The Vintage Minolta Love Project (VMLP) has been a key driver of Earth, Sun, Film posts from the beginning. The VMLP started with a simple goal—shoot all the major Minolta SLRs from the 1958 SR-2 to the 2004 Maxxum 70. In doing so, I hoped to learn photography, experience Minolta’s technical innovations, and just have fun. By my count, there were 29 SLRs to find and use: SR (2, 3, 1, 7), SR-T (101, 102, 201, 202), XE (7,5), XK, XD (11, 5) X (700, 570, 600), XG (7, M), Maxxum (7000, 8000, 7000i, 8000i, 7xi, 9xi, 700si, 800si, 7, 9, 70). Since some of these cameras were expensive (XK, Maxxum 7, Maxxum 9) or hard to find (SR-2, SR-3, X-600), I figured it would take years to find them alland afford them. (I don’t buy from Japan. I did once, and it was a disaster). All was going as planned until I added lenses to the VMLP.
At the outset, no lenses were included because my budget for lenses was $35.00/lens, and many Minolta lenses were scarce, costly, or both. The first time I looked for an MD Zoom 35-70mm f3.5 or MD Zoom 28-85mm, both were $80.00 or more. Even the 50mm lenses, such as the MC Rokkor 58mm 1.4 PF and MC Rokkor 50mm 1.4 PG, were usually listed at more than $60.00 unless they were beat up. The Maxxum AF 50mm 1.4 was always more than $100.00. Thus, my $ 35.00-per-lens budget excluded most lenses, and they were not included in the VMLP.
Much has changed since February 2020, which, by the way, was the first time I had ever used eBay. It took me a while to work out the best search strategies and find the best sellers on eBay and Goodwill.com. Much to my surprise, I have been able to find everything I sought, even rare or obscure items, often at very good prices. As a result, the scope of the VMLP has grown (again) to include folding cameras, rangefinders, P&S, and TLRs, along with SLRs and lenses. I have become far busier than I ever anticipated in 2020, which raises the question of how to do everything.
Scheduling and planning photowalks have become more complicated because more things are involved. There are photography and art projects that did not exist when I dreamed up the VMLP. As a result, blog posts slowed significantly while I figured things out. The best approach seemed to be to stop everything, work out priorities, and create a plan. Happily, a plan emerged that feels right.
There will be more lens-focused posts and more posts about specific films. At present, there are still many cameras and lenses without user reports. In fact, some I have yet to use beyond basic testing. Further, there are 16 films from Wolfen, Lomography, Svema, Ilford, Kodak, Fuji, and others in the freezer awaiting a first outing. Schedule-wise, I have 26 potential topics for the next four months, including five lens and three camera user reports. In all, things are looking bright. Thanks for coming along for the ride!
