Minolta a-9 – Raspberry Picking in September with a 24mm f2.8, Red 25 Filter and Rollei Retro 80s

It was a lovely day in early September, a month where I’m often filled with anxiety; dreading the coming Winter and the end of the brief days of fine weather of Spring and Summer, but the Summer still lingered on. The sky was blue, filled with white clouds which slowly, as the day waned, split and stretched, then like clouds of steam spread and created angel like shapes and phantoms which then came together and embraced before dispersing into shards of light filled plumes.

We decided to enjoy these last days as the Raspberries were ripe and a deep purple colour. We had but a month back found an abandoned Wood Pigeon chick in the garden, a small fellow, covered in yellow feathers, like a tiny duckling he was sitting on the floor, having either fallen or pushed from the nest which was to be seen higher up within the branches of the tree where, who I presumed was his mother, was roosting, likely nesting his elder brother. If I had left him there, he would’ve been killed by the many cats who roam around here, so I picked him up and took him inside. My son mothered him and now he’s (or is he a she?) almost ready to leave the nest, but he has acquired a taste for ripe raspberries, which he whistles and pecks for maniacally when given one or two as a treat.

A short few minute drive, we arrived at a Wildlife Reserve on the banks of The Stour Estuary, on the Suffolk Essex border of East Anglia in England and went for a lovely stroll through the wooded pathways. It features many winding ways, some leading to Bird Hides where one can view the wildlife, others lead to scenic views along the Estuary.

A while back my Minolta Maxxum 7 had given up on me, the Film door hinge broke so I had to replace it. (I recently wrote about this HERE where I used it with the Minolta 50mm f2.8 Macro and Rollei Retro 80s)

PI have always wanted his big brother; the Minolta 9, I bought a Japanese a-9 model and I must say it was a great decision. It’s on another level to the 7, better in every way in my opinion and experience. Sure it’s bigger, but it feels better in the hand (I had to augment the grip with a pair of silicon ti.. I mean some silicon rubber layers on the grip to give it more softness and comfort, as it’s a substantially heavier and heftier camera than the 7).

It’s a solid chunk and every button and switch is lovingly built into the body, giving it a feel of extremely high quality and precision. The shutter is fantastic, the sound the feel and touch. The View Finder is huge, as big and bright as the one in my Contax RTS II. The AF points are red outlined boxes, which appear and function with such..grace. Everything is refined and just pure luxurious quality. Everything is quick and responsive and you’d just want to hold it, and use it to take pictures. I’ve owned the Sony A900, but this feels much better, it’s about the same size but less bulky with evberything feeling distinctly superior to it. The Sony A900 is very much like a larger Dynax 7D, the solidity and quality is a tad higher with less plastic parts, but the Minolta a-9 is a different class.

I’d been shooting with my Zeiss Ikon Contessa S310 (and Balda CA35) for a while, along with my Olympus E-1, and this hadn’t been used much (I’d only shot one roll of Agfa Ultra 100 in it, which has yet to be developed). So I decided to enjoy this for the day.

I’ve been very much in to the Photography of the late Simon Marsden this last few months. Having bought most of his books I’ve been transfixed by his style and use of Kodak HIE, which he shot with a Nikkormat with a Red 25 Filter, then created magic in his Darkroom. I doubt I’d ever have much of a chance to shoot as he did; with Kodak HIE and a Red 25 Filter, as the legendary Kodak IR Film is no longer available, bar some on eBay which cost a lot of money per roll. I could use another IR Film, but they all have an anti-Halation layer so no distinctive glow and bloom. I will at some point bite the bullet and pay a fortune for a cold stored roll of HIE but before I do I want to practise a bit shooting with a Red 25 Filter again (the last time I used one was about 15 years ago). I have a couple of rolls of Rollei Retro 80s, which is a little red sensitive and can give some interesting results which remind me of IR Film, ok it has the layer and it also won’t shoot IR unless I have an opaque IR filter on it (I shoot handheld so no chance of me using one) but it’s a good Film to get the hang of the near IR look and to compose and select subjects and scenes with the right light. I also have a roll of Kodak Eastman Double X 5222 which does not have an anti-halation layer, so next I’ll shoot this with a Red 25 to see if I can capture some interesting blooming.

I took only one lens, it had been many years since I’d shot wide, many many years. So I decided on the 24mm Minolta f2.8 and a Tiffen Red 25 Filter attached. I was very pleased with this, a tad soft shooting portraits wide open, but it gives a very pleasing look to the images and controls flare beautifully.

The walk was lovely and I carefully shot about 28 Frames that afternoon. I didn’t finish the roll, but instead rewound it and developed it in my usual Bellini Foto Duo Step liquid Diafine, at 3 minutes each solution. I’ve written about this developer before, HERE and HERE. and again any beginners or those who don’t want to waste time constantly mixing and watching temperatures, this is by far the easiest and quickest B&W developer you can use. But in my experience, the best developer I’ve used with this Rollei Retro 80s has been RO9 Rodinal, you can see the results HERE. The Rodinal is generally more pleasing, with better definition, acutance and contrast, this Diafine gives a flatter image, but it’s much easier to use, easier to work on and is better at handling highlights.

I was very pleased with the lovely dark tones, with the highlights being just right. I did not bother spot metering for shadows and adjusting exposure down a couple of stops as I often do, instead I let the meter do its work. I had rated the Film at ISO 100, which was a mistake, in hindsight.

Now, myself and Dave Powell have often discussed “shooting like Marsden”, I will get around to that, it’ll take some time deciding on locations and I’ll test the Kodak Double X at ISO 800 with a Red 25 in the correct light to see how it performs, it won’t be IR but I aim to get the feel at least. So watch this space.

As for the walk, it was splendid, the weather was sublime, the golden tints on the countryside were a pleasure to experience, my wife and son enjoyed themselves immensely and I managed to take some pleasing photographs. The photos were easy to work with, I touched up the contrast and did a little Digital darkroom work to get what I wanted. My only gripe was that I didn’t filter the developer which was full of fine particles, these came out on the developed Film. I should’ve passed it through my coffee filters before hand but as usual cocked things up.

The camera is fantastic. Everything is placed where you want it to be, it’s quiet, refined, feels wonderful in the hand, the huge View Finder makes viewing and composing a pleasure.

It features the usual controls such as an AEL lock button, Matrix, Spot and Centre Weight metering – dials and switches for everything, with the added benefit of having a backlight for the LCD display at the top, plus green lume filled markings on the dials – what a Great touch.

Open the flap on the right and you’ll be greeted with 4 clearly labelled buttons to set custom functions such as leaving the leader out rewinding the film and setting ISO. It’s much nicer to own, to handle and to use than the 7, there’s simply no competition. Sure the rear LCD and such wizardry are good, but in many years of owning one, apart from novelty purposes to view the honeycomb exposure graphic and to set it to STF when I first got it, in 8 years of solid use I never had any need for it again. This 9 is definitely faster, focussing is almost silent, whereas the 7 is quite loud. There is absolutely no play or creaks in the body, unlike the 7. The shutter and wind on sound are things of beauty, they really add a lot of shooting pleasure to it. I’m not knocking the 7, that is a fantastic camera – probably the most advanced 35mm SLR ever, but 9 this is just gorgeous.

And as for the Raspberries, Mr Pigeon was very happy with the harvest!

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