XK MOTOR

Trying to describe the Minolta XK motor 35mm SLR is rather like trying to describe a spiral staircase without using your hands. I could begin by saying that it is a singularly elegant and stylish machine. It is also frighteningly swift, agile and efficient in the field. The Minolta XK motor is, in effect, an utter machine. It is not a light camera, nor is it small by modem trends. However, it is actually no larger than several pro SLR 35s on the market equipped with bolt-on drives. Where the Minolta scores is in the fact that the motor drive is built into the camera, or should I say the camera is designed around the drive? In addition to this, the Minolta AES uses one of the most efficient, well conceived, and readable LED metering systems it has ever been my pleasure to field-test. Had enough of superlatives? Well, here's another one. Slip your hand through the padded hand strap and raise the camera to your eye and it becomes an extension of yourself. I cannot fault it and if it weren't for the fact that my editor requires at least a thousand words on the XK motor, I would gladly stop now.

It would be largely superfluous to rewrite Minolta's excellent flight manual that comes with the XK motor. Therefore I propose to deal only with the innovative and (to me) salient features of the camera, leaving you to pester your local dealer to let you test drive the camera or supply you with leaflets.

First, the motor drive. This is a full drive, not an auto-winder. It is fully variable from one frame per second through 2, 3 and 3.5 frames per second. There is also a single-frame mode which operates on the press release system used by many auto-winders. The drive is interlocked with the electronic controls for the metering and the shutter. In effect, the drive is under command from the meter/shutter system and cannot cycle unless unlocked by that system. Should you select the 3.5 fps cycle rate and the scene brightness, aperture and film speed combinations cause the camera to select a shutter speed too slow for the drive to function at 3.5 fps (or any other cycle speed for that matter), the drive will be commanded to reduce its cycling rate to accommodate the camera functions. When any of the exposure parameters change (or are changed), allowing the higher shutter speeds to be selected, then the drive will be returned to its high cycling rate. This prevents the camera from getting all tangled up in itself and the mirror being ripped off its pivots and flung through the rear element of the lens.

There is even a power rewind. Push the lever on the back of the drive until it locks and the film will be rewound, stopping when the sensor pin in the camera feels the leader of the film pull off the take-up spool. A sensing system stops film advance also, so there is no danger of the film being ripped out of the cassette. I see some of you prick up your sharp little ears at the mention of power rewind. Static marks on the film? Sorry, no. I have used the Minolta XK motor in conditions that should produce static marks and have not experienced them. If you don't believe me, you are at liberty to rewind the film via the manual rewind crank. You may even advance the film manually if you wish. When the rewind crank is pulled up to the limit of the spindle's travel, the camera back opens and all the drive systems are returned to advance.

Loading the camera is easy but I found it better to turn the camera off auto and on to the X setting when loading and cranking off the blank shots to come to frame one. Unless the meter is switched on and the camera can see some light through the lens (or believe it or not, the viewfinder window) it tends to go info its mirror-lock-up-sulk-for30-seconds mode. The manual does not tell you this, or at least I couldn't find mention of it. There is also a multiple exposure button on the rear of the drive and a camera reset pin in case you do something stupid. I urge you to read the manual at least twice before taking the camera out to shoot. Do it Minolta's way before you do it yours. Should the camera jam by mishandling on your part, the mirror will lock up. Your choices are either to turn the shutter dial off automatic and on to X, whence the camera will clear and reset (you will lose one frame), or you may press the reset button located on the back of the drive. You can also leave the XK motor alone and about 30 seconds later it will come out of its sulk, emit a click and a zing and be ready for action again. The XK motor is not quite like a computer playing chess with a patsy and refusing to play after two games, but it is no one's fool and won't allow you to wreck it.

Power for the drive is derived from ten 1.5-volt AA batteries which slip into a plastic case which in turn screws to the base of the camera. Power hookup is by a male-to-female plug that engages in the bottom of the camera's permanent grip. There is a test circuit for the motor drive's power source. Should the battery power fall below the camera's requirements, it will refuse to operate. The grip is extremely comfortable and the electromagnetic shutter release is mounted on its top. There is also a standard cable release socket. A small black micro switch is situated on the inside edge of the grip exactly where your second finger can get at it (the index finger fires the camera). Pressure on this "Senswitch," as Minolta calls it, over-rides the more conventional meter mode switch on the back of the AES finder and causes the meter to be switched on and the LED display to function for as long as the "Senswitch" is depressed. So what? So you whip out the camera, flip off the coaxial shutter lock, grab the grip and you are in business real quick.

