Dynax 700si

[Larky]

Hi all.

About, err, 7 years ago I think I got myself (ok actually it was 10 years ago) a Minolta Dynax 700si, I was at college and wanted an auto focus SLR to help me because my eyes have always been bad.

Anyway, she got a very heavy couple of years use before I moved on, but I kept the camera.

Anyway, after playing around with my RF's and Ricoh I just got her out, put some batteries in her for the first time in 5 years, and away she goes. Focus is slower than I remember, but that may be the light in the house. But it's quick, allows for fully manual, and as I'm now developing my own film lets me not have to get the D200 I was about to start looking for!

So anyway, I had no real reason to post this but I'm kind of glad I tried it out again, I think I'll run some film through this weekend. 🙂

A.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Hey, if it does what you want, why get something else? (unless you're swimming in cash, unlike most of us)

I've got a Dynax 500si about a year ago, just because I wanted an SLR and it was offered to me at a very reasonable price. I like it, but it's no rangefinder.

I usually take it with me to non-living history events.

 

[Roger Vadim]

I know what you mean, I have a 7000i and mainly keep it because of the fabulous 50mm 1.4 lens (1.generation), look out for one if you don't own it already. It plays in the leica league, Photodo gave it a 4.4:

http://www.photodo.com/product_760_p4.html

It's a stunning lens on an slr, and well worth keeping the rather bulky camera!
I also had the 70-200, also quite legendary, but it got stolen out of my car, together with the Mamiya TLR gear...
Sometimes it's very convenient to have this AF thingy isn't it😉

enjoy, Michael

 

[dee]

I have the 7000i and early 50mm F1.7 together with the very budget 404si , which makes an excellent light compact camera - i took many slides in Toronto in '97 with the 404 , and not once needed to use the 7000i . Sometimes I wonder about progress !

dee

 

[Papa Smurf]

If it works.....

If it works.....

Hey, if it does what you want, why get something else? (unless you're swimming in cash, unlike most of us) .....

Hi, Larky and let me say that 10 years ago you made an excellent choice. I have had my 700si only about a year, but it is a fantastic camera. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. At times, I have succumbed to the latest and greatest craze, but I mostly find something that works for me and keep it. I love my conatax G1, the way that it feels, shoots. It is an extension of me when I am shooting. The 700si comes real close too.

Enough chatter, If you desparately desire a D200, so be it. I just hate to see people go out and by a new toy that they so desparately wanted only to find that it is only marginally (if that!) better than whatever they already had. Money is too dear and life is too short for that kind of disappointments. I will tell you for a fact that the D200 won't make you a better photographer. Yes, one can out grow his/her equipment in regards to limitations that equipment might impose on the photographer's style, but at least my level, a bad image is much more likely to be my fault than the camera's.:bang:

Life is uncertain. 🙁 Eat dessert first.😀

 

[minoltist7]

I have Dynax 7 and love it very much. It's very complicated and overloaded by useless functions , but 2 of them I found particularly useful
1) metering preview - camera shows 16 zones and deviation from measured exposure value for each cell; it is particularly useful for shooting color slides
2) exposure history and memory for last 6 rolls. almost same as EXIF in digital pics; for those who wants to remember at which F-stop and speed each shot was taken

I use this camera mostly for portraits with 85mm/1.4; occasionally for landscapes with 20mm wideangle