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Minolta XG-M MD zoom 35-70mm 3.5
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 3:48 pm    Post subject: Minolta XG-M MD zoom 35-70mm 3.5 Reply with quote
Just bought this beauty ,it was sitting in a cabinet for years , full of dust but we'll stored.
Just removed the dust from it , fit in some LR44 batteries and, issues that I had just disappeared (shutting lever loose and blocked etc, release from underneath of the body, for now it seems that is working properly.
There's an issue with the lens, when I've received it, focusing was very very smooth, and after cleaning, it got stuck ti infinity ,no way to release it from there.
Is there any trick with this lens? The optics are nuce and clear ,no fungus, but if dust inside but very little, aperture ok, and focal length ring a bit on the tough side.


PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


So the lens focusing ring is stuck pass infinity I guess, I recall it was working very very unusually smooth before cleaning it.
Did I activate anything on it ?


PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
How did you clean it? By taking it apart?


PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 4:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
only external cleaning, removing dust


PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 5:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
fixed, focusing ring has passed the infinity, probably the hard stop is a bit loose, forcing it a bit , it came to its original position.
This combo is very light and it seems as an advanced camera (i´ve got some other manual bodies)


PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kiddo wrote:
fixed, focusing ring has passed the infinity, probably the hard stop is a bit loose, forcing it a bit , it came to its original position.
This combo is very light and it seems as an advanced camera (i´ve got some other manual bodies)


Good to hear it works, that has never happened to me. If you are going to use the camera be careful not to have the film too tightened. I got some frame overlap on this model. You could hear it slipping when winding to the next frame. I'm not sure why but it happened on a X-300 also.


PostPosted: Wed Aug 23, 2023 8:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've already encountered some issues, sometimes the lever for winding next frame is Gettysburg NH loosen , so I have to actuate the screw underneath , to release it, this camera has been sitting for lots of years without use . Otherwise, seems like everything is working properly, except it doesn't show the aperture on the viewfinder, maybe this lens is not the proper one to show it?


PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 7:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
kiddo wrote:
I've already encountered some issues, sometimes the lever for winding next frame is Gettysburg NH loosen , so I have to actuate the screw underneath , to release it, this camera has been sitting for lots of years without use . Otherwise, seems like everything is working properly, except it doesn't show the aperture on the viewfinder, maybe this lens is not the proper one to show it?


The XG-M has the Judas window and the lens is also correct; it should show the aperture in the finder.

Are you looking low enough into the finder?; the f/# stop shows quite a bit below the screen area in a separate small window and it is somewhat dim; you need quite a bit of light on the aperture ring for it to show clearly in the finder.


PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 8:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
The viewfinder has a little bit of dirt but no way to show the aperture if the lens (I wouldn't call it dust, as it doesn't look like particles ,but a little bigger right on the bottom of the screen). On the other hand , the shutter lever keep getting loosened , each time that happen, I have to release it from the screw on the bottom and is engaging properly. Is there anything I could do to fix it? Some zippo fluid or else?


PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 6:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
kiddo wrote:
The viewfinder has a little bit of dirt but no way to show the aperture if the lens (I wouldn't call it dust, as it doesn't look like particles ,but a little bigger right on the bottom of the screen). On the other hand , the shutter lever keep getting loosened , each time that happen, I have to release it from the screw on the bottom and is engaging properly. Is there anything I could do to fix it? Some zippo fluid or else?


The aperture not showing and the film-wind lever getting loose; there is definitely something wrong there.

For sure zippo fluid is not the answer.

I serviced many Minolta MF lenses but I only occasionally worked on Minolta's film camera's (and then mostly the XD series).

The film wind mechanism on the XG-M isn't as straightforward as it seems; if you are lucky the very top section of the film wind lever and clutch hasn't been put together correctly after someone played around with it.

If you p.m. me I can e-mail you the service manual (for the previous model XG-M, but they are very similar apart from some cosmetic differences). But taking cameras apart isn't for the faint-hearted. For starters taking the top cover off the XG series can be tricky; the metal nut that holds down the top cover underneath the film rewind knob is mounted on a plastic threaded post than can have become brittle/fatigued with age; sometimes that plastic threaded post snaps off Sad
Whilst functionally very good for a budget camera, in terms of construction the XG series weren't Minolta's finest hour.


PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2023 8:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you Mark, for now ,I've been trying it on A speed and it seems that now it won't fail the shift lever , so Will try to shoot it some more ,maybe it will hold on better.
As for the aperture still doesn't show on the viewfinder, so I'll have to keep investigating more.
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