Now on to the AES finder for the Minolta wonder machine. The AES finder for the XK motor is essentially a dual-range LED read-off system drawing its power from two diminutive 1.5 volt silver oxide batteries housed in the camera body. It is one of the most efficient and easy-to-read LED systems I have ever field-tested. Scene brightness is scanned by a silicon cell located somewhere up in the prism. This being so, the user should have his/her eye tight behind the finder to prevent stray light from entering via the finder window and affecting the reading. With the camera on a tripod or used on remote control there is an eyepiece shutter to prevent this.

With a Minolta MC lens on the camera the aperture selected is displayed in the top center of the finder. The right-hand vertical edge of the viewing screen mask carries the shutter information. On the high scale, shutter speeds from 1/2000 to 1/30 are displayed as white figures against a black background. When on auto, a yellow A lights up at the top of the scale. As the camera meters, a series of red LED dots light up alongside the shutter speed selected by the camera (it is, naturally, an aperture-preferred automatic). Should two LED dots light up simultaneously, then the camera has steplessly selected a speed in between. If the scene brightness changes, causing the meter to read below 1/30, a red inverted triangle lights beside the S at the bottom of the scale. You must now press in and flip the scale change switch on the side of the AES finder. This done, a wondrous thing occurs: a series of red shutter speed numbers light up according to the metered scene. This scale runs from 1/15 down to 8 seconds. Again, should the meter indicate an in-between speed, two figures light up with equal brightness. If it gets too dim for the meter to read at all, then the display will simply black out, indicating that you should engage your own brain. The same thing happens at the top end of the slow speed scale when the scene brightness requires a shutter speed higher than 1/15. Likewise, on the high scale, the LED display will go off if you exceed the meter's coupling range.

LED displays are usually difficult to read when the light is very bright-in snow or beach scenes, for instance. The Minolta AES has the same problems but it is superior in handling them. There is a test button for the meter batteries and should the power fall below requirements, the XK will lock up the mirror until you clear it by the methods described earlier or insert new batteries. 1 am not going to tell you where the spare batteries are stored; you find out for yourself.

There is no hot shoe on the XK but there is a hot shoe contact. You have to purchase the adapter separately and slide it over the manual rewind crank whence it locks until you push in a tiny release pin. Flash synch is either X or FP, selected by a turn button on the side of the lens escutcheon. There is also a standard PC plug, ugh!

As I mentioned earlier, the shutter speeds on the XK motor run from 1/2000 down to 16 seconds on automatic. On manual they run from 1/2000 to one second plus X and B. There is also an auxiliary low range which runs from 2 to 16 seconds. On manual the AES finder will meter in steps from 1/2000 to 8 seconds using a match-the-number system from 1/2000 down to one second on the conventional dial. The shutter speed you choose appears in place of the A for auto and the LED shows you the actual shutter speed as indicated by the silicon cell. If they don't agree, it is up to you to twiddle either the aperture ring or the shutter speed dial until they do. Setting the dial to B will show a B at the top of the scale. You may then engage the secondary shutter dial for shutter speeds from 2 to 16 seconds. There is no match-number system when on B, only the LED readout. X, when set, will also show at the top of the scale and the meter will read (if switched on) in either the high or the low range. Bear in mind though that accuracy when using X may only be expected with shutter speeds of about 1/90 or slower. Still it's a handy thing to have for synchro-sunlight and other such fancy tricks.

X, by the way, is mechanical, as is B. Thus das wunderkind may be used at the X setting even if you did forget spare batteries. Granted 1/90 isn't much but it's better than having the XK as a very expensive necklace. There is a bias range of plus/minus 2 EV in 0.5 EV clicks for exposure compensation. This control is coaxial with the shutter speed dial. A second compensation control is provided for various focusing screens. There is a tiny window on the ASA setting dial atop the prism and you push a tiny pin until the desired screen compensation appears in this window. The film speed range for the XK motor camera is from 12 to 6400 ASA.

The AES finder is turned on by means of a small switch at the rear of the prism. In the off mode the camera may still be "enabled" by holding in the "Senswitch" on the grip. This micro switch overrides the finder switch for as long as you hold it in. With the conventional switch turned to the small red dot position the meter will function but there

will be no LED readout. This is for use when the camera is used on remote such as it might be with an intervalometer. In this mode, when your eye is away from the finder, close the eyepiece blind. When the circled red dot is aligned with the white dot, then the LED display is continuous; this is the way I like to use the XK. Screen and prism changing are delightfully easy and there are a lot of screens to choose from. I immediately switched from an R/F screen to a plain ground glass but there is a screen to suit all needs, lay or scientific. The AES finder on the Minolta XK motor is quite happy to operate as a full aperture reading meter, a la MC lenses, or in a stopped-down mode with manual diaphragm lenses and fixed-stop catadioptric lenses.

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