Minolta X-370s

Two AAA-sized cells and a column of red LEDs. That is the whole working theory of the Minolta X-370s. Minolta built it in the mid 1990s, long after most buyers who cared had moved to autofocus Maxxum bodies, and aimed this manual-focus SLR squarely at students, schools, and anyone who wanted a working SR-mount camera cheap. It kept the old Rokkor glass relevant and in classrooms for one more run. You could buy one new with a 50mm f/1.7 and learn the zone system on it without spending much, which is exactly why so many photography programs handed them out.

In the hand it feels lighter than it should, because a plastic-topped shell sits over a metal core. The viewfinder is better than the bargain reputation suggests, decently bright, with a split-image rangefinder spot ringed by a microprism collar, so you have two ways to confirm focus. Down the right edge runs that LED column, lighting up next to a shutter speed. Read it carefully, because this is the part people get wrong about the X-370s. You can let it pick the speed for you. There is aperture priority here. You set the aperture, the center-weighted meter reads the scene, and the camera chooses the shutter speed automatically, with the LEDs showing you which speed it picked. There is also a manual mode where you set both yourself and use the LEDs as a guide. That covers it, from 4 seconds up to about 1/1000 with flash sync at 1/60.

The shutter is electronic, and that is the catch. No batteries, no camera. Pull the cells and you have a paperweight with a B and an X setting and nothing else. The meter is honest but it is center-weighted, so it does what center-weighted meters do. Point it at a snowfield and the snow goes gray. Shoot a backlit portrait and the face falls into mud. For those scenes I take an incident or spot reading with the Zone Light Meter app, place the shadow I actually care about where I want it on the scale, then dial that exposure in by hand instead of trusting the body to average a hard scene into nothing.

Film loading is the simple swing-back affair you expect, with a manual advance lever and a wind that is satisfying enough. No built-in motor drive, which keeps it quiet and keeps it cheap. The build is the weak spot owners complain about. Light seals turn to goo after thirty years, the plastic top plate cracks if you drop it, and the wind lever can feel loose next to the older all-metal Minoltas like the SRT line. None of that kills the camera. A ten dollar seal kit and an afternoon clear up the usual faults.

Today the X-370s gets cross-shopped against the Pentax K1000 and the Canon AE-1 Program, and it is usually the cheapest of the bunch. People weigh it against the K1000 and pick the Minolta when they want a finder readout instead of a bare needle. The real reason to buy one, though, is the lenses. Rokkor glass stays a bargain and stays lovely. Find a body with clean seals, feed it two fresh cells, and it earns back its price many times over.