Show us your SLR ..... WHAT?

p.giannakis said:
You have the "Hills and Valleys" version of the 58f/1.4. It is a very interesting lens although quite unpredictable. I have taken some great shot a with it and other times flare seems to mess up everything.

View attachment 4870791
If you ever come across the MD 50f/1.4 grab it. It is a much more consistent lens, sharp from f/1.4 and handles flare better.

View attachment 4870792
Click to expand...

The third-generation MC Rokkor 50mm 1.4 (rubberized focusing ring), is also a highly regarded lens.

- Murray
 
Optically, the MD lenses are definitely the ones to favor. When it come to mechanics, obviously the older, non plastics versions are better. As long as prices of Minolta gear are on the lower side, they are worth buying and using IMO.
 
santino said:
Optically, the MD lenses are definitely the ones to favor. When it come to mechanics, obviously the older, non plastics versions are better. As long as prices of Minolta gear are on the lower side, they are worth buying and using IMO.
Click to expand...

A number of the later, more compact MD lenses had optical formulas simplified (fewer lens elements than before). If I recall, this was more the case with wide-angle lenses. Also, my MC 100mm 2.5 lens has six elements, while the MD version had five.

This wasn't always the case, as Minolta offered an MC 135mm 3.5 with four elements, while all of the MD 135s had five.

I was never sure if this was for light weight, lower cost, or if they actually performed better than previous versions with more lens elements.

- Murray

PS. I could look up specific examples, if needed.
 
Clearly I have a problem.....

54723966912_1b4f9aa5cd_k.jpg



.... the 28mm is missing a body!
 
p.giannakis said:
Do you have a favourite?
Click to expand...
It varies a bit and also depends upon condition a little.

I probably use the SL and SL2 the least. Both work well but their shutter speed (and aperture on the SL2) in the viewfinder can be hard to read depending upon what you are shooting. Same with the meter displays. If you are up against a dark background in those areas it sort of blanks out the displays. They also have the most tension cocking the shutters. On the flip side their advance levers are nicer than any of the R series as the Rs are all plastic and have just a touch of vertical wobble to them. More magnification than any of the Rs except the R4. Information on the bottom and side in the finder so you have to look around a little to get everything. Both are just flakey enough with the battery making contact to drive me a little crazy on occasion.

The R8 is awesome and gets a bad rap. If I want to shoot fast with aperture priority or wide open on the Summilux without fooling with ND filters it is what I grab. Feels great in the hand and is just a very smooth shooter. Wind and rewind are extremely smooth. Rewind is probably the smoothest I have ever used. Its viewfinder is very high contrast but mine has a small line of haze near the top that bugs me a bit. Even in manual its LCD display with bar graph makes it very quick to dial in exposure as you start to see when you are getting close 2 stops out and all information is along the bottom.The way you can set the motor wind to auto advance or not depending upon the position of the winding lever is a cool touch. A little annoying that the film counter is on the back. The R9 adds one up top too.

The R4 has the highest magnification of the R series (more than a M3) but the finder doesn't have as much contrast as the other Rs. It might be that mine needs to be cleaned a bit as it does seem ever so slightly hazy. It does well in aperture priority but in manual it is kind of annoying since the meter shuts off as soon as you lift your finger off the shutter. The shutter dial is not as tall as what is on the R6/R6.2 so it isn't quite as easy to spin with your index finder as the metering control is more in the way. Information on bottom and side so you do have to look around a bit and the displays change depending upon what mode you are in.

I've been shooting the R6 lately (R6.2 just arrived) and it is a lot of fun to shoot. Super quick to swap between the two metering modes and you can also just turn it off completely and shoot meterless if desired. The exposure counter on the R6 is fairly hard to read, the 6.2 makes that a bit better. Great finder with all the info in one place and they even have an illumination option to see the shutter speeds and the reflected aperture on the lens in total darkeness. The exit pupil of the finder is pretty small though, it doesn't take much movement for the edges of the finder to start to get a little blurry and the meter LEDs to be a little harder to see. I've run into this a few times shooting portrait. Both are very smooth to shoot. The exposure compensation is *dumb* (and hard to read) but also totally unnecessary on a manual only camera since you just add a click or two to the shutter dial or aperture ring. The shutters are somewhat different between the two. On the R6.2 at 1/250 of a second after you take a shot you hear an escapement for a brief period of time. The R6 doesn't do that. Both have a nice touch that if you aren't wound the meter turns off the second you release the shutter but if the shutter is cocked it stays on for awhile.

The R4/R6/R6.2 are nice compact bodies that are very solid feeling with the exception for the winding levers which are plastic. The wind itself feels fine, just the levers should feel better.

So favorite is probably a toss up between the R8 and R6/6.2. I can fit both R6s with lenses mounted in a bag that will hold the R8 (with winder) and maybe a spare lens. The bigger lenses also fit the R8 better and the smaller Elmarits are perfectly sized on the R4/R6 sized bodies.
 
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Haha 😁 I‘ve got two with slight defects: one has a broken meter and the second a dent on the top cover in the corner, that prevents the frame counter disc from advancing.

My initial idea was to transplant the top cover but I don’t feel confident to open it up. Kinda don’t want to mess with that ISO dial and as far as I remember, you got to have a lens with f32 to be able to calibrate it (that I don’t have).
 
I decided to hunt down every Exa I own. It turns out I've somehow managed to collect nine of them, all different, if only subtly so in some cases.
Exas by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Exas by Berang Berang, on Flickr

The oldest in the bunch comes from the 1st week of production, it's the 211th Exa produced (look for the one with the black lens mount).
 
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