Minolta 50mm f/1.7 auto focus lens

My dear chums, Analogue Wonderland, recently branched out into selling vintage cameras and lenses and I was curious to see what they had on offer. There was a few things I was interested in, a Minolta 50mm f/1.7 auto focus lens caught my eye and I took the plunge and bought it. Why? To put on my Dynax 4 and round out my Minolta A Mount lens collection. I have a 35-70mm f/4 and the famed 70-210mm f/4 "Beer Can" lens, it made sense to have a 50mm prime in the kit and it only cost me £30.

In my manual focus Minolta MD kit I have a 50mm f/1.7 that is sharp as a pin and delivers sweet photos when my brain is in gear and I get my exposures right. I am told that the AF 50mm f/1.7 is the same lens design in an autofocus body and I set about finding out if it was as good as its manual focus sibling. I loaded a roll of Kodak Gold into my Dynax 4, fitted my AF 50mm f/1.7 prime lens and went for a wander to find some autumn colour.

October started with a bang as Storm Amy powered across the North Atlantic and caused mayhem in the UK, Northern Europe and Scandinavia. I feared that most of the Autumn leaves had been stripped from the trees by the powerful winds, but my fears were allayed by the time I had reached my preferred location. I set my camera to shoot in Aperture Priority and let Minolta's legendary metering look after my shutter speeds whilst I concentrated on bokeh and sharpness. 

Autumn is, for me, the best time of year to shoot colour film. Despite my enjoyment of the annual Sakura display not far from my home, I love it when the trees have their "hold my beer" moment in autumn. They light up in a multitude of bright warm colours before their leaves go brown and fall to the ground. 

I was spoiled for choice and took my time to choose compositions as I made my way around my preferred location, Mesnes Park in Wigan. Sadly I didn't get the sunshine I wanted, but I persevered and gave my new acquisition a good work out. I took a few shots between the Bus Station and Mesnes Park as autumn colour was everywhere I looked. 

When I got to the park, the Parks and Gardens staff were busy attending to the last of the flower beds that day. Their hard work makes sure the park is a blaze of colour between early spring and early winter, the lawns were getting possibly the last mow of the year too. I appreciate their effort in keeping Mesnes Park looking good for the people of Wigan to enjoy all year round. 

I was having a lot of fun exploring the colour in the park on a dull, grey, overcast autumn afternoon. The trees were ablaze with gold, orange and red foliage whilst the flower beds were a riot of autumn blooms in red, yellow and plenty of shades in between. before I had got to the Pavillion, I had used one roll of Kodak Gold 35mm colour film and loaded a second into my Minolta Dynax 4.

Using Aperture Priority was a good choice as it meant I could shoot reasonable shutter speeds without having too shallow a depth of field and therefore too much blur in my photos. Every photographer loves a bit of bokeh, but you can go overboard, depending on your personal taste of course. By the time I had almost got through my second roll of Kodak Gold, the light had really started to fade and I headed home.

I finished my roll a couple of days later on a dark, wet, cold, dull and gloomy day when I also shot a roll of Gold in my Agfa Isolette and a roll of Kentmere 400 in Baldy The Baldax for #FolderWeek.  I'm not too sure of the weather sealing of my Minolta Dynax 4, so I only took it out of my bag when I found a shot I liked. 

When I had finished my colour film, I sent it off to Analogue Wonderland for developing and scanning. Oddly enough I posted them on the day I shot my Frugal Film Project film from my last blog. Analogue Wonderland have looked after me over the years and just celebrated the 4th birthday of their in house Film Lab, Analogue Wonderlab! 

It doesn't seem like it's been that long since Marina joined the team and set up the OG Wonderlab upstairs at Analogue Wonderland. Now Wonderlab is in it's own unit two doors down and is thriving thanks to the team that has been assembled and taken Wonderlab onwards and upwards. I will leave a link below.

