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gargoyle38

About

Love vintage toys, Solido French military vehicles, Zeiss lenses, Lumix cameras
Location: United StatesMember since: 11 February 2001

All Feedback (575)

willcleve (445)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past 6 months
Verified purchase
Paid very fast!! Great Ebayer!!
somethingwithsole (30306)- Feedback left by buyer.
More than a year ago
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Hope to deal with you again. Thank you.
varietas_store (673)- Feedback left by buyer.
More than a year ago
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╰⊱⭐⊱╮꧁ Fast payment, please check the tracking number for shipping info, Thank you! ˙ᵕ˙ ꧂╭⊱⭐≺
industry_mall (124068)- Feedback left by buyer.
More than a year ago
Verified purchase
Good buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended.
everyday-digital (11677)- Feedback left by buyer.
More than a year ago
Verified purchase
Good buyer, prompt payment, valued customer, highly recommended.
kehoutlet (126142)- Feedback left by buyer.
More than a year ago
Verified purchase
Good Communication. Great Buyer!
Reviews (10)
03 February 2009
A 35 mm bargain, and great Minolta backup body
The Minolta X-370's are bargains. They are well balanced,have plain and simple to use controls, and are also very sturdy. They represent an era when the excitement was--the camera could actually control settings for you! With the X-370 you set the shutter speed and the camera with correctly coupled lenses sets the aperture for you! All this is too bad later on, because the electronics are the weak spot of the series. Minoltadoc explains it in great deal, and along with Rokkor files, is one of the sites you should really become familiar with before you buy. [Konica Minolta Photo Imaging ceased production of cameras March 31, 2006 and stopped making film a year later. You have to snoop around a little for them, but Konica Minolta still maintains manuals online for both digital and film cameras, including the X-370's, X-300/X7a, X-570-/X-500, X-700, XG-1,XG -7, XG-A, XG-M, as well as CLE, and SR-T 101, 102 and SR-T 202.] The X-370 also has manual options: you turn the shutter dial to manual and have full metering to work with, if you choose. The problem is: when the batteries are down, or the weak leak capacitor is off, the camera locks up. And that is just too darn bad. If this were a more mechanical camera with at least default shutter operation, it would represent a wonderful niche 35 mm film camera. The quick electronics check is: if it meters briefly when you turn it on, then shuts off, you probably have a completely useless piece until you get it fixed. If you turn one on, and it responds as you change the aperture, then you have a working one. I ask sellers to do this, if it is equipment they don't know, and they always seem to get it right. Minolta X-370's are plentiful, and since they were a mainline consumer item, they are often sold these days with complete photographic set ups: extra lenses, cases, flash, filters, a winder, all for under $75. As you learn more about the Minolta system you will discover the other bodies such as the XE, which is a version of -- surprise -- the Leica R 3. If you are into Minolta, X-370 is a great second camera, backup body or perfect for redundant systems when you want cameras loaded with different film available, and that is what happens to the X-370'a I buy.One is loaded with 400, one 200 and one 400 B&W. With the price of X-370's, it is an affordable luxury. It's easy to change lenses, but changing out the film in a 35 mm body is a challenge. Minolta was highly technically innovative. Products are well made and documented. Collectors prize camera literature, the correct shade for the lens, clean and correct shade case and even lenses, series by series. My intent here is not to launch you into that world, but to say if you get a working X-370, you have a real bargain. Numerous off-brand lenses are available as an economical alternative to the Minolta Rokkors, or as supplements to fill in your system. These sell for as little as $10. Expect to pay $65 to $125 for a better Rokkor lens, $300 or so for a super-wide 21 mm. A 17 mm sold recently on ebay for $410.
3 of 3 found this helpful
SOLIDO 1942 U.S. WILLYS JEEP,TRAILER & DECAL's, AVEC REMORQUE, DIECAST,1/43, MIB
06 April 2020
Well scaled , metal, 1/43 scale Jeep utility vehicle made in France
Well scaled 1/43 Jeep works with any diorama WW II through Vietnam and beyond to the 1990's; Solido [of France] is a consistent manufacturer and offers the Jeep in a variety of configurations. All are metal bodies with hard plastic wheels and typically plastic add ons such as the roof. As a practical matter, I wish it was available in 1/50 scale to integrate it with other Solido pieces but --hey -- this is not a perfect world. 1/48 scale figures will work with it. I crew mine with figures pulled from a 1/48 scale model kit and this new one I purchased is headed to a NATO tank-hunting unit featuring some British Dinkys where it joins two Solido Jeep commando versions. [The official designation by the way is Truck, ​1⁄4-ton, 4×4, Command Reconnaissance]
25 February 2009
Lightweight performer for every camera bag
There are zooms and zooms and zooms. The 35~70 mm Rokkor is a minor leaguer among Rokkor zoom lenses in terms of optics and design, but it a wonderful fill-in for every camera bag. It is extremely lightweight: I use it as a companion to a more exotic Rokkor 24~35 mm zoom, but it also makes a perfect companion to a 50 mm or 45 mm, with extender. You can pack a lot of "firepower" around all day long, with a lightweight zoom in this range, a sharp small lens, in a medium or small camera bag -- leaving loads of room for film. You might want to consider it as a basic lens: it covers the range from landscape to a portrait length [sorta, almost], and kicked up with any old 2x extender will give you a surprising number of options. But if you hike, backpack, bike, or do any outdoors things,even goof off at farmer's markets Saturday morning, you can get away with this as your one lens, though, as I mentioned, I would add a 2x extender and a circular polarizing filter [the one with the little lever on the ring if you can find one. You fingers will thank you: they are about 10 times easier to use than the other kind.] These are extremely well priced because they are ordinary among Minolta lens, basically a kit lens that still shares a rich design tradition with its more exotic [and pricey] kin.