After settling on a Pentax 645 system, I had little interest in buying more gear. However, a few items have found their way to my door. There are three lenses, two cameras, and a book, and all charmed me with their reputations and unexpected affordability. Clearly, I had no choice.Continue Reading
My first eBay purchase was a Maxxum 7000i with two lenses: a Minolta 35-80mm and a Minolta 75-300mm from the last generations of Minolta’s AF lenses. At 42.00 for the set, which included a flash, I thought I had done quite well. Generally, I was happy with my purchase, andContinue Reading
Those following along will remember my quest to try as many Minolta manual zoom lenses as possible. I am doing this for the VMLP and a little bit for the same reason people climb Mt. Everest. However, in the case of the 80-200mm, f4.5, there is a detective story of sorts. When the Minolta-LeicaContinue Reading
About two years ago, I spied what looked to be a nearly mint black SR-T 101 in a large eBay lot of four lenses, three books, an SR-T SC-II, and a pack of SR-T spare parts. Hoping to fulfill my dream of owning a black 101, I wrote to theContinue Reading
The Minolta AF 35-105mm f3.5-4.5 is an oddity. It is widely touted for its sharpness and has an overall rating of 4.64/5 (sharpness, 4.78) on Dyxum, with the main ding against it being relatively poor flare control. I have seen it mentioned glowingly many times in forums. Yet somehow, IContinue Reading
I did not expect much from the Minolta A. I bought it because, having decided to try Minolta rangefinders, I figured why not start with the first member of the modern 35mm fixed-lens line. The Minolta A is the oldest child in the family of cameras that ended in theContinue Reading
I had heard good things about the AF 28-85mm 3.5-4.5 lens. However, I never set out to buy one—at least not to use. I purchased an “XX” lens from Goodwill but immediately put it on the shelf with the other hard-to-find “XX” items. Perhaps I would have been tempted toContinue Reading
Just to be clear, I never imagined owning an MC Rokkor-X 58mm f1.2 lens. I always saw it as too exotic, too far beyond my simple needs. Occasionally, I take it out of its storage case, stare at it, and then gently put it back. A bold streak hit meContinue Reading
I like knobs and buttons—so do a lot of people. It would seem that by 1995 Minolta had gotten the message and produced the 600si—YES!!!. Like a lot of gear, I heard about the Minolta 600si reading forums posts. I was focused on buying “7” level Maxxums and, at theContinue Reading
The Vintage Minolta Love Project (VMLP), which is nothing more than a way to rationalize buying more Minolta gear than I need, is progressing well. I’m shooting more and have enough material for a few months of VMLP posts. I have used nearly every camera in my Minolta collection multipleContinue Reading
