Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7, Ominous

Analog Diary: Film photography favorites, images with a Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7, known for its sharpness, bright aperture, and lightweight build, a budget option for portraits, street photography, and low-light shooting.

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I am still in the 'getting the feel' relationship with the Minolta Maxxum 7 here, with the Maxxum AF 50mm f/1.7, as I did in an earlier post, but it has not gone far beyond the stage, except for the opportunity to grab these images of a bank of ominous clouds that seems to be threatening mine and the surrounding areas.

As my normal practice, the images were post-processed on Olympus Viewer 3 (OV3) with final print sharpening done on Google NIK Sharpener Pro 3.

Mentioned as a whale of a camera, the film-based SLR Maxxum 7 (or Alpha 7 in Japan and Dynax 7 in Europe) is perhaps one of the best of Minolta's A-mount autofocus film cameras one could get. The camera has a shutter speed range from 30 seconds to 1/8000 second, plus Bulb, flash sync speed at 1/200th of a second, eye-start automatic focus, multifunction LCD data screen, LCD navigation panel, full PASM shooting, three metering modes, exposure compensation, AE lock, continuous shooting at up to 4 frames per second, unlimited multiple exposures, self-timer, DX and user-selectable ISO control, and more.

Minolta Maxxum 7, Maxxum AF 50mm f/1.7

The camera was easy to get started with, feels great in your hands, and autofocus is fast and accurate, with the ample handgrip that makes one-handed operation smooth and easy. Metering seems flawless, with the equally lightweight Maxxum AF 50mm f/1.7 RS working well in tandem. So much more to talk about here, but beyond this scratch on the surface, I still have a long way to go to really realize the full potential of the camera. Let's hope that is not too long in coming.

Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7, Getting The Feel

Analog Diary: Film photography favorites, image making with a Minolta Maxxum 7, a highly advanced, feature-rich 35mm autofocus SLR with intuitive analog controls, interactive LCD screen, and 9-point autofocus system.

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While the top-of-the-line Minolta model was the Maxxum 9, the Maxxum 7 does have its ways by being smaller, lighter, and more compact, comes with features that are more appealing to the enthusiast, and has an LCD panel fitted to the film back.

Highlights of the Maxxum 7 include a shutter speed range from 30 seconds to 1/8000 second, plus Bulb, flash sync speed at 1/200th of a second, three metering modes, full PASM shooting modes, exposure compensation, AE lock, continuous shooting at up to four frames per second, unlimited multiple exposures, self-timer, both DX and user-selectable ISO control, and more.

Minolta Maxxum 7, Maxxum AF 50mm f/1.7

These were the initial shots when trying the camera out, or, as the title says, 'Getting The Feel'. As expected, the nominal functions of the Maxxum 7 were easy enough to operate, with the PASM dial, the shutter release, and the control dial for aperture control just within the grasp of your right hand.

Minolta Maxxum 7, Maxxum AF 50mm f/1.7

The camera was easy to get started with, autofocus is fast and accurate, metering seems equally flawless, and as these images show, it looks like the Maxxum AF 50mm f/1.7 RS is also equal to the task. Beyond this scratch on the surface, it looks like I still have a long way to go to really understand the full potential of the camera. Let's not wait too long for that.