#minoltaxd5

A couple weeks ago I noticed that the shutter speed chosen while I was in aperture priority mode on my Minolta XD5 seemed slow for the conditions. A quick consultation with my light meter phone app confirmed my suspicion, as the Minolta’s readings were at least a couple stops off. Thinking I had low batteries I popped in some fresh ones, and nope, doing the same thing. Ugh. Even though the…

Man, do I love film cameras. Since I got back into film 3 1/2 years ago, many a camera has passed through my hands. The amount that I let go dwarfs the amount I still have. I like to keep things in check and limit my collection to “a reasonable number”. That number, of course, is a moving target. But one way I’ve kept the numbers down is by sticking with one SLR system. If I get multiple cameras…

Sakura. Chidori-ga-fuchi, Kitanomaru Park at Chiyoda-ku in Tokyo. From flickr user Yoshikazu TAKADA (Creative commons license.) Hello folks! As you read this blog post, I’m in the process of heading to Japan. JAPAN! In all my forty-seven-and-a-half years I’ve only been on the continent of North America and have only visited the US (of course) and Canada. The only time that I was in a land where…

My top three film cameras for 2022, and why

I’m not much of a joiner when it comes to internet stuff. Y’know, whatever “thing” there is to do on the internet, the thing that’s shared amongst your Instagram/Twitter/What have you friends, usually prefaced by a “figured I’d give it a try.” Recently it’s been the whole “you rendered by AI”. I just can’t get into these things, especially since I realize that many of these apps people are using…

My Minolta XD5, about a half-year in

Puzzled person. Cathedral Park, 4 May 2022. Minolta XD5/Minolta MD 50mm f/1.7/Kodak Ultramax 400 Back at the end of April I decided to get my second single-lens reflex (SLR) camera. I loved (and still love) my Minolta SR-T 101, but I wanted something different: something smaller, something that had some automatic exposure settings. Since I didn’t feel like investing in a different lens system, I…

I Shoot Film Ride Report, 28 June 2022

Please note: This post also appeared on our sister site, the Bikes and Film Cameras Club blog. Ah, Portland, I love you. I thought I might be the only person to lead a “pedal bikes, shoot film” typed ride for this Pedalpalooza. But no, there was someone else leading one, someone I didn’t even know! Needless to say I was excited. And since I was in town and had no other obligations for the…

A quick visit to Bend: 28-30 April 2022

Emee at Smith Rock, 30 April 2022. Minolta XD5/Minolta MD 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 Zoom Lens/Kodak Ultramax 400 Last week Emee and I took a quick trip to Bend, Oregon. While we love going there and don’t really need an excuse to go, this time we did have one: Emee bought a new (well, used) car, one that we could only get there. (More on that in a future post.) So it wasn’t as “fun” as usual, as much of…