Minolta XE -series
Minolta XE-1 with MC Rokkor 85mm f1.7
These pages are made to help a photographer, old or new, Minolta fan or Nikon fan, who is looking for information about the Minolta XE series, for what ever reason. Here is some basic information, some photos and some advice for a user, and the technical specifications - the only part directly copied from the user's manual of the XE-7, the US version of the XE-1.
Introduction
The XE was introduced in Japan in November 1974 and abroad in 1975. It was the first electronically controlled Minolta SLR for advanced amateurs. Minolta engineers used the experiences they had gained in designing their first electronic SLR, the pro-level XM, but made the XE a lot simpler to use. It was also the first SLR Minolta produced together with Leica, as a result of co-operation between Minolta and Leitz. The Leica R3 has the same basic construction, although at least the electronics, metering system and aperture mechanics are different to facilitate spot metering and the use of Leica mount lenses. Alan Cheong has later confirmed that they also have different mirror and pirsm design, resulting a much brighter viewfinder in the R3 - it were a real advantage for the XE, as it lacks the bright Acute Matte focusing screen, introduced later in the XD and for the XM. Read more about his comments in the User's comments page. I don't like calling either of these cameras as a copy of another - they are most likely developed together, as sister models.
Leica R3
Photo by Justin "Red" Bailey
Target group
Minolta XE -series was targeted to advanced amateurs and pros not needing the interchangeable viewfinder of the XM or motorized body, available from Minolta in SR-M and later in XM Motor. For normal amateurs of that time Minolta offered the all-manual, mechanical SR-T series. The XE-1 was an expensive camera at its time, 259 - 301 USD for body only (in that case XE-7) in advertisements in Modern Photography August 1976 issue - the same issue lists Olympus OM-1 with 50/1.8 lens (265 USD), Canon EF (280 USD), Nikon Photomic FTN (310 USD) and Nikkormat EL (288 USD) in the same price category. This put the XE-1 in very hard competition against the other Japanese manufacturers and the famous European cameras, like its sister model R3. It never reached the favour of pros or advanced amateurs, so it - like the Minolta system as whole - remained as a less known alternative.XE is a part of the Minolta MC system, which contained full range of accessories, lenses and camera bodies, and was able to meet all the needs of a professional photographer using a 35mm system - at those days. Here is a large (120K) JPG image, scanned from an old brochure, showing the full MC system at its largest, just before Minolta introduced the newer MD system with XD cameras. There is no date in the brochure, but the system in the pic could be from the late 70's. It includes the XM Motor (introduced in 1976) but not the XD (introduced in 1977).
Overview
The Minolta XE is an extremely well built top quality SLR camera. Its mechanical quality exceeds everything Minolta has made ever since - including its successors, the XD-series, and IMHO also the present top model Dynax 9. Basically it is electronically controlled single lens reflex camera that offers both metered manual and aperture -priority automatic exposure controls with full aperture TTL metering. The body is all metal and designed to hard use. All controls are placed where a photographer is used to have them - there is no such individually placed controls that would require a manual to be learned, like there is in the Minoltas pro SLR, the XM.At its time the XE was pretty compact design, but the Olympus OM series, followed by Pentax and some other manufacturers, changed the situation by introducing compact SLR systems, which soon became popular among amateurs and pros not willing to carry the heavy pro-level systems of Nikon and Canon. Compared to these lightweight systems the XE is a heavy piece of metal. My own first impression of the XE reminded me of the original Canon F1 - the same solid tank-like feeling. Also the large self timer lever helped.
Versions
Minolta has separated its models in different markets by naming them differently. At the time of XE's introduction this was already familiar from the mechanical SR-T series and also from the recently introduced pro model, the XM. The tradition has been carried on ever since, and today the autofocusing Minoltas are called Alpha in Japan, Dynax in Europe and Maxxum in the USA. The XE series was known as XE everywhere, but the numbering of the top model varied: Technically the same body was known as XE in Japan, XE-1 in Europe and XE-7 in the USA.There were some differences in the appearance of the XE-1 and it's sister models. The European XE-1 had black/chrome finish with black pentaprism housing and silver front panel (the panel in front of pentaprism, holding the periscope system for showing the aperture value and shutter speed in the viewfinder). The all black version of XE-1 is rare. The American XE-7 is all black, and the Japanese XE looked like the European XE-1. Features of all these three models are identical.
