I am always on the hunt for film cameras on FB Marketplace.
One of the cameras I have in my collection is a Konica-Minolta Dynax 40. It came with a standard 28-100mm zoom. It was my first ever eBay purchase!
Since that day, I have been searching for a larger zoom to fit. The lenses for this camera are originally Minolta A-Mount lenses, now known as Sony A-Mount after Sony bought out Minolta in 2006.
Perusing through FB Marketplace a few weeks ago, I came across a Minolta Dynax 404si 35mm camera with a Minolta 35-80mm and 75-300mm f4.5-5.6 (known also as the 'Beer Can' lens because it is about the same size!) lens for AU$50. A great buy!
It came with a camera bag and a couple of expired films; a Kodak Max 400 and Fuji Experia 100. I have shot Fuji Experia 100 film before so decided to load the Kodak Max400 into the Dynax 40.
I put the 75-300mm lens onto the Dynax 40, and took it to work with me. I went out during my break and down to my favourite test site; Newcastle Beach. Just happened on a wedding group on the rock pools and thought was a good opportunity for testing a zoom lens.
The lens did very well at the 75mm length but, like all long focal lenses, the focus was a bit softer at the extreme 300mm zoom.
The film came out pretty grainy but, for an expired film that has not been refrigerated, I did expect that. Storage method will affect film if it kept past its use by date. Heat and humidity can change the crystals on the film and it's common to have more grain and colour shifts (although with these I was fairly lucky with the colour). Older films can have less contrast so there may be a little digital manipulation involved during scanning or with the files after scanning.
The photo of the Corellas has some nice bokeh at f3.5.
I admit to performing minimal digital editing on these scans; the grain from the expired roll was very distracting and I always do a slight adjustment of contrast on my film scans.
The lens worked very well I thought, I must use it with a fresh roll of film to test its full potential!
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