I succumbed!!

[PeterW]

Hi all,

OK, I know I said I wasn't going to get another SLR with a different lens mount, and that I hadn't got a Minolta SLR.

Well, as of this morning that's all gone haywire. As is my usual wont on a Sunday morning I was browsing the stalls at our local boot sale. There hasn't been a decent camera there for weeks and weeks, but then I spotted an SLR hding behind a box of jigsaw puzzles, and fished it out.

It was a Minolta XG 9, just like the one on your website Randy, except that it had a huge Tokina 28-70 3.5-4.5 Macro Zoom on the front together with a Cokin filter holder. As I picked it up the stallholder volunteered the information "That one don't work, mate. Jammed. Cheap if you can do anything with it." I seemed to remember reading somewhere, possibly here, that the XG 9 is completely battery dependent, so I thought I'd take a chance.

We haggled over the definition of 'cheap' for a few moments then he said "Tell you what I'll do. I'll throw in this with it for the price."

'This' was a Praktica PLC3 with a Pentacon Electric 1.8/50 lens. Everything worked OK except that there was no battery, and I haven't got one to fit it at the moment, so I don't know if the metering works or not. Two for the price of one seemed fair enough, so I bought them.

A few stalls further on was one where the guy sells all sorts of batteries, unlocks mobile phones etc, so I bought a couple of 1.5 volt button cells and popped them into the bottom of the XG 9 in place of a couple of dead ones.

Bingo!! Everything came to life.

Both cameras were a bit dusty and grubby, but they've cleaned up really well.

In the cafe, I met up with John who said "Here you are, Dad. Play with this." He handed me a little P&S Olympus Superzoom 115 which I haven't been able to try yet as agian I haven't got a battery to fit it. In return I gave him the Cokin filter holder because he likes Cokin whereas I prefer separate screw-in filters.

Then, would you believe, I found another Minolta ... well, it's got Minolta's name on it. It's a black plastic P&S Riva Zoom 35-80mm with AF and red-eye reduction. A real idiot's P&S. The batteries (two AA alkalines) still had life in them, the lens zoomed, the shutter fired, and I thought 'Oh heck. For a pound it must be worth playing with'.

So, taking all in all, I had a very good morning. I've got some new toys to play with .

PeterW

[doubs43]

Peter, that's a nice haul for a Sunday morning. Good going!

The PLC3 uses a Varta V21PX battery that looks similar to an AA battery but isn't as it's 4.5 volts IIRC. While the electric Pentacon lenses (Meyer and CZJ also made some) meter full open, other M42 lenses can be used and meter stopped down.

I like Praktica's L-Series cameras as well as the similar Exakta RTL-1000. They don't have the heft of, or feel as "solid" as, a Pentax but one in good condition will serve well. The weakest point of that entire series seems to be the plastic wind/re-wind sprocket with the shaft going through it. The contact surface between the shaft and sprocket when winding forward isn't overly great and can break or strip out. A complete tear-down is necessary to replace those parts. The shutter, OTOH, is robust and accurate.

As I said, I like the Prakticas and your "new" PLC-3 should be a fun camera to use those M42 lenses on.

Walker

[Dan Vincent]

Peter,

I wish I could tell you how great a Minolta XG-9 is but I don't have one yet. I'm hoping to get a black one to add to my Minolta stable. It's the last of the XG series that still has the full covering with no bumpy grips like the XG-M and X-700.

Whenever I get another camera I sometimes wonder if it needs new light seals or possibly a replacement capacitor. The light seals are used on most SLR's so I don't consider that a Minolta problem.

I wish you the best of luck and if your XG-9 works OK you may be watching for lenses on ebay.

My Tokina AT-X Macro Zoom is 28mm to-85mm which consistantly give sharp pictures. Your Tokina may surprise you

[GeneW]

What a haul! That's quite a good morning's work, Peter.

Gene

[Just Plain Curt]

Wow Peter, when you get lucky you REALLY get lucky. Nice haul, both with the SLR's and point 'n shoots. Sounds like we're in for a few new pictures??

[John Parry]

Hi Peter,

Join the club - there's no hope.....

I've really been quite taken with the XG-M, and by the time I get my latest purchases should have a reasonable lens choice. 50mm Rokkor, 28mm Vivitar, 28-85 2.8 Vivitar, and 50 - 135 3.5 Rokkor. Understand the XG-9 is very similar except it's manual setting is manual (it doesn't tell you what it thinks you should be doing. You won't have any problem with that!

The PLC3 is a nice piece of kit. I have a PLC2. While it's second nature to stop down to meter with an 'L-series' it's really a nice luxury to have open aperture metering. Batteries are a little dear, but you can get around that by putting 3 LR44s in a plastic tube, with a spring separating two of them. I made a tube from OHP transparency sheet. Works fine!

Regards - John

ps BTW - talking of OHP transparencies. Tried making up some ND Grad filters using a good quality Laserjet on OHP sheets. The theory is fine. But they think Rodinal is grainy?

[PeterW]

Thanks, Walker, Dan, Gene, Curt and John.

I just checked in my cameras notebook and it's eight weeks since I found anything worth having at the Ashford boot sale. So choose whichever of the old sayings you prefer: either it never rains but what it pours, or everything comes to those who wait. My philosophy is, never run after a bus, a woman or a camera. Just wait a bit and another one'll come along. ;D

Walker, thanks for giving me the number of the Praktica's battery. I can buy a replacement alkaline battery for the V21PX from the Small Battery Company, but at the rather steep price of £9.99, that's about $20, and far too expensive.