Minolta XE-5 with MC Rokkor 58mm f1.4
The XE-5 was called XE-5 all over the world.
In
Japan, there has also been the XEb - Ryuijin has found that XEb has an
entire black plastic prism cover, including its nameplate - like the one
in XE-5, and it does not have a viewfinder readout for set aperture. He
also confirms that the XEb has the double-exposure lever in front of the
film advance lever - so it sounds like a hybrid model between the XE-1
and XE-5. The scan at left is from him. Thanks, Ryujin!
Who would I recommend an XE?
The XE is not a camera you buy and use and that's it. It has everything needed for a good camera, but the age, problems in parts availability and rather limited range of easily available lenses put restrictions to its usability. If you already have one or two Minolta manual focusing bodies and you want something else than an X-700 it can be a choose to consider. Also, if you or your father already have it, it is definitely worth using. If you are looking to buy your first SLR, then I would suggest some more recent body - mainly the X-700, or the all-machanical Sr-T. If you are a photo enthusiast wanting to have a top class manual focusing SLR without the price tag of a Leica or Nikon F3, then it is well worth considering.The lenses of its time - the MC Rokkor and later MD Rokkor series - are of the best mechanical and optical quality of their age, so there is no reason to avoid them. I constantly get slides fully comparable with those taken with modern AF lenses, and the old MC Rokkor 58 mm f1.4 PF beats most plasticy zooms of today hands down, although it is by no means a superb design. There are no problems to find lenses between 28 mm f2.8 and 300 mm f4.5, but outside of this range it gets a little bit tricky - Minolta made APO 400/5.6 and APO 600/6.5, 150-500/8 zoom and mirror lenses up to 1600mm, but they are rare, and a 300/2.8 is available only from third party manufacturers, mainly from Tamron. See my separate Tele lens pages for more information. Also extreme wideangles from 7.5mm fisheye to 24/2.8 were made. The situation in the USA is a lot better than in the EU, the special lenses show up in the ebay every now and then. For close-up and macro photography there is a lot of equipment available, see my separate section of close-up with manual focusing Minoltas.
I think the XE is best suited to photography of people and landscapes as well as macro work - a kind of "clean" work not requiring fast motor drives or lying in the bottom of rain forests. The age of 25 years or so of the XE body already gives it some excuses not to fit into such jobs. If your favour lenses are 35mm, 50mm macro and 135mm, and you don't use flash a lot, here's your camera - buy the 35/1.8, 50/3.5 macro and 135/2.8 and you will be satisfied both in terms of mechanical and optical quality. And there is still plenty of excellent lenses available to enlarge your lens range.
My own use of this camera, now when I'm using an AF system, is mostly limited to photographing family events. My favourite lenses are 35mm f1.8, 85mm f1.7 and 135mm f2.8 MC-Rokkors, and I use a Minolta Auto 360PX in Auto mode for flash photography, balancing its power manually to available light. Rather easy when you get used to it, and use print film. The system always gets positive attention, an old camera is less frightening than a "big gun" like the modern pro AF models. I've soon used more money than the value of the camera to keep it going, but consider it worth all the trouble - but if I'm heading to a photo trip of my lifetime, I'm not going to take this oldie with me!
More about Minolta XE
| Main features | The main features of XE-1 |
| How to use an XE-1 | A short user's manual of XE-1 - not a copy of the original! |
| Technical details | The XE-1 technical data |
| User's comments | E-mailed comments from current and former Minolta users |
My other pages
| Home | My home page. |
| My photos | My photo pages |
| Subjective lens evaluations | of some Minolta's lenses |
| Close-up | About Minolta and close-up photography. |
| Tele lenses | of 300mm length of longer for manual focusing Minolta |
| Links | Yes, links. |