era electronics. If you want to use flash guns with this camera using the hot shoe you are are best advised to get a Minolta flash gun of the same period or do some serious research on what flashguns will be safe.

Minolta bought out a lower cost version of the XD7/11 with the XD5. The XD5 made a few cuts, it has a plastic top cover, no shutter speed indicator in the viewfinder and no viewfinder blind or film safe indicator. The cuts aren’t much but if you want the best that Minolta could turn out then it has to be the XD, XD7 or XD11.

If you do get an XD then reading the manual from cover to cover is a must. The viewfinder displays can be confusing if you don’t know what you’re doing. The XD can easily confuse tyros with its behaviour but the camera also has some nice tricks up its sleeve like the ability to easily manage double exposures – it’s all in the manual and well worth investing some time to learn how to get the most out of it.

Minolta XD Series : This is the end…

The Minolta XD Series was historically significant. The first 35mm SLR to combine full manual, shutter priority, aperture priority and program mode in a single camera. It also combined all of that with petite, beautiful looks and ergonomic handling. One of the finest manual focus 35mm SLR cameras ever and certainly Minoltas most beautiful creation. Sadly the XD was destined to fade away. Lurking in the shadows was the age of plastic and silicon. Soon the whole idea of being ‘the best’ would give way to being the most economically advantageous, the age of ‘good enough’ would trump technical excellence.

But the Minolta XD series isn’t just historical because of what it could do – it’s historical because it was the last mass production manual focus 35mm SLR camera from an age when things were made with a mindset of being the technical best and where quality was held to be the supreme virtue. The camera market would move from manufacturers trying to achieve supremacy through the quality of their technology to supremacy by crunching the price down to increase the volume of sales. Technical excellence from the boffins would be subordinated to the demands of shareholders and bean counters.

That bird I mentioned at the start of this article was ‘Martha’ the last passenger pigeon. At one time they numbered in their millions but in a few short years they were extinct – no longer able to survive in the modern world.
Just like Martha the Minolta XD series would be the last of its kind.

Minolta XD7 and X-700 — Lurking in the shadows…. The budget XG series would eventually develop into the X-700 and the become biggest ever seller for Minolta far outstripping in sales volume the XD7. High quality and technical excellence would be no match for low price in the 1980s.

No Post Found

Mel

Mel is one of the driving forces behind High 5 Cameras and writes all our articles.

www.high5cameras.com

Posted on March 28, 2023August 4, 2025 by Mel — 18 Comments

Pentax MX – The sense of an ending

Endings are strange things. It’s often hard to see where the ending of anything is until years after the event. Rome wasn’t built in a day they say but it didn’t fall in a day either. It’s only on reflection, after the passage of time, that you can put a pin in a calendar and say, ‘this marks the beginning of the end’. So it was to be for the Pentax MX. The last fully mechanical camera to come from any major manufacturer.

When Olympus Launched the OM-1 system in 1972 it was a game changer. Prior to 1972 35mm SLR cameras had gotten more sophisticated and quality had steadily increased but at the cost of weight and size. Until the OM-1 it would be fair to say cameras had bloated in a kind of bigger is best way.

The OM-1 forced a rethink on the industry. Some fine cameras had an early demise because of it. Olympus launched it with a whole slew of accessories and lenses to assure its success and against its somewhat bloated competition the OM-1 was quick at winning friends. David Bailey promoting it at every opportunity probably didn’t hurt it either. Some pros avoided it, feeling its lightweight looks may translate as not hardy enough and they stuck solidly to their Nikon Fs as pros are wont to do.

For many others though the OM-1 really cut the mustard with its tiny size and glamorous looks. Sleek and refined like a racehorse. Underneath the skin though the OM-1 is a relatively simple beast with little in the way of automation. It has through the lens (TTL) open aperture metering but that’s about it on the technical gizmo side of things. It also featured a very wide and bright viewfinder although there’s no aperture or shutter speed readout. The OM-1 has just a simple needle to show whether exposure is correct. I remember stepping up from a Pentax Spotmatic with stop down only metering and being blown away by how big a field of view the OM-1 created and the brightness of its focus screen. Of course the OM-1 had its foibles like the shutter speed being on a ring around the lens but it was still a magnificent jump from the Spotmatic with its old school stop down metering and fiddly M42 thread mounted lenses.

So there it was. By 1974 the OM-1 was busy eating the big fours dinners and the big 4 (Pentax, Nikon, Canon and Minolta) now became the big 5. What would the original big 4 do to counteract this upstart pretender?

Pentax MX and Olympus OM-1 — The MX – The Pentax answer to the upstart Olympus OM-1.

Nikon of course completely ignored it – They already had the pros, hook line and sinker so why worry. Other manufacturers like Canon and Minolta had tried in the past to wrest the pro market away from Nikon but had never succeeded and so were the people losing most from the OM-1 tucking into their dinner.

Minolta and Canon had their own antidotes and strategies to the upstart Olympus. Canon would launch the AE-1 and get the price down for Joe Blow with a camera made from silicon chips and plastic. Minolta would crunch their now bloated looking XE down in size and produce the XD – barely bigger than an OM-1 but Minolta managed to cram in Aperture Priority Auto, Shutter Priority Auto (biff, take that Canon) and topped it off with a Program Mode (another poke in the eye for Canon). Then topped that lot off with an even brighter focusing screen, vertical metal bladed stepless shutter and a final check metering system which would constantly adjust shutter speed up to the moment of taking the actual picture – in short a techno challenge to Olympus. “OK matey” Minolta smirked, “let’s see you top that lot and keep the size fashionable“.

With Canon going all plastic and silicon and Minolta turning up the heat on the technology it left Pentax seeking a chair to grab in the endless game of musical chairs among the big boys. Pentax had been steadily losing market share almost from the moment they started the 35mm SLR market so they had to find an antidote to the upstart OM-1.

Pentax back then were stuck firmly in the middle market aka the middle class buyers with spare cash to spend (remember these things cost serious money back in the day) but not enough passion to take a second mortgage on a Nikon. It would fall on Pentax to build the real contender to the OM-1. While this would never be the huge success in its day ( only an estimated 1 million units sold in almost 10 years) it would go on to be one of the best loved cameras ever to come out of Pentax. The Pentax MX.

Pentax MX and KX 35mm SLRs — The Pentax MX with its immediate predecessor the KX – a serious slimming program.

The origins of the MX lay in its immediate predecessor the KX. The KX was one of a trio of new cameras from Pentax launched the new Pentax ‘K ‘mount as Pentax finally woke up to the fact that M42 threaded lens mounts and stop down metering of their previous generation were yesterdays news and badly outclassed. The KX would be the mid range in the new K series behind the K2 model which featured Aperture Priority Auto Mode (and the worlds most fiddly film speed selector) and above the budget KM model. The K series would eventually include the super budget K1000 for the financially constrained. The KX is a beautiful camera in its own right, almost Nikon like in its feature set and build quality but like Minoltas equally beautiful XE they were deader than fried chicken once the OM-1 changed the game to compact sized 35mm SLRs.

Minoltas apparent antidote to the OM-1 was same size (more or less) but with a whole array of features – this was natural for Minolta as they were always pioneers and always pushing the technology envelope . The Pentax approach was play the OM-1 at its own game. I said at the start of this that the OM-1, apart from its size, is not a particularly technological camera and Pentax would play the Olympus game of small size and low tech.

So the MX is basically a low tech / no tech camera, using a traditional fully mechanical mechanism with its controls laid out where most people familiar with 35mm SLRs would expect them. After all it was Pentax who originated the control layout on most film cameras and for years no one had changed it for fear of being different. Olympus did and there are still people moaning about it decades after the camera ceased production!

Pentax split their bets in many ways because the running mate to the MX was the ME and ME Super which were all electronic and aimed more at the beginner market and were mainly geared for Auto Mode shooting..

Camera Controls — Pentax MX – Sweet simplicity with traditional controls.

Pentax ME Super Controls — Push button all electronic with the Pentax ME Super.

It’s all so obvious now but back then the industry could not be sure electronic cameras would be accepted by anyone. No one knew about possible reliability issues and photography aficionados were reluctant to part with their hard earned cash on new fangled technology which hadn’t been proven. Canon didn’t even try to convert the aficionados but aimed its AE-1 at the people who had never even considered buying a ‘serious’ camera with a low price and the promise of automation to make life easy. Pentax would ignore those kinds of people and aim the MX at the people who favoured a well built, all mechanical camera that was completely traditional in approach. I don’t doubt back in the 1976 many people found comfort in a camera that seemed familiar when they were spending close to two months wages. Plenty of good products have met an early demise due to consumer fear of ‘the new’ when they are too different from the crowd.

So that’s the history what’s the camera actually like…

I came to the MX via a KX and the OM-1. The KX is a splendid camera with just about everything you could ask for in a fully mechanical camera. A match needle arrangement with shutter speed indicated plus an aperture readout via the classic Judas window, Silicon Photo Diode (SPD) metering so the meter is sensitive and more reliable than the older Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) types. Overall its a workhorse – solid and reliable. The OM-1 is one of my all time favourites to use and I owned one in 1976 as my first professional class camera so the MX would have its work cut out to win me over for sure…

So lets look at the camera – you are getting a fully mechanical camera which uses batteries only for its metering system which is based on a Gallium Arsenide cell (GaAS). Why Pentax went with GAaS its hard to say. Very few cameras ever used it. The layout is virtually identical to almost any Pentax 35mm SLR up to the MX and plenty of other 35mm SLRs used the same layout too.

Pentax MX Top Deck — Completely traditional layout for the top deck of the MX – Apart from size scarcely different from the venerable Spotmatic.

The difference is it’s incredibly small and light, acing even the OM-1 in all areas regarding weight and size and its viewfinder has the highest magnification of any 35mm SLR at x.97 (versus the OM-1 at x.95) . Spectacle wearers beware with the MX – it’s almost impossible to see the whole field of view unless your eyeball is pressed hard against the viewfinder due to the magnification factor. The MX displays about 95% of the film frame, less then the OM-1s impressive 97% but none the less still larger than many 35mm SLRs of its period.

Field of View (FOV) and Magnification

People are often confused about field of view and magnification factors and particularly argumentative when it come to the OM-1 versus the Pentax MX so here’s a simple guide to illustrate the effect these have…

A typical 35mm SLR from around the period of the Pentax MX would present around 93-94% Field of View and typically a magnification factor around the x.85 mark. There’s no doubt the view through the OM-1 is impressive for its expansiveness but of higher value to me is brightness and resolution of the focus screen. A tighter grained screen that’s very bright will make focus easier as well as a higher magnification. It’s worth mentioning also that FOV and Magnification factors will usually be based around a 50mm lens – longer or shorter focal length lenses will change the numbers. For example many Minolta SLRs will return a value of x1 (life size) for magnification when using a 58mm Rokkor.

Viewfinder magnification factor — **Magnification Factor**
Left hand view is as you are seeing with your eyeball. Right hand view is an exaggerated minus magnification factor showing how the viewfinder makes things look smaller.

Filed of view and Magnification factors are linked. Reduce the magnification factor and the FOV gets wider. Increase it and the FOV narrows. There’s also an issue that both FOV and magnification have an effect on brightness because both affect light transmission so cameras manufacturers have to strike a balance between these opposing factors.

The tiny percentages in the FOV and magnification don’t seem much on paper but they translate to a very striking difference when looking through a camera viewfinder. So which is better the OM-1 with its width or the MX with its higher magnification? I found little to choose between them . The OM-1 has a wider more immersive viewfinder but the MX was brighter and seemed easier to find focus. I could live with either.

It’s not all good news though – That small size and weight of the MX comes with a price. To help trim the size down Pentax used very thin top and bottom plates and as a result the camera is susceptible to damage. A small drop which a ‘K’ series would shrug off will almost always bend the metal on an MX.

