So I Just Found Out My Mom Has a Film SLR...

chaos386

chaos386

.sa = bad driver!
Joined
Nov 8, 2004
Messages
7,960
Location
Back in Saudia
Car(s)
SEAT Leon FR
Earlier today, I was talking with my mother about how I was considering buying a DSLR, and she mentioned how much she liked her old Minolta. At first, I thought she was talking about her old film point 'n' shoot, since that was the only camera I remember from our vacations (and various oh-god-mom-took-a-candid-photo-of-us-again moments :p), but it turns out she used to shoot with a Minolta 7000 AF film SLR!

https://pic.armedcats.net/c/ch/chaos386/2008/09/11/Minolta7000AF.jpg

She had accidentally left batteries in it, which had leaked crystals out like crazy (they were "best before June 98") but after some scraping and soaking in water, everything cleaned up just fine, and the camera started right up after installing a fresh set of AAs. It even had some film left in it (14 shots taken, and she has no idea what of at this point :lol:) so we could take a few shots. She bought the camera in 1988, making it nearly as old as I am, but that just means it's got this great feeling of nostalgia about it. According to Wikipedia, it was one of the first SLRs to have integrated autofocus, and I just love the whirring noises it makes from the lens focusing and the motor drive for the film. :thumbsup:

According to her, it took great photos, but the size and weight of it led her to switch to a P&S camera, and she obviously doesn't need it anymore, so she said I could take it! I'm still going to get a digital SLR for most shots, but in the meantime I think I'll play around with this one to see what sort of pictures I can make with it. And even once I get a DSLR, keeping this one around will be great for when I want a "film look".
 
You used to be able to get film that developed it self sort of and could be cut straight into transparancies. Used it at work before digital for presentations in 1980s (Polaroid made it I think).

I have a Pentax P30 still works - my daughter has done a basic photography course with it.

^ Nice camera (for its day BTW).
 
I wonder if you could use that lens on a Sony mount? (which is actually a minolta mount)
 
epp_b said:
I wonder if you could use that lens on a Sony mount? (which is actually a minolta mount)
Click to expand...

You could, but I'll be honest and say it'd be a bit stupid to pick a DSLR system based on owning a consumer 35-70mm Minolta. :p
 
That's a great camera. I've shot one of those before. A friend of mine has one and used it for a long time. Very sturdy compact beast for its time.

You might also look into photo mailers. You can usually buy them from larger camera retailers (like b&h or freescale) and they allow you to send film into the mail to be developed. It's cheaper that way.
 
sweet~ i started shooting with that exact same camera! with a 28-105mm. i think. its a pretty sweet camera i guess. my lens weighted a ton so it was no fun carryng it around but your lens doesn't look to be that heavy so i guess you won't be bothered by that.. buut maan the af on mine was so bad. the thing just took forever to focus.. it just kept going back and forth and back and forth. ughhh.. so i always used to focus manually which was fine for still subjects but when i tried to do some panning shots, i had to pre focus where the subject would be and take the shot when it comes by but that was a hit or miss.. and well, all of them were misses :( haha.
oh yeah chekc this page out if you havent already..
http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/maxxum7k/
its a pretty simple camera but if you need any help with it, that page has a good bit of info.
maaan its a good piece of kit though! hope you enjoy~
 
Last edited:
chaos386 said:
According to Wikipedia, it was one of the first SLRs to have integrated autofocus, and I just love the whirring noises it makes from the lens focusing and the motor drive for the film. :thumbsup:
Click to expand...
The Minolta Maxxum (Dynax in Europe, Alpha in Asia) was the first commercially available autofocus system, and the 7000 was the first camera body, released in 1985.

What you are holding is genesis to the world of the modern camera. It wasn't the first to feature AF, but it has the layout that everyone has copied since - so perhaps not the Benz Patent Motorwagen, but more along the lines of that Cadillac or the Austin Seven in from that Top Gear episode. That being said, the 7000 is ever so slow and noisy :p

Any of the lenses that fit on the Minolta will also work perfectly well on any Sony Alpha digital SLR. (Sony, of course, buying up the Minolta camera division and applying the Asian "Alpha" name worldwide rather than the confusing naming that Minolta used themselves.)

Yes, I'm a bit of a nut for old Minolta gear. The metal bodied lenses work brilliantly on the new digital SLRs, and actually are worth a bit of money now that there's demand for them. Your 35-70mm f/4.0 is a sharp lens that produces nice out of focus areas "bokeh", and has a nifty 1:4 magnification macro function at the long end (70mm). Some reviews here, and some sample images from that lens here. Don't discount it just because it's old, or not a Canon "L", or whatever.
 
Tranquillizer said:
post some pictures please.
Click to expand...

Well, I got the film developed the other day, but it turns out old film doesn't make for very good prints (and I do mean old, some of the other 14 photos on the roll were of me when I was eight):

http://img204.imageshack.**/img204/8910/fl010020dc6.jpg

http://img204.imageshack.**/img204/2426/fl010018dp2.jpg

I'm going to head down to the store later today to see if I can find a fresh roll of film to put in there. Hopefully I'll have some real photos to show, soon! :p
 
Gee, you know what? I seem to have misplaced the photo CD after making that last post, and I accidentally left all the prints behind in California. :whistle:
 
Ah, you made prints....

I'm developing the film (B&W) myself, but the result I get from scanning on flatbed at uni is pretty terrible :( I should try making a print, just for comparison, to see if it's really this bad or the scanner does it.

EDIT: The rusty lock is nice in particular. It needs MORE film grain tho, to contribute to the "mood" ;)
 
Yeah, I also tried scanning the negatives (on a regular flatbed), but that didn't work at all. It's almost as if all their color information had been drained away to leave everything in shades of brown.

And yeah, I was particularly pleased with how the lock came out, too. Maybe I can shoot it again with 800 or 1600 speed film (if I can find any...) instead of the 100 I used, so I can get some more grain in there. :p
 
great camera, i had been using my dads old Minolta SLR for years until it gave up the ghost last year. Shame as I still have a 70-210mm lens for it which was superb, useless to us now really.
 
I have one of those old Minoltas as well, that same one in fact with the same lens. :) My dad bought it back when it was the bee's knees of SLRs then he gave it to me when I started my photography class in HS. I've used the crap out of that camera, it was always sharp with that lens, and it was overall a fantastic performer. Once I graduated HS I started using it less and less as I had no access to a darkroom. I've shot a few rolls of film with it since then but, ever since I got my D50 its just been sitting collecting dust. :cry: I plan on giving it to my brother once he starts taking photo classes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top