It has a 27mm lens, is truly pocketable and has been recommended by a 35mmc contributor*; I felt compelled to try out the Minolta AF50 Big Finder. It turns out there are at least two other similarly named cameras – the Minolta AF Big Finder (34 mm focal length, autofocus) and the fixed focus Minolta …
Minolta AF50 Big Finder Review – a Wide Angle Compact to Use Close-up Read More
Going back to basics in photography – using just a light-tight box, a single lens, and a mechanical shutter and winder – is often framed as a return to simplicity, even if it immensely complicates the actual process of taking a picture. I guess simplicity refers in this case not only to the equipment, but also to a sort of purity of experience. Seeking more engagement with the process than an autofocus SLR or compact can provide, and even perhaps aiming for something of a meditative state, a photographer might first choose a metered manual focus camera, perhaps setting exposure guided by a match needle in the viewfinder.
It’s fast (f/1.7), it’s compact (183g, 39mm long) and, after its launch in 1985, photography would never be quite the same again. The Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 was the lens supplied with the Minolta 7000, the world’s first autofocus SLR with interchangeable lenses.
Sometimes an SLR is just a bit too serious. It seems to impose an obligation to take a ‘photograph’, when sometimes you simply want the ability to take a ‘snap’. Enter the Chinon Belami AF.
Look at virtually any of the online guides recommending the best SLRs for newcomers to film photography and a shortlist soon becomes familiar: Pentax K1000, Canon AE-1, Olympus OM10, plus a variable selection of other models from the same era. All are perfectly solid choices no doubt, and with a certain retro cachet for some – but are they really the best starting point?
