In November1977, with some cash from my first 4 paycheques working in Housekeeping at Sunnybrook Hospital, I went to Black's Cameras at the Don Mills Centre, then a nondescript strip plaza. We had arrived in Canada in early July 1977, and I landed a job at Sunnybrook 2 months later.
I can't really say what compelled me to spend most of my hard-earned cash on an advanced SLR camera. This was my first camera; no Kodak Instamatics in my past. My Dad was an inveterate photographer with his Canon Canonet QL17, and he also was a collector of other people's photographs.
I settled on a Minolta XE-5. I would have preferred the Minolta XE-7 but that was more expensive. I hadn't done any research; I just knew that the Minolta XE-5 was a good-looking camera.
In the years since then, I have owned medium-format Hasselblads, Mamiyas, and Yashicas and Bronicas, 35mm Rolleis and Nikons, and even a Leica R3, 110 Kodaks and Rolleis, and 4x5s from Toyo, Graflex, and Nagaoka. I've had to sell gear to acquire other gear. I was never into collecting cameras and associated gear. The gear I had was the gear I used. But my heart always went back to that Minolta XE-5.
Over the years, I've looked on Kijiji and Craigslist for a well-preserved XE-5, to no avail. I don't trust eBay; if I can't feel it in my hands before purchase, I won't consider the purchase.
Recently, I came across a near-mint-for-its-age XE-5. Here it is, with an MC Rokkor-PF 58F1.4!
I will never part with this camera!
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