5 Frames with A Few Minolta X-300s

A gift for my twenty-first birthday, my old Praktica SLR had been hiding up in the attic for many years. I would occasionally fire the shutter a few times just to hear that reassuring clunk, something that was missing from my digital steeds, but it always got put back in its resting place – until last year. I brought it down, tested it and once I was happy that it seemed to be fully functional decided to run a roll through it. I hadn’t really thought this through properly, the result of which was that I ended up having an intimate relationship with eBay until I had equipped myself with everything that I needed to home develop, all for a very modest outlay. Everything was going well, I was really enjoying shooting film again, but I did eventually find the Praktica quite limiting. I now mostly shoot street and documentary and prefer to work wide, so the 50mm standard lens was a bit claustrophobic.

While searching for a more suitable lens on eBay, I came across a Minolta X300 and some lenses, one of which was a Rokkor 35mm f2.8. Not exactly what I had set out to get but it was going very cheap as it was untested, so I took a chance, bid and won. I instantly fell in love with it. I remember the brand from back in the day but had never used one. In fact, I’d never used an SLR that had any internal electronics beyond basic needle metering.

The camera body was in very good condition and seemed to be working. Two of the lenses were too long for my needs and one was damaged, however the Rokkor 35mm looked in really good condition. So, even although it was at the narrow end of my preferred focal range, this became the working lens and body combination and the Praktica got shelved.

The first roll of film showed that the shutter was intermittently sticking. I suspected this was simply down to lack of use, so I spent a while just firing the shutter at different speeds, and since the second roll everything has worked as expected. The camera body feels good in the hand, is well built and is very easy to use. The metering is accurate, I tend to use it on aperture priority while keeping an eye on the shutter speed although switching to full manual is easy enough if required.

While researching these Minolta cameras online I became aware of a known problem with them. A capacitor located behind the bottom plate would blow, leaving the camera inoperable but with a unique diagnostic signature. Replacing the capacitor seemed straightforward enough and I already had the necessary tools, so I started watching eBay for similar models that were being sold for parts and took a gamble on purchasing a few. So now I own quite a few X-300 bodies, all with a new capacitor and all now fully functional. My plan is to eventually sell them on but for now it’s handy to have different films in each, to shoot as I see fit and switch the Rokkor between bodies. It’s not just the X-300’s that are affected, but it just so happens that these are the models that I’ve ended up with.

This camera has now been my companion while I rediscover the joys of analogue. I still use my Lumix mirrorless cameras for my serious documentary work intended for publication, and also digitising the negatives using the high resolution mode, but everything else is now shot on film.

Thank you for reading, you can find more of my work on the links below

https://cameronscottstreetphotography.net/
https://www.instagram.com/cameronscott1963/

Share this post: