I didn't intend to buy another 35mm SLR. I have a Pentax Spotmatic, identical to my Father's camera, which was the first camera on which I took a photo, but I seldom use it. I have previously owned Olympus OM1, OM2 and OM4Ti with some interesting lenses, including the 50mm f1.2, 500mm mirror lens and 35mm shift lens. I sold the Olympus outfit to buy my first medium format camera of recent times. I did have a Mamiya 645 1000s when I was in my late teens. I do have a 35mm Minolta rangefinder camera, identical to my first "proper" camera and I enjoy using it. I have always hankered after a Minolta SRT303b, too. So why on earth have I ended up with a Minolta X-500?
I had a friend called Tom, he and I used to go out and take photos together. We both mainly shot medium format but as illness made him weaker, he used a Minolta 35mm SLR more frequently. HIs Minolta was getting unreliable and he found carrying a selection of lenses difficult, and changing lenses whilst using a walking stick wasn't easy, either.
On the left, the author with Minolta X-500 and 35-70 f3.5 zoom lens.
On the right, my deceased friend Tom with his Minolta, I think it was an XG-A
So when I had the chance to buy a Minolta X-500 with the 35-70 zoom lens, I snapped it up for Tom. It was a little nicotine stained, having been owned by a smoker, but it cleaned up nicely and worked perfectly, although I had to replace the light seals and mirror buffer. Looking at the condition of the strap I think it has had very little use. Sadly before Tom could use it, he was admitted to hospital, where he died four weeks later. He had seen the camera and was looking forward to using it, but it was not to be. So I was lumbered with a camera I didn't want, but I thought I may as well put a film through it before selling it.
The X-500 (known as the X-570 in the USA) was launched in 1983, a couple of years after the very popular X-700. The X-500 lacks the Program Mode of the X-700 but has a couple of advantages for those who like to control the exposure settings, in particular you can see in the viewfinder which shutter speed is set and which one to use in manual mode.
The lens is unusual, most zoom lenses in the 1980's didn't deliver great quality, certainly not across the zoom range, but this one came out of a partnership with Leica and was also available for the Leia R3, badged as a Vario-Elmarit. As it is only a 2x zoom (35 - 70) with a modest f3.5 maximum aperture I hoped it would deliver acceptable quality.
I loaded a roll of Ilford Delta 400 and took the camera to my local motor-racing circuit, Lydden Hill, for a Historic Motorcycle Racing weekend. I didn't attempt to take photos of the racing, the maximum reach of the zoom lens was nowhere near long enough and I know from past experience at this circuit how hard it is to get sharp photos of racing motorbikes with a manual focus lens. Instead I took photos of the people and bikes in the paddock and the vintage machines on display. As luck would have it, it was a bright day and I could usefully have used a slower film, and I don't yet have a yellow or orange filter for this camera, so I ended up stopped down to f8 or f11 most of the time. This prevented me throwing the distracting background out of focus and deprived me of a chance to try the lens wide open. I developed the film in Ilfotec DDX 1+4 and scanned the images on my Braun FS120 film scanner, followed by a little sharpening and curves adjustment in Lightroom.
I'm extremely impressed with this little camera. The images are sharp with good contrast, and the exposure is perfectly consistent. The viewfinder is large, bright and clear making focussing easy. I have a funny feeling I'm going to hang on to this one, even though I didn't want it and thought my days of using a 35mm SLR were over! It is very original, with the correct lens hood and lens cap, it even has the original holder for spare batteries on the strap. I just need to find the proper case for it!
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