Minolta XD series – exploded diagrams

10 Comments

Nico I · 2020-04-21 at 08:40

It’s nice to see another person intrigued by the insides of vintage cameras. I was hoping to make lens reviews of vintage lenses as well for a youtube channel starting with Canon FD and Olympus OM lenses. I even started working on a full fledged documentary on the history of the Canon Breech Lock Lenses (R, FL, FD & New FD). I also see you have some FD reviews as well. I’ve been trying to collect books and documents regarding lenses, but the technical documents are very hard to come by. My best web find was the old MIR website. I don’t want to start filming and producing the documentary until I feel I have enough data. What suggestions do you have with finding documents such as the one in this post?

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Tony · 2020-04-21 at 11:58
Hi. Good luck to you – your targets aren’t easy. I’m not involved in heavy historical research. Maybe because I see how “big guys” do it – the whole life is not enough. I believe that world auctions, local garage-sales, and flea markets – all of these should be farmed everywhere on a permanent base. Also, I recommend finding a translator from Japanese – a lot of materials coming from the country origin. Of course, communities and contacts with other collectors are required – or you have a risk to waste years on well-known and simple things… Yes.. it isn’t a simple target ))
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Nico I · 2020-04-21 at 13:06

Thanks for the info. I’ll check Japanese sources.

Ai/Ai-S Nikkor lenses are much easier to search since they are patented, even the engineers have their names on the patents. I cannot find any R/FL/FD/nFD lenses with patents so it’s much harder to research. I actually emailed Canon if I could get the names of the designers of specific lenses, but it’s apparently a guarded secret. Regarding Nikkor lenses, I think guys like Mr. Rockwell has those lenses covered. Maybe I’ll cover them eventually. I simply feel not many cover the FD System.

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Nik · 2020-08-26 at 11:32

Thank you for posting these. I’m trying to replace the film take-up spool in an XD7 and these diagrams are very helpful for putting everything back together, especially the tiny springs. I was just wondering. The first few pictures have great resolution and are in .webp format. Then the rest is jpegs that are really pixelated around the fine details. Do you happen to have higher res-versions that you could share with me. It would help me a lot. Thanks for maintaining this site, this is where I learned about my radioactive Rokkor 1.2 58 that I inherited.
Greetings
Nik

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Tony · 2020-08-27 at 01:49
Thanks for the info, give me a couple of days, please, I will replace low-res images
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Nik · 2020-08-27 at 13:10

Hey Tony, I googled a little deeper (should have done that in the first place, I’m sorry for bothering before thoroughly searching) and found the complete manual here:
https://learncamerarepair.com/product.php?product=669&category=2&secondary=7
I believe it is the same document those diagrams come from. It can be downloaded there for free in good .pdf quality. Thank you very much for your answer and your help none the less.
Best Regards.
Nik

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Tony · 2020-09-07 at 12:33
Yes, I know about this PDF, anyway I’ve replaced scans for better quality
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Nik · 2020-09-18 at 14:53

The quality is excellent, thanks you for reupping.

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David Squires · 2023-05-08 at 19:02

Hello my name is David, I recently purchased a non working Minolta XD5. After removing the base, I found that the shutter mechanism was sticking, using a blower and fine brush, shutter is now working. Two or three years after the production of these models, I purchased XD7,XD5, XG1. My son had anXG9. All sold some time ago. I have always liked these models. The schematics I have found here are and will be very helpful. Thankyou

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Tony · 2023-05-10 at 15:16
Hello David, thanks and welcome!
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