A few days later I got my scans and straight away I could see the autumn colours in the park in my photos, despite them being slightly muted by the flat light on what was a dull day. To be honest i wasn't disappointed or even slightly peeved. It is the time of year when we get whatever comes our way and make the best of it. I am pleased that my photos turned out well exposed and as sharp as I was going to get on a dull day in darkest Wigan.

Here's a few of my favourite photos from my two rolls of Kodak Gold shot with my Minolta Dynax 4 and AF 50mm f/1.7 lens. As always I have placed them and more in albums on Flickr that you can visit using the links below. I hope you enjoy them.

Kodak Gold 1 - Minolta Dynax 4 - AF 50mm f/1.7
Kodak Gold 2 - Minolta Dynax 4 - AF 50mm f/1.7 
Analogue Wonderland 

Autumn Colour for #FolderWeek with Kodak Gold in my Agfa Isolette I

 Whilst out and about finishing a roll of Kodak Gold with my Minolta Dynax 4, I decided to load a 120 medium format roll of Kodak Gold into my Agfa Isolette I, to see how it copes with dark, wet, cold, dull and gloomy Wigan for #FolderWeek. Capturing Autumn colour using a modern SLR with lots of bells and whistles is nice, but capturing Autumn colour on a rainy day with a fully manual, medium format bellows camera and my Gossen Trisix is a challenge I enjoy. 

October has been wet here in Wigan and I haven't been able to get out and about as much as I would have liked. With it being #FolderWeek, I threw caution to the wind and went for a walk in the rain. I had to finish my second roll of Kodak Gold 35mm in my Dynax 4, then I switched to my Agfa Isolette I and got stuck into some juggling between that and Baldy the Baldax, which had also come out to play. 

My trusty Gossen Trisix ensured my brain had a great work out as I switched between 200 iso for Kodak Gold and 400 iso for Kentmere 400 I was using in Baldy. One reason I love folding cameras is the ability to slip it into my pocket when out and about. Sometimes I don't even need a bag, but I did on this day. My folders don't mind the rain, but my Dynax 4 needs a bag to carry it in and reduce the chance of it getting wet. 

I was concentrating on distance with my Agfa Isolette whilst going for close ups with my Dynax 4. It may have been a dull day, but there was plenty of opportunity to get cloudscapes that appeared between showers. The 85mm f/4.5 Agnar lens on my Agfa Isolette I really does render beautiful colour with Kodak Gold. The mottled skies contrasted nicely with the green winter grass that had begun to sprout in the fields that grew corn in 2025. 

I was having fun and time flew by, even the rain abated and left me to enjoy the rest of my walk and finish my film. Getting two rolls of film completed for #FolderWeek, one in my Isolette and one in Baldy is a good return on any day, but especially a damp day. I packed my cameras into my bag and headed home for a well earned brew.

I sent my colour medium format film, together with my 2 35mm rolls shot with my Minolta Dynax 4, to Analogue Wonderland for developing. A week later I received my scans and saw the difference a dull day makes to this film. Would I have preferred a sunny day? Heck yeah, but it's autumn and we appreciate what nature allows us here in darkest Wigan. The beauty of having a digital darkroom is I could have a play and bring out the beauty of the autumn colours that standard scans leave muted.

Here's a few of my favourite photos shot with on Kodak Gold medium format film with my Agfa Isolette. I didn't enjoy the weather on the day, but I think I got a decent set of autumn photos. As always I have placed these and more in an album on Flickr that you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them. 

Kodak Gold - Agfa Isolette I 

 

Frugal Film Project 2025 - October

 October came around quick and I managed to get out on a sunny afternoon between rain storms. I didn't go far, just around Mesnes Park and Wigan town centre to enjoy some photography. I had loaded my October roll of Type 517 Cine Film into my Kodak Retina 1a a few days previously and then had to wait until the skies cleared and the sun shone.

