Minolta X-370 with MD 50mm f/2 lens

35mm SLR Film Camera with 50mm f/2 lens

Body Serial no. 8098451
Lens Serial no. 148914

The X-370 was the final link in a chain of Minolta manual focus (MF) consumer SLRs that were a direct response to the unmatched sales success of the Canon AE-1. Within a year of the AE-1’s debut in 1976, Minolta fought back with the XG-7 (XG-2 in Europe & XG-E in Japan). Coming in at two-thirds the cost of the class-leading, enthusiast-targeted XD, the XGs would serve as the template for the X-xxx series, which would terminate with the X-370. Per Minolta's wont, the XG models changed designation according to sales region (North America vs. Europe vs. Asia, in this case). They were Minolta's first hybrid-construction SLRs, featuring glass-reinforced polymers ("plastic" for the less-verbose ;-)) with an aluminum front plate & film gate and a steel plate based around the tripod mount to stiffen the entire assembly. As time went by, Minolta tweaked their design and production techniques to make the most of this modular platform. Over the eight-year interval from the original XG-7 to the X-370's introduction in 1984, 35 to 40 grams of material was shaved from the construction. Electrical circuits were also simplified over time.