Pentax MX with 50mm f1.7 'M' Series Lens — Pentax MX sporting the standard 50mm f1.7 ‘M’ Series Lens – its sharp, contrasty and like the camera very compact.

One of the nicest features of the MX is its stop down feature – activated by pressing the self timer inwards. It’s one of the best positioned and feeling stop downs I have ever used. Only the Canon FTb can match it for feel and positioning.

The MX has a very precise feel with a soft and smooth feeling advance lever and a very positive shutter release. Mirror damping is excellent and considering the camera is so small and light near miraculous in its lack of mirror slap and vibration. The whole feel with the camera is of precision like a Swiss watch.

Like the OM-1 its has a removable focus screen – Pentax weren’t going to miss a trick on getting the MX to have everything the OM-1 had. The screen is even brighter than the OM-1s though not quite as bright and sharp as the Minolta XDs but it would be a close run thing. Your chances of finding alternate screens are slim to zero these days so it’s best not to mess about with this unless you are very confident. I got the yips super bad when refurbishing our one knowing it’s virtually irreplaceable.

Pentax MX showing stop down lever — Showing just how small the MX is in average hands and the wonderfully positioned stop down lever.

Focus Screen — The bit I wish they HADN’t copied from the OM-1 – the very awkward mirror bumpers!

Pentax did though have one thing that maybe they could have NOT copied the OM-1 on and that’s the extremely awkward design of the mirror bumpers. Both the OM-1 and the MX have a hellish set of mirror bumpers which are no fun at all to replace. Pentax even upped the game on this score and made the door hinge seal on the back even more complicated than the OM-1! For a more detailed look at this check out the light seal guide here.

The shutter on the MX is a conventional horizontal type using a rubberised silk curtain. If you get one DO NOT touch this. They are very fragile. Controls are very positive throughout although I did find the ASA dial a bit fiddly. Thankfully that’s not something I tend to change too often.

The camera handles extremely well and its low bulk makes it very attractive to shoot with – I completely enjoyed using our one, its compact size keeps it discrete for street work.

The metering system is somewhat unusual and is managed through coloured LEDs alongside the shutter speed indicator. I prefer a needle as it gives a more nuanced reading but the LED approach with the MX is quite intuitive.

Red LED below centre indicates 1 stop under exposed.

Green LED at centre indicates perfect exposure.

Yellow LED above centre indicates 1/2 stop over exposed.

The meters on the MX have a reputation for trouble which is usually down to corrosion issues with its wiring, battery terminals or shutter switch.

The MX used all of the ‘M’ series lenses developed for the ‘K’ series. These are excellent performers by and large. Most MX units were sold with the standard 50mm f1.7 which is very sharp and like the MX very compact.

Shooting with the Pentax MX

I used our sample for a couple of rolls doing some street photography and found it handled well. It had a nice snap to focus thanks to its excellent focus screen and viewfinder and was suitably discrete. With a short lens on, it’s nicely balanced and slick, almost as unobtrusive as a small range finder. I was more than half inclined to keep it but in the end I decided to sell it on. It’s a lovely camera and deserved to be shot more frequently than I would ever have the time for. It was a tough call as to whether to keep it, but on balance with my larger sized hands I feel a bit more comfortable with the OM-1 or the Minolta XD. It seems, at least for me, Pentax shrunk it down just that little bit too much. Thats not to say there is anything wrong with the MX – its quite delightful to shoot with and if it were the only camera I owned I could be happy. I had sleepless nights trying to decide whether to sell it so I think that tells you something.

Pentax M with Ilford XP2 test shot — Discrete and perfect for urban street work – Covent Garden with Ilford XP2

Pentax MX Test Shot with XP2 — Discrete and perfect for urban street work – Elizabeth line underground with Ilford XP2

The end…

The MX was never a great success in its day, it is estimated that only around a million were sold in almost 10 years compared to an estimated 6 million Canon AE-1s sold in the same period. You can see from the numbers that quality doesn’t always win out!

In the short time I used it I could well see its charms, it’s a very beautiful looking camera, it handles well and shoots marvellously. If you can find a good one, fancy owning a Pentax and don’t want the very agricultural feel of the K1000 so beloved of new age film shooters then an MX is definitely worth investigating. The MX has better handling than a K1000 plus has a self timer and depth of field (DoF) preview. On top of that it has a far superior meter and viewfinder and of course was built as a premium camera where the K1000 was built to be cheap for beginners and students.

The MX would turn out to be the last new all mechanical camera from any of the big 5. There was a brief re-emergence in the 1990s of high quality fully mechanical cameras from the likes of Leica, Contax, Nikon and even Olympus but these were limited production runs with jaw dropping prices (skywards of £2,000 in 1990!).

It seems fitting that the last affordable, high quality, fully mechanical camera would be produced by Pentax who had perfected the original 35mm SLR concept and made it at a price that someone who wasn’t the Duke of Westminster could afford. The MX would be the last of its kind before the electronics revolution and looking back now, it would signal the sense of an ending for the golden age of 35mm SLRs.

No Post Found

Mel

Mel is one of the driving forces behind High 5 Cameras and writes all our articles.

www.high5cameras.com

Posted on February 25, 2023December 20, 2023 by Mel — 25 Comments

Minolta X-700 Capacitor Replacement

A step by step guide to Minolta X-700 capacitor replacement in the popular 35mm SLR Camera.

Copyright 2023 High5Cameras,
Free to use, copy and distribute so long as no charge is made for use,
distribution or access and authorship and web address is freely acknowledged.

The Minolta X-700 is one of the most popular cameras for modern film fans being equally at home in the hands of both the expert and novice photographer.

It can though suffer the dreaded capacitor-itis where its shutter release and aperture control capacitors can fail. If your camera has a serial number lower than 2000000 then it almost certainly has tantalum capacitors (STEC) and these are unlikely to be the cause of problems. Serial numbers higher than 2000000 usually have electrolytic capacitors (ALEC) and these are very often the culprits when problems arise.

Minolta X-700 Capacitors - Tantalum Bead Type — Minolta X-700 Capacitor (tantalum bead type) – these seldom fail and will almost never need replacing.

Minolta X-700 Capacitors - Electrolytic Type — Minolta X-700 capacitor (Electrolytic type). These are prone to failure.

Serial numbers alone are not the best test. We have seen an X-700 in the 2040000 range with tantalum capacitors. The surest way to know for sure if your camera has the early tantalum bead type or the later electrolytic type is to remove the base plate and have a look. The pictures above show the two types of Minolta X-700 capacitor in use.

The classic symptom of Minolta X-700 capacitor failure is when you half press the shutter release the LEDs in the viewfinder will illuminate, on full press the LEDs will go out but the shutter will not activate. The winder/film advance will be locked solid because the shutter is wound on but the camera is unable to release the shutter.

Sometimes after a power down and power back up again the problem will clear but it will return after a few shots.
While this symptom is almost always related to capacitors it is not ALWAYS the case. Other faults can create these symptoms like shutter derails, jammed curtains, faulty release magnet and power issues to name a few. However if the symptoms arise it is usually best to consider capacitor replacement as the first step IF the camera has the electrolytic type capacitors and if you have made sure its not as simple as a corroded battery chamber or flat battery.

The X-700 is cursed with two capacitors which can be problematic – both are are 220uF 4V types. The good news is that modern ALEC capacitors are very long lasting and relatively inexpensive. You will need the smallest physical size you can get to ensure a good fit. Normally we fit using a Panasonic made capacitor with dimensions of 7.15mm long by 6.38mm wide.

This guide will hopefully get you through a Minolta X-700 capacitor replacement but do not over-estimate your soldering skills. The circuit boards in these cameras are VERY fragile and we have seen a fair few written off due to shoddy soldering work.

You will need the following tools and parts to replace a Minolta X-700 Capacitor

You will also need a great deal of patience coupled with a steady hand. I always use leaded solder with an internal flux core which works best. Lead free solder can be tricky to use and usually requires flux to make it work well.

NOTES: This Minolta X-700 capacitor replacement guide can be used to replace the single capacitor in the base of X-500 and X-300 variants as well. Be aware though that the capacitors orientation is different. You need to check carefully which side the capacitor has its white (-) stripe prior to removal and make sure replacement is identical.
Note also that for this guide I am using a junk camera. Your soldering should be neater but its tough to photograph a process while working at your best single handed.

Read the Minolta x-700 capacitor replacement guide from start to finish before jumping in. As ever any repair is down to your tools and skills. Take you time, don’t rush. There are no prizes being offered for fastest repair times.

Minolta X-700 Capacitor Replacement – The Shutter Release Capacitor

First step is to remove the base plate. It’s also sensible to remove the battery cap and batteries while work is being carried out.

Note that the two centre screws are much shorter than the two screws at the outer edges.

With the base removed observe the capacitor. If it looks like this is an ALEC type. Note the orientation of the white/grey stripe along one side. This is the negative (-) side of the capacitor and must be orientated correctly when replacing.

On an X-700 the stripe faces inwards and is nearest the circuit board. On an X-300 the stripe faces outwards towards the edge of the camera. You should make a note prior to removal.

The circuit board in all versions of the X-700, X-500 and X-300 is very fragile. You need to minimise heat as the tracks and the board will simply burn away if too much heat is used.

The easiest way to remove the old capacitor is to clip it away from its leads with some snips.

If you are nervous about applying heat to he circuit board you can now use the remains of the legs to solder the replacement onto…

…Or simply desolder these. A light touch is needed.

A replacement 220uf 4V Panasonic ALEC is now installed. You need to tin the leads on the capacitor and clip the legs to the right length. Some snipe nosed pliers are used to form the legs to the right distance apart.

If you are working on an X-300 or X-500 this completes the repair. Simply replace the base plate and test the camera.

Sometimes after capacitor replacement you may find your X-700 still refuses to fire. This can be because the upper aperture control capacitor is also defective but normally I make a small modification to the camera here as sometimes even with perfectly working capacitors the X-700 can fail to release the shutter.
Note the yellow wire here and desolder this from the board.

Note the other yellow wire leading onto the board here and desolder this from the board as well.

Solder the two yellow wires together like so and wrap a strip of insulation tape around them to prevent contact with the board.

CREDIT: to James Holman of Learn Camera Repair for this tip. It really does work and saves a lot of grief.

NOTE: It’s not a great pic – the two wires are not on the board they are simply soldered together end to end.

Minolta X-700 Capacitor Replacement – The Aperture Control Capacitor

To get to the top capacitor which manages aperture control we need to remove the top cover. Only an X-700 has this capacitor the X-300 and X-500 do not support program mode so do not have an aperture control circuit.

Start by using a JIS screwdriver to remove the screw on top of the rewind capstan.

With the screw removed I usually put a strip of tape around the top of the film spool spindle. This will reduce the risk of it getting pushed into the camera and causing problems.

Set the ASA ring to a known value and make a note and set exposure compensation at Zero (0) this will make life a bit easier later.

Use either a spanning wrench or a rubber bung to remove the slotted retaining ring underneath. On some X-700s this will be plastic but some have a metal retainer here. This is not generally very tight and a suitable rubber bung will usually remove this, it’s a conventional thread.

Underneath you will find a washer, remove this.

The film speed ISO ring and exposure compensation ring will now simply pull away.

Under the film speed control you will find a thin plastic washer. Note it’s positioning with reference to the slots.

Remove the washer and handle carefully. It is very easy to get this bent or damaged.

You can now see the levers under the film speed and exposure compensation ring. Make a rough note of where these are located. It will make assembly easier later.

Remove the threaded cap/trim on top of the film advance lever. This is usually not fitted too tight so a rubber bung will usually remove it. It’s a conventional thread.

Here you can see one of my best tools for camera repair in use. Its a wine stopper for a wine fermentation bottle and this tool will remove an awful lot of stuff very easily.

If the threaded cap doesn’t come loose you can either apply a small amount of Isoprop and try after 15 minutes or resort to a spanning wrench.

