Throwback 2009: The Square Revisited

The Square Revisited

'Analog diary, images on an outing with Sony DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 mounted on a Minolta Maxxum SLR film camera'

A parting post for the Throwback 2009 session, posts on street photography outing with a lens, Sony DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6, designed for the ASP-C sensor Sony Alpha DSLR, mounted instead on a full frame SLR Film camera. The first post shows images captured at the short wide angle end of the lens, while the second was images from the long end, and for the rest, somewhere in between.

Have not seen much of this on the Net really, not at all if any. I can only assume that DSLR enthusiasts are not really keen on going back to film. The good fun here is that film cameras that can be retrofitted with your current crop of DSLR lenses, depending on the make of your camera system, are easily available on the auction sites and their cost are normally very affordable.

These images were shot on color negative film, converted to black-and-white and squared to the 1:1 image aspect ratio on Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3).

Resource Links:
Black and White Photography Tips: The 5 Cornerstones of All Great Monochrome Photos
Simplicity of Square Format Photography

Digital Moments: Minolta MD 50mm f/2

Minolta MD 50mm f/2

'Digital moments, testing out the Minolta MD 50mm f/2, a manual focus legacy lens, on the Olympus E-P5'

The MD 50mm f/2, perfect as it is, is the slowest non-macro standard prime produced by Minolta. It is less common than the faster MD 50mm f/1.7 which was the mainstay as a kit lens for Minolta SR system cameras.

For its compact and lightweight body form, is f/2 is actually a delight to use. It focuses smoothly and handles well, and focus peaking on the E-P5 is almost perfect at any aperture in good lighting conditions.

The lens is one of the most low-cost SR lenses on many auction sites, but as you might be able to discern from the images, you will probably get a lot more in image quality when compared to the cost of acquiring the lens itself.

It was a very nice, sunny and bright day with plenty of cumulus humilis clouds drifting across the otherwise very bright and blue sky when I took the MD 50mm f/2, mounted on the Olympus E-P5, out for a quick take session. It was quite a sight, blue skies, majestic clouds, and it does not take me long to decide what the test shots of the day were to be.

Images were post-processed on Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3) and final print sharpening was on Google NIK Sharpener Pro 3.

Resource Links:
Minolta MD 50mm 2.0 Review - phillipreeve.net
Minolta MD 50mm f/2 Lens Review Using the Sony Nex-6 and RainbowImaging Lens Adapter