Pushing the Electronic Shutter of a 1980's Minolta X-700 to its Limits in Downtown Prescott, AZ

 

 

The past month was the rainy season, called monsoon, in Arizona. This year the much needed rain was plentiful, daily and revitalising. The desert turned to a garden of wild flowers and lush green meadows; although many towns and cities suffered damages from flash flooding.

With restricted possibility for outdoor adventures, I decided to tackle a task I have been putting off for a long while – repairing, cleaning and adjusting some of my classic cameras that have been sitting on the shelves without exercise.

First, I took on the adjusting of the shutter second curtain on two 1980s Olympus OM-1 cameras. It is a tedious job but I find it relaxing as I am very patient with detailed work. And, as a break from the detailed work, I played with the electrical system of a non-mechanical 1980s, the Minolta X-700. Indeed, the latter was much easier to fix and wanted to take the Minolta for an outing after having ignored it for 20 years!

Here are the cameras I worked on

 

The X-700 was a popular camera 40 years ago, primarily because it has an Aperture Priority mode allowing the photographer be creative with the choice of lens apertures without worrying to simultaneously adjust the shutter speed. Of course these functions are now “prehistorical” with digital cameras, but 40 years ago it was the dream of every amateur photographer to afford such a camera (Nikon F3 had that function but was beyond the price range of many).

The other attraction of the Minolta was the fast 50mm lens. I find the Pentax lenses of that era better built and rendering more pleasing photos, but the Minolta was well received in the field.

 

… So, rolled about 12 shots 35 B&W film into an old Kodak canister (yes, I still buy 100 meter of bulk film and roll them myself…) and went for a short trip on memory lane.

My goal was to test if the camera still works (meter, Aperture Priority mode, frame spacing, etc) and see how an old “fast” lens (f1.7) renders background blurs in the very bright desert sun. The challenge was worthwhile since the camera has an upper shutter speed of only 1/1000 second which means I would not be able to use the 1.7 aperture in bright light.

But wanted to try.

 

The photo atop this page is from downtown Prescott. I took it at f4 and let the camera decide on the shutter speed. I focused on the man with the cowboy hat rather on the historic sign to see how the forefront and background are rendered.

 

Then, I tried using the 1.7 full aperture with scenes where shadows and sun mixed. Here are three compositions:

1.       Sun filtering through tall trees.  This abandoned car (can you see it?) was perfectly camouflaged by the trees, the filtered grades of shade, and tall grass. The lens “interpreted” what I saw through soft edges, blurred background and good sharpness in the center. It gave the moment an almost psychedelic feeling!

 

 

2.       Bright reflections in the background. Many of the Prescott retirees collect, maintain and use vintage cars. This one was parked in a semi-shady spot with the sun reflecting on the building behind it –a perfectly natural set-up to test the lens.

It is overexposed since the limited shutter speed of 1/1000^th of a second could not handle the amount of light at f1.7. But, it does have some allure from an artistic point of view.

 

 

3.       Full sun.  I knew this will be too much for this old camera and its prehistoric electronic shutter at Aperture Priority mode. And it is. But the fun part of the photo is the look the passenger rider gave me when I clicked. Given the folding mirror slap, I did not see her noticing me, and that is what makes street photography delightful.

As expected, the photos will not make the front page of the National Geographic Magazine. But for those like me who enjoy using old cameras as much as getting good photos, it was a pleasure to take the 40 year old Minolta X-700 out of retirement, albeit for a short moment and bring back many memories.

Next, I will find out if my hours of work on one of the 40-year old Olympus OM-1 succeeded in adjusting the travel timing of its second curtain…

 

August 30, 2022

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2022

Carl Zeiss 75mm and 58mm Biotar 1950s Lenses -- Can modern Lenses Capture a Portrait with More Character?

 

A few days ago I was discussing photography with a local artist who is also interested in vintage cameras.

“Yes, a camera cannot take photos, but a lens does” he said. “There is nothing like walking in a crowd carrying a 1940s Exakta Varex sporting a 58mm Carl Zeiss Biotar” he reminisced.

It was a common moment when two anachronistic photographers talk about the “golden age” of cameras…

“I have a couple of Exaktas made in Dresden and a few Carl Zeiss lenses” I replied. “In fact have a 75mm Biotar f1.5 in Exakta mount. And a 58mm Biotar in M42 mount which I have not used for decades.”

He almost fell off his chair. “A 75mm f1.5?”

“Yes, and have used it recently.”

Of course he wanted to see the lens and photos I had taken.

 

…For all those who have been in photography for a while, Carl Zeiss lenses have a special place in their hearts. But the old ones, many prewar models, still keep a mystique. There is something about the glass of these lenses that modern designs cannot reproduce. And that is not romanticism, there are millions of old photographs to prove it.

