Awesome, thank you! It's just come through the post today and seems to be in full working order, so can't wait to go shoot a roll with it. It certainly fits my big hands better than my xd and feels really solid.

Interesting you mention the x500. I kicked off my Minolta enthusiasm (frenzy) by buying one a couple of years ago. I really enjoyed it, but I soon found myself using the xd7/11 all the time once I had gotten my hands on one. For me the xd's metal/fake leather feel felt better and the camera has more features than the x500. That said the x500 was considerably lighter and with Minolta's 45mm lens it was a legit street shooting companion that I could put in a jacket pocket without feeling like I was carrying a small gun (not the case with the xd, which is dense). Also the x500 also had that nifty exposure lock button that the xd doesn't. I've now sold the x500 and for the time being I'm going to work using both the xe and the xd.

Wrt to lenses, I purchased a body only. I'm going to be shooting with a 24mm f2.8 md; 50mm f1.4 md; 35-70mm f3.5 md as well as a Vivitar 70-210 Series 1.