Minolta X-300/X-370 and Licensed Clones

This is a nifty Minolta I picked up recently. It was only sold in Europe branded as the "X-300." Here in North America, it was sold with the name "X-370." And while Europe had both silver and black, and all-black bodied cameras known as the X-300, here in America, they didn't release an all-black X-370. Minolta did release an all-black bodied X-370 but it was known as the X-7A. Very confusing.

This is the more common black and silver version of the Minolta X-300. They also came in an all-black bodied version. They were named the X-370 for the North American market and there wasn't an all-black version of the X-370. Well, there was, but it was called an X-7A.

Picked this up recently off eBay. This Minolta X-370 was sold as the X-300 in Europe.

On Monday, there was a package that arrived in the mail with four used Minolta camera bodies. This Minolta X-370 was one of them. The auction I won said that all four bodies didn't work, but this one just had the dreaded "bad capacitor" issue. I soldered a new capacitor in it and now it works perfectly! Since I only paid $30 for all four cameras, that means this one was a bargain at $7.50. The other three that came with this one was a Minolta X-300s, a Minolta Maxxum 7000 and a Minolta XG-7, which also works because I took this picture with it. Camera: Minolta XG-7 Lens: Soligor MC C/D Zoom + Macro 35-140mm, f/3.8, @140mm and macro Film: Kodak Gold 100 (expired on 10/2011 and shot @25 ISO) Shooting Program: Manual Aperture: f/22 Shutter Speed: “B” (bulb) 15 seconds Date: May 19th, 2020, 4.23 p.m. Location: Norris City, Illinois, U.S.A. Developing Chemicals: Unicolor C-41 Water pre-soak: 1 minute at 102 degrees Developer: 3 mins. and 30 secs. at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes (to keep chemicals clean) Blix: 6 ½ minutes at 102 degrees Water rinse: 2 minutes at approx. 100 degrees Stabilizer: 1 minute at room temperature Water rinse: 2 minutes Kodak Photo-Flo 200: 1 minute Minolta XG-7 Kodak Gold 100 2020 08if

Another nifty Minolta SLR I picked up earlier this year. I've already used it and it works fine.

In 1984, Minolta released the X-300 in Europe and it came in either black and silver or all black. In America, they called the same camera the X-370, and it only came in black and silver. In 1985, they released the X-7A in America and Canada and I've read where it was supposed to be the all-black bodied version of the X-370. So, that's what this is.

My second of two Minolta X-7As. I really like the sound of the shutter - so like a Minolta should sound like.

This works great like a true Minolta is supposed to.

Both of my Minolta X-7A cameras side by side.

A more proper shot of this fine Minolta camera.

Another old Minolta I picked up off eBay. It arrived on Friday, September 3rd, 2016 and I shot a roll of Kodak Portra 160 in it on Saturday. This picture of it was taken at the Denny's in Carbondale, Illinois.

After the X-300 had been out a couple years, Minolta updated the body styling. They called this camera the X-300s for the European market and the X-370n for the North American market.

A variation of the Minolta X-370 (X-300) I picked up recently

I picked up this great old Minolta X-9 last year, but only got it photographed a couple weeks ago. It's almost the identical same camera as the Minolta X-370N, but with the addition of a depth-of-field preview button. It works great and uses all my Minolta MD and MC-mount lenses.

This Centon DF-300 is a clone of the Minolta X-300 and it even has the Centon-branded lens on it.

Another clone of the Minolta X-300 I picked up recently off eBay.

I just got this camera earlier this week and ran a roll of black and white film through it yesterday. It takes the Minolta MD mount lenses, and you can see I've got one on in the picture. The reason it takes the Minolta mount lenses is because it is an officially licensed camera by Minolta, made in the Chinese Seagull factory and is actually a rebadged Minolta X-300. When Minolta moved their production to China in 1990, they had the Seagull factory take over building their manual-focus cameras. This was one such camera and Seagull used many different names for this camera. I have found at least 14 different names their Minolta X-300 copies went under. Names such as: Centon DF-300 Soligor SR-300 MD Kalimar KX 5000 Vivitar V50 Seagull DF-300 Seagull DF-300A Seagull DF-300X Carena DF-300 Carena SX-300 Phoenix P-3000 Argus DF-300 Revue DF-300 Safari DF-300 Samyang DF-400x Texer EX-3 Zenit DF-300 Zenit DF-300x Kinon X-380

This Soligor SR-300 MD is a clone of the Minolta X-300. And of course it works perfectly swell!