Pimping Minolta XD 11

"The Minolta XD11 is a magnificent manual focus camera, and a tribute to what engineers were able to create prior to the start of the “disposable plastic” era." (The Rokkor Files). So true!

Couple months ago I came across Minolta XD 11. It looked bad. The leatherette was shrunk (a known issue with these cameras) and also completely missing on the front left side.

But mechanically it was in perfect condition. So I picked it up for $ 5 and then spent another $ 20 on the new leatherette kit from Cameraleather ("Minolta Black"). BTW, excellent service!

Several weeks later (just be patient, it takes time to produce the kit) it was arrived. After carefully reading and re-reading instructions on Cameraleather site I took the plunge and changed the skin.

How did I do it?

1. Peel off the old leatherette

2. Peel off the glue residue that still remains on the body

3. NB: pay special attention to small spots, corners and clean them up really well.

4. Check one more time that camera' body is really clean and that old leatherette and glue are completely removed.

The "skinless" camera looks very cool! I am wondering what this black mark (hieroglyph?) on the right side is??? Any ideas?

5. Apply the new skin as per instructions here. And now your camera should look like this:

Overall it was easy and strait forward,  the whole procedure took about 30 minutes from start to finish. Just follow the instructions and make sure that you fully understand each step and your hands are steady:)

Now the camera looks nice and clean.

But I am still missing its "skinless" look a lot :)

Thanks,
vkphoto