In the heart of a restless city lies an old mall with stores of antique furniture, secondhand guitars, and smuggled goods from Japan. I didn't know that this is where I will find my secondhand love affair, my Minolta Hi-Matic 7s.
A friend of mine found out that there is this store that sells vintage cameras just around three blocks from my workplace. As soon as he mentioned the location, I went to the warehouse-looking mall right away and brought some extra cash. I searched for the store he was talking about but I wasn’t able to find it. The floor plan of the mall is quite confusing and disorganized. I didn’t end the call until I found the store.
As soon as I entered the store, my jaw dropped when a dozen or two of film cameras welcomed me. SLRs, TLRs, and a lot of rangefinders are waiting to be bought by the right photographer or collector. I just didn’t know what to do and where to start since my eyes were captured with the awesomeness of the place!
After a few minutes of browsing and inspecting, a rangefinder seemed to be whispering to my ear, “pick me please, buy me please!” This Minolta Hi-Matic 7s melted my heart. I gave myself another ten minutes to examine and test it. The price tag shows Php 1,500.00 (around 33 USD) but I was able to bargain a little bit and got it for only Php 1,000.00 (around 22 USD) since the light meter is no longer working.
This is an actual photo of my Minolta 7s. Smooth and rustless.
It has a Minolta Rokkor lens that has a fixed focal point 45mm and a maximum aperture of f/1.8. No batteries required. The busted light meter didn’t stop me from capturing amazing photos.
It produces strong vignettes:
Photo by superkulisap
Its low-light performance is also undeniable because of its wide opening, f/1.8:
Photo by superkulisap
Shallow depth of field of course is noticeable for f/2.8 and below:
Photo by superkulisap
Most of all, it helped me win a rumble! Wuhoo! (Lomography x DesignTAXI: Find + Shoot a Taxi!)
Photo by superkulisap
As I end this article, all the good memories I had with my Minolta 7s and all the things I learned from it are starting to climb up my temple. I feel really bad since I sold it to get myself an LC-A+. I should have never said goodbye. I hope we cross our paths again.
7 comments
migfernando
mikeydavies
beautiful camera, beautiful pictures!
superkulisap
@mikeydavies thanks a lot my friend :D
awitee
coops_just_coops
superkulisap
Thanks @coops_just_coops! You should go out with your Minolta 7s and give it a try! You won't be disappointed :D
superkulisap
@migfernando @awitee that's a secret for now. I'm planning to write an article about the shop, just wait for my next posts :D