The Minolta XE, known as the XE-1 in Europe and the XE-7 in North America, is a

manual focus In the field of photography, a manual focus camera is one in which the user has to adjust the focus of the lens by hand. Before the advent of autofocus, all cameras had manually adjusted focusing; thus, the term is a retronym. The focus itself ...

, 35 mm

single-lens reflex A single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system (hence "reflex" from the mirror's reflection) that permits the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured. With twin le ...

camera A camera is an optical instrument that can capture an image. Most cameras can capture 2D images, with some more advanced models being able to capture 3D images. At a basic level, most cameras consist of sealed boxes (the camera body), with a ...

produced by

Minolta was a Japanese manufacturer of cameras, camera accessories, photocopiers, fax machines, and laser printers. Minolta Co., Ltd., which is also known simply as Minolta, was founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1928 as . It made the first integrated aut ...

of Japan between 1974 and 1977. It was developed in collaboration with Leica Camera and has many similarities to the

Leica R3 The Leica R3 was a 35mm SLR camera by Leica and the first model of their R series. Leica launched the Leica R3 in 1976. It was the successor of the Leicaflex SL2, and was developed in cooperation with Minolta, together with the Minolta XE bod ...

. The XE uses a

Leitz Leitz may refer to several German companies: *Esselte Leitz GmbH & Co KG, founded by Louis Leitz in 1896, a German manufacturer of office products **Louis Leitz (1846–1918), German inventor and founder of Esselte Leitz GmbH & Co KG * Leitz GmbH & ...

Copal Copal is tree resin, particularly the aromatic resins from the copal tree ''Protium copal'' (Burseraceae) used by the cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as ceremonially burned incense and for other purposes. More generally, copal includes re ...

electronic, vertically traveling, metal blade

focal plane shutter In camera design, a focal-plane shutter (FPS) is a type of photographic shutter that is positioned immediately in front of the focal plane of the camera, that is, right in front of the photographic film or image sensor. Two-curtain shutter ...

supporting exposure times of 1/1000 of a second to four seconds, plus bulb setting. In

aperture priority Aperture priority, often abbreviated ''A'' or ''Av'' (for aperture value) on a camera mode dial, is a mode on some cameras that allows the user to set a specific aperture value (f-number) while the camera selects a shutter speed to match it tha ...

auto-exposure mode, the shutter speed is varied steplessly; in manual mode, the shutter speeds are selected in whole stop increments. The camera has a very short

shutter lag In photography, shutter lag is the delay between triggering the shutter and when the photograph is actually recorded. This is a common problem in the photography of fast-moving objects or animals and people in motion. The term narrowly refers only ...

of about 38ms, among the best for an SLR regardless of manufacturer. Image:Verschlusszeitenrad Minolta XE-5.jpg, Detail Image:XE7NoCvr.jpg, XE-7 with covers removed, exposing the electronics

References

135 film cameras XE {{camera-stub