You do need caution here as the trim can easily be damaged. Normally I would apply some masking tape over the cap to reduce any risk of damage to the trim.

With the threaded cap removed you can see that the advance lever is hooked onto a spring. Some X series do not have the spring and rely instead on a sprung washer. If it’s a sprung washer type the washer will be directly under the film advance. If it has the coil spring gently left the film advance lever up and unhook the spring.
The spring is easily wrecked so do not pull the film advance lever about too much until the spring is unhooked.

With the spring released the film advance lever will simply pull free.

Be careful as the spring underneath has a tendency to fly off into the void.

The spring has two hooked ends. One to the film advance lever and one to a slot cut out in the base of the top cover.

Gently ease the spring free and store it safely.

Use a spanning wrench remove the slotted nut.

Here’s the nut coming free. Note its orientation.

Set the shutter speed dial to Program. This will make life simpler during reassembly and will also allow a test of the camera without complete reassembly later.

Using a spanning wrenc h remove the silver trim ring around the shutter release. Caution as the finish is easily damaged.
This ring is usually not very tight.

Another camera tool dear to my heart. A cocktail stick. Once items are loose a cocktail stick can be relied on to turn items to remove them and being a soft wood will not mar the finish.

The trim ring is removed. Be careful here when this comes away the shutter button is spring loaded and can easily fly away.

With the trim gone the shutter button and its associated spring will simply pull free.

The shutter speed dial can now be lifted off.

Remove the two screws under the Minolta logo and remove the name plate.

Now you can see the Judas Window arrangement which displays the lens aperture into the viewfinder. Its best not to mess with this as getting the mirror and lens aligned can be a painful experience but if you are missing an aperture mirror (very common on X series) this is where it would be mounted.

All of the screws on the cover are different lengths so best to store them separately or make notes.

Remove the screw on the left shoulder of the camera.

Remove the screws either side of the viewfinder.

Now carefully lift off the top cover.

As the top cover comes free watch out for the small button which releases the shutter speed dial from Program mode and the viewfinder surround. These are loose once the cover is away.

Don’t put any strain on the cover as there are wires attaching the electronics to the hot shoe of the camera and they are relatively fragile. I don’t usually desolder these for a simple capacitor replacement.

Bear in mind you have exposed ICs here so take sensible anti-static precautions.

Note the position of the two plastic rings which are under the film speed dial. Remove these and be careful. The inner one contains very fine brushes which act on the copper tracks beneath.
Note that these are sprung and held in place by the film speed dial when assembled. If you want to test the camera prior to assembly you will need to replace these parts and apply a slight pressure on them.

Remove the JIS screw which retains the top circuit board.

Remove the small JIS screw which retains the flex board and and be sure not to lose the small plastic washer underneath this.

Note the film speed contactor plate and pay attention to the small black wire that runs along its back edge. This is very fragile and during repairs can shear off if not handled very carefully. It can be re-soldered but you don’t’t want to make more work and take more risks.

Very carefully ease up the film speed contactor plate. It doesn’t have to go far it just needs to be out of the way.

You need to desolder these wires at the front of the circuit board. There is a small sticky tape that holds these in place. Carefully peel the tape back and desolder these.

This is why the contactor plate was lifted in the previous step – its plastic and its very easy for it to get clipped with the soldering iron.

Heres the wires again as a reference.

It is worth making your own notes though as I have seen some Minoltas where the wiring colours were different.

Carefully desolder the wires from the front edge of the circuit board.

Now you can very gently lift the circuit board. It may stick a bit close to the prism. Do not apply force but a gentle jiggle will free it.
Close to the prism the circuit board has LEDs which fit into a plastic mounting which relays the LEDs to the viewfinder. Its like a small multi connector plug and can sometimes need a small amount of jiggling to free it.
Now we can see the aperture control capacitor. Note the orientation of its grey/white stripe indicating its (-) leg.

Carefully pull the circuit board back but do not apply pressure or lever it around. The PCB to flexboard tracks and joins are very fragile.
To get a picture I am using a rubber bung to hold the circuit board open a bit to give you a view of the aperture control capacitor. I also use this to keep the board opened while desoldering the capacitor and fitting the replacement. As with the other capacitor it is easiest to clip its leads to remove it and then desolder the remaining part of the leads.

Here’s a replacement ready to go. Its legs have already been formed into the right shape and the leads have been tinned. You can also see its coloured stripe indicating its (-) negative leg.

Placement of this Minolta X-700 capacitor is quite critical as it can easily foul on other parts so you need the utmost care in getting its placement perfect.

With the new capacitor in place you now need to solder the leads at the front edge of the board.
Note the silver coloured clip around the the film spool housing and make sure this pushed home otherwise it will not allow the contactor plate to be replaced easily.
Note also how close the capacitor is to the camera edge and internal mouldings. This is why placement is quite critical

With the leads re-soldered push the contactor plate back into position. Note it is keyed so will only fit in one position.

Make sure the circuit board is seated correctly with its LED plug block near the prism reseated.
Replace the JIS circuit board retainer screw.

Replace the film speed/exposure compensation rings and check that the black wire seen here at the back of the contactor plate is still connected.

Now replace the flex board retainer with its plastic washer.
If you wish to run a test now before replacing the top cover; replace the batteries, fit a lens and set it to f16, put the advance ever loosely on just so you can wind the camera on and put the shutter button into the camera, apply slight pressure to the film speed/exposure compensation rings to put them in contact with the contactor plate and press the shutter button. If all is well the camera will trip the shutter.

Replace the shutter speed lock button into its position…

…and use a bit of low tack tape on its top to hold it in place while you replace the cover.

Replace the viewfinder surround and gently ease the top cover back onto the camera. Make sure you don’t pinch any leads while replacing the cover.

Refit the screw on the left shoulder of the camera.

Refit the screws either side of the viewfinder.

Replace the plastic washer under the film speed ring.

Refit the film speed/exposure compensation ring. Note the cut outs in the ring and align these with the two plastic levers which you can push into their original position from your notes earlier.

It’s easiest to replace the ring and ‘feel’ for when the levers are located. If it doesn’t feel right then it probably isn’t. Do not force things.

You should be able to feel the film speed ring is right without putting any of the retaining fittings on.

By gently pressing its down and pressing the exposure compensation button you should feel it click into place correctly.

If all seems well fit the sprung silver washer (missing in this photograph) and the replace the slotted retaining ring.

Loosely tighten down and check that the ASA dial can move from lowest to highest ASA. Set it at around ASA 400 and check the exposure compensation can also move between -2 and +2

Do NOT over tighten the ASA retaining ring – you will run the risk of cracking the film spool guide plus if its over-tight and it will make the exposure compensation ring very tight to turn.

I normally use a rubber bung, tighten down gently until it impacts the sprung washer and then apply 1/8th to 1/4 turn. The sprung washer acts to stop it coming loose so it doesn’t need to be very tight.

Replace the slotted nut under the film advance lever.

Note the slot where one end of the film advance spring hooks on.

Hook one end of the spring into the slot.

Hook the other end of the spring onto the advance lever….

…you need to tension the spring so with the spring hooked on you need to rotate the entire film advance lever round in an imaginary circle ABOVE the spindle and then fit it onto the spindle while making sure the spring does not get trapped or run under the advance lever. This is tricky and its easiest if you don’t have the shutter speed dial in the way. You need one complete turn of the spring before fitting the advance lever down onto its spindle.

Replace the threaded trim and tighten down with a rubber bung. Do not apply too much pressure as you can shear the threaded part away from the cap quite easily..this is best done with a rubber bung rather than a lens spanner. Its too easy to end up shearing the threaded part off with a lens spanner.

Replace the shutter speed dial and shutter button and then…

Replace the trim/retainer. Tighten this down to not much more than finger tight.

Note the rewind capstan has a keyed shape and locate this to the top of the film spool spindle.

Do not allow the spindle to be pressed down into the camera so either grip it with some pliers or wrap some tape round it to stop it being pushed down.

Replace the JIS screw on top of the rewind capstan.

Now replace the Minolta name plate…

…replace the two screws either side of the name plate.

Give the camera a check to make sure all functions are operating correctly and pay attention to making sure all viewfinder LEDS are showing.

If you cracked any circuit tracks you may find the ‘P’ or ‘A’ indicators are missing.

If all has gone well with your Minolta X-700 capacitor replacement you now have a fully working camera.

Treat yourself to your favourite beverage and get ready to get some great pictures.

You may want to treat your newly repaired camera to some new light seals so check out the guide HERE for light seal replacement on the X-700.

No Post Found

Mel

Mel is one of the driving forces behind High 5 Cameras and writes all our articles.

www.high5cameras.com

Posted on February 25, 2023May 18, 2026 by Mel — 16 Comments

The ‘X’ Factor – Minolta X Series X-700, X-500 and X-300

The way we were

Before we discuss the Minolta X Series (X-700, X-500 and X-300 etc), let’s step back in time.

Back in the mid 1970s and early 1980s the 35mm SLR camera market was in turmoil. The big boys were busy forcing the smaller companies out and there was a rush of developments as each manufacturer tried to get the drop on the competition.

The smaller players just ran out of cash and gave up, some of them became cheap 3^rd party suppliers for accessories, some became sub suppliers for the big boys and some, sadly, were relegated to a footnote in camera history.
Any avid reader of the photography magazines back then can doubtless remember a certain headiness as manufacturers seemed to be churning out an ever larger number of techno marvels. The smart phone market of the last few years would be similar for younger readers.

The drivers on the market were simple – get more 35mm SLRs sold – pronto! Get more sold, sell more cameras, get cameras sold NOW! The biggest headache to getting more 35mm SLRs sold for manufacturers was the average camera owner/user lacked the interest/brainpower/willpower to learn photography – they just wanted to take some happy snaps on hols. Getting a picture of little Timmy in the paddling pool or cousin Sarah’s big day was what they wanted, not learning abstract things like depth of field or film reciprocity. Getting the volumes up would mean (a) getting the camera to do some of the ‘thinking’ and (b) getting the price down to make it appealing enough for people to consider dumping their trusty Kodak Instamatic.

Between 1974 and 1981 there would be a rush of developments culminating in 1985 with the first practical and commercially successful auto-focus system in a 35mm SLR – the Minolta X-7000 Dynax. In the stampede towards this there was a plethora of developments from the big 5 manufacturers as they duked it out to be last man standing. The holy grail back then was ‘Program’ mode. Getting the camera to do the tricky bit of setting the shutter speed and aperture.

From the mind of Minolta

Minolta as ever were very much up the front in terms developments. Minolta had a history of being first in the pool. Their beautiful XE model was killed by the Olympus OM-1 which forced the entire industry to go for small form factors.
Minolta hit back (hard!) with the very beautiful XD7 which got the size down to OM-1 proportions and provided the first camera with AP, SP, Program and Manual modes. A masterpiece of design, but sadly the XD was too expensive and too sophisticated for most people. “Most people” included Minolta themselves who never mentioned the Program mode until the second revision! The XD was so sophisticated it seems even Minolta didn’t get it!

By the late 1970s Minoltas product range was eclectic – the venerable but now outdated SRTs (in three different flavours) , the all new budget end XG series brimming with plastic and techno and the swish and sophisticated XD priced so high people fainted or cried in the shop (it was about equivalent to about 2 months take home pay for the average Joe or Joanna!)

Minolta had a complete line up but, each of these cameras was entirely different in terms of production and their technology. What was needed was some rationalisation and some serious price snipping and Minolta clearly had a plan in mind – the goal would be a simplified line of cameras all using the same base but with differing levels of features. This would become the X-x00 Series (Minolta X Series).

