I'm honored-New addition!

minicoop1985 · Jan 12, 2014

The Minolta XG-SE isn't an overly unique or important camera, but this one has a lot of meaning for me. Long ago, my grandfather needed a camera for business stuff (he owned an excavating company in Lake County, Illinois), mainly, but a lot of our family photos were taken with this thing. It's really quite a big deal to me that my family decided to give it to me, as I'm the one with the least memory of him. To honor his legacy of "urban engineering" (his philosophy was "if it ain't broke, it can be better, I think"), I've managed to get it working again, and hopefully will be shooting with it this week. Really cool piece of family history, even if it's just a run of the mill SLR.

Minolta XG-SE by longm1985, on Flickr

limr · Jan 12, 2014

How great that they gave it to you and you got it working! I'm sure he'd be happy to have it taking more family photos

mmaria · Jan 13, 2014

waiting to see some pics with it

minicoop1985 · Jan 13, 2014

I'll throw a roll through it this week. How long that will take, we'll see. If only I could get my dad, my son, and myself in a shot... That would be perfect.

vintagesnaps · Jan 13, 2014

Looks good in red! Sounds like you'll get a lot of pleasure in using it.

ronlane · Jan 13, 2014

Very cool story. Have some fun with it.

Rick58 · Jan 13, 2014

I know exactly how you feel. My dad gave me my first camera which was a Ansco Viking 6.3 and a Weston II meter. I just ran across that meter the other day. It's hard to believe it's been 42 years. Unfortunately the camera is long gone but I've gotten very close to spending $40 on eBay for a camera I know I'll never use just to replace it

dxqcanada · Jan 13, 2014

It's always a good feeling restoring those items that have ancestral connections.

minicoop1985 · Jan 13, 2014

I plan to use this thing at least once, if not more. I found a Rokkor 50mm f1.7 in the bag too, so that will be a much better lens than a Hanimex zoom, methinks. It's a great feeling having worked on something with that connection.

compur · Jan 13, 2014

Nice camera and vintage Minolta glass is very good.

minicoop1985 · Jan 17, 2014

I've had film in it since I started this thread. Taken a couple pictures with it already. Looks like there's more extreme cold coming our way, unfortunately, so I better get out and finish that roll, so I should have some results by the end of the weekend.

timor · Jan 17, 2014

Rare find, XG-SE was in production only a few months. It is improved XG-7. All you need now is a Rokkor lens from the same period to have a clean set.

minicoop1985 · Jan 17, 2014

Actually, I have three lenses that fit it-an MC mount Rokkor 58mm f1.4 (I have no idea what the difference between MC and MD mounts is, since they both fit the same cameras), Rokkor MD mount 50 1.7, and that Hanimex thing. On it right now is the 50 1.7. I'm very much looking forward to what this 50 can do. Is the Hanimex worth hanging on to? And it's really that rare? Even better!

minicoop1985 · Feb 3, 2014

RESULTS ARE FINALLY COMING! Weather and situational issues FINALLY cooperated. Did some street stuff, gonna see how it came out. Threw it in A mode (don't hate me) to see how well it worked and it locked up once or twice, but otherwise it worked pretty well. Went back to metering with the in-camera meter in A mode then manually setting the shutter speed based on my own theories. Will post the results once I get the film back, which will be later today.