My first film SLR camera

[Mike Buckley]

After getting hooked on photography using a 35mm film point-and-shoot camera purchased just one week before my wife and I went on our honeymoon in 1983, we bought this Minolta X-700 35mm film SLR a year or two later. It has no auto focus or motor drive. It does have a depth of field preview button, which was important to me and was used as often as practical despite the inherent limitations. The designation, MPS, indicates the Minolta Program System, which is the camera's point-and-shoot mode indicated by the green "P" on the dial. I almost always shot in Aperture Priority mode (the orange "A" on the dial) and that's still true today.

The camera suited my needs just fine for about 20 years. During that time it was used almost exclusively when we took vacations; it sat on the shelf almost entirely the other 50 weeks of the year. There were special reasons for me to use maybe three or four rolls of color negative film; otherwise, I always used color slide (positive) film.

Photo #1 Setup
The tabletop and background are a single sheet of translucent vellum curved to produce no horizon. A small continuous-light lamp fitted with a diffusion sock is positioned as close as possible to the left side of the subject to produce the softest possible shadows. White reflectors are on the right side and above the subject to brighten those areas.

Photo #2 Setup
The background is translucent vellum. A small continuous-light lamp fitted with a diffusion sock is above the subject.

Photo #3 Setup
The tabletop is black velvet. A small continuous-light lamp fitted with a diffusion sock is immediately to the right and behind the camera. A white reflector above the subject at about a 45-degree angle evenly lights the metal around the shutter release and creates separation between the camera and the background.

[rpcrowe]

Mike, the X-700 was a pretty darn good camera in its day and would still be capable of holding its own against many film cameras, even those which were far more costly.

This is the first SLR Film Camera that I ever used. I used it for the first time in 1973 while I was a photographer at the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, VA...



I didn't use this specific camera but, I did use a similar model. Graflex 4x5 inch Super D. The camera I used had a 15-inch f/5.6 Tele Optar Lens and used 4x5 inch cut film.

This lens had f/stops (totally manual) but no shutter. You had to use the focal plane shutter of the camera which required a fairly high shutter speed. A focal plane shutter for a 4x5 inch format is like a window slamming shut. The whole camera seemed to shake as the shutter tripped...

The combination did, however, capture some decent imagery. I used it for the official building portrait of the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk VA. I was able to shoot from the front of the building over an immense grass parade ground to include the gigantic American Flag flown at the college. The long focal length seemed to compress the flag onto the front of the building. I scampered up on a ten foot step ladder to get the shot and I cut a large limb off of a pine tree. I used the limb at the top of the image to frame it like there was a tree growing there. That was the advantage of an SLR, I could place the limb exactly...

If I remember correctly, this was the first photograph that I MADE rather than just took...

[Mike Buckley]

Great story, Richard. Thanks for telling it!

...I cut a large limb off of a pine tree....That was the advantage of an SLR, I could place the limb exactly...

I wonder if it would be more accurate to say that that was the advantage of the saw.

[rpcrowe]

Right on Mike... The civilian who ran the photo lab didn't like the picture. IMO that was because it was a LOT better than the image he had shot and which was until mine, the "official" picture of the building.

The Staff College Commandant loved it and when the civilian said but,there isn't any pine tree out there. The Commandant said, "If that's your only problem, we'll plant a pine tree"

Anyway, I learned a lot about various types of photography and learned how to prep negatives for burning onto an offset printer, as well as feeling comfortable directing large groups of people. This really helped in wedding photography. I didn't work at that photo lab for any great length of time because I was selected to attend the Navy Cinematography Course at University of Southern California...

One good thing about Virginia was that I was able to purchase a tract home for $12,500 and my payments were $87.50 a month. My house had a carport. I didn't make enough money to qualify for the more expensive model, which had a garage instead of a carport because the payments on that model were $93.00 per month

[John 2]

Two nicely lit images Mike but that's what we expect from you I guess. My only thought is that the strap lug on the LHS (of the image) is a bit bright and pulls slightly.

My first SLR was a Minolta SR 7. A big investment for me at the time because it was new and because I was still at college. I had been practicing my photography using a variety of second hand outfits and by the time the Minolta arrived, I had progressively built up a full Kodak Retina IIIc outfit including the adaptive tele and WA lenses (a route Fuji now pursue for their X 100series of cameras), plus the dedicated supplementary viewfinder and various Kodak filters in their custom leather case. I traded the lot for the Minolta and I can't count the times since that I have wished that I still had it. Today, as a collectors item, the Retina IIIc outfit must be worth having. In the years since, I have acquired another Retina IIIc that gets the occasional film put through it but I have never come across the other individual kit items let alone a full outfit. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes ....................