October has been pretty wet with a couple of North Atlantic storms dropping a couple of months worth of rain on the UK. First we had Storm Amy at the beginning of October, followed a week or so later by another storm, not named, but still dropping a lot of rain. I was glad to get out on the first sunny day I had seen for a week or three.

Mesnes Park is beautiful in Autumn and I have a lot of colour photos of this years display as the trees shed their foliage. As I made my way through the park I saw a wedding party taking advantage of the sunshine to have their wedding photos with one of the bride and groom rubbing Sir Francis' foot for luck. I hope they enjoy a long and happy life together. 

I didn't want to intrude on their special day and made my way into town, taking photos as I walked and just generally enjoying my day. I visited my usual haunts, but tried to find different compositions rather than my tried and trusted views. I also visited a couple of locations I haven't visited for a while too. It's good to mix things up and it wasn't long before I finished my film and made my way home.

I developed my film later in the week with Bellini Euro HC 1+31 dilution B for 12 minutes and 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry. I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film older, Pixl-Latr and A5 sized led light pad. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

Oh how this film worships sunlight! Way back a year ago when I used this film for the first time, It was a dull day in Liverpool with little in the way of bright light. 12 months on and I have learned so much more about it's strength and weakness that I can almost use my Mk 1 eyeballs to meter the light for it. Almost... 

Yes, it's based on Ilford's finest FP4 125 and yes it loves bright light, but it also loves a yellow filter. It just evens out the exposure, when I get it right, and leaves me with little to do in post production. I still have much to learn and to explore what it can do. Once this years Frugal Film Project is done I will still be using it for as long as stocks last.

Here's a few favourites from my October roll of Type 517 Cine Film shot with my Kodak Retina 1a and yellow filter. As always I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2025 album on Flickr that you can visit via the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2025 - October 

Vivid - The new book from The Photozine Collective

 Long time readers will know I am involved with The Photozine Collective, a group of photographers who gathered to celebrate John Whitmore, one of the presenters on the Sunny 16 Podcast who passed away a few years ago. John was so enthusiastic about film photography, it was infectious. His knowledge was always given freely to anyone wanting to learn this wonderful creative process. It didn't matter if you used a pro camera or a point and shoot, 110 film or large format sheet film, he loved it all.

Vivid is our fourth offering in this endeavour and it's name is perfect for our chosen film, Kodak Gold colour film. The Photozine Collective has stepped away from Black and White and hit colour film hard. Boy, did we shoot some film for this zine! My fellow contributors, 15 of us in total, put their own interpretation of Vivid into their photography. Some tell a story, others display a particular theme and all have put their heart and soul into it. John may not be with us in body, but his spirit shines strong in our work. We are incredibly proud of what we have managed to achieve with Vivid and I know John would be too.

Vivid is on sale right now from our Ko-Fi site and again we are supporting Asthma & Lung UK. For details on how you can purchase a copy of this wonderful Photozine Collective display of Vivid colour, please click the link below. We hope you enjoy it.

Photozine Collective Shop
Photozine Collective website 

#FolderWeek with my Balda Baldax.

 Baldy, my Balda Baldax 4.5x6, hasn't been out to play since before I went on holiday. As it was #FolderWeek it would have been rude not to take dear Baldy out to play. #FolderWeek is an idea put forward a couple of years ago by my friend Tom who shares my love for vintage folding cameras. He figured as there's a week to celebrate Holga's and a week to celebrate Polaroid, why not have a #FolderWeek. I was hooked and I wasn't alone. It's good to see the film community giving these folding cameras some love as #FolderWeek has spread. I loaded a roll of Kentmere 400 into Baldy and went for a wander to see what I could find.

I have said it many times, but Baldy the Baldax has a special place in my heart. This diminutive 4.5x6cm folding camera never fails to make me smile. It doesn't care about the weather, it doesn't care about crap light, it just does what it was built for, time and time again. I often carry Baldy in my pocket, just in case I spot a photo opportunity, but Baldy isn't a camera for happy snapping with. Baldy is a camera for enjoying photography with.

