Hi David and all from Omega892

[Omega892]

It is with considerable gratitude that I join you and the others at what I hope is going to be a long running website.

Now that the initial wobbles caused by Minolta pulling out of the photography hardware market (what a waste Minolta Dimage Master was – but I liked it – if only Sony could have picked it up and made it Alpha friendly) have settled let us hope that Sony manage to keep this ship afloat. I still believe strongly that Minolta managed to produce many innovative and useful products and it is a shame that ‘They who must not be named’ succeeded in squeezing Minolta out of the picture, although I am willing to believe there was a degree of ‘foot-self-shooting’.

Seeing my user name and avatar you may put 2 and 2 together and put name with occasional telephone voice.

Well that would be if I could get the Avatar to show, I have repeatedly gone through the motions (and am familiar with the process from other forums) but nothing is showing as yet.

I have been a long time Minolta user since 1968 when I purchased my first SRT101 with 55mm f1.7 from Wallace Heaton – and long has it served. Very shortly afterwards I purchased second hand from a colleague, who couldn’t get on with it, a Minolta 16 II which proved very useful for runs ashore from the carrier when not wishing to be conspicuously encumbered by an expensive looking SLR. Well an SRT101 was expensive – not far short of £200 – in 1968!

After a delightful stop off in Norway (after tense Arctic exercises), Viegtland Park providing a superb photo’ op’ although at that time I had only the 55mm Rokkor standard lens and a 135mm Tamron (interesting because the aperture ring turned in the opposite direction) available. Unfortunately catapult and arrestor wire trouble required an unscheduled stop in Plymouth and we by-passed Gib’ and on into the Med’ for more exercises without stopping so I had to wait until the trip home before Christmas 1970 to go shopping in Gib’. Here I purchased a second SRT101 with 58mm f1.4 Rokkor (for about half the cost of the first), and one of those superb 28mm f3.5 Rokkors as well as a polarising filter - couldn’t stretch to two.

The following year I picked up a 300mm Tamron for about $25 US, but was disappointed with its poor contrast. I wish I had taken more pic’s during my time on Ark but money for film was tight and slide films expensive. In the interests of film speed, catching Phantoms coming into the deck at about 200 mph with Kodachrome II (still the best after all these years but a devil to scan) at 25 ASA (ISO in today’s money) can be a tough call – catapult launches were not much easier so I tried some Ektachrome at about 160 ISO but the special (more expensive) processing couldn’t have been that good and most have bleached out with time.

Other than that it was Agfa CT18 and Fujichrome 100 when it appeared with occasional negative film B&W and colour. The ability to run different film types simultaneously was one reason for two cameras.

Some shots I deliberately tried on a slowish speed to get a little blur (was an in thing to do at the time).

Of recent years I have purchased X700s (2 off – one passed on to my son when his Olympus APS died and he was astonished by the quality of the pic’s he got particularly with a 45mm f2 MD Rokkor particularly with a VG , Dynax 7, Dynax 7D and now a Sony Alpha. Recently a second hand Minolta f8 AF Reflex 500 was purchased which has proved successful on both D7D and Alpha as has a secondhand 70-300mm f4-5.6 APO Macro Sigma. The proper macro of which is useful to have around if I have not got my Minolta 100mm Macro D with me.

I am very glad that I doubled up on the 5600 HSD flash units (with a pair of Stofens available) and invested in the 1200 Ring Flash, 2400 mini flash heads and the controller. I have been trying the Sigma APO Macro with a Cokin +3D on the front which allows a bigger stand off from the subject, this again on both the D7D and Alpha.

I am looking at small things more now that my mobility is limited by health and injury (one reason I like vertical grips and am sorry that the Alpha 100 did not have one), cannot even just drive myself out somewhere and she who must be obeyed can get uppity when I decide to take cameras everywhere we go. I have shots in mind but would like to go when light and conditions are right which is not always when it suits others on whom I must rely.

I won’t bore more, not least with a list of other Minolta kit except to mention that the wife has a little Xi the batteries of which are not holding their charge. Either that or the camera is sapping power too quickly; I think the batteries most likely.

Again, well done for putting this site together I hope that you find the effort justified.

[David Kilpatrick]

You remain a mystery because that 892, if it relates to mailers, is a code addd by the Presstream 2 mailing system!

I'm sure I'll work it out eventually

Greetings, anyway, and thanks for an interesting Minolta history. Lith-ion batteries, as used in the Xi, have a very good shelf life and initial recharge/use cycle. They die suddenly, and when they do, it's time to hunt down a replacement cell. There are generally plenty of good alternative third party brands available now, ranging from Hama and Delkin to unknown Hong Kong stuff, but they all seem pretty reliable, for a few pounds.

David

[David Kilpatrick]

No mystery now, popped in to your website while clearing a couple of porno spam merchants from our member list! I have to check every website link, because this week I have enabled self-activated accounts to cope with people receiving the magazine.

David