Minolta XG-M and X-700 X-500 — *The last of the XG series – the XG-M the doorway to the Minolta X-700. You can see the family resemblance!*

The humble XGs would provide the stepping stone to the X-x00 series and pioneered most of the manufacturing processes and construction techniques which would follow Canons approach with their AE-1. This basically meant all electronic control and plastic bodies! In 1981 Minolta launched the XG-M – the final iteration of the XG series and the last stepping stone towards the Minolta X Series. The SRT range was killed off and Minolta had their goal of a simplified line up in their reach.

The X-x00 Series were among the last manual focus 35mm SLRs but were built so well that they would trudge on for over 20 years becoming arguably the last man standing in the manual focus SLR market.

The Minolta X-700 – ‘X’ The Unknown Factor

Minolta had gotten it wrong for all the right reasons with their splendid XD series which supported Aperture Priority (AP), Shutter Priority (SP) and Program mode plus full manual and all packed into a body scarcely larger than the diminutive Olympus OM-1 and the XD is indeed a splendid beast. One of the finest manual focus camera made but the problem was price. It was expensive – granted you were getting a high quality camera but the market was moving away from ‘the best’ to getting something in the shops that would be ‘good enough’ at a sharp price point. This would get some more kit sold and also save on Kleenex and smelling salts for Joe and Joanna when buying a camera.

Minolta XD and the X-700 — *The technically superior XD gently faded away as the X-700 became the most popular Minolta SLR ever. High quality was no match for low price in the camera wars of the late 1970s.*

Enter the X-700 – Minoltas best ever selling camera. The X-700 may have been a bit slow getting here but when it did it had a lot of features in the bag….leveraged off of the chassis of the XG-M the X-700 would look very similar but under the hood it had been hotted up with a huge bag of goodies courtesy of some fairly dense electronics.

Minolta X700 Under the hood — *It’s complicated – Minolta shoehorned a lot of electronics into the X-700 but it’s basic mechanics are the same as the X-500 and X-300.*

The goodies Minolta shoehorned into the X-700 body included;

Stepless electronic shutter for AP and Program mode plus manual speeds from 4 seconds to 1000^th plus B.
Final check metering system just like the XD.
One of the best focus screens of any camera – better even than the XDs screen which was itself amazing.
Exposure lock function.
LED metering showing recommended speed (or camera selected speed if in Program or SP mode) but not actual speed set if in manual mode.
Aperture readout in the viewfinder.
Exposure compensation of up to 2 stops.
Film Safe Indicator which shows if film is transporting ok.
Touch sensitive on/off for the meter – putting your finger on the shutter release activates the meter. After 15 seconds of no activity the meter turns itself back off.
Full TTL flash operation- the first camera ever to have this!
Replaceable/Swappable focus screens – although this was touted as a feature and was possible Minolta never did push the optional screens which included a grid screen and a microprism centre dot. They are now VERY rare.
Motor drive compatible – Minolta did have a penchant for wrecking sales of their cameras by NOT having a motor drive capability – the X-700 finally got it right with a fully featured motor drive accessory.

Minolta X-700 European Camera of the Year — *Minolta X-700 proudly showing its European Camera of the Year 1981 lens cap.*

All these features made the camera attractive to the complete newbie and the advanced amateur and the Program mode made it possible for even complete beginners to get some decent shots. While Minolta pitched the X-700 as a professional camera, and manufactured a whole bag of accessories for it the camera was never really successful as a professional bit of kit and it was stuck firmly at the prosumer end of the market where it cut quite a dash.

The X-700 was so successful that it was awarded European Camera of the Year in 1981 and Minolta carried on bashing them out from 1981 to 1999, first in Japan, then in Malaysia and finally in China making it one of the last manual focus cameras in production – only its less expensive cousin the X-300 had a longer production run.

Exposure Compensation and ASA dial — *The X-700s Exposure Compensation and ASA control – again very much like an XG-M.*

The XG-M Controls — *The XG-M controls – you can see it only lacks the ‘P’ Program mode – otherwise identical to an X-700.*

The XG-M Exposure compensation and ASA dial — *The XG-M Exposure Compensation and ASA dial – identical to the X-700.*

Now to get all the features in to the right price point Minolta had to make some compromises so you get a plastic body, horizontal cloth shutter as opposed to the Seiko metal bladed vertical shutter in the XD, lots of internal components made of plastic and the finesse of the XD is lacking BUT…. It’s still miles nicer to shoot with over many cameras of the period – perhaps even most. The body may be plastic but its quite tough and durable and it fits in the hands well with all of the controls well positioned.

The film advance is a bit more firm than the svelte XD and all of the controls have a more plastic feel lacking the poise of the XD’s excellent damping in its controls but it works, and works well.
As an aside here….for all the XDs superiority Minolta sold fewer XDs in the entire production run of XDs than they sold X-700s in the first two years of X-700 production.

Minolta most likely saw the X-700 as a place holder in the manual focus marketplace while they sneakily got on with producing the apocalyptic 7000 series which would very firmly push a cream pie into almost every other manufacturers face but time has shown what an excellent design the X-700 actually was.

Minolta X-700 with the MD f1.4 50mm lens and Motor Drive 1 — *The X-700 fully loaded with the Motor Drive 1, the MD 50mm f1.4 lens and viewfinder eye-cup.*

The biggest upside to the X-700 today is its ability to use almost every Minolta Rokkor lens ever made, giving you access to a huge range of glass in a relatively modern body. Admittedly some of the oldest glass won’t work so well in full Program mode and you need to be on your toes to remember to always have older lenses on their minimum aperture (largest F number) when shooting in Program (the camera wont warn you about setting the lens aperture with a non MD lens installed!) but the camera will work ok though its generally better to have the later MD lenses with it as its quite light – older lenses with their all metal constructions can make the camera feel nose heavy and awkward especially without a motor drive attached.

In Program mode I find the X-700 tends to favour speed over aperture a bit too much for my liking and mostly shoot in AP mode whenever possible. The XDs ‘secret’ program mode yields better results in my opinion. But by and large a good X-700 meters accurately and well and shoots reliably.

Minolta did provide alternate focus screens for the X-700. A cautionary tale here they are hellish to replace and best left alone unless you want to risk a scratched screen. The alternate screens which included a grid type screen are very rare indeed. On the upside if you have a damaged screen it odes at least offer the option of finding a standard screen and replacing it.

The Minolta Capacitor-itis

The X-700 does though have an Achilles heel – The cheap and nasty capacitors Minolta used late in its production. Units with a serial number below 2000000 used expensive tantalum capacitors and these tend to be very reliable. During the X-700s long production run the price of tantalum went through the roof and in the cut throat world of camera manufacturing of the 1980s Minolta swapped the expensive tantalum bead capacitors for inexpensive electrolytic capacitors to keep the price down. Electrolytic capacitors have a rather limited life and the result is many X-700s now have defective capacitors – two in fact! There’s the easy one to get at in the base of the camera (shutter release capacitor) and the hard one that’s underneath the top PCB under the cover (aperture control capacitor).

Shutter Release Capacitor — *This is a tantalum capacitor version of the X-700 – the blue bead. If this is an electrolytic type they can fail.*

Aperture Control Capacitor — *The aperture control capacitor on the right. If this one is an electrolytic capacitor and it fails its tough to replace.*

While these are not impossible to repair it needs a good low power soldering iron, patience and a steady hand. We have a Minolta X-700 Capacitor Replacement Guide here. The give away of a failing capacitor is when you press the shutter the LEDs in the viewfinder go out and the camera doesn’t fire.
Sometimes the camera will reset itself after a power off and back on again but the fault will return.

Now I said it’s the Achilles heel but the X-700 was built down to a price so they can also suffer other ills which will mimic a capacitor failure but are a good deal harder to fix. These include shutter derails and faulty electromagnets for the shutter plus of course IC or circuit board failures though these are relatively rare. Like any old camera they can also suffer poor shutter performance due to lack of lubrication on their shutter rollers.

People whinge mightily about the capacitor-itis on the X series on camera forums but in truth compared to many camera issues that crop up on classic cameras its an easy-ish fix – just try fixing the issues that arise on the Pentax ME Super and you’ll quickly see that fixing a few capacitors is nothing much to moan about. From the Minolta X Series, the Minolta X-300 and Minolta X-500 also suffer from capacitor-itis.

The Unknown Factor of “X”

It’s hard to say what makes the X-700 so good – it has a very positive and smooth winder compared to most of its contemporaries, its shutter release is all electronic allowing a smooth pull off and its controls are well laid out with a good positive feel. Unlike some of its contemporaries it feels as if it was designed by people who used cameras and spent time getting its ergonomics right. Certainly its viewfinder is one of the very best thanks to the Accu-Matte focusing screen which is actually better than even the top line XD.

I always enjoy shooting my own pair of X-700s and they always deliver reliable results. It’s a camera that’s equally at home in the hands of a beginner or the more advanced photographer.

*Minolta X700 with standard MD 50mm f1.7 lens – a capable combination.*

So there it is – the X-700 is a very capable, reasonable quality manual focus SLR with all the bits you need and nothing that you don’t. It uses off the shelf SR44 batteries so its easy to power (unlike some other cameras of similar vintage) and generally very reliable – doubly so if it’s an early one with tantalum capacitors or has had its ageing electrolytic capacitors replaced. The standard lens when they were in production was the late model Minolta MD 50mm f1.7 lens which is very sharp and gives excellent contrast.

The Minolta X-500 – Secret Ingredient ‘X’

In 1983 Minolta released the X-500 as a lower cost alternative to the X-700. This replaced the X-700s running mate the XG-M, the last of the XG series and until the Minolta X-500 arrived the lower cost alternative to the X-700.

The X-500 is broadly comparable to an XG-M and the X-700 but it has a few tricks up its sleeve which make it quite different for the more expert photographer. The most obvious difference on the surface when compared with the X-700 is the Program mode being deleted and no exposure compensation dial. I seldom use exposure compensation myself as I mostly shoot in manual and just tweak the aperture or speeds.

It wasn’t just about deleting stuff though. Minolta made some key changes to the Minolta X-500 probably based on experience gained with the X-700 and these form the secret ingredients for the Minolta X-500.

Minolta X-500 35mm SLR — *Minolta X-500 – Capable and preferred by the more advanced photographer.*

Minolta X-500 film speed dial — *Minolta X-500 – the exposure compensation is deleted. But film speed range is increased over the X-700.*

Minolta X-500 Shutter speed — *Minolta X-500 -The shutter speed and film advance eerily resemble the XG-M just like the X-700.*

The Minolta X-500 had a more advanced meter display – the X-700 only shows the speed selected by the camera or the recommended speed if in manual mode. The Minolta X-500 shows the recommended speed and what’s actually set. I am so ancient I always look at the shutter speed dial anyway but some people prefer a bit of confirmation through the viewfinder.

There is also a minor change where the Minolta X-500 will meter accurately whether or not depth of field preview (DoF) is engaged. On an X-700 if you use the DoF preview you are stopping down the lens and reducing the light to the meter so the meter will change – the X-500 provides ‘true’ metering irrespective of whether the DoF preview is in use.

The secret ingredient ‘X’ – The biggest change which doesn’t show externally was the flash synch speed. On the X-700 if a dedicated flash is installed the camera will automatically set the shutter to 1/60^th and you cant override this (there is a mod that can be carried out to the X-700 electronics but its a scary bit of work).

On the X-500 the camera can adjust the shutter speed for slow flash synch to illuminate only a background to act as a fill flash. This give you slow ‘X’ synch capability. In effect you can set the shutter speed at any speed you wish – useful for fill flash. In truth its a bit of faff to get this running as the camera will override settings once the flash charges so you have to be quick with the metering and lock the value into the exposure lock/memory. Its incredibly inelegant and awkward and frankly easier to just run in manual mode with an auto-flash.

Also added to the X-500 was an expanded ISO range of 12-3200 ASA compared to. The 25-1600 on the X-700.

