Taxes Back, new camera
Well, somehow with this new change of insurance plans at work, I bumped up another 60ish cent raise per hour..can't complain. I also didn't realize that this was only an 84 hour pay period, yet I had worked overtime to 114hours, so a $1k paycheck is always nice. Then my State taxes come back with $300. I decided to splurge alittle, not too bad, since Im saving up for a negative/slide scanner, and a Canon Digital D20 (when I get about $1500 laying around).
I went down to the pawn shop to see if they still had the camera I had been drooling over every 30 days that I go in there to pay my phonebill (camera's been there for at LEAST a year..the guy said he couldn't find the ticket from his old files..which mean's it's probably been in the shop for at least 3 years). The camera is a 1979 model Minolta XG1. The camera is in EXCELLENT condition, no scratches, blemishes, nothing wrong with it at all, came with a 45mm lens, the origional carry bag, origional cleaning kit (lens paper is yellow..I think I'll stick to my canon's cleaning kit), lens is in perfect condition for being 26 years old. The price on the camera was $150 with flash, but upon looking at the flash provided, the little plastic piece that's supposed to hook up was cracked and worn. But right next to the camera was a Minolta 100mm-200mm zoom lens in perfect condition (how often can you hit up a pawn shop to find something that's in such awesome condition?) But the price on the lens was $120. I got talk talking to the guy and haggled it down quite a bit, $125 for the camera, all the accessories that came with it, AND the 100mm-200mm zoom lens (both lenses came with a holga UV filter, still in the origional box).
$125 for a Camera with 2 lenses, isn't a bad price, especially since Minolta is selling a 100-200mm zoom lens online for $120, basically bought the lens and got a camera and 45mm lens for free.
I had to go to radioshack and get some new batteries for it ($5 a damn battery..2 batteries..runs the meter). That's another thing, my damn cannon SLR AND the minolta digital suck up batteries like a 50cent whore. Went home, inspected the camera some more, looked online and found the manual on minolta's site and printed it off.
The only thing that worries me, and seen it online (with a quick fix from walmart) is in the camera back, the little sponge deal to keep light from leaking in, has compleatly deteroriated over the 20 something year's it's been in use. I'm going to take a roll of kodak b&w 400 film when I get up today and have it processed to see if there's any light leak, if so then it's just a matter of getting some more of that spongelike material at wallyworld.
I am going to use this old beast for just B&W photography, and since it's fully manual, a learning experience in manual camera useage for f/stops and shutter speeds. I also picked up a book on B&W photography, developing and printing, so I'll probably end up getting some B&W film from bhphotovideo and maybe this summer try my hand at developing B&W.
For you photo techies out there..the zoom lens is a 100-200mm F/5.6 (huge, and heavy) with a 55mm holga UV filter. The lens that came with the camera was a 45mm F/2 with 49mm holga UV filter.
Now just if I can figure out this ancient meter on it...anyway here's a pic taken with the digicam. I doubt I'll ever use the 100-200mm zoom lens, and probably just carry the body with the 45mm lens in my camera bag with the canon.
I went down to the pawn shop to see if they still had the camera I had been drooling over every 30 days that I go in there to pay my phonebill (camera's been there for at LEAST a year..the guy said he couldn't find the ticket from his old files..which mean's it's probably been in the shop for at least 3 years). The camera is a 1979 model Minolta XG1. The camera is in EXCELLENT condition, no scratches, blemishes, nothing wrong with it at all, came with a 45mm lens, the origional carry bag, origional cleaning kit (lens paper is yellow..I think I'll stick to my canon's cleaning kit), lens is in perfect condition for being 26 years old. The price on the camera was $150 with flash, but upon looking at the flash provided, the little plastic piece that's supposed to hook up was cracked and worn. But right next to the camera was a Minolta 100mm-200mm zoom lens in perfect condition (how often can you hit up a pawn shop to find something that's in such awesome condition?) But the price on the lens was $120. I got talk talking to the guy and haggled it down quite a bit, $125 for the camera, all the accessories that came with it, AND the 100mm-200mm zoom lens (both lenses came with a holga UV filter, still in the origional box).
$125 for a Camera with 2 lenses, isn't a bad price, especially since Minolta is selling a 100-200mm zoom lens online for $120, basically bought the lens and got a camera and 45mm lens for free.
I had to go to radioshack and get some new batteries for it ($5 a damn battery..2 batteries..runs the meter). That's another thing, my damn cannon SLR AND the minolta digital suck up batteries like a 50cent whore. Went home, inspected the camera some more, looked online and found the manual on minolta's site and printed it off.
The only thing that worries me, and seen it online (with a quick fix from walmart) is in the camera back, the little sponge deal to keep light from leaking in, has compleatly deteroriated over the 20 something year's it's been in use. I'm going to take a roll of kodak b&w 400 film when I get up today and have it processed to see if there's any light leak, if so then it's just a matter of getting some more of that spongelike material at wallyworld.
I am going to use this old beast for just B&W photography, and since it's fully manual, a learning experience in manual camera useage for f/stops and shutter speeds. I also picked up a book on B&W photography, developing and printing, so I'll probably end up getting some B&W film from bhphotovideo and maybe this summer try my hand at developing B&W.
For you photo techies out there..the zoom lens is a 100-200mm F/5.6 (huge, and heavy) with a 55mm holga UV filter. The lens that came with the camera was a 45mm F/2 with 49mm holga UV filter.
Now just if I can figure out this ancient meter on it...anyway here's a pic taken with the digicam. I doubt I'll ever use the 100-200mm zoom lens, and probably just carry the body with the 45mm lens in my camera bag with the canon.