The Minolta X-700 was my first “serious” camera and served me well as my only SLR from 1985-1994 by giving me consistently well exposed images.Įven as a teen, I was getting roll after roll of consistently good results. I’ve always considered the Minolta X-700 that I got in 1985 my first “serious” camera. It wasn’t until 1985 when Mom bought us a Minolta X-700 that I started getting (to me) great results, certainly better than I was getting previously. I guess you could liken the experience to the innocence of a child before the realities of the world corrupts them.Īs mentioned on these pages before, I dabbled in photography in the early 80s with my parents cameras with mixed results. It was photography in its purest form in my opinion before it became the “game.” A game of “you should do it this way or that way.” You should use this camera, buy this lens, etc, etc. You could say I started out photography the wrong way! Yet, some of those early photographs are the ones I cherish most. The knowledge of light, aperture, shutter speeds, composition, that came later as I started buying books and magazines. I knew nothing about aperture and shutter speeds but those early days of photography experimentation are the ones I cherish most. A selfie of two wannabe rockstars ? Shot with a Minolta X-700 and 50mm f/1.7 MD lens. And that still shapes a lot of how I approach things today. I knew nothing about composition or the rules of photography. I knew nothing about aperture or shutter speeds. Before I really got into photography, the camera was just a way of capturing my family, my friends, my world.Īll I did was shoot and shoot. No this isn’t actually a “method” I came up with but it’s how I developed a love for photography.īack in the 80s as a youngster starting out, I usually shot sight unseen.
#Minolta camera pictures how to#
So you say Sam, if I don’t know how to operate the aperture and shutter speeds then how am I going to take good pictures?!įear not! Let me introduce to something I call “The 1985 Method” ?
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Obsessing about learning camera function so much can make you overlook perhaps the most important aspect of photography: the actual picture. It’s perhaps all the “super photographers” they read about or see on YouTube but it seems to me they feel the need to learn aperture, shutter speeds, lighting, flash, everything all at once!Īnd yes it IS important to learn those fundamentals of photography but the truth of the matter is mastering these things take time and lots of practice. To me though one of the biggest mistakes I see the beginner in 35mm film photography make is the notion that they have to be an expert camera operator first. Heck even when not a beginner we make mistakes! At least I do still today ? I’m sure a some people might say “Ah he’s just pushing his video!”Īnd the funny thing is, if the video is on Camera Legend YouTube and this is the Camera Legend blog, shouldn’t I be doing that?! It would be unwise of me not to ?īut as you’ll see, this article touches on a lot that’s not on the video so consider it an addendum to the video.Īs beginners we all make mistakes.
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For the rest of this article I will concentrate more on things I didn’t touch on in the video. The young film beginner today is more likely to watch a video rather than read an article.
![minolta camera pictures minolta camera pictures](https://www.kenrockwell.com/minolta/images/x700_5052-950.jpg)
The bulk of my advice today will be on my YouTube video. So today I will try to be more gentle and serious (if that’s possible!) in my approach I actually did a video on YouTube a couple of years ago called “The Benefits Of A Cheap Camera” in which I talked about the Vivitar V3800n, a cheap and affordable 35mm slr and although I tried to give some useful advice in the video, I don’t think a lot of people liked or understood my lighthearted approach and humor ? I’ve tried to do both film and digital reviews because I love both but there’s one group I’ve not done a lot for. Perhaps because I’m a collector myself, I’ve written a lot for camera collectors. Good morning you awesome camera geeks! Over the years, I’ve catered to camera and photography lovers of every kind.