The Minolta XD/XD-7/XD-11 was developed in collaboration with
Leica, and its design influenced the
Leica R4. Marketed in 1977, it was sold in Europe as the XD-7, in North America as the XD-11, and in Japan as the XD. It was avalaible in two versions, one chrome and one black. It was Minolta's first SLR camera to feature both
shutter priority and
aperture priority automatic
exposure modes, as well as a program automatic mode, albeit not described as such on the camera or in the manual. The camera also offered fully metered manual exposure as well as
depth of field preview and an eyepiece shutter. Also, included were fully mechanical "O" (1/100 sec) and
bulb settings, which allowed it to operate without a
battery. The XD-7 was the top-of-the-line Minolta camera when it was in production and retains a reputation for quality. It was Minolta's last
metal-bodied SLR design before the company switched to
plastic with the
X-700. There was also a less-expensive version of the XD-7 called the
XD-5. Introduced in 1979, the XD-5 was mostly identical to the XD-7 but without some higher-end features like the eyepiece shutter or the display of the selected shutter speed in the viewfinder in manual exposure mode. A black variant with a viewfinder diopter instead of the eyepiece shutter called the
XD-S was also offered in Japan. Many professional photographers have used the XD-7. One of the best known is
Harry Benson, who often acknowledged the XD-7 in the various photography books he published in the 1980s. == Specifications ==