17 years ago, my dad gave me a Minolta X-370 for my birthday. I have run hundreds of rolls of film through that camera. College, my wedding, the birth of my son, etc.

Well, that same son threw the camera down the stairs this week. Based on a variety of symptoms, I cam pretty sure he broke it.

I need a new camera.

X-370s can be had pretty cheap, so I might just that one. I should al least stay with a Minolta MF bc I have three lenses.

Anyway, please advise me. Also, which is the best photo forum? There are a bunch!

Have you considered going digital? Sorry to hear that it has had an unfortunate end.

I am squared away on the digital front. I need a new SLR.

Minolta had a very good rep. There are several Minolta specific fori floating around the net that can give you some body specific advice. For some reason XD-11 sticks in my mind, KEH might have some. Best of luck.

If you are pleased with the quality, you might as well replace it with a camera that can accomodate the lenses you already have. Why replace the parts that weren't "tossed."

Bet there is a fun story associated with your son practicing his pitching with your camera! Save it, and the damaged camera, and "give it to him" at the most embarrasing moment. His wedding? Birth of your grandson? Signing on as a pitcher with the Yankees?

Are Minoltas destined to meet nasty ends? I had an X300s (apparently that's the European model number for your X-370) which went all over the place with me for years and years before finally meeting an unfortunate end when I was doing research for my Masters dissertation. I was down in Hampshire with my dad visiting some of my old uni haunts and as we left Stockbridge we saw a WWI steam army wagon about to start the climb up the hill towards Winchester, so we decided to park at Stockbridge Down to eat lunch and take a photo of the wagon going past. After a while we presumed the wagon never made the climb up the hill, so got back in the car to continue on our way to Winchester. Just as the car got up to 70mph we both heard a noise like a carrier bag having caught the wind in the back of the car - we had both windows down. We both looked in the mirrors just in time to see the camera bouncing off the roof of the car Whilst the camera was broken, we were impressed at how well it stood up to that impact. The skylight filter on the front had taken all the impact and was just a completely flat piece of metal. The lens was intact, but was jammed in one position, whilst the body of the camera just had a small crack on one corner. I've still never been able to bring myself to throw that camera away.

My replacement was a Pentax MZ-5N and I never really got on with that camera, I eventually managed to offload it onto my dad and got a Nikon instead. I always sort of wished that I'd decided to get a Minolta X-700 instead of the Pentax.

Minolta X-700 - I think that is what I am going to get!

OH LORD! I have one here at home!! I ADORED that camera!!! It travelled with me all over, got bunked, etc. The meter system died on it and I do not know where to send it to get fixed. I ended throwing away the lenses for they caught mold...

Well, I got the x-700. I got a great deal from someone who had moved on to digital. 6 lenses, a bunch of filters, 3 pc magnifier set, a sweet deal.

Once the macro lens gets here (UPS had a "mechanical issue") the close-ups will start rolling!

Hope you'll be sharing some of the photos with us. You've got me longing for my X-300s now.

It's going to be a while bc my macro lens got "delayed."

Here's what the UPS tracking says:
ALL MERCHANDISE DISCARDED. UPS WILL NOTIFY THE SENDER WITH DETAILS OF THE DAMAGE


HA HA HA - I have NEVER seen that before. It stinks that I have to wait another week, but it's cool that I wrangled free shipping on my replacement!

After my lens got destroyed on Sept 5th I asked for free shipping on the replacement that I was going to buy.

Response on the 6th:
Sure, I can do that. Let me know when you place the order and I can go in and adjust it.

My response on Thurs the 6th:
I would like to order a replacement:

“Minolta Manual Focus [blah blah blah]”

The price is $109 – can you let me know how the credit is applied and how I use it? If you are able, it’s fine with me for you to process the order, just charging my card (the MC I used for the original lens) for the difference.


My Question on Friday:
Did my lens ship today?

My Question today?
Will you answer my emails if I beg?

Come on people!

IMHO, I'd go with an XE-7, XD-11, or an SRT 202. Best of the bunch, and for the x's that I listed, used by Leica for their own bodies. I can assume your lenses are XD?

Lenses are XD? I don't know what this means... is this a mount? My lenses are MD. I did not look at any of those bodies, but they appear to be excellent.

Speaking of MD - I got the lens today. KEH came through and shipped the thing overnight. Because my first one got destroyed, I had to get "better" one for the replacement. Same lens, just better condition grade. This thing is brand new!

I have most of the items needed for my macro studio so I hope to start shooting tonight.

I'm sorry, MD is correct. I was lacking sleep...lol. My recommendations still stand however. The lenses you have will work perfectly with all the bodies I mentioned. (My personal favorite is the XE-7 though)

the minolta manual focus lens thing is both much more complicated, and as they are all backwards and forwards interchangeable, much simpler than that. It is way too messy to restate here so those interested can read this....

http://members.aol.com/manualminolta/mounts.htm

Dim recollection, and could be completely off, but I think the MC was single coated and the MD was either multicoated or better coated. They made some really great lenses over the years, sad to see them go....

I'll read that link once destructo-baby goes to sleep. In the meantime, I took the first macro shots last night with my improvised tent. With lightings, tents, and tripods on the way, it will only get better!

Film is at finisher.

Not so much in the MF realm, but Minolta people should go have a look at Dyxum, even if only for the awesome lens database.

Well, I bought a new cam... Went DSLR... Olympus e-510.

What's the best news? Well, someone out of China JUST developed a 3/4 to MD lens adapter.

I ordered mine. I cannot wait to put the old glass on the new cam.