Reconsidering Rangefinders: The Minolta Hi-matic 7sII
The Vintage Minolta Love Project began as a stroll through Minolta’s SLR models, starting with the SR-2. No other camera types were given any serious consideration—TLRs were too expensive, point and shoots seemed like a waste of time, and I had an active dislike for rangefinders. Some may find this difficult toContinue Reading
Snake!!!
It’s not as bad as it sounds, but it was, in turns, scary then hilarious. You see, all summer, I had been hearing local stories of copperheads. For those of you unfamiliar with scary snake stories, copperheads play a big role in southern versions, and Cottonmouths are their only realContinue Reading
Cracking Composition: My Favorite Books and References
Composition lies at the center of photography, painting, and drawing. Capturing the viewer’s attention, telling a story, invoking a mood all rely on composition at some level. In my quest to make better images, I have spent much of the last six months studying lighting and composition. I suppose oneContinue Reading
Abraxas
Not long ago, I signed up for cloud storage for my music collection. I started digitizing my collection years ago but had only managed to convert about 100 CDs. Now I have far more than 100, and I had stopped listening to many of them because doing so required diggingContinue Reading
VMLP 16: Minolta (1985) AF 35-70mm f4–Short and Sweet
Look through enough forum posts (there are very few reviews of Minolta AF lenses), and you will likely come across a favorable mention of the 35-70mm f4. It is a good performer that is widely available and costs very little. When putting together a newbie Maxxum camera kit, having theContinue Reading
Looking Forward to Spider Day!
This is Bob—or, more accurately, Bob the 8th Duke of the Window. I have dispatched the duke’s predecessors many times, and now, as always, an heir has shown up to claim the family estate. There is a small crack between the frame and the bottom of the window that isContinue Reading
So…I Bought a Lightbox
Some things look far easier to accomplish than they are. I learned this lesson again when trying to capture images of gear to use for user experience reports. Often, I would set up a spot to shoot and find that window light didn’t work—too much reflection, too dim, wrong angle,Continue Reading
VMLP 15: Minolta Maxxum 7xi—Comme ci, Comme ça
I get that some people love the xi models. I get that one size does not fit all. And I get that Minolta was focused on innovation, which I applaud. I really, really tried to the like the 7xi—I really did. The xi camera series is an example of technologyContinue Reading
Garden Frame: Bella, Bellflower
Description: A bellflower cluster (Campanula Carpatica) shot in the late afternoon sun Background: I knew almost nothing about bellflowers when I bought this plant. What little I knew had been gleaned from the label on the pot. They made their way to the garden by overwhelming me with their bluish-purple color presentedContinue Reading
Buying Film: Places and Prices
Over the last two years, I have seen emulsions disappear and prices skyrocket. For example, two years ago, I bought two rolls of 35mm Kodak Ektar to use for garden shots. Those two rolls sat in my freezer until this July, when I finally used one. Thankfully, many of theContinue Reading
