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Canon DSLR + Super Takumar 50mm 1.4 lens

Last Friday night I decided to get up early Saturday morning and head out to the Madisonville Boat Launch to get some shots of the sunrise in my Konstruktor camera. When I woke up Saturday morning, I decided to also bring my DSLR with another experiment.

Probably a little over a year ago, I had purchased an adapter for my Canon so I could use the M42 mount lenses I had for the Pentax Spotmatic. I’ve been reading a lot about how the Super Takumar lenses were amazingly good, and I was lucky enough to have one in really nice condition, so I figured for a few bucks the capability to use it with my DLSR was worth it. And after seeing these pics, I have to agree.

I tried to focus most of my shots on the Konstruktor since that was my original plan, and the majority of my pictures at the Madisonville Boat Launch were taken on that camera. (Was planning on dropping off the roll at Bennett’s Camera in Metairie this week – but Hurricane Sally changed those plans.)

But I headed over to Sunset Point in Mandeville to finish the roll off and came across some really good spots, and as soon as the roll was finished, I started snapping away with the Canon. It took a little time to get used to adjusting the lens for a clear shot…but once I did, I found that I got some really good pictures.

I did take the pictures into Lightroom when I got home to use the Dehaze feature and punch up the clouds a bit. I’m kind of proud of this experiment and am also excited to see how the shots on the Konstruktor came out.

Konstruktor w/ Fuji Superia Xtra 400 – 2015

When I really started getting into Lomography, one of the first things I put on my wishlist was the Konstruktor camera. A chance to spend a weekend afternoon building a completely working camera from a kit? UH YES PLEASE.

The kit was actually fun – it’s almost 90% plastic parts, but the mirror assembly is already put together, so you’re pretty much just building the body.

For some reason, I elected to order the non-flash version of the kit. I can’t remember if that’s because the Konstruktor F hadn’t come out yet, or if the non-flash version was on sale, but the version I have does not allow for a flash to be connected to the camera. So I shot the test roll on a really sunny day.

The thing I found the most fun – and the most challenging – was using the waist-level finder. It’s similar to the viewfinder in a medium-format camera, which I was TOTALLY not accustomed to! But after getting the hang of it, I really like it, and I would love to use it on other cameras. I wonder if these types of viewfinders are available on other 35 mm cameras? It kind of forces me to focus on the shot.

I did a little editing in Lightroom, mostly to adjust the exposure – everything was just a little too washed out. I would really like to try and get some shots with this camera either right as the sun is going down, or during a slightly overcast day. (Reminder to self: use 100-speed film if it’s a really sunny day, durr.) The camera also allows for multiple exposures, which is something I really want to play with more.

All these photos were taken at my former workplace, and Cate Square Park in Hammond, LA.

Minolta Maxxum 5 w/ Fuji Superia Xtra 800 – 2018

In the long long ago, in the before time, I worked at an Eckerd Express Photo. Every year before the holidays, the company would host a day-long event where they would show off the new promotions and such.

One of the cameras that I remember them showing off one year was the Minolta Maxxum 5, and the selling point they wanted us to make to people was that it was like a cross between an SLR and a point-and-shoot. We ended up getting one of these cameras in stock at my store, and it never sold. Mostly because when the little old ladies who came into the shop wanted a camera, they could barely deal with the absolute most basic cameras, and no one was going to Eckerd Express Photo to buy camera equipment.

Years later, I was working at Lakeside Camera and Photo as a lab technician, and I noticed that the Minolta Maxxum 5 was still on sale. I bought the camera for Doug as a gift. The kit came with a basic 28-100 lens and the body, and I “borrowed” it to take some photos in one of the graveyards as well as take some shots of my best friend.

We still have that Minolta camera. The Eckerd presentation wasn’t wrong, I find that it’s simple enough that I can just set auto-focus on and let the camera do its thing, or I can do things manually. Even today, it’s one of my absolute favorite film cameras to shoot with.

Back in 2018, when I dug the camera out of the closet to see if it still worked, I shot this roll of Fuji Superia Xtra 800 around my house to see how it would work – and it was just as good as back in 2004 when I got the camera brand new. However, I didn’t realize until the film was developed that I’d had the date feature turned on. Oopsie. I thought about removing the date in Lightroom, but then I figured, what the hell…leave it in. In fact, after seeing these images, I decided not to retouch them. I love this freaking camera.

I actually pulled the Maxxum out again this past weekend and shot a roll on the lakefront – this time with the date feature turned off. I’m excited to see how those turn out. Times like this I kind of miss one-hour photo labs. In the words of Inigo Montoya, “I hate waiting.”

Film was processed by The Darkroom in CA.