Because of the fill flash capability, wider ISO range and the more informative metering many experienced photographers tended to prefer the X-500. The market didn’t agree back when it was in production and by 1985 it was withdrawn after only two years production – one of the shortest production runs of any 35mm SLR!
The fact is the X-500 was always caught between two stools – its more expensive sister the X-700 and the low cost X-300. The middle ground is always a dicey market to play in.

Like the X-700 the X-500 can accept any of the literally hundreds of Minolta Rokkor lenses and uses completely standard and readily available SR44 batteries.

On the downsides just like the X-700 the X-500 can suffer capacitor failure – unlike the X-700 it’s a lot easier to fix as there’s only one to worry about in the base. By the time the X-500 hit the production line the tantalum capacitors were gone so you will most likely only ever see these with the electrolytic capacitors although some early ones do have a tantalum capacitor.

Minolta X-500 Capacitor — The pesky 220uF 4V Electrolytic (ALEC) capacitor in the base of the X-500 is its weak spot. It’s the thing that looks like a soda tin on the left. CAUTION: The flexible circuit board is VERY sensitive and will melt very easily.

Overall all I have used the X-500 and it’s a sweet camera, for myself there’s not much to choose between it and its more popular siblings but the X-500 is harder to come by. There were so few of them made by comparison to the X-700 and the X-300 (only an estimated 350,000 produced compared to approximately 2 million X-700s). In quite some time of looking I have only ever had four X-500s come into my possession. Certainly a sleeper camera because modern film shooters still tend to be smitten with the X-700 and overlook the X-500. It’s still suffering middle child syndrome decades after it was made as modern film camera fans tend to overlook it – seduced by the charms of its sexier big sister.

Minolta X-500 black finish — *One of the few X-500s we have seen. This one was in a terrible shape but was restored and sold some time ago – custom leatherette and a complete rebuild.*

Like the X-700 the standard lens was usually the Minolta MD 50mm f1.7 but I suspect back in its day most people would have opted for the upgrade to the MD 50mm f1.4 more befitting its advanced amateur/semi-pro status.
Unlike the X-700 which was only available in black outside of Japan the X-500 was supplied in silver as standard and black as a cost option. The black version has a ghastly plastic film advance lever rather than the metal type used on the silver model.

The Minolta X-300 – ‘X’ Marks the Spot

To add to the Minolta X Series and hoover up sales at the lower end of the market Minolta released the X-300 the same year as the X-500 in 1983 – the X-300 was around 40% less expensive than an X-700 and 20% less expensive than the X-500.

The X-300 was definitely the budget end of the Minolta X Series and Minolta slashed down the features from the X-500 to get the price low to boost sales by enticing the mums and dads.

Gone from the other X series are…

The depth of field preview – I don’t mind as I seldom use it.
TTL flash – I can get by without.
Aperture read out in viewfinder – I am old school and tend to look at the lens anyway.
Slow speed warning tone – some people may think that a blessing!
Removable back – No data-back capability – no loss. Most of them can’t date past 2000 anyway!

Minolta X-300 Film Speed identical to X-500 — *The film speed ring is identical to the Minolta X-500 with expanded range from 12-3200 ASA.*

Minolta X-300 35mm SLR Controls — *The Minolta X-300 featured a simplified top deck to speed assembly and get the price down.*

All other features are the same as the Minolta X-500 so you have a camera with AP mode and manual speeds only and a reduced top plate with simpler layout to get the costs down for an entry level camera. Back in its day they were sold as a kind of sophisticated point and shoot. Most users were going to lock the lens into its Auto Setting, put the camera on Auto and blaze away seeking a Kodak moment so it was perfectly designed for its intended customer base.

Manufactured in massive quantities (over 2 million reputedly sold in its first 10 years of production) , early models were made in Japan before production off shored to Malaysia and finally China. Late in its life the Minolta X-300 was given a makeover (more plastic) in the form of a more 1980s techno look and rebranded as the X-300S.

After Minolta ceased production in 2005 the camera was licensed to other manufacturers and often appears with Centon, Vivitar, Carena or Seagull badges. Some of these brands would be banging out Minolta X-300 / X-300S models until 2012 making it a contender for the longest production run of ANY 35mm SLR camera far outpacing it’s more illustrious ancestors and arguably holds the title of last manual focus camera in production.

All this chopping down of features may sound rather grim but in fact the Minolta X-300 is actually quite nice to shoot with. It retains all of the essential features of the other X series cameras. It can make use of a vast range of lenses and accessories like its more expensive sisters and even though later ones clearly started hacking into the quality (especially the third party ones like Centon) they can perform extremely well with quality lenses. The standard camera shipped with the Minolta 50mm f2 which is a very sharp lens. Most that I have come across have had a 50mm f1.7 which is clearly the original lens which may indicate it was up-sold by the dealer when new. When new the standard finish was silver with black as a cost option.

Like the other X series the Minolta X-300 can suffer a blown capacitor as they were all made with electrolytic type capacitors. The headache with the Minolta X-300 is although there is only the one capacitor in the base its soldered on to a very fragile and heat sensitive flex board. It needs a very low powered soldering iron and a very deft touch or else the flex board is toasted and that’s the end of the camera.

X-300 Shutter release capacitor — *The cursed shutter release capacitor – these can be devilish to repair.*

Badly repaired X-300 release capacitor — *Mr Bodge-It has been at work. The flexible circuit board has been toasted. These are VERY fragile!*

I have to confess when I shot the first Minolta X-300 to a sneaking snobbism towards it – it’s such a beginner level camera and I am such a consummate professional (yadda yadda) BUT I have shot quite a few of them and they have definitely grown on me. They are rather sweet and fuss free. I would put these down as ‘buried treasure’ – overlooked by most because of its ‘poor boy’ status but it’s a camera which can play way out of its league. That shouldn’t be surprising as its guts are basically an X-700 minus the frills.

Gatwick Air Museum taken with a Minolta X-300 — *The X-300 can certainly get the shots – this is an abandoned Hawker Hunter at Gatwick Aviation Museum. Taken with a 28mm Minolta MD3 and expired Fuji 400 scanned to black and white.*

Overall a nice camera to shoot with – it lacks features I would prefer to have but I could easily live with it if it were the only camera I owned. My only gripe with it is I hate the shutter speed control which feels fiddly and I don’t like the fact it has no stops at either end. It just rotates all the way round endlessly so its tough to judge by clicks as to whats going on which paired with the rather tiny markings for speed makes its a bit of a chore with my aged eyes.

As ever the real magic is in the lens rather than the camera and as the humble X-300 can make use of all of the superb glass made by Minolta it really is one of the last bargains left on the shelf and something of a buried treasure – ‘X’ really does mark the spot for these. Fully serviced units with a lens are readily available for around £80 making them a real bargain for the beginner to film.

Minolta X Series Accessories

Minolta created a whole range of accessories for the Minolta X Series and of course almost any Minolta SR/MC/MD lens will fit and work with the camera.

My own picks for accessories would be a bit more limited.

Minolta bought out three flash guns to integrate with the X-700s TTL flash. Of these easily the best is the 360-PX. It’s simply superb with bounce flash capability and every feature you could possible expect from a flash gun. It’s also very powerful.

On the downside its huge, and when loaded with batteries very heavy. I normally use a separate flash grip for it for fear of it snapping the hot shoe off the camera!

The Motor Drive 1 is a useful accessory as it provides an additional shutter release button for portrait/vertical shots but unlike some motor drives you do need it powered to be able to use the release buttons on the motor drive. Some drives will allow you to trip the shutter even with no batteries installed in the drive. It does though make the camera more grippy which is useful with longer lenses or when a flash is being used.

A word of caution. The X series used very many plastic drive gears inside and motor drives can place a great strain on the cameras internals so it usually best to avoid drives on older cameras.

Minolta X-700 with 1.4 lens, motor drive and flash — *One of our own X-700s fully dressed with a 1.4 lens, motor drive and the 360PX flash.*

Summing up

If there was ever a secret formula to success with selling cameras then Minolta certainly hit it with the Minolta X Series with literally millions produced and sold (Probably close to 6 million from Minolta alone!).

Minolta had pioneered many developments in film cameras and it seems fitting their last manual focus camera would be one of the last manual focus camera of any manufacturers to be in production.

The X-x00 Series may well have been placeholders while Minolta got on with the real work of producing the first commercially successful auto focus system but the X series stayed in production a very long time and were amongst the last film cameras still being turned out. Many of these are still going strong with a whole new generation of film users which just goes to show if ever there was a magic formula, a secret ingredient ‘X’, Minolta may well have found it with the X-700, X-500 and the X-300.

No Post Found

Mel

Mel is one of the driving forces behind High 5 Cameras and writes all our articles.

www.high5cameras.com

Posted on February 4, 2023May 8, 2023 by Mel — 2 Comments

Nikon E Series Repair Guide

A step by step Nikon E Series Repair Guide to the first version of the Nikon Series E 50mm f1.8 lens.

Copyright 2022 High5Cameras,
Free to use, copy and distribute so long as no charge is made for use,
distribution or access and authorship and web address is freely acknowledged.

The Series E 50mm f1.8 started production in 1979 when Nikon launched the Series E line of compact, budget-conscious lenses.

The original Series E made between 1979 and 1981 was made almost entirely of plastic and its exterior finish is somewhat cruder giving it a budget look. The later version 2 made between 1981 and 1985 was a little larger and had a more refined look. Optically there’s little to choose between them.

The Series E line was comprised of eight lenses and was intentionally branded differently from the primo quality Nikkor lenses. Nikon obviously did not want the much vaunted Nikkor brand contaminated by lenses with plastic parts and lower quality coatings. Nikon being Nikon though just couldn’t do budget anything. They may have been low cost but Nikon managed to produce an exceptional lens in the 50mm f1.8 – the most common Series E lens.

The Series E 50mm was not originally intended to be budget but had its roots in Nikons requirement to improve their original 50mm f2 Nikkor. They gave this task to legendary Nikon designer Souichi Nakamura who somehow managed to create on a budget a lens with amazing properties. Small, light, almost pancake in appearance the Series E 50mm f1.8 could kick it with the best of them. It could blow more venerable lenses into the weeds back then.

Sadly its capabilities went largely unrecognised in its day. It was most usually bundled with Nikons low end consumer cameras like the EM and the FG which is why it lacks the ‘bunny ears’ of the more upmarket lenses designed to work with all of the pro gear as far back as the Nikon F. The EM and FG series cameras had a poor reputation for reliability and I suspect that pretty much doomed the Series E to obscurity. Pros never bought it anyway and consumers either lacked the skills to appreciate it or else found it stuck on a camera that was junked. The sole exception to this was the Nikon F-301, Nikons last manual focus 35mm SLR, which came bundled with a late model series E 50mm f1.8 early in production – the F301 found a lot of favour with pros, including me, as a backup camera.
It’s taken over 40 years for the lens to be truly appreciated. At one time a budget lens it now commands a fairly hefty price. Almost on a par with a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 in pricing!

The Series E has become a kind of must have among Nikon fans and digital users. Razor sharp optics and 40 years have finally given it the standing it deserves.

Nikon Series E 50mm f1.7 - Early and Late Versions — Nikon Series E 50mm – Late model on the left, early model on the right

NOTES BEFORE YOU START

The Nikon ‘E’ Series 50mm f1.8 is a bit of a challenge. It’s nowhere near as tough as some lenses but it does have some booby traps to catch the unwary.

This Nikon E Series Repair Guide only covers the early version of the lens. If you want a good guide on the later version I can recommend Richard Haws guide here.

If you have read my guides on Minolta lenses you will know that Minoltas are usually very kind to beginners and you can afford to not worry too much about helicoil distances. That’s absolutely NOT true with this lens and you need to mark alignment point on EVERYTHING unless you want to spend the next 2 weekends reworking it.

