5 Frames in hoarfrost wonderland with the Minolta XD-7 & Kodak Portra 160 – By Matthias Steck

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 29/01/2020

Thanks for your kind comment, Terry. I learned about the historic importance of the XD-7 when I got it from the collector, but I really wanted it because it looks so nice ;-) I just hope that the historically important electronics inside won't die too soon... And yes, a couple of days later I found a used family van and spent ridiculous amounts of money for it. I wish I could have spent this money for photo gear oder travelling...

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 29/01/2020

Thank you very much John. I haven't used Portra 160 and Portra 400 enough to tell a lot about the differences in the results. This roll of Portra 160 I only bought because Portra 400 was unavailable in the shop I asked for, but it surely was the right choice for this day. Thanks for the congratulations we're all very glad, also my older children (10 and 7 years).

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 29/01/2020

Thanks for your comment Randy. The XE-1 (or XE-7) is also nice, but bigger and heavier than the XD-7, as far as I know. You'll shurly have a lot of fun with it. I have to admit, that I never read Flickr's "fine print". I have no interest in using my pictures commercially. What are your concerns regarding Flickr's terms and conditions ? I always believed (but didn't know) they were more artist-friendly than Instagram's terms and conditions.

JimSangwine replied:

Comment posted: 29/01/2020

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Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 29/01/2020

Thanks for you kind comment, Jim. It's very interesting that my shots remind you of The Lord of the Rings, but if you knew the landscape around it wouldn't. This part of Bavaria is shurly no Lord of the Rings-scenery ;-)

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 29/01/2020

Thank you Charles, I really love Minolta colors as I've been using Minolta (SRT and AF) gear for a very long time. For me these are the "natural" colors in Photography (esp. the blue and the green tones), because I'm used to them. I like them also a lot on digital where the differences in color rendering between the various brands are even better to see. But I have to admit that I have found a second love ;-) : Zeiss C/Y glass brings also stunning but totally different colors - unfortunately these lenses are much more expensive than Minolta glass.

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 29/01/2020

Thank you Rock...No worries I'll keep shooting film, but not exclusively. I really love my Sony A7II, sometimes AF, IBIS, focus magnification and all the other features of a modern camera are very nice to have.

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 29/01/2020

Thanks for your kind comment Andrew. I got so many encouraging comments here, I'm just happy :-) Light was very special this day and I could shoot exactly on the border between sun and fog - I was just lucky to be in the right time at the right place. The Minolta MD 2/85mm is a quite good lens even at today's standards, very flawless for it's age. It performs great on digital too.

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 29/01/2020

Thank you very much Kevin. For my needs there is more than enough resolution in 35mm when shot with a decent lens on a quality film (that is not expired for many years). Scanning 35mm negatives or slides with a decent resolution seems to be more demanding than scanning large MF negatives tough. Someday I'll hopefully also try analog MF, but for now I'm glad with 35mm.

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 30/01/2020

Thank you very much for your kind words Eric. I'm glad you like my pictures.

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 30/01/2020

Thank you very much Dave. I was really blown about the colors, the whole roll is very nice. It was hard to choose 5 frames. Currently I'm trying Silbersalz35 Cine film, because it's cheaper than Portra hoping to get decent results too.

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 30/01/2020

Thanks for your kind comment, Bent_Brent.

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 30/01/2020

Thank you very much, Deedee

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 30/01/2020

Hi Alexey, there are many good Minolta lenses, some of them still very cheap. In my post I used aside from the MD 2/85mm also the MD W.Rokkor 3.5/28mm which is a nice little wide-angle lens. I got it in 2018 for 12 € on eBay. I prefer it over the faster MD W.Rokkor 2.8/28mm (that I also own) because of it's warmer colors. The MD W.Rokkor 2.8/35mm I use quite rarely, because 35mm is not my preferred focal length, but stopped down a little bit it gets very sharp across the frame. Also very cheap and small is the MD 2/50mm which struggles with back-light and needs a lens hood, but is very sharp (almost) from wide open and quite free of distortion. The MD 1.7/50mm was on my parents camera, so I'm using it since 1983. A very solid normal lens, also very cheap. As I've just mentioned in another comment the Minolta MD 2/85mm is an excellent lens even by today's standards, but expensive. It's legendary predecessor, the MC 1.7/85mm which is faster but not as flawless, is even more expensive. The MC/MD Tele Rokkor 2.8/135mm is a solid but heavy 135mm lens and also quite cheap. I only used it once on film and had focusing issues with my X700. I have to try it another time. On the Sony A7II is performs decent with minor purple fringing issues. The MD Tele Rokkor 4/200mm I haven't used on film yet but sometimes on digital. It's sharp from wide open but very prone to purple fringing. All my Minolta lenses show in certain light conditions some purple fringing when adapted on digital, but the MD Tele Rokkor 4/200 has the worst purple fringing issues. On film purple fringing should be much less of an issue. On the Minolta X700 I use a lot the MD Zoom 3.5-4.5/35-105mm (first Version 1982). It is very versatile with surprising good IQ on film and has a nice macro mode. This is my only Minolta lens I don't use with adapter on my Sony A7II, because I wasn't satisfied with IQ on digital. On my wishlist there are MC 1.4/58mm or MC 1.7/55mm, MD Macro Rokkor 3.5/50mm and MC/MD 2.5/100mm. Regards Matthias

Matthias Steck replied:

Comment posted: 30/01/2020

Thank you Rod. I like the title of my post too ;-). As you can see my English is not very good and so I was very glad, when this title came in my mind.