My decision to buy the XE-5 in 1977, with the first paycheques from my first job, was an easy one to make. It was the best-looking camera in the store that I could afford.
It was later on that I learned that:
It was the first SLR Minolta produced together with Leica, as a result of co-operation between Minolta and Leitz. The Leica R3 has the same basic construction, although at least the electronics, metering system and aperture mechanics are different to facilitate spot metering and the use of Leica mount lenses.
The Minolta XE is an extremely well built top quality SLR camera. Its mechanical quality exceeds everything Minolta has made ever since - including its successors, the XD-series, and IMHO also the present top model Dynax 9. Basically it is electronically controlled single lens reflex camera that offers both metered manual and aperture -priority automatic exposure controls with full aperture TTL metering. The body is all metal and designed to hard use. All controls are placed where a photographer is used to have them - there is no such individually placed controls that would require a manual to be learned, like there is in the Minoltas pro SLR, the XM. (http://satnam.ca/cameras/minoltaxe/xemain/xemain.html)
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