The Minolta X-300 is a solid and sturdy camera offering all features making up a good amateur tool. It was my first SLR and my specimen worked well without the need for any service over many years.

The basic features of the X-300, as offered by most other manual-focus amateur SLRs are aperture-priority automatic mode or fully manual operation, self timer etc. In addition it is equipped with an AE lock, which for my personal style of operation is essential (this is e.g. in contrast to the Minolta XG-9), an on-off switch (no, although this is a very useful feature, it is not obligatory, see e.g. the Yashica FX-D), and a very nice touch sensor on the shutter release, which switches on the light meter. This works very well in practice. The light meter has a center-weighted integral characteristics and is very precise. Altoghether a very nice user camera, in particular for the beginner.

The X-300 is the lower-end model of a series. The more expensive models X-500 and X-700 possess more features such as an exposure-time priority automatic mode, a fully programmed mode, depth-of-field preview, etc.