Minolta x700

[JonA]

As a new member to this forum, and to manual photography in general (though getting better hopefully!) I was hoping for some advice/ criticism on my latest purchase. I have bought a minolta x 700 with a toshimi lens for £75, and have been learning how to use it. I think I got a good deal, what does everyone think? I know the camera is good, but cant find much about the lens, what would be a suitable upgrade?

Jon

[JonA]

sorry meant to put that it is a Tokina 28-70 lens that I have

[RonM]

Jon,

Firstly, welcome to the forum and secondly welcome to another Minolta user. The X-700 is a very good manual focus camera (I have one myself, but prefer my XE-1) and for £75, including Lens not too bad a buy.
As to Lens upgrades I'd suggest looking at secondhand examples of Minolta MD Rokkor lenses as they will outperform any of the other marques who have produced MD fit lenses (including tokina), if possible try getting hold of fast primes e.g. 24/28mm f/2.8, 50mm f/1.4, 135mm f/2.8 you could try a 85mm f/1.7 or f/2 but the 85mm lenses are silly money. Zoom options include 24-50 f/4 and 70-210 f/4 (would like a 70-210 at reasonable price myself as its a very highly rated zoom).

[JonA]

Hi Ron

Many thanks for the response, i'll definetely have a look round for Rokkor lenses, though I think the Tokina will do for now whilst I learn more about manual photography.
On the x700, I have been experimenting with the program modes that it has, in particular the 'A' setting. This does seem to set the shutter speed rather than setting it yourself, but this isnt always an advantage. What would you recommend, bearing in mind that as a newbie I'm only just getting to grips with the effects that different apertures, shutter speeds etc have depending on the subject matter. I mainly shoot landscapes and still life.

[El_Sid]

A will be Aperture Priority Auto - when in this mode you set the aperture on the lens and the camera metering sets on the required shutter speed for the correct exposure. Conversely S would be Shutter Priority - you set the shutter speed and the camera adjusts the aperture to suit. In Program Mode (P if you have it) the camera will automatically select both shutter and aperture values according to a predetermined algorithm (usually it will set the highest shutter/smallest aperture it can) In Manual (M) you adjust the aperture and shutter manually according to the exposure guide in the viewfinder.

Landscapes generally require small apertures to maximise overall depth of field and keep maximum sharpness through the whole image unless you wish to isolate a specific detail in which case a larger aperture is called for. Much the same applies to still life. Sport often calls for fast shutter speeds to freeze the action though slower speeds can be used to emphasise motion. Portraiture usually requires wide apertures to isolate the subject, this approach is often used in wildlife work equally to emphasise the subject. Again smaller apertures can be used in both fields if placing the subject in it's environmental context is important.

As a beginner I would recommend using Manual exposure as much as possible to show you how the relationship between aperture and shutter work. It's also easier to get a feel for how much the light in various parts of the scene can vary too.

HTH

[RonM]

Jon,

to help you with the X-700 you can download a manual from <span style="color:red"> HERE </span> which will give you info on the controls and settings