‘One Third Keepers’ with a Minolta Dynax 7 and Kentmere Pan 400 exposed at ISO 200

The idea of ‘One third keepers’ came out of online chats I took part in about 15-20 years ago.  We discussed hit rates of chosen to unchosen shots and whether digital photography had just become ‘spray and pray’. The general consensus was that, allowing for bloopers and duplicate ‘insurance’ shots, a reasonably successful roll of film was one where you would be prepared to share a third of the resulting images.

Minolta Dynax 7 / Kentmere Pan 400 (pulled) / Perceptol

Camera and lenses: This is probably the most capable analogue camera I own. While it might not have the fastest shutter of all or the most frames-per-second, it does represent just how good analogue SLR cameras got before the digital tide changed the whole landscape.

The lenses I used were: a pair of first generation 20 and 24 Minolta AF lenses, plus a 50 and 100 macro, which are Sony versions of Minolta originals.

Film and processing: The film was Kentmere Pan 400 (K400). After trying Kentmere Pan 200 (K200), I was curious to see how K400 would match up in comparison if shot at the same speed. I processed in the same stock Perceptol as the K200, shortening the developing time as directed by my smartphone app. With the pulled developing and the British summer temperatures we have been getting, I ended up with a developing time of about 4 minutes 30 seconds. The resulting negative strips were scanned as TIFF files by a Plustek OpticFilm 135i scanner and processed and output as web-sized JPGs in DXO PL 7 with a final tweak in PSP.

Locations: Shots were taken on a walk Along the South Bank of the Thames and a Visit to Docklands.

Pictures (12 of 36)

Closing thoughts

The Dynax 7 is wonderfully capable and a delight to use. On picking it up to load the K400 and set the non-standard ISO setting I was after, I was a bit perturbed to see that it was missing the actuating button and scale for the exposure compensation dial. This camera does tend to get pulled in and out of camera bags quite a bit and I’m guessing that, at some point, the top of the dial caught on something and was pulled off. I’ve looked in all the camera bags I currently use, but haven’t found it yet.

We don’t need no (exposure) compensation…

Luckily, I tend to use the AE lock rather than the exposure compensation. In any case, if I stab my little finger into the slot on top, I can engage the release button that allows compensation to be set and the amount of compensation is shown on the Dynax 7’s rear screen. If I find the missing bit, I’ll have a go at replacing it. In the meantime I’ll maybe look for something that can act as a blanking plate (possibly a small coin) and regard it as honourable battle scars.

Another thing in the Dynax 7’s favour is that it will work with any A-mount lens ever produced, whether they have internal motors or not. For this film I tended to use a combination of 20, 24, 50, and 100 macro.

The results with the Perceptol seem quite good, comparable to my eye with K200 in the same developer. I may try pulling some K400 in R09 as an option to K200. Although I quite like the new K200 film, I do find the flatness of K400 to be a boon when scanning. I guess pushing Kentmere Pan 100 to ISO 200 is another option.

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