That's the thing with cameras, if you don't get along with a particular camera, let it sit for a bit and try it again. If you still don't gel with it, move it on to someone else. Baldy got my attention straight away and I have learned to embrace it's quirks. When I get it right, Baldy rewards me with magic. To help me try to make the magic happen, I meter the light with my trusty Gossen Trisix selenium light meter. 

I went for a wander around the local nature trails and farm roads to finish some colour film before reaching for Baldy. Autumn means dull days and shutter speeds that require me to breathe like a sniper with 200 iso film. Loaded with Kentmere 400, Baldy has enough range to cope with darkest Wigan and I really enjoyed my walk, despite the rain at the beginning. I was trying variations on familiar compositions and also tried to get a decent photo or two of the horses. I was having fun and saved my last couple of frames for a favourite tree and headed home.

I developed my roll of Kentmere 400 a couple of days later using Bellini Euro HC diluted at 1+31 dilution B for 6 minutes at 20 celcius and soon had it hanging to dry in my bathroom. Once dry I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi medium format film holder and A5 size led light pad. I processed my RAW files with Affinity Photo 2.

Again, Baldy the Baldax never fails to put a smile on my face. Were my shots perfectly exposed? If anything I was a touch under with my metering. Have I got well composed images? Apart from the one with my finger in the way, yes they are reasonably composed photos. Am I happy with my effort? Is the Pope a Catholic? I could mess about with my shots for hours in Affinity Photo and try to make them perfect, but that's not what Baldy is all about. Baldy is a Folding Camera made in the early 1930's and has it's quirks. I work with them, I embrace them and it's why I love this little pocket camera so darn much.

Here's a few of my photos shot with my Balda Baldax 4.5x6 for #FolderWeek. I had a lot of fun, despite the weather, and it wont be long before Baldy comes out again. I have placed these photos and more in an album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Kentmere 400 - Baldy The Baldax 

Kodak Gold 200

 I shot a roll of Kodak Gold 35mm colour film in the summer of 2025 with the intention of shooting more of it and, well, best intentions are often forgotten. Yep, this roll of film sat in my fridge for months before I shot another in 120 medium format and sent them off for developing. I can't remember what camera I used to shoot my roll of 35mm film, but I do remember what I used to shoot my medium format roll, my Agfa Isolette I.

I have a mind like a sieve these days and if it wasn't for this blog I would forget to go out....

I don't often use colour film and it's not because it's expensive to get developed. To be fair the days of getting film developed for a few quid are gone and the number high street photo stores with an in house lab is nowhere near what it used to be. The film renaissance is still building momentum and it's a lot healthier than it was when I came back to film photography in 2017, but I digress.

I shot my roll of 35mm Kodak Gold in the summer of 2025 on a gloriously sunny afternoon as I wandered around Wigan town center. Bright sunshine and blue skies are perfect for Kodak Gold and I remember it didn't take me long to make my way around town to capture the colour of summer here in darkest Wigan. I must have used a manual camera as I got 37 shots on my roll.

More recently I shot a medium format roll of Kodak Gold at Crooke with my friend Keith who came to visit during September. The last time he visited Crooke was many years ago when he was a live-aboard on a narrowboat. Again, it was a bright sunny day with a few clouds to make life interesting. It did, however, have one down side. I managed to drop my camera.

Most of my cameras have a wrist strap, but not my Agfa Isolette. I was bending down to retrieve something that Keith had dropped and I had forgotten I had my camera sat on my bag. Off it slid and hit the floor! Of course it took the liberty of popping open and I thought my roll was done for. rather optimistically I carried on shooting the roll as I had only taken three frames. I hoped I would get at least something from it and we carried on with our walk along the canal.

