Talk:Minolta X-700

Shutter drive and controls
I added the citation needed because this information was contradicted by someone who is knowledgeable from Rangefinderforum.com: Discussion

From the control aspect, there are these different kinds of shutter systems (I have simplified things for the sake of brevity):


 * Purely mechanical -- A spring is released mechanically from the shutter release button that drives the curtain, and the curtain speed is controlled mechanically.


 * Mechanical hybrid -- A spring is released mechanically from the shutter release button that drives the curtain, and the curtain speed is controlled electronically.


 * Electrical hybrid -- A spring is released electrically from the shutter release button, which is really a switch, and naturally the curtain speed is controlled electronically.


 * Purely electrical -- Electromagnetics drive the curtain and is triggered by the shutter release button, which is a misnomer in this case as it is simply a switch for a horizontal motor.

Obviously you can substitute mechanical leaf shutter for curtain, and the "iris" type leaf shutters are ignored here; they are common in rangefinders and appeared in a few SLRs such as the Voitlander Bessamatic.

I believe that my X-700 has an eltromagnetically driven curtain making it purely electrical, but I don't know for sure (that is without dissecting it).

Arguably the X-500/X-570 is more advanced in some way. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.212.105.216 (talk) 01:09, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

I found this reference: http://books.google.com/books?id=FVYGuuNYF6QC&pg=PA67&lpg=PA67&dq=Minolta+X-700+shutter+mechanism&source=bl&ots=NIWoRxfaUl&sig=lbDPC2DN5_nIdPpyYG5uhlBtdvw&hl=en&ei=BkHlSby9KN-FmQfF9YikDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=5#PPA69,M1 that mentions a "trigger magnet". It seems to me that means that the shutter was sprung in the normal way (springs inside the curtain rollers) and fired by an electromagnet. Does this jive with what you were thinking? I also edited the shutter mechanism description to be, imho, more precise. Jvanhoy (talk) 02:19, 15 April 2009 (UTC)