Minolta Maxxum XTsi

Put a 5400HS on the hot shoe, open up to f/2.8 in noon sun, and the Maxxum XTsi will still fire fill flash at 1/4000. Swap to a flash without HS and it syncs at 1/125, an ordinary figure for a focal-plane shutter. High-speed sync with Minolta's HS units is what makes this light plastic body from 1998 more interesting than it looks.

Minolta sold it under three names. Europe got it as the Dynax 505si Super and Japan as the Alpha Sweet, while a simplified version went out as the Dynax 505si and the Maxxum HTsi Plus. The XTsi is the full one, and the gap to the cheaper si bodies shows on paper. The 400si and 500si stop at 1/2000 and read the scene in eight segments; this one doubles the top speed and uses a 14-segment honeycomb good from EV 1 to 20, plus a spot option from EV 4. You get program, both priority modes, manual, and bulb past the 30-second end. Film speed can be set by hand anywhere from ISO 6 to 6400, so expired stock or a deliberate push doesn't have to take orders from the DX code.

Eye-Start is a habit you either build around or turn off. Sensors by the eyepiece start autofocus as the camera comes up to your eye, so the lens is already moving before you've settled the frame. On the street that feels like a head start. It can also wake when the eyepiece brushes your jacket with the camera hanging on its strap, which is why some owners leave it off. Power comes from two CR2 lithium cells. They are not what a corner shop keeps by the till, so carry a spare pair.

What lets it down is everything outside the spec sheet. The shell is plastic, and the finder, to my eye, is serviceable rather than generous; you frame with it, you don't linger in it. Then there is the history. Konica Minolta left the camera business in 2006 and passed the A-mount to Sony, which carried the mount on in digital bodies, and factory service for Minolta's film cameras like this one has long since ended. The lenses are plentiful and cheap. Factory support for the body is gone. If the electronics fail, buying another XTsi usually costs less than finding someone willing to repair the first.

The spot meter is the part worth learning properly. For a backlit portrait or a bright window behind a dark interior, take your readings with Zone Light Meter, decide which zone the shadows belong on, and set that exposure in manual instead of letting the honeycomb average the scene. Add HSS fill on top and you can keep a bright sky while still lifting a face out of shadow.

If you want an inexpensive A-mount film body to put old Minolta glass on, this is the budget si camera I'd reach for first. The cheaper ones lose a full stop at the fast end, and you will miss 1/4000 the first sunny afternoon you shoot at f/2.8 on ISO 100 film.