An Unscientific Minolta X700 + Minolta Motor Drive 1 Review

I love this camera! If you're looking for a great camera to learn film photography... This is it. If you're looking for someone to teach you how to use it? Keep looking!
Sample images begin at 4:19
B&W film - Japan Camera Hunter Street Pan 400
Colour film - Fujifilm Pro400h
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[@wri7913]

I bought my first camera in 1989, a Minolta X-700 with the 50mm 1.7 lens. I bought a few more lenses and used that kit for nearly 10 years. In 1998, I sold the kit to a friend of mine. Now in 2020, I bought it back from her after nearly 21 years. Just shot my first roll with it again the other day.

[@FotoCreatives]

My first SLR camera was a Minolta XG-1. I learned to photograph with this camera, but soon I wanted Minolta's showpiece, the X-700, so that was a lot of savings at the time. How happy I was with that beautiful machine .... it is/was my first true great love. During a vacation in the US I bought a Minolta Motor Drive 1 and felt like a King!! People were stearing at me, when I took pictures. I felt like I was some kind of famous photographer :-) Well, then came the digital age and I bought a Dynax 7Xi...and sold my X-700 to my brother. Whenever I saw him walking around with that X-700, I felt certain jitters. I have now bought back my 3rd X-700. Haha, it remains my first great love.

[@FirstOnRaceDayCapri2904]

My workhorse, my dad gave it to me in 2017, gave it a good CLA and it's worked like a champ ever since, dozens of rolls without a problem, it's seen both extreme cold and heat and always worked perfectly. I bought an MD-1 for it after a few months after getting the camera which is very worth the money.

[@jadeestrella1117]

SO HELPFUL! I'm a beginner with film and I was planning on purchasing this camera with the motor drive and this was super helpful thank you!

[@LUKAMATKOVIC_]

Found this camera a couple years ago in my dads old camera bag, and just recently got another one at a flee market for like $30 with the 50mm 1.7 in BEAUTIFUL condition. I love this camera

[@jimmygarcia3068]

I bought this camera at a pawn shop in 1992 while I was in college working for the campus newspaper...let me tell you this camera is a champ workhorse....I used the shit out of it in the rain, beach weddings etc...I was saving money for a Nikon 4S...from 92 -96 with only breaking down once of daily use....I highly highly recommend the X700 I loved till I retired her 1997 when I bought the Nikon....

[@williar1961]

Nice review Scot, it would be great to see the rest of your film cameras 👍

[@JoeLopez]

Such a great kit. I love my black X-570. 45mm f2 and the G winder.

[@jacobmoux5235]

3:05 MY MILKSHAKE BRINGS ALL THE BOYS TO THE YARD

[@JawnBanaga]

i just picked one up for a steallll! $30 and the guy took great care of it too

[@chuckalvarado8484]

Scott - very good video you put out. I just got my X700 a few days ago - same set up. Thanks

[@jb5843]

You lost me when you said "you can use this as self-defence" 🤣

[@vominator]

One of the features I like best is that you can also use the electrical contacts on the winder shutter release to 'wake up' the metering/speed info inside the viewfinder. None of my Nikons will do that. And excellent ergonomics compared to Nikon. However I have far more Nikons in all formats than Minolta...but the X-570 I think is a better camera than the X-700. I have 2 X-700s I got chasing lenses in auctions, but I don't use them much

[@ultrasonicradiation]

Every country goes through this period of industrialisation where their product were considered junk. It happened to Japan in the 1950s-1970s, it happened to Korea in the 1980s-1990s. It’s happening to China now.

[@indrekpoiss]

Thanks for the review! I also own one and really like those Minolta manual lenses!

[@ZainRiza]

Nice review man! I just bought this camera with the motor winder. It's on its way in the mail, so this video is most welcome!

[@Scott_Graham]

It’s a solid camera 👍

[@fractalife]

yeah, kinda interesting most people say not the best looking, but I bought this x700 because of the looks

[@sorensaxson3631]

Hi there! Nice video, you are doing a great work. 🙂👍

[@davidjb9199]

I also have one of these with an old 58mm f1.4 that works quite well however. I have to offer some counterpoint to your comment about the 3.5 frames per second as being good for the 80's. Not sure about that given that the Olympus OM-1n with motor drive could (and can) do about 5 frames per second. I have not timed my motor drive on my OM-2n because even though I point this comparison out, I don't have a lot of interest in how fast film can be wound on. If I really want speed in that department I will load up my Nikon F5. I have a number of other film bodies and I find that the X700 just seems to be almost effortless to capture an image with. A lot of the Minoltas of this time period (XG-M, X-7A, etc.) seem to use the BrightScreens which really enhances the viewfinder use. It is one of the reasons that despite the fact I will shoot a lot of my other cameras over the X700, I can't quite get myself to part with it.

[@drewsterwa]

The Minolta MD1 does not have auto rewind so there is nothing wrong with your unit. All it has is a slider to release the sprocket so that you can rewind the film from the crank on top of the body

[@Scott_Graham]

Well that makes sense! Thanks Drew.

[@btrdangerdan2010]

Hi Scott, I also own a Minolta X-700 with the motor drive , and I don’t think it has automatic rewind you still had to rewind it yourself. Only later on in 1986 when the Minolta Maxxum 9000 was released had a motorized rewind function that you have to manually press while resetting the frame counter on the optional MD-90 motor drive.

[@Scott_Graham]

That would make sense. I read something in the online manual about a rewind feature on the motor drive 1 but it was hard to decipher.

