A moment of great weakness...

Stephanie Brim · Apr 14, 2008

And now I have a Minolta SRT-101 plus 58/1.4 lens coming to me.

Yes, I'm using a large format camera now. Yes, I just sold a Nikon SLR. But this cost me $47 with post and it just screamed "BUY ME" on the auction site. So...I did. And now I have a 35mm SLR again.

How IS the 58mm? I'm looking for something soft wide open for portraits.

unohuu · Apr 14, 2008

you are going to love the camera, if nothing else for the sheer simplicity of the camera. the 58 f/1.4 is a wonderful lens as well. enjoy. remember mirror lock up is your friend. beware though, you may become addicted to the creamy bokeh of some of that marvelous Minolta glass.

Stephanie Brim · Apr 14, 2008

And said glass is CHEAP. My God. So many good lenses at prices I could never even dream of finding a Nikkor for.

BradS · Apr 14, 2008

Shhhh! don't tell everybody! Minolta glass is like...the best kept secret. Just quietly buy and enjoy.

GeorgK · Apr 14, 2008

Hi.
The 58mm should give you nice "soft" (low contrast) pictures fully open.
Regarding the camera, check the shutter speeds with a test film (slide) first. The 1/1000 almost defintively will not work properly, maybe the 1/500 also might have problems. This is typical for older cloth-shutter cameras.
There is a lot of great glass around for the Minolta bayonet, where the best ones can put their Nikon counterparts ashame, but for usually 40-60% of the price. Just check the web for recommendations.

Regards
Georg

Eric Rose · Apr 14, 2008

The very first camera I bought with my own money was a Minolta SRT 101. I bought it new and the only reason I bought the SRT was because David Hamilton used one and I thought.....well never mind LOL. I eventually sold it when I started doing news photography because the lens was to soft. So if you looking for a nice soft lens I'm sure you will be happy. The Minolta glass is very nice and reproduces color very pleasingly. One thing to keep in mind if the meter is still working is that it is very bottom weighted which can throw you off if you are doing verticals.

Stephanie Brim · Apr 14, 2008

I plan to use my hand held Gossen Luna Pro F.

At $47 I figure I can add a little bit to that for a CLA at some point...I just hope it comes to me working. I plan to run a test roll of film through it (probably just some Tri-X or something) to make sure.

arigram · Apr 14, 2008

You can always sell the game console and games to fund another camera, like that RB67...

Stephanie Brim · Apr 14, 2008

I can't sell them all, but I plan to sell at least something. I have a lot of rare RPGs that we now have two copies of because I had one and he had one before we moved in together. I'll sell mine and we'll keep his.

photophorous · Apr 16, 2008

I got an SRT 101 with a 58/1.4 not too long ago. I only recently got some shots back with the 58, taken in the f/1.4 to f/2.8 range, and I'm very pleased. The bokeh is amazing...great for portraits. I was surprised at how much shallower the DOF is, when compared to a 50mm. It is soft at f/1.4, but stopping down a little sharpens things up nicely and you still get nice creamy bokeh.

I haven't used the SRT yet, because I have another Minolta body. It appears to be working, but the light seals and mirror bumper have disintegrated and left tiny pieces of foam all inside the mirror box. This is common for cameras from the 60s and 70s. I plan to put mine in rehab eventually...just been to busy.

Good luck with yours.

Paul

Soeren · Apr 17, 2008

Stephanie Brim said:
And said glass is CHEAP. My God. So many good lenses at prices I could never even dream of finding a Nikkor for.

Hmm Maybe I have just been to lucky. Over the last year or so I was given a Nikon FM with MD12 and a 50mm f/1,8 AIS, a 300mm f4,5 AIS and at my/our wedding party my big brother handed me his Nikon F3 with a 55mm f/3,5 AI Mikro Nikor as a bonus gift.
Some years ago I was given a Nikormat FT3 sans lens. So even Nikons and Nikors can come cheap
kind regards

Steve Roberts · Apr 17, 2008

In the mid-1970s when me and all my teenage photographic pals were messing around with Pentax Spotmatics (OK, I still do!), Praktica Super TLs, Zenit Es, etc., one chap returned from Oz with a Minolta SRT100b. Compared to the Minolta everything we others had seemed quite agricultural, as on the Minolta the focussing, film advance, shutter action and so on all seemed so much more refined.

Steve

srmcnamara · Apr 17, 2008

I picked up an SRT-201 last spring. The off-brand 35mm lens is worthless and the 55 1.7 I haven't used enough to know but hey it was only 3 bucks. the 135 2.8 is a beast.

I really can't wait to get more lenses. I think a friend has got a whole bucket full of lenses from ebay but I'm not sure. It really does work like a dream.

Drew B. · Apr 17, 2008

Stephanie...you have a sickness. Get help before it is too late!

Stephanie Brim · Apr 17, 2008

Eh, this is for baby photos. I realized that Rinoa is just way too little to shoot with a 4x5. She's not one to sit still.

I did, however, get one shot of her that I plan to upload as soon as I have it developed and scanned.

Steve Roberts · Apr 18, 2008

srmcnamara said:
but hey it was only 3 bucks.

What's not to like about it at only 3 bucks????

Steve

panchro-press · Apr 18, 2008

You're not giving the Crown a fair chance, Stephanie. It can move every bit as fast as your Little One. Just don't light the cigar.

Stephanie Brim · Apr 18, 2008

Well, I just got it in the mail today. The shutter is on (as far as I can tell without shooting a film), and even the slow speeds sound accurate to my ear. Don't know about the meter, but I didn't really care about it. There are a few marks on the lens, but nothing substantial that should have any impact on images. The film door is a little hard to open, and would like some suggestions as to how to loosen it up a bit. I was thinking WD-40, but don't know if that would be a good idea.

All in all I'm pleased.

A moment of great weakness...

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