Minolta X300 by Richard de Bulat
If you have a budget of up to £200 to buy a camera, you have to make a choice about how to spend it: do you buy a more expensive body and a budget lens, vice versa, or a compromise between the two? With this in mind, I chose to compromise, with a Minolta X-300 body with 50mm f1.7 MD lens to which I added a 135mm f3.5 MC Tele Rokkor and a budget Jessops 2x Teleconverter. This whole kit came in under budget, allowing a bit of cash to buy a roll of film and all for under £200. Competition such as the Nikon F90, (a personal favourite) or an Olympus OM2 both broke the budget when you add a decent 50mm lens and accessories, so I thought the Minolta gave the best bang for the buck, as they say.
Taking a familiar walk around the Royal William Yard in some late afternoon sunshine I tried to see what the camera and lenses could do. I was interested, for the most part, in the shadows cast by low angle light, shooting to some extent into the sun and trying to avoid unnecessary flare. In addition, I took a few frames using the 2x teleconverter and 50mm lens for close-up shots of some flowers. Hand held and at slow shutter speeds, the images are slightly soft and more so as I got closer in. The standard and telephoto lenses hold up well and images from the Fomapan 200 developed in Rodinal have a decent grain structure and appear sharp enough without being world beating, which, at this price range is very good.
Like the previous camera I reviewed, the Minolta is a system camera with a range of different bodies offering variously differing and additional functions as well as a wide range of good quality lenses at reasonable prices, so you can build a workable collection over time. The X-300 is an easy camera to use, basic, fully manual and, I think, generally reliable. While it doesn’t have the pull of pro and semi-pro camera names, it does very well as a budget friendly camera that delivers on all the essentials including whatever aspirations you might have as a photographer.
The X-300 is an easy camera to use, one that you can become comfortable with very quickly and use as second nature, that is, to be able to use naturally and without really needing to think about it. There are some cameras that are demanding and cause you to slow down, which is not a bad thing, but neither is it such a bad thing to have a camera that you only need to bring to your eye, focus, take shot after shot and carry it all day without it becoming, literally, a weight around your neck.
Alternatives to the X-300 that you might consider are the Pentax ME or the Olympus OM10, although neither of these cameras have manual controls, which might or might not be important; a Nikkormat is also worth looking at and with all of these choices you can look for a cheaper 28mm lens or in the case of the Nikkormat, a cheaper nifty fifty, which is, overall, a less good lens. At this point, I will stand by my choice and say that the X-300 is one of the better choices you can make with a budget of £200. You will not be disappointed although you may long for a Canon A1 or Nikon FM2 and pay even more for good glass to use with them. If you have professional aspirations, at the start of your learning journey and on a budget, then this will be a good place to start.
Next time, I am looking at going up a notch to a budget of £500.00 and medium format.
