The Minolta XD-11 is sometimes referred to as "the best camera that no one wanted". Designed for the professional market by a company that didn't market well to professionals. John wanted to see the Focal Plane Leaf Shutter, which is a rare feature. I've never seen it in any other SLR camera although it may exist (does anyone out there know of another brand or model?). Leaf shutters are slower than modern focal plane shutters, but have less vibration; do not distort moving objects; and can be synchronized to flash at any shutter speed. They are usually incorporated into the lens, not the camera (e.g. Hasselblad), and are common in Rangefinders (e.g. Paxette and Canon G-III, Leica B-type lenses, and my prized Mamiya 6X6 Rangefinder).
The Canon EF, and the Nikonos have an FPLS, (mine still work, but there were problems in the past) and probably others too. Very quiet indeed, but always, like you said, in very good, not appreciated cameras. Strange.
ReplyDeleteAnother nice thing about them is that the lenses are easily available and cheap. Well worth a small investment.
ReplyDeletePS - my good neighbour gave me his Praktica LTL 3 minutes ago (yes, that's my neighbours!) and it has an FPLS too. I'll test it when the rain stops, but it seems OK now.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking for a local repair shop. I'll get estimates for both.
ReplyDeleteYes there are Minolta lenses everywhere. Since I started with minolta, I'm pretty well outfitted with the lenses. I wanted the XD-11 because it had some unique features. The film advance is the problem, not the shutter, so I'll probably fix it.
Sorry. I don't know. I just started being interested in vintage cameras. I can only handle my simple Duaflex II and the paper pinhole so far. :)
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