[@btrdangerdan2010]

It’s because you don’t see an extra gear to catch the camera for a rewind gear mechanism. However the motor drive lets you press the rewind button to release the shutter cocking mechanism via a sliding release button to push the rewind button in order to use the rewind crank to rewind film manually.

[@btrdangerdan2010]

Scott Graham you know I also thought I read about the “automatic rewind” feature in the printed paper owner’s manual of the x-700, maybe It was planned to have that feature but Minolta probably could not figure out how to implement that feature in the motor drive or just lied. Who knows? The only other camera I know can do semi automatic rewind like the Minolta 9000 is the Canon F-1 New from 1980s with optional Motor Drive FN.

[@oc2phish07]

Another very entertaining video, Scott. I have around 40 different film cameras including a Minolta 5000 (I am in the UK) and an Olympus OM-1N that has a motor drive very similar to your Minolta.

[@tomhughes5123]

i used to photograph weddings with my x700 md1 drive 24-35 minolta lens and 50 f1.4 .. i preffered this set up than any canon camera of the time minolta had a massive lens line up and following .. minolta invented lots of firsts .. autofocus which was taken on by the military back in the day

[@joekelly9369]

The body is brass ,it was camera of the year back in the day i had a few of the same set up . 3 over a few years all with grips , they were tough in the day the winder is noisy as 😀

[@professordick4868]

I'm a Ninja. This is my favorite camera.

[@tomhughes5123]

yes i had two one with md1 and 24-35 f3.5 rare lens other with 50mm 1.4 loved them

[@4doorsupra153]

Man i wish my x700 was the pretty. Awesome camera 👍🤘

[@Shmyrk]

Love your eye. Great images!

[@raymondkilminster2194]

thanks for the video , i've just bought one my self and its a nice camera to use .

[@Jgp_classic]

I just got this set up with the multifunctional back!

[@LabelFlash241]

So my motor drive turns on and shows that it's connected to the camera but I can seem to get the winder to work. Help pls?

[@tomislavmiletic_]

When I was a kid I almost bought that camera. But I ended up buying Minolta 9000 (maxxum 9000 in US) instead. And that was a mistake. Course the first time I brought that crap out in the winter the camera was frozen. At +8 C !!! So after only 6 months of usage I sold it and gone back full throttle, bought Nikon F2 which I had for years. Had I bought X700 most likely I'd had that camera today. Especially considering I had a bunch of Minolta lenses at that time.

[@1989Goodspeed]

01:40 Insert “Back to The Future Part III” meme hear. Cool video!

[@tomhughes5123]

i had a few . with md1's a thing of simplistic beauty .

[@yadagirilakshminarasimhaki9215]

what about the battery? how many shots will the battery last?

[@reynasalazar48]

Just got this camera but is there a certain lens I need to buy, or does it take all Minolta lenses??

[@bin149tn3]

What this thing you put under the camera ? Can i get info of that ??

[@ethereal_synapse]

i found that exact camera at a goodwill for 6 dollars a few years ago and everything works except for the film advance :(

[@williar1961]

I have a Olympus om2 but the motor drive isn’t as nice looking as the Minolta you have there😀

[@bekabuchashvili]

does it have aliminium body?

[@tomhughes5123]

body is actually brass .. i dropped mine on a concrete staircase didnt harm the camera only scraped the black off brass underneath

[@anonym5909]

i found that camera from my dad and i dont know how i can use it :/ but maybe now

[@jesusescudero9721]

I will take one, if you change the light seals, made a video please. :)

[@djanciano]

Great video! I got the same set and I hope you don’t mind if I ask you a question? Shooting foto’s with the motor drive, can I use the same settings(aperture, speed etc) if I shoot without the motor drive? Tnx

[@Scott_Graham]

Yes. The motor drive doesn’t change any camera settings 👍

[@djanciano]

Scott Graham Tnx Scott, and regards from Holland. :-)

[@bensteelemusic]

How do you find the Minolta 50mm 1.4 vs the Rokkor 1.4? If they're both the MD mount, that's an interesting comparison.

[@Scott_Graham]

They're very similar. For the price difference I'd probably get the Minolta over the Rokkor.

[@autonomousindividual7780]

That sound yields like a 60% er.

[@luismcorona8993]

what is this beautiful music in the intro and outro?? song names please ^~~^

[@TheSanzca]

Would you be able to use those Minolta lenses on a Sony A mount camera?

[@Scott_Graham]

Not without an adapter and they’d be fully manual. Minolta AF mount lenses work great on Sony Alpha dslr’s.

[@DrumGuitarDude]

Your voice went full satan at the middle of the video

[@tomislavmiletic_]

Pentax super program review pleeease !

[@Scott_Graham]

I have the Program Plus (Program A outside North America.) I’ll be reviewing it soon!

[@tomislavmiletic_]

@@Scott_Graham Doesn't matter, I drooled over both of them when I was some 12 years old. I'll keep my eyes peeled for that review ;-)

[@Scott_Graham]

It’s my favourite manual focus SLR.

[@tomhughes5123]

md1 did 3.5 frames per second

[@vedranr.glavina7667]

Hi Scott ! Just bought a Minolta Auto Winder D for my XD 11. As I've read in the Auto Winder D manual it is not clear that I should leave my batteries inside my XD 11 or I should remove then prior to installing my Auto Winder D. The Auto Winder D manual - warning : shut off your camera... XD 11 as I see does not have an on-off switch... Kindly asking to describe the procedure if you were me. Many thanks ! The flea market at Cloverdale Mall - thanx for the info... Mississauga is not far...so shame on me ! Vedran

[@theenchiladakid1866]

It pains me to hear hipsters talk about 35mm like they are the rirst to ever use it