Minolta XD11 Light Meter

[Matt Friedman]

A question about another of my XD11s. This one is very clean, and shutter fires perfectly, BUT it seems to have developed an issue with the light meter. The meter is not COMPLETELY dead, in fact it functions about half of the time. On the other hand, half the time, the over range-indicator arrow lights up regardless of aperture or shutter speed setting. (This is in manual mode.) Strangely, I can get the meter to start working again (most of the time) by either releasing and then reattaching the lens, or by half-pressing the trigger with the lens cap on and the scale indicator window covered.

If this is fixable (oxidation on contacts, or something), ten I'll have it fixed. But if it isn't, I'll cannibalize the camera for parts. The latter is not something I'd really want to do if it is possible to have this repaired -- or to repair it myself. I'd bring it in to a tech, but this is NYC, and that means a $175 bench fee.

 

[tirediron]

What kind of battery does it use? If it's one of the old mercury cells, they can do some very funky things when they're running out of power.

 

[Matt Friedman]

It takes two LR44s. I have the same batteries in the other XD11s (I have three), and they seem to work well enought. And these are fairly new batteries, too. I put them in in June, so they should be okay, no?

 

[Matt Friedman]

So... I asked a friend of mine who also has an XD, and he suggested that I press the button and spin the ASA/ISO ring back and forth a couple of times, and that seems to have solved the problem (for now). Apparently, dust can build up on the contacts.

So it's not as clean as I thought, and I have another camera to bring in for a CLA. Sigh.