5 Frames With a Minolta Dynax 800Si – By Simon Forster

By Simon Forster

I’m predominantly a digital shooter with adapted older manual focus lenses, but as I grew up with film, I’ve never quite let it go. Whilst I’ve used a large number of old lenses and own more than I wish to count, I do not own a single Minolta lens, Rokkor or otherwise. I’ve not avoided Minolta lenses, and I’ve owned and enjoyed many of them, but I’ve never been a fan of their (earlier) “glowiness”.

Skipping forwards, I generally view autofocus lenses as the work of the devil, I can appreciate the situations where they can make the difference in making or breaking a shot, but for slow and static shots, AF just gets in the way of fast composition and shooting.

So what’s happened here, 5 Frames with two Minolta AF lenses, a plastic AF Minolta camera and photographs that cost actual money?

I buy and sell used camera equipment, and keep the Dynax purely for lens function testing, but when the opportunity arose to use a 500mm AF mirror lens and a nifty 50mm 1:1 macro, what else could I do, but load a roll of expired Fuji 400 X-Tra colour negative film I had lying around…

Stinging Nettle, two stops over exposed with the 50mm f/2.8 Macro


Wild Cotton, again overexposed for the back lighting with the 50mm

A gull in flight, I was more than a little surprised that I got this one, I struggled with exposure when shooting digitally with the 500mm Mirror, but the Minolta and Fuji combo just went about it’s business without fuss

Canada Goose

Inbound Coot

If I’ve not put you off already, you can listen to me and two more interesting people every week on the Classic Lenses Podcast

The Classic Lenses Podcast
My Website
The Photography With Classic Lenses Facebook Group

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