Yes you can, but I wouldn't recommend it! It's very difficult to see what you're doing. If you want a "waist-level experience" I'd recommend using the dedicated waist-level finder that Canon made for the F-1. Thanks for watching! - Connor

Thanks for watching! (-: - Connor

I hope it works well for you! Thanks for watching (-: - Connor

It is!! - Connor

Make sure to set the camera to 1/2000s shutter speed and 100 ISO! It can be slightly above the box and still give good enough results. When using a standard SR43 battery & the MR-9, your voltage curve will be a bit less linear than it would be with the old mercury batteries. So you'll end up with a bit too much voltage at the beginning, a good amount for most of the battery's life, then a a bit too little voltage towards the end. In any case, you should be fine to trust the light meter as long as the check needle is relatively close to the box. Thanks for watching! - Connor

@@Kamerastore Thanks for getting back to me! It is set at iso 100 and ss at 2000. It goes above the the line so that explains! I was just making sure I can trust this light meter!

Yes! The film advance lever moves the film into the right position (it needs to move out of way of the previous shot or all your photos would be on the same bit of film!) and also preps the shutter! There are attachments you can get called Motor Winders that will automatically advance the film after each shot, though! For the X-700, you'll want to look for Minolta Motor Drive 1. Here's one from our store. (-: - Connor kamerastore.com/products/minolta-motor-drive-1-minolta-md-8?variant=48581246157133&=gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0_WyBhDMARIsAL1Vz8vEn5YDmsj94zUz5HxwJccawCRoeYN2yh0UYWpQjyXOqLDKZCJqCs0aAs4vEALw_wcB

@@Kamerastore thank you so much!

Hi! Sorry for any confusion! The X-700 has a few different exposure modes that cause the LEDs in the viewfinder to act differently. I'll try to summarize: 1. Manual mode - The user picks both shutter speed and aperture. In this mode, the LEDs on the right will indicate what shutter speed the camera's computer WOULD pick based on the given lighting and aperture selection. Choosing the shutter speed is up to the user, and there's no indication of what shutter speed is currently selected on the physical dial on top of the camera. So you have to take your eye away from the viewfinder to confirm/change the shutter speed. 2. Aperture-priority AE mode - The user picks the aperture setting and the camera picks a shutter speed. In this mode, the LEDs on the right side will indicate what shutter speed the camera will pick when the shutter is fired. It calculates this based on the current lighting, the ISO of the film, and your selected aperture value. 3. Program AE mode - The camera picks both the aperture and shutter speed. In this mode, the LEDs will also show what shutter speed the camera will select. There won't be any indication of the aperture that the camera will select, since the lens' aperture has to be locked to its minimum setting to activate program mode. So basically, in all modes the camera will tell you what shutter speed it would select. In manual mode, though, the camera doesn't tell you what shutter speed YOU have selected on the physical shutter speed dial. This is noteworthy because it means you have to take your eye away from the viewfinder to see it. Future models (like the Minolta X-500) fixed this issue. Hopefully, that helped! Thanks so much for watching. - Connor

It's true! Point-and-shoot cameras are always a gamble, as are any electronic devices made 20, 30, or 40 years ago. But it's a bit more complicated than that, and the industry has evolved a lot in those 10 years, too! Prices of the 2000s and 2010s (for film and cameras) were the signs of a dying industry. It wasn't sustainable like that. Prices weren't high enough for Kodak, Ilford, etc to stay in business or for camera stores to survive without diversifying a whole lot. Many didn't survive at all. The prices today signify a healthier market in general where film manufacturers can actively reinvest in production and film-specialty stores can exist. The popularity of some of these cameras has even led to the growth of a repair industry for them, with some people even manufacturing new parts for common issues. So it's perhaps a bit safer now than it was 5 years ago to buy something like a Leica Minilux. The growth of the film photography industry is super interesting! Thanks for watching. (-: - Connor

Are you sure it's a Yashica FX-3 and not a Yashica FX-3 Super or FX-3 Super 2000? Those are basically the improved versions of the original FX-3. These models don't have a back button for the light meter. The light meter is activated in these models by half-pressing the shutter button when batteries are installed. Thanks for watching! - Connor

@@Kamerastore oh right it's a fx-3 super, thank you so much for answering

@@Hitokami Happy to help! They're veeeeeery similar cameras, don't sweat it.. (-: - Connor

Welcome! - Connor

Good eye! I would just do your best to leave the lens at its most narrow aperture (where the program lock is/would be) while using it. While it's all in program mode, you can make sure the aperture is capable of changing by shooting it facing a dark area and then a bright one. The aperture should be different. At the end of the day, these are over 40-year-old cameras filled with electronics so there's always a chance of some unusual behavior. Hopefully, your camera is still capable of all its automated functions! Thanks for watching. - Connor

Not a dumb question at all! If the lens is mounted to the camera, you'll only see the aperture blades when you fire the shutter. Take the lens off the camera and the blades should close down (-: The camera holds the aperture open when a lens is attached because it lets more light in this way. That makes it easier to see through the viewfinder for focusing and composing. If your aperture doesn't close down even separated from the body, then it's possible the lens isn't working properly. Aperture mechanisms can get quite sticky and oily over time and many vintage lenses haven't been repaired or maintained for decades. Hopefully it's not that, though! Thanks for watching. - Connor

Thanks for watching! I bet you could find what you're looking for on kamerastore.com (-; - Connor

It would be pretty incredible to see a new pro-grade SLR! I'd settle for something simple and cheap-ish, like the re-introduction of the FM10. New film cameras are, for obvious reasons, generally way more reliable than 40+-year-old ones! Thanks for watching. - Connor

That was Nikon’s last and longest running film camera in production. It was produced from 2004 to 2020.

Hi again! I'd like to add to my question: so I finished the roll, took all 36 pics. I then held the tension button down and spin the lever. It took a while, like it must've been at least 30 rotations of the lever to finally roll the entire roll up. This worries me, is this normal? It could've been like 50 rotations tbh. I'm afraid the film didn't pull across enough when I advanced it and I just have a bunch of bunched up pictures on one 3dge of the film. Thanks!

Hi! I would not be too worried. The rewind knob moves according to the advancing lever. So as long as you push the advance lever to its full extent and the rewind knob moves accordingly, you should be sorted. Let me know how the images turned out. :) -Tuomas

@@Kamerastore oh wow thank you so much for the response! And what a coincidence I had just sent a 2nd comment 😅 I am nervous since it's my first ever roll and I pray my Tokyo pics come out. I'll update you!

It's true! We do our best to shift people away from disposables to reusable cameras, but the simplicity of the disposable can't be understated. There's a reason they're so popular, as you can see from the list! Thanks for watching. - Connor