This particular lens was not in a good state and its focus barrel was jammed. As a result I had to work from scratch and estimate its helicoil distances. This resulted in numerous rebuilds. This guide will talk you through how to establish infinity focus if you have the same issues. If your lens is basically working AND you are very careful about marking and measuring the lens will be quite straightforward but its good practice to make marks and measurements. Get in the habit of doing that.

When working on one side of the lens (eg the front) always be mindful about what’s happening at the other side (eg the back). I always keep caps on as much as possible to prevent any accidents. The classic mistake is for people to press on the lens while it is on a workbench and break things on the back end of the lens like the aperture lever.

Nikon are swinish at applying threadlock so an absolute must for this lens (and any others to be honest) is a decent set of JIS screwdrivers. Philips drivers can be totally relied on to round out screw heads on most Japanese gear and it’s a near certain result when working with Nikon lenses. If you hit a stuck screw apply some Isoprop and wait, if its still stuck apply a bit more and wait. Brute force is seldom a good thing with this lens.

You can use acetone sparingly but be VERY CAREFUL – the lens is mostly plastic and acetone can melt the lens parts as well as the threadlock.

There is no such thing as luck in repairing optical equipment, if you do it right, using skill and patience you will be rewarded with a perfectly operating lens. A rushed or bodged job will result in the lens being devalued, unpleasant to use and possibly unusable so…..take your time, get the right tools and materials, don’t take shortcuts or advice from people who know less than you (check out my camera history here).

The biggest issue with the Series E lens is the very tricky focus helicoil distances. I have made lots of notes throughout the Nikon E Series Repair Guide so make sure you read the entire guide before starting work.

Nikon E Series Repair Guide – Disassembly

First step is to remove the beauty ring. On the ‘E’ Series 50mm f1.8 these are very thin and very fragile. Too much pressure will cause the ring to distort outwards and jam. This one was stuck fast by layers of grime so it took a few applications of Isoprop soaked into the filter threads to get it to release.

Now it’s time to remove it with a rubber cup – do not apply pressure or the beauty ring will get distorted and will jam. If this isn’t working for you then you can try applying some sticky tape to the beauty ring and just try and turn it out with your fingers on the tape. Don’t let gum from the tape get on the lettering – the lettering can easily be damaged.

Here’s the beauty ring removed revealing all of the fittings and screws to get the front of the lens off.

First we remove the filter ring. This is secured with three small screws. Use a JIS driver here or the heads will round out.

Remove the filter ring.

Now remove the three JIS screws that secure the front element group.

The front element group can now be lifted off. Store this somewhere safe. Don’t bother cleaning it just yet. This lens can be a pig and you may end up doing multiple rebuilds.

Now remove the focus barrel. This is retained by a thin metal retainer. It does not go all the way round the lens and is retained by three screws.

Before you remove this set the lens to infinity and mark the inside of the barrel for the two screws at each end. This will save a lot of grief later.

Here’s one of the screws being extracted.

And now the focus barrel can be removed – you can see in the picture the focus barrel retaining ring only goes around 2/3^rd of the barrel diameter and it’s position is super critical when replacing the barrel later on.

With the three screws removed the lens mount can be simply lifted off.
Note its orientation with respect to the aperture lever below.

Now you can simply lift the aperture ring away. Note how the fork on the aperture ring locates on the lens aperture lever inside.

Remove the focus lock tab. Again on this part Nikon loved to use thread locker so use a JIS driver only and if these are reluctant to come out apply a few dabs of Isoprop and wait.

Once the screws are out the lock tab can simply be extracted.

If you wish you can remove the aperture index ring.
When I rebuild I rebuild and everything gets cleaned.
You may HAVE to remove this to set infinity focus later so now is as good a time as any.
Note the orientation of the cut out with respect to the lens body and mark it appropriately.

Here you can see the index ring being removed and observe the cut out on the lens body. The reason for marking is I have seen this lens with an extra hole as though there were two positions. To avoid confusion just make a note or put a small mark on the lens body to indicate the orientation of the index ring.

This part is CRITICAL you need an accurate measurement of the distance between the inner helicoil seen here being removed AND a mark showing its position relative to the outer helicoil (the brass coloured helicoil in the picture) when they were at infinity focus. I normally use the tip of a jewellers screwdrivers to measure the distance by seeing which driver will fit in the gap between the helicoils.

If you cant measure because your lens was jammed don’t worry. I’ll show you how to resolve this but it’s a lot easier if its marked at inifinity.

This part is also CRITICAL make a measurement of the distance between the outer helicoil and the lens body and make a mark of how they were orientated with respect to each other.

Nikon E Series Repair Guide – Reassembly

Now insert the inner helicoil using the same approach. Thread the inner helicoil into the outer helicoil so that the distance is the same as when you took it apart and the marks you made earlier align.

If your lens was jammed like this one wind the inner helicoil in until it has around a 2mm gap between the inner helicoil and the outer helicoil.
The helicoils must also align with the focus lock tab position.
If you are assessing distance from an unknown start point (eg like this lens the lens was jammed) you MUST leave a cap of at least 1.5mm between the lip of the inner helicoil and the outer helicoil when the lens is at infinity. Otherwise you will be unable to mount the focus barrel retainer.

If the lens was marked up correctly you should find that the lock tab position will be very close to correct. Use the outer helicoil to get it exact.

If your lens wasn’t marked this is where the guesswork will come in. You will need to extract the inner helicoil and outer helicoils until you can find the sweet spot where the gaps between the helicoils are roughly right AND the lock tab position lines up.

Note: Do not tighten the lock tab down too much. If your focus is out at the end of the rebuild you will having to dismantle this part. The lock tab screws do not need to be thread popping tight.

POINT X (this will be explained later) If all of your threads have lined up and you are super confident the lens has been assembled exactly as it was when it was taken apart you can go ahead and refit the index ring.

My advice is to leave this ring out for the moment. This is one of the headaches with the ‘E’ Series 50mm f1.18. If you mount this ring and it turns out your infinity focus is off it will be harder to adjust the lens.

Replace the aperture ring making sure the forked connector is aligned to the lens body aperture lever.

Replace the lens mount making sure it is orientated correctly and the aperture lever is correctly located into its slot.

Replace the mount plate screws. Do not tighten these yet. Just dog them down until the lens mount is firm.

You need to make sure the lens can reach infinity focus at the end of the process. If it cant you will be taking this off again!

Replace the front optical element group and lightly screw down.

You need to make sure the lens can reach infinity focus. If it cant you will be taking this off again along with the mount place and aperture ring.

Mount the lens on a known good camera. This is tricky without the lens mounting index mark in place so be careful.
You will need to feel for the correct orientation to the mount. DON’T Force anything. Once the lens is in place turn the brass outer helicoil to reach infinity focus. I use a pair of radio towers about 8 miles away as a test of infinity. Find a distant object and focus the lens until the focus is sharp on the far object.

If focus is good at infinity you must make sure that the projections on the inner helicoil have at least 1.5mm gap between their lower edge and the top of the outer helicoil. Otherwise you will be unable to mount the focus barrel retainer.

If all is well and the lens reaches infinity AND you have a sufficient clerarance under the inner helicoil as per the previous note you now need to remove the mount plate and aperture ring and replace the index ring. Secure it using the small screw. Then replace the aperture ring and mount plate.

You can see in this picture with the index ring in place you only have a small amount of access to the brass outer helicoil for focusing but it is much harder to do the infinity test with this in place. This is why it was left off at POINT X

If you have not been able to achieve infinity and leave a sufficient gap under the inner helicoil you will need to disassemble and start the rebuild again. The Helicoils on the Series E lens are tricky to get right.

You will have to remove the front optical element to fit the focus barrel and its retainer. With the front element removed slip the focus barrel over the lens, check that the infinity mark is aligned to the index mark…

…and replace the focus barrel retainer.

Nikon E Series Repair Guide

SPECIAL NOTE:
If your lens, like this one could not be suitably measured for its original infinity focus this part can be a horror of a job. At infinity the focus barrel retainer may foul part of the lens. Your only option is to rebuild from the start again. You need to find an infinity position where the inner helicoil is a little bit further out which means the outer helicoil must move further in.
There is a sweet spot where this can happen but you may have to try several iterations to find it.
This is one of the less amusing aspects of the Nikon ‘E’ Series 50mm f1.8 early version.

Once you have found the sweet spot or, if your lucky and all has gone perfectly well on the first attempt, you can now do a final clean on the rear of the front lens if needed and then replace the front optical unit.

Replace the filter ring.

Replace the beauty ring. Be very careful with this and do not get it cross threaded. It can be very tricky to get it right as the beauty ring is so thin.

Final check and test of Nikon Series E 50mm

Mount the lens and run a final check on the lens, check infinity, check aperture and stop down.

This Nikon E Series Repair Guide article can always be improved. If you have any questions and or comments we would love to hear them below. Mel.

No Post Found

Mel

Mel is one of the driving forces behind High 5 Cameras and writes all our articles.

www.high5cameras.com

Posted on January 3, 2023May 8, 2023 by Mel — Leave a comment

Testament – Agfa Silette

As a New Year comes in I get mellow and like to reflect on the years gone by, and hopefully the ones to come. On my mind today is a question and a reflection.

When is a camera more than a camera? What is any camera REALLY worth?

Sometimes, and this may happen only once in your life, you get to own a camera is more than the sum of its parts…

Such is ‘Agatha’ my Agfa Silette. Alone of all the cameras I have owned this is the one I would never part with. Agatha was bought by my father the year I was born. He was a manager at the Agfa plant and specialist film processing works in Wimbledon in the 1950s. He bought an Agfa Silette as a ‘happy snappy’. Dad was a keen photographer, at one time a professional, and although he loved his TLR cameras he obviously thought a snap shooter would be a good tool to capture Birthdays and other family events as well as everyday life at the Agfa plant.

Through the years the Silitte captured birthdays, weddings, holidays, family excursions and much more besides. It’s hard to find a single family picture that wasn’t captured with the Silette.

Agfa Plant 1950s 1 — Agfa Plant, Wimbledon in the 1950s snapped with the Silette.

Wimbledon Agfa Plant in the 1950s — Some of my ‘Aunties’ when I was a child – Laboratory staff at Agfa.

No family outing as a child was complete without the Silette wrapped around dads neck and over the years dad captured many hundreds of images of the family with using it. It became almost a totem, endowed with semi-magical powers to recreate happy times and special events.

A few times a year dad would get all of the slide film he had shot and processed and the family would sit down to watch a slide show of the recent outings and sometimes reflect on previous happy times too. Remembering people forgotten from the past, places that had been visited, holidays we had enjoyed and, occasionally, some people and places we would rather forget. This was a simpler time, far removed from disposable digital images flashed onto social media in an instant and almost as quickly forgotten. Photography was special, an event, something to look forward to and enjoy.

Heathrow in the 1960s - a Vickers Vanguard — When air travel had glamour – 1960s a Vickers Vanguard at London Heathrow Airport.

Tenerife in the 1970s — Package holiday in Tenerife, 1974 – Snapped with the Silette by me from the hotel balcony.

Like any daughter my dad was my hero and as I grew up I too wanted to be able to take photographs for the family. For an early birthday dad bought me a Kodak Instamatic 33 but it was always a privilege to be able to use ‘Agatha’ the Agfa. As I grew out of the Kodak dad used to let me use the Silette and taught me the rudiments of photography. The basic rules of composure, aperture and speeds, depth of field, basic composition. How to use flash to fill a scene, how to manage low light and so much more besides.

River Thames taken by Silette — River Thames and early morning mist – Taken by me in the 1980s with the Silette using HP5.

Such was the totemic power of the Silette that when dad was making his will I asked if the Silette could be mine for when he passed. The Silette seemed to hold part of him in it. Not just in its output of slide films but in the very metal, glass and fabric that it was made from. It captured almost my entire life in film and when I think of dad the Silette is bonded indivisibly to the memory of him.

