Minolta Maxxum 3xi

I really liked this camera. It took great pictures. It loaded easily. It had a super flash system. It had a power zoom lens. The only reason I'm not still using it is because photography went digital. Mind you it took a while for the digital single lens reflex cameras to appear and since then they have certainly surpassed my Minolta.

The lens cap is not the original that came with the camera. That lens cap was lost very quickly and the one on the camera is a replacement. The device with the string on it is another after market device. It had an elastic bit that went around the lens and that was great until it broke because it chafed on the metallic piece that held it to the elastic part. Since it's held onto the lens cap with forever adhesive the end of the string stays there and dangles. So much for high technology.

Here's the camera with the lens cap off. There is an ultra violet filter on the lens, mainly to protect the outer element on the lens. The lens is removable from the body. There is a button near the red dot that releases it. To put the lens on the body there is a red dot on the lens. Matching the dots positions the lens correctly for attaching it and it snaps in place easily with a gentle twist.

The rubber ring on the lens is the control for activating the motor for the lenses zoom. The rectangular window on the left is a liquid crystal display that gives information about the camera. It also tells how many pictures have been taken on a roll of film.

There are two metal strips at the very front of the camera's hand grip. The camera's circuitry cannot work unless the fingers of the operator touch both those strips.

This shows the bottom of the camera, where you can see the serial numbers for the camera body and the lens. You can see the tripod mounting hole and a lid for the battery that powers the camera.

The battery box is open here. The camera takes a special battery. They may not be made any more. The battery was only available as a non rechargeable alkaline battery and they cost about $20 where batteries were cheap.

This shows the camera with the back door open.

The film cartridge went in on the left. Loading the camera was extremely easy. The film was extended from the cartridge to the red mark making sure the sprockets engaged on the small post just to the left of the take up spool. Then the door was closed and the film was automatically wound into position to take the first picture.

You may notice the camera does not have a film winding lever. That's because the camera automatically advanced the film every time a picture was taken. When the film roll reached the end the camera sensed it and automatically rewound the film back into the cartridge. With a 32 picture film roll I often got 33 and occasionally 34 pictures.