So, I went back to my “camera wall”, an entire wall of my studio with shelves where my photographic gear is displayed, and looked for an Exakta Varex and a few vintage Carl Zeiss lenses to make my friend happy.

Here is a photo of the Exakta Varex with the 75mm Biotar, along with the lovely zebra 50mm Pancolar, and the 58mm Biotar. All are from the 1950s.

 

In the recent years I used the Varex and the 75mm Biotar for portraiture work because the lens at f1.5 almost separates the subject from the background, and provides a distinctly “Biotar” blurring of the background.

The picture at the outset was taken with this lens. The subject seems to pop-out of the frame and the focusing on his eyes resulted in a sharp even if eerie look. As for the soft background although taken contre-jour, it still has a lot of texture, albeit wrapped in a dreamy veil.

 

As I was looking through my extensive collection of cameras and lenses, I picked up a German Praktica, also waist level finder design like the Exakta, but a much cheaper and simpler camera in M42 mount.  Here is the Praktica with another cult-followers’ prewar Carl Zeiss lens, the 50mm Tessar f2.4.

 

I have often used the Biotar 58mm f2 with the Praktica, but purely when I was in a nostalgic mood to play with vintage photographic equipment. Indeed, I never enjoyed using the Biotar 58mm since it is a pre-set model meaning that I had to rotate three rings (the focusing ring, the aperture ring and the pre-set aperture ring) before I was ready to press the shutter. Needless to say that is an impossible process during street photography!

As a remedy to this archaic series of steps, I switched the Biotar to a 1970s Japanese Fujica AZ-1 which also has an Aperture Priority function regulated electronically and accepts all lenses in the M42 mount. Of course the Biotar being non-automatic lens, I can use it only in stop-down aperture set, which is still much faster than turning two sets of rings!

Here is the Fujica with the Biotar on it, and next to it a 1980s Soviet Zenit camera that I used frequently then with a Soviet copy of the Biotar 58mm called Helios-44-2.

A historical background note:  Soviet camera manufacturing relied on German products before and after WWII. Indeed the first Soviet camera, a rangefinder copy of the venerable German Leica II, was built in the late 1930s. And, many of the 35mm camera lenses were either almost-exact copies of the German optical formulae, or heavily influenced by them. Unfortunately the production quality assurance was very lax in the Soviet manufacturing plants and the lenses quality was a hit-or-miss. Exceptions do exist however, and the Helios (which came in four different models with the same optical formula) produced images very comparable to the German Biotar 58mm f2 lens.

And that is why I include the Zenit camera and its Helios 58mm (model 44-2) in this discussion as I have used the Helios with good success in the past 3 decades not only because of its reliability and output, but because it is much easier to use than the Biotar even with the same 3 rings the Soviets maintained in the design of their copy. Why? Because the pre-set aperture ring is much more fluid than the older Biotar, so I can rotate the focusing ring with my left hand’s middle and “ring” fingers (!) while my index finger rotates the pre-set ring easily. Thus even with the 3 steps needed to take a photo, I can complete them as fast as if I were using a camera having an automatic lens during street photography.

 

While the construction of all German lenses in the 1940s and 1950s is a piece of art one would enjoy holding to appreciate, the Biotar line was also famous for the swirl it produced in the background when the lens was wide open say at f2 for the 58mm and f1,5 for the 75mm. The swirl gave the blurring (or bokeh) a unique and much loved effect to portraiture photography.

 

Well, the Helios Soviet lens does have that swirl as well, perhaps not as dreamy-smooth as the Biotar though. So, instead of the Biotar, I used the Helios on my Zenit camera to take photos of my kids in the 1990s – it was much easier to complete the 3-step process on the Soviet lens while kids were constantly in motion…

 

Here is an example – my daughter Ani making a funny face. The shot was taken in contre-jour but the background was still nicely blurred with that famous swirl! Given that the Zenith has a top speed of 1/500th sec and that this photo was taken in bright sunshine, I assume that I set the aperture to around f5.6. One can appreciate how much more of a swirl there would be expected if I had taken it with the lens full open (f 2)with the Fujica AZ-1 that has a top speed of 1/1000th sec and an exposure compensation dial.

… My artist friend was in his own blurred and swirling state of being when he played with the cameras and looked at the photos.

“And these are only a few of the Carl Zeiss lenses you have!” he exclaimed while looking on the shelves of my camera wall.

“The others are purely for historical testimonial – some, I have never even used once to take photos” I explained.

“Ah, there is a whole new phase to your life as a photographer” he said after a pregnant pause, “you should spend the next decade doing portraiture work with these 80 year old German lenses.”

Hmm. That would require people with much patience waiting for the multiple steps to take place before I press the trigger and a cloth or bronze curtain travels horizontally or folds vertically in an old camera to expose the film pellicule in the hope of starting the long darkroom work hours of developing a photo!

 

August 6, 2022

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2022