Nothing else was of value to me when dad passed – not money, just this simple well made camera from the 1950s that taught me the basics of photography and recorded my life.

Sadly when dad passed the Lucimeter lightmeter and the accessory bulb flash gun had been lost or broken but the Silette was beautifully intact.

Today the Silette is seldom used but she still takes excellent sharp photographs and runs perfectly. A faithful friend, never missing a beat, her shutter still within specification, her lens free of fungus. Her light seals are made from tougher stuff than Japanese foam and have never needed replacing. Though well used, to me, she she looks as lovely as the day she was made.

What is Agatha the Agfa Silette worth? To me she is priceless. Just to hold her reminds me of my father and my childhood gone by in a way nothing else does or can. She brings back memories and lessons of photography under my fathers watchful eye. Occasionally I run film through her – using such a basic tool my instincts are sharpened for photography and she connects me to my fathers lessons all over again. Composing, watching the way the light plays, reading the shadows, holding my breath as I slowly press the shutter release.

When is a camera more than a camera? When they are an embodiment of a time gone before, a legacy and a testament to the past and a stepping stone to the future.

May I wish you all a happy snappy 2023 and may your God bless each and every one of you.

No Post Found

Mel

Mel is one of the driving forces behind High 5 Cameras and writes all our articles.

www.high5cameras.com

Posted on December 11, 2022May 8, 2023 by Mel — 2 Comments

What is Lens Fungus: – The Reason Why

What is Lens Fungus: – 2,400 Million years ago fungus developed. Long before most life on the planet and it’s been going ever since. These days if you’re an avid photographer with a penchant for classic lenses you’re most likely to discover it in a lens and will want to remove lens fungus quickly.

So, what is it? How does it get there? And, most importantly of all how do you remove lens fungus? It’s one of the questions that most often comes up on photography forums and message boards so to save me having to type this out repeatedly here’s an article that answers everything you ever wanted to know about fungus and how to get rid of it.

What is it? …Fungus is one of the earliest known life forms on the planet. Its spread by microscopic spores carried in the air. Right now you are surrounded by these spores, they are on your clothes, in your food and in the air you are breathing and both fungal spores and us get along pretty well. Many types of fungi are positively beneficial (penicillin for one, yeast for another). Many fungal types assist the breakdown of other organic matter but you didn’t come here for a biology lesson.

How does it get in your lens? …Well fungal spores are quite literally everywhere. When you focus a lens you are basically pulling in air, lenses are seldom sealed airtight and even if they were, on a vintage lens the spores would have been present in the factory, on the people assembling the lens and on the actual material in the lens. People more used to the modern world of microchips think in terms of clean rooms, sterile, devoid of any small motes. That’s not how classic lenses were assembled. The environment would have been more akin to a factory or, in some cases, a shed. So, the spores get in your lens. What happens next?

The spores are basically inert until they get good growing conditions. What fungi likes is dark and damp. And that’s why many vintage lenses survive ok. Guess what? They were being exposed to light and generally dry conditions. Anywhere with high humidity like tropical countries create more perfect conditions for the fungi to grow. Of course a lot of lenses were kept in sub optimal conditions – left in storage for many years in people lofts and garages. Some of these locations provide heat, humidity and of course darkness. Conditions essential for the fungal spores to turn into something nasty like glass eating fungus.

To make matters worse for you but nicer for the fungus is the fact that many older lenses used organic elements in their lubrication. Basically dead dinosaur guts. These organic based lubricants have a tendency to vaporise over time and create the classic lens haze. Lens haze is cleanable in most cases but the organic elements in the oil provide food stuffs for the fungal spores. It’s not a given that a hazed lens will also have fungus by any means but hazy lenses are often hiding fungus in them.

Lens and camera cases - the very worst for fungus — Lens and camera cases – the very worst culprits for fungus.

One of the worst things to store lenses in is leather and canvas bags and lens pouches and of course many lenses were supplied with leather pouches or placed in close proximity to leather like camera bags. Leather and fabric create a great starting point for fungus – its organic for a start and quite often soaks up moisture. People will often wrongly assume one lens has caused contamination of other lenses when all of the gear is kept in the same bag. The truth is much more likely to be one lens has shown signs earlier than the others but the storage is the basic problem. Avoid damp, humid conditions. Get the lenses out in air and periodically expose them to sunlight it’s the dry air and light which keeps fungus at bay.

Given time and a dark and humid environment the microscopic spores grow into various types of fungus and most of these can eat lens coatings and even the glass itself if left unattended.

How to spot it? …Fungus can be very severe and easy observable in lens or it can hidden. The best way to check a lens is a simple torch test. Hold a torch at an angle to the lens and look through the other side. Fungus will show itself as either strands or blooms. Strands look like strands of cotton, blooms look like misty patches in the lens. Even apparently mild fungus can start eating into things so its needs to be get gone pronto. It won’t get better with time. Heres some pictures of what it can look like and a prognosis for the lens.

Mild bloom type fungus in a Minolta MD lens. It’s on the inner face of the rear element group. Cleanable.

Strand fungus getting a start in a Tamron zoom. It’s in between a cemented doublet. Game over.

Bloom AND strand fungus in a Minolta MD. It’s between elements. Coatings will fail and haze with chemicals. Game over.

Fatal strand fungus in a Minolta MD. Fungus is between sealed front elements. Game over.

Minolta 50mm f1.4 - fungus between front elements. — Minolta 50mm f1.4 – fungus between front elements. It’s a sealed unit. Game over.

Minolta MCX 50mm - probably haze rather than fungus — Minolta MCX 50mm – probably haze rather than fungus.
Cleanable but risky due to fragile coatings.

It takes a little experience to know when a lens is cleanable and when it’s not as there are so many different lenses out there with their own issues. It also should be noted that almost any classic lens will have small dust particles in the lens when subjected to a lens test. This is perfectly normal and these lenses would have looked no different back when they were made. It also takes some experience to recognise other lens conditions such as haze and sometimes the anti-reflection coatings in the lens can look like mild haze under a torch test. Haze itself can often be hiding bloom type fungus.

Cleaning fungus from a lens is almost always a risk. There’s simply no way of telling at the outset how well the lens will respond to cleaning and no reputable technician will ever give a guarantee. There are quite a few factors that can affect the outcome.

How much damage has the fungus done? You can’t be sure until you attempt to clean it. It may simply clean away or it may leave behind damage to the coatings or the glass. Can the lens coatings take the cleaning needed? Some lenses have relatively soft internal coatings and these can fail with a simple wipe if the fungus has weakened them. Some coatings cannot cope with the chemicals needed to kill the fungus. These are all part of the game of Russian Roulette with lens cleaning and trying to remove remove lens fungus.

So the bottom line is fungal cleaning is ALWAYS a risk. There just isn’t anyway of knowing in advance without experience.

Cleanable or not lenses — Nikon Ai mostly cleanable, Minolta MC cleanable but risky, Minolta MD – forget it!

To add to the other headaches not all lenses are cleanable. Many lenses have sealed element groups. This is common in lenses from the mid 1970s where manufacturers trying to gain a price advantage over their competitors cut down on components and assembly time by simply building using a plastic encapsulation for the lens groups.

A Minolta MC prime lens usually has separate elements bound together into groups using spacers and threaded rings. Later Minolta prime MDs use only two groups of elements which are each encapsulated in a plastic mounting.
There’s no getting between the elements on some of these lenses so if the fungus is between the elements in a group theres not much that can be done. This type of manufacturing was employed by almost all of the big makers like Nikon, Olympus, Canon, Pentax etc.

Encapsulated elements and individual element construction — Minolta MD on left uses encapsulated element groups – fungus between the elements in a group usually signals end of the line for the lens. Minolta MCX on the right was the last of the high quality construction lenses with individual parts BUT its coatings can be very fragile.

Remove Lens Fungus - Fujinon 50mm f1.8 cleaning — Fujinon 50mm f1.8 using classic construction. All elements are removable and cleanable

Remove Lens Fungus - Late model Olympus Zuiko 50mm f1.8 cleaning — Late model Olympus 50mm f1.8. All of the front elements are bonded into a carrier. Theres no way to disassemble or clean.

Even early lenses where it’s possible to remove individual elements can have booby traps in them. Soft coatings, specific orientation of the elements to one another within the group and even cemented doublets where fungus can grow between the cemented lenses. Plus if you take lens groups apart down to individual elements you will find it very hard to eliminate any dust without a fairly clean environment and a lot of patience.

It’s often stated on forums that UV light will kill fungus. It won’t. While UV may reduce any further damage, it relies on direct exposure to the fungus. Normal glass tends to block UV light so in order for UV to work the lens face has to be directly exposed. I routinely subject any lens that’s been cleaned to a powerful UV light source with the right wavelength to cause the most harm to fungal spores but that’s done while the lens is in pieces. A UV light box also creates ozone which is harmful to fungi so that’s a bonus.

So how do you remove lens fungus?

There’s no single answer to this. It will depend on a range of factors. Can you get to the fungus? If the lens uses encapsulated elements and the fungus is between elements in an encapsulated group there’s no way to get access so it’s a non-starter.

Without some experience of how some glass will react to cleaning its best to be careful. Be mindful of a medical rule which is ‘first do no harm’ and also do as little as possible.

I have seen people advised to take a lens completely to pieces so you can douse everything in Peroxide because spores will be in the lens. This is simply pointless. You will more than likely do more damage in a vain pursuit of inert fungal spores which, if the lens is well kept, will most likely never become a problem.

NEVER remove lens elements from their groups unless you have no choice. Minimise the amount of disassembly within a group to as little as possible and make sure you mark the lens orientation. Some lenses would have had a specific orientation when assembled and once this is lost it’s not possible without very specialised gear to get the lens right again. A second hazard is trying to get lens elements back into their groups without getting more dust in there than there was at the start. Finally, and it cant be overstated, some lens coatings within a group are very fragile and can react very badly to chemicals and improper handling.

Remove Lens Fungus - Nikon AiS with fungus — It’s possible – this is a Nikon AiS. The fungal blooms are hiding in amongst the general haze and drek inside the lens….

Nikon lens after fungal cleaning — …and this is the lens after VERY careful cleaning. Beautiful and fungus free.

Cleaning processes

Here I will relate my own approach which is basically to gradually step up the cleaning process in stages and see how the lens copes. Don’t rush in with strong chemicals. There is much bad advice on how to remove lens fungus online from people who don’t really understand the nature of fungus. I have used these methods successfully on very many lenses and they do work. Generally failures are the result of chemicals damaging the coatings OR fungus eating the actual coating or the glass itself.

Cleaning fungus — Minolta MC 58mm f1.4 – A complete strip down of a lens to ensure fungal kill does not include taking lens groups to pieces!

STEP 1 – Nose Grease. Simple and often surprisingly effective...

What! hang on, what’s nose grease and how the heck does it remove lens fungus? Nose grease is grease from the side of your nose in the creases of the outside of your nose. You can harvest it simply by rubbing your finger along the creases. It was traditionally used by watchmakers of fine mechanical pieces as nose grease has some amazing lubricating properties. It’s just slippy enough, doesn’t dry out and doesn’t migrate easily. It’s also mildly antiseptic.

So, you rub your finger against your nose to harvest a little and VERY gently wipe it on to the fungal area of your glass. Leave it for 15 minutes or so and then gently clean with a small amount of diluted Isopropyl Alcohol (50/50 with water) and the use some breath and lint free cloth to very gently buff the lens. CAUTION some lens coatings have very poor abrasion resistance – even a mild rub with a lint free cloth can take the coatings off. Notable lenses for this include the Minolta MCX series 50mm f1.7 where the front elements inner face can fail spectacularly with very little effort on your part.

Some people report good results using a mild hand cream. Most hand creams use a mild antiseptic which of course kills fungus. I have tried this but it failed to clean the fungus but to be fair on that lens the fungus was quite advanced.