When we got back home I inspected the damage more thoroughly. Thankfully there was just a mark on the winding wheel on top of my camera where it met the tarmac and it was a little bent out of shape. Having learned a few skills with hammers over the years, I soon had it massaged back into shape and my Agfa Isolette still works as it should. My medium format roll of Kodak Gold didn't sit in my fridge for long, I packaged it with my 35mm roll and sent them to Analogue Wonderland for developing.

About a week later I got my scans and eagerly inspected them. My 35mm roll of Kodak Gold hadn't suffered from the few months it spent in my fridge awaiting developing. It looked nicely exposed and a memory came back to me. My Olympus OM-2 with Zuiko 50mm f/1.8 lens appeared in my thoughts and now I reckon that's what I used. Remembering that took some doing....

My 120 medium format roll of Kodak Gold surprised the heck out of me. Yep, I lost the first three frames and had one frame double exposed, but the rest turned out better than I had hoped for. 8 out of 12 isn't a bad hit rate considering I thought I had lost the entire roll when I dropped my camera.

 I love the look of Gold in medium format, particularly in view of my camera being from the 1950's. The Agfa Agnar 85mm lens on my Agfa Isolette really does render vivid colour and a sharpness I didn't get with my 35mm efforts. Not that my 35mm shots are terrible. They are decent too and I'm going to be using more colour film as autumn progresses. 

Here's a few favourites from my two rolls of Kodak Gold shot at both ends of summer 2025. I have placed them and more in albums on Flickr you can visit using the links below. I hope you enjoy them.

Kodak Gold - Olympus OM-2  

Kodak Gold - Agfa Isolette I 

Frugal Film Project 2025 - September

 I left it late to get out and shoot my September roll of Type 517 Cine Film with my Kodak Retina 1a for the Frugal Film Project 2025. August was mad busy, the beginning of September saw me do a lot of editing and writing and frankly, I was burned out. It happens, especially when you aren't supposed to be putting yourself through a stressful time. I gave myself plenty of time to unwind and managed to get out on the last day of September for a couple of hours to shoot my film. 

My compositions were nothing special, just documenting stuff I saw on my walk around town and the local farm roads. I took the time to measure the light with my trusty Gossen Trisix at various times to keep my exposures consistent. I didn't get constant light, it was cloudy with sunny intervals and I was able to switch between 1/100th and 1/250th of second at f/8 shooting my film at a nominal 100 iso. 

This kind of photography used to scare me, but using a basic camera is actually the easiest way to shoot film. Do it regularly, as I do for the Frugal Film Project each year, and it becomes second nature. Do I still make mistakes? Absolutely. I am human, it's what we do and I try to learn from them. However, with film you only find out if you made a mistake when you develop your film. Having finished my roll of Type 517 Cine Film at the local farm I headed for home to see how I got on.

I was still feeling a little burnout from the mad dash to get my holiday snaps sorted and it was 10 days later when I finally got to develop my film in Bellini Euro HC 1+31 dilution B for 12 minutes at 20 celcius. I mixed fresh chemicals for this session as my last developing session a few weeks previously didn't go well. I thought it best to start afresh and soon had my film developed, fixed, washed and hanging to dry in my bathroom. I digitised it with my Nikon D700, Tamron Adaptall 2 90mm f/2.5 macro lens, Valoi 35mm film holder, Pixl-Latr and A5 sized led light pad. I processed the RAW files with Affinity Photo 2. 

When I hung my film to dry I could see I have got it right for September. However, the proof is always in the final image. Whilst processing my RAW files I didn't have to worry too much about editing them because they were just about there and I soon worked my way through my shots. Mixing fresh chemicals always helps and I am happy with my results this month.

Here's a few of my favourite photos from my September roll of Type 517 Cine Film shot with my Kodak Retina 1a for the Frugal Film Project 2025. I have placed them and more in my Frugal Film Project 2025 album on Flickr you can visit using the link below. I hope you enjoy them.

Frugal Film Project 2025 - September