[bnnrcn]

Your camera looks handy and smart as an old camera

[Mike Buckley]

My first SLR was a Minolta SR 7. A big investment for me at the time because it was new and because I was still at college.

While in college, I could never have afforded either the money to buy a camera, even a used one, or the time to use it if I had it. I worked my way through college so much so that for one term each year I worked the hours of a full-time job while carrying a full load of classwork. The other terms I "only" worked part-time. During the summer when I was away from college, I always worked minimally full-time. It's a darned good thing that I didn't get into photography until ten years after I graduated.

[Mike Buckley]

I added a third photo, a greater close-up of the mode dial, to the first post in the thread.

[billtils]

OK, here's my contribution to the nostalgia fest! It was a 21st birthday present from my then girl-friend (now wife).



I still have it and keep telling mayself "one of these days I'll use it" but I so far I've only got as far as buying some film ...

[Mike Buckley]

Attractive composition, detail, tabletop and background, Bill, so much so that I'm sure people would appreciate learning the details of your setup. Nice touch that you set the camera on a small pedestal. But you sure did ruin the film in your shoot.

[billtils]

Thanks Mike.

I took this a couple of years ago, when I had the D7100. The set-up was simple; the base is a slightly off-white cook's apron draped over a chair (to give height for the background) and table, with a small block between the apron and table to act as a pedestal for the camera. It was shot with the 50mm Nikkor f/1.8 lens, at f/11, 1/60s, ISO 320 and Nikon SB-700 flash bounced of a white reflector (but I don't recall the exact positioning).

It came about as a result of tidying up the den and discovering the box in which the camera and ancillaries had been stored.

The apron never was shiny white but had aged a bit hence "off-white" and the film was even more aged so no thing was lost by pulling out some for the composition.

Maybe I'll get some new stock and a battery and see what can be done ...

[Shadowman]

Nice shots.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Good job of cleaning all the dust off the camera Mike. I've taken quite a few shots of my cameras (they make such good subjects, never complain either) and it's always given me a hard time getting them clean. I did most of my shooting with only natural light as I'm pretty sparse on 'extra' equipment. Long duration shutter speeds with stopped down lenses were always a good way to get everything in focus. So important when shooting a black body camera and you want to get all the details to show up.

[Mike Buckley]

Good job of cleaning all the dust off the camera Mike.

I was relatively pleased with that until I took the last photo and realized how much stuff was still remaining when viewed at such a large magnification. The first image shown below is SOOC except for downsizing and output sharpening for display here. It was captured immediately after cleaning that part of the camera with a cloth and several moist cotton swabs and also after blowing it with a Rocket Blower. Unfortunately, I didn't have a can of compressed air, which I now assume would have been a big help.

Toggle back and forth between the two images shown below while viewing them in the Litebox to see the wonders of post-processing done to clean things up a bit but not entirely (by design).


Before Post-Processing



After Post-Processing

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I don't do much post processing so it's doubly hard for me. I find my macro lens sees things I can't, no matter how hard I look.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Looking at your second shot, I'd be taking a cotton swap q-tip soaked with some alcohol and getting all the oil/dirt out of the X-700 lettering. Stuff like that has taught me to always wash my hands before handling my cameras, if possible.

[Dave Humphries]

I find my macro lens sees things I can't, no matter how hard I look.

That's true of my P&S for me

[Mike Buckley]

I find my macro lens sees things I can't, no matter how hard I look.

Notice in the last photo the number indicating 1/1000 shutter speed and the little nick in its last zero. After seeing that in the photo, I returned to the camera with a flashlight and looked as closely at it as my eyes would focus. I could NOT see that nick. So, I thought it must have been the result of an accidental post-processing error. I then returned to the original capture to learn that there was no error and that the nick was there all along, though not visible to my eye no matter how hard I tried to see it.

[Mike Buckley]

Looking at your second shot, I'd be taking a cotton swap q-tip soaked with some alcohol and getting all the oil/dirt out of the X-700 lettering.

I actually like the effect of leaving that area dirty to show the worn look of the camera.

Stuff like that has taught me to always wash my hands before handling my cameras, if possible.

It really is revealing how dirty we are in our normal course of daily activities. It makes me wonder if I shouldn't carry some hand wipes, the pre-packaged kind soaked in alcohol, and use them at least once each hour that I'm out and about doing photography. The amount of dirt that builds up over the years on a camera also reveals yet another benefit of using a tripod and a remote shutter release. Heck, these days we can use a smart phone to remotely change a lot of the camera settings.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I know what you mean. I've some really old cameras that I got from my grandparents. I've learned NOT to take macro photos of them as I don't really want to know just what kind of shape they're in.