Using nose grease…….I have had a Minolta MD 50mm f1.4 which had fungal strands on its inner faces. This was fortunate as its far more common between the sealed groups. Mindful of how fragile the inner faces on some Minolta lenses can be I used the nose grease method and it worked a treat.

STEP 2 – Isoprop. Yes it CAN work...
Apply some pure Isopropyl Alcohol to the affected area and then blow it with cold air from a rocket blower. See how the lens copes. If it’s cleaned it off then stop. Some strand like fungus will clean off without much effort and very weak chemicals. The name of the game is to try the mildest chemicals first. If the fungus is not well established it may simply wipe off. You wont have gotten the spores so thats why I strip down to clean the lens metal work out and give everything a hit of a UV lamp will help make sure the remaining spores are stunted.
This generally works on very mild bloom or strand type fungus. Isoprop wont kill the spores and its not lethal to fungus but it’s better to go easy rather than risk the lens with strong chemicals if at all possible.

STEP 3 – Peroxide. Lethal to organic life...
Time to get tough. Some fungus simply cant be killed or removed with nose grease or Isoprop. Dilute Peroxide is the start point. Peroxide is lethal to organic things like fungus. Normally I start at about a 50/50 mix with water. NEVER mix Isopropyl Alcohol with Peroxide it creates an acidic mix which can be VERY destructive. Apply the dilute Peroxide with a cotton bud sparingly to the affected area. Clean it off straight away with fresh water as Peroxide is quite a powerful chemical even at low concentrations and you don’t want the Peroxide doing more damage than the fungus. This will normally kill any fungus / remove lens fungus but some lens coatings will fail even with a dilute peroxide.

STEP 4 – Peroxide/Ammonia Mix. Carpet bombing has its risks…
Either apply a higher concentration of Peroxide OR use a mix of 50/50 Peroxide and Ammonia. This is a preferred method of many lens technicians but I am a dissenter on this. My reasons are these; Fungal spores are EVERYWHERE and to guarantee killing all spores you would need to use something like a surgical Autoclave or medical grade UV system ON EVERY SINGLE PART of the lens. Let’s assume you did just that and amazingly the lens could hold up under that sort of treatment – so what? The spores are in everything and the lens could easily be reinfected. Long term fungal protection is in the storage of the lens NOT in chemicals you apply during a strip down. I seldom use a powerful chemical mix such as Peroxide/Ammonia but it does have its uses for very stubborn fungus types.

For Peroxide/Ammonia treatment start with a very dilute mix (diluted with water) and increase strength but be aware once you start using powerful chemicals in strong mixes you can expect to see stuff like coating failure. This will often become apparent when you try to clean the lens afterwards. I have seen spectacular coating failures due to chemicals on the inner faces within element groups of Minolta MC series lenses and have been told by a reliable source that some Olympus lenses will fail in a similar fashion.

If I am using powerful chemicals like Peroxide I prefer to flush the lens with distilled water. It means the lens can be cold air blown dry and pure lab grade distilled water leaves no streaks which reduces any risk of polishing with a lint free cloth in case coatings have been weakened as some coatings have poor abrasion resistance.

A note of caution on ‘polishing. You need to be very gentle. Lenses are figured to wavelengths of light. Excessive or too harsh polishing can cause a lens to lose some of its figuring. You may not believe it but lenses are easily damaged by too frequent cleaning. Remember, you only want to remove lens fungus.

Once the fungus is gone from the glass the spores may still remain…
It’s impossible to get everything dead and as stated in this article even if you could the lens will be ‘breathing’ spores in each time it’s used. Normally though I will run all of the metalwork through a mild detergent or bleach and expose every affected element and all of the lens metalwork to an anti-bacterial UV lamp. A 20-minute exposure will be enough to seriously stunt any remaining spores. I NEVER disassemble groups unless there is no choice. Removing a lens group is easy and it’s possible to then clean all the metalwork involved in the helicoids and barrels. Taking lens groups themselves to pieces is sheer folly unless the fungus is between a group and you have no alternative.
Whenever a lens presents with fungus I will always strip all the metal work and clean it and replace the old lubricants with modern synthetic lubricants which tend not to haze and modern synthetic lubricants deprive the fungal spores with their foodstuffs.

Nikon Ai - unsuccessful fungal cleaning — A Nikon Ai. Despite best efforts the fungus had damaged the coatings on the inner rear element. The fungus is dead but despite the damage the lens still performs very creditably.

Finally… its best not to become overzealous or obsessed. Fungus needs removing as it will only get worse with time. If you run into a lens where after cleaning the fungus has done some permanent damage it’s not the end of the world. The Nikon AI in the picture above is one of my most used lenses. It has slight fungal damage which cleaning could not correct at the edge of its rear element. You would be hard put to spot any difference between it and a mint example in the photographic output.

A general rule of thumb to remove lens fungus… unless you want to learn lens repair it’s best to avoid lenses with fungus for sale. It’s generally not worth the risk unless you are tooled up and happy to gamble. As this article has pointed out cleaning is fraught with risk BUT if that gorgeous Nikon AIS f1.2 or Minolta MC 35mm f1.8 comes into view and its cheap enough it’s maybe worth the chance. Even if you cant fix it a pro might be able to.

Just bear in mind you really do need to read up and practice lens disassembly if you want to try cleaning yourself. You also need a good range of tools. The guides on the site covering some models of lens strip down will, I hope, help you in your journey.

No Post Found

Mel

Mel is one of the driving forces behind High 5 Cameras and writes all our articles.

www.high5cameras.com

Posted on September 19, 2022May 8, 2023 by Mel — 2 Comments

Toy Story – Konica Pop Review

Konica Pop Review: Dating from 1982 the Konica Pop is a classic budget point and shoot. This one comes from 1985 or later as its shows the ‘Hexanon’ lens marking. The lens is stated as being a 36mm f4 and is of course fix focused.

The specification for the shutter was 125^th but I timed this one at 90^th of a second based on the results of my ZTS shutter tester. Most SLRs will have a deviance of about 20% but the Konica Pop would show a 28% deviance – possibly acceptable and of course there’s no way of knowing how age may have affected it. The lens on this one was minty fresh and showed no issues though.
The lens on these was a fixed aperture with a maximum aperture of f4 – I would guess its minimum at around f8 based on its film stops.

The only way to adjust aperture is by changing the film speed ISO/ASA setting which is limited to 100, 200 or 400 ASA. Each step in the ASA setting basically opens/closes the lens aperture by 1 stop.

The Konica Pop sold around 1.5 million units in a range of colours including pink, yellow, blue, white, green, red and of course black and while it was undoubtedly popular in its day its frankly a bit of a horror. Don’t be fooled by that Hexanon script on the lens we are talking toy camera territory here!

Pop Up Flash — Konica Pop – the Pop-Up Flash. It’s not automatic you have to press the button! What did you expect on a camera this cheap?

I found this one in a charity shop and typically someone had left its two AA batteries inside to melt down. Fixing it was a complete nightmare as the original owner or someone else had managed to bust the battery cover, probably while trying to get the batteries out. Repairing this was an exercise in drilling out some tiny holes to fit plastic lugs to hold the whole thing together and fixing this probably took longer than rebuilding a 35mm SLR.

On top of battery chamber woes the finish on these cant take Isoprop Alcohol. It bleaches the colour out of the plastic! This made getting the light seals out a complete perisher of a job. As if it couldn’t be made tougher Konica glued the light seals in with something akin to a contact or epoxy glue! This made removing them a horror job. Needless to say the seals in this one were shot to pieces.

The body slot seals were awkward but the biggest challenge was the door seals. The door has seals running all the way round it and I swear it used more light seal foam than any other camera I have fixed. Doubtless the huge quantities of foam were a fix to the overall shoddy construction of the camera. Overall assembly is best described as cheap and nasty.

Film Chamber — The awkward seals that wrap around almost the entire perimeter of the body AND the door!

The camera features a pop up flash (hence the ‘Pop’ name) and a press in switch to manage flash reduction if you are close to the subject. The viewfinder is like something from a Christmas cracker with a kind of faux ‘brightline’ frame to correct for any parallax errors but you do get a red warning light if the light levels are too low and of course a flash ready neon indicator. The low light LED is driven by a CdS cell on the front of the camera. The camera is wholly mechanical of course, the batteries are only there to drive the flash and activate the low low-light warning. So if you bagged one with a wrecked battery chamber you could still shoot with it in daylight conditions.

Konica Pop Up Flash — Konica Pop – the Pop-Up Flash. It’s not automatic you have to press the button! What did you expect on a camera this cheap?

Konica Pop Viewfinder — The viewfinder showing the red low-light warning LED, flash ready indicator and faux leather – like putting lipstick on a pig!

It’s as simple as camera as possible with almost no user input at all – just wind on and fire in most situations. What enterprising manufacturers before the age of auto-focus used to call focus free. Rewinding is accomplished by a fold out metal crank handle on the base of the camera. It also quixotically has a tripod mount which seems a bit superfluous with a fixed shutter speed and no self timer but the Konica boys probably thought they may as well do it just in case they got a bad review – frankly from this sample I cant see how they would ever have gotten a good one!

Konica Pop Base — The bizarre rewinder and pointless tripod mount. Hard to believe it was ever used by anyone.

Thanks to a bit of an accident with the first roll of film (alright I opened the film door without rewinding for the first time ever in about 10,000 rolls of film and 50 years of photography), I had to rush back to the charity shop I was repairing this for and beg to borrow it again so I could quickly bash through a roll of FP4.

With some experience of the camera you could, with some practice shots control aperture through the ASA rating. Black and white film is tolerant of two stops so you could probably use the ASA to manage as a rough and ready aperture control. For the film I shot I had to work blind to any issues having no experience with the camera so shot everything at ASA 100 and told the lab to work to that film speed.

As a result the camera would have been operating at its widest aperture so it could perhaps be improved with faster film and the resulting smaller aperture. Anyway, here’s some pics shot with it. Sunlight was bright around midday and I had to work fast in a town centre to get a roll of 36 shot.

Sample 1 — Busker – Shot from shadow into light. Notice how mid distance is focused but far distance is soft due to the relatively fast f4 aperture.

Sample 2 — Market stall owner -Sweet spot in focus but notice how its soft again in the distance – possibly setting the ASA to 400 may have helped.

Sample 3 — Just Waiting – Note upper left as the lens goes super soft at its edges. Typical for a very cheap wide angle style.

So there you go. You may conclude from my relentless banging on about it that it’s simply terrible and from a repair perspective it was. Even a simple job like the light seals took a serious chunk of time even for a wizened old pro like me. The output was pretty dreadful, worse than the Instamatic 33 I had as a pre-teen BUT on the whole its a fun ‘toy camera’ to shoot with and I have to say despite its cheapness and overall rather poor quality it had a kind of charm to work with. You have to remember these were sold to mums and dads to get family pictures at the beach so its focus range was probably optimised for aunts, uncles and little Timmy at quite close quarters.

The restore work for this was done for a local charity shop as these cameras seem popular with hipsters and I offered to get the camera fully running so they could perhaps make some money rather than it being sold as junk.

Oddly enough on my return to the shop to hand the camera back after the roll of FP4 I got chatting with a student of film and they decided to buy the Konica Pop from the shop despite me pointing out a nice Miranda I tested and did some restore work on to help the shop out. The student was kind of wedded to the hipster vibe and I think they may have called it right. As a simple, uncomplicated intro to film it may well work well for them. Certainly with a bit of experience the Konica Pop may well turn out some interesting shots. It has an immediacy to it that more sophisticated cameras can never really achieve.

So…Summing up the Konica Pop – Its cheap, its nasty but its carefree and kind of fun. If it gets someone inducted into the magic of film it’s serving a worthy purpose and of course it was £35 in the till for the Princess Alice Charity so it’s all good.

No Post Found

Mel

Mel is one of the driving forces behind High 5 Cameras and writes all our articles.