So what I think I'll do is what John suggested and put three cheap 1.5 volt LR44s in series inside a tube, plastic if I can find one or rolled plastic and tape if I can't, then find a spring or make up some sort of distance piece to make the whole thing 5cm long, the length of a V21PX. I'll have to dig around and see what I can come up with. I'll keep you all posted. Alkaline should be fine because the camera ought to have a Wheatstone Bridge metering circuit which doesn't need a specific voltage, it just balances the available voltage each side of the 'bridge'. As long as there's enough voltage to work it, and not so much that it burns out, it should stay accurate.

I've also got a Carl Zeiss Jena 1.8 Pancolor M42 electric which I've had for some time on a non-working VLC so it will be interesting to compare the Pentacon lens with that.

Dan, I've been looking around the net for info on the XG 9, but there isn't a lot about and I can't find a free manual to download. But I think by inspection I've sussed most of it.

It seems to be a little bit bargain basement, or perhaps I should say amateur-oriented, compared with some other Minoltas in that it's got only aperture priority auto exposure. You take the first pressure on the shutter release and, if you turn the aperture ring a small red LED runs up and down a list of numbers to tell you what speed the camera has chosen. But at least it seems to be open aperture metering.

There isn't any speed priority metering, let alone auto exposure. When you turn the speed dial off A and go any of the marked speeds the metering seems to shut off completely and you've got a plain ordinary fully manual camera, which I don't mind at all, though I've sometimes found a choice between shutter and aperture priority auto exposure very convenient. Maybe the Minolta King Randy will confirm this?

On a few dummy runs with no film in I found the camera was nice to handle, and the Tokina lens is in beautiful condition. As well as the Cokin filter holder there was a Hoya skylight filter on the front, and the lens glass is perfect. The zoom and focusing rings are smooth and have nice rubber grips round them. On macro setting it focuses down to just under 5 inches from the front of the lens. Quite impressive. I've put a roll of Kodak Gold 400 in it and I'm looking forward to seeing the results. When I've finished the film I'll post them.

Thanks again all for your interest.

PeterW

[Randy]

Peter, congrats on the big haul. The XG-9 is the caddillac of the XG-Series Minoltas, not to be confused with the X-Series. The XG-9 has a non locking Depth of Field Preview Button which can be found on the right front side of the camera by the lens. It also has the advanced and very bright Accu-Matt focusing screen from the Leitz designed Minolta XD-11. More information can be found HERE.

[vintageslrs]

Peter

Good for you!
A couple of nice deals. ;D

And I think that XG 9 must be similar to the XG 7 that was just given to me. I was quite impressed with the XG 7 and enjoyed using it.

Good Luck and Enjoy!
Bob

[Randy]

Peter, this place has an XG-9 manual for $10 plus shipping....... MANUAL

[doubs43]

peterw said:

Thanks, Walker, Dan, Gene, Curt and John.

Walker, thanks for giving me the number of the Praktica's battery. I can buy a replacement alkaline battery for the V21PX from the Small Battery Company, but at the rather steep price of £9.99, that's about $20, and far too expensive.

So what I think I'll do is what John suggested and put three cheap 1.5 volt LR44s in series inside a tube, plastic if I can find one or rolled plastic and tape if I can't, then find a spring or make up some sort of distance piece to make the whole thing 5cm long, the length of a V21PX. I'll have to dig around and see what I can come up with. I'll keep you all posted. Alkaline should be fine because the camera ought to have a Wheatstone Bridge metering circuit which doesn't need a specific voltage, it just balances the available voltage each side of the 'bridge'. As long as there's enough voltage to work it, and not so much that it burns out, it should stay accurate.

I've also got a Carl Zeiss Jena 1.8 Pancolor M42 electric which I've had for some time on a non-working VLC so it will be interesting to compare the Pentacon lens with that. PeterW

Peter, I agree; the V21PX or it's replacement is too expensive and John's solution is MUCH cheaper! The last Praktica that I bought is an LLC and uses the same battery. It came with an "AA" battery in it and even at 1.5 volts, the meter worked!! The problem was keeping the terminals in contact with the battery.

The Pancolar is a fine lens and should give excellent pictures. Then again, the Pentacon Electric is also a fine lens and I doubt that you see much difference. My Pancolars are all non-electric and I've been keeping my eyes open for one but they don't come along often. One of these days, though...... For anyone who wants a normal M42 Pancolar, I found mine on several Praktica Super-TL cameras and they went cheaply because few people wanted the camera. I really didn't either but I did want the Pancolar lenses. BTW, the sellers didn't identify the lenses. I did using the pictures they included.

Walker

[Microdad]

That's a great haul Peter! Next time I'm in the UK I'll go camera shopping with you!

[wolves3012]

If you don't already know the site, you may want to look on:

members.aol.com/manualminolta/

Good site on virtually all manual-focus Minoltas :-) with the XG-9 on:

members.aol.com/manualminolta/xg9.htm

Nice camera, if only it had metered on manual it'd have been better still, but that was the XG-M I guess. Nice bright acute-matte screen and viewfinder aperture display.

[Randy]

That was the link I gave him in my post.

[wolves3012]

admin said:

That was the link I gave him in my post.

Whoops - so it was!