Curio and Relic Camera journey continues

[Niner]

I bought a couple more curio and relic cameras recently. One is from the late 80s and one from 2002. Film cameras are pretty much all curio's now days.

One is the Minolta Maxxum 7000. It was pretty cutting edge in its day in the late 80's. It has a lot of "features" You name it...for the time.... it had it. Auto focus was new then too. Lots of modes. Lots of exposure choices . Over expose, under expose. Shoot in continuous mode. Shoot in a different ISO. All sorts of programs for people, scenes , close ups, red eye reduction etc. etc.

The other is a Maxxum 5, series 5, from 2002. Lots more choices and lots more metering modes. Even has a deal where the moment you put the camera to your eye it automatically focuses....unless you don't want it to. The film is locked in with a light to show you have film in it and only lets you push a button to open the back when the roll is taken and rolled back in. And of course it rewinds the roll all by itself...unless you don't want it to. Seven cell metering and spot metering. Electronic shutter...etc. Has a built in flash...considered not pro...but a shoe mount for another high rise flash. It was at the end of the film camera age. The series 6 that came after it was a step down before the end of film cameras altogether. But the only one that Minolta ever made better was the Maxxum 9, series 5, which is thought to be , by some, as the best 35mm film camera ever made. How about a shutter speed of 1/12000?

But... the thing about film is ...it's about the same as shooting black power. Every shot counts and you don't shoot so fast and you know you are going to have to develop the film later. And you never know what you have until the film is developed and you never know, when it isn't excellent, what made the process not right. It could be the developing. It could be the choice of exposure. It's just a different thing from digital. It isn't better... it's just different. You feel different shooting it.

I shot up a roll of TMAX 400 today just to check out the Maxxum 5 . It ....the gun nuts among us, like all of us, say, it shoots better than I do.

The images have a black border because the film was a bit curved and I was in a hurry to scan them.

I've got a total of $75 invested in both cameras. $24 of it was in the 28-100 Auto focus lens on the Maxxum 5. Try buying a Mosin for $75 now days.