2003 Dec 20
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2003 Dec 12
2003 Dec 11
I am not an Andy Pettitte fan (I’m a Dodgers fan, I don’t like the Yankees. boo Reggie), but I found it interesting that Pettitte will be playing for the Astros next year. I can only imagine him wearing pinstripes. It’s kind of funny how you associate players with the teams and cities they play for, but your opinion of them changes when you find out where they grew up or were born. For instance, I was never interested in Nomar Garciaparra before a couple weeks ago when I found out he was born in Whittier and grew up in So. Cal. And I always liked Eddie Murray since he is an L.A. native. And I hated Reggie Miller when he played against the Lakers in the Finals a couple years ago, until I found out that he is a Riverside, CA native. At any rate, Andy Pettitte will be joining Houston, which is near to his home (Deer Park). 2003 Dec 10
I own lots of cameras. Lots. Let’s see…
Minolta X-700
Plus, I have lenses for the SLR’s, auto-winder grips, filters, etc. I really am addicted! Click here to see a small selection of my collection. But, for the past couple years, I have mainly been using the digital cameras. I carry the tiny digital elph in my bag, and we usually take the big Olympus with us on our weekend adventures. But I really miss my film cameras. I think I will start using my X-700 again. My favorite lens has to be my plain old MD 50mm f/1.2 because it is basic and fast. I have a nice 35-70mm zoom, but I find that I take better photos with a fixed focal lens. I have some film in my X-700 for way back when, but I can’t remember if it is color or black and white. All I know is that it is ISO400. My X-700 is probably my favorite, partly because it was my Dad’s, and was given to him as a present from his Dad. Plus, it is a rare model, chrome and black, as opposed to most of them that are all black. The chrome one doesn’t have an AE lock feature, but that is not a big deal to me. I can usually get the correct exposure reading and then adjust manually if needed. I first used my X-700 when I took a photography course in college. It was the perfect student camera, in fact my coursebook actually used an X-700 to explain the basics of the manual SLR camera. That class was great because we learned all about shutterspeed, aperture and film speed. Also, we got to work in the dark room, so we learned about developing film in that metal cannister (and how to crack open the film container and thread the film onto the spool thingie while in complete darkness), transferring the image onto paper, and developing the paper. I had bottles upon bottles of chemicals at one point. It was fascinating to complete the photographic process from start to end. At that time, I had one lens, a 55mm MC f/1.7. It’s very sharp and heavy, and a perfect lens for learning the basics. When I moved to Japan, I took my X-700 with me and got it serviced at Yodobashi camera for about ¥5,000. They cleaned the insides and replaced the old flaky light seals. It was in Japan that I started using slide film a lot. I mainly used Fuji Sensia II. I liked the saturation quality of that film, and it wasn’t as expensive as Velvia. I took so many photos in Japan, there was just so much interesting stuff to capture on film! In the course of a couple years, I bought a few more lenses: 35-70mm zoom, 135mm tele, 28mm. I also got the 50mm f/1.2 that is my favorite. I used to love going to all the second-hand camera stores in Shinjuku and Ginza. Towards the end of my stay in Japan, I got an itch to move to the auto-focus world. I decided to stay with Minolta. They are great cameras, but are generally considered second-rate by camera snobs. That’s fine with me. You can save a lot of money buying Minolta products because you don’t have to pay for that Nikon or Canon brand name label. Anyways, all the major camera brands have their good models, and their duds. When you lok at the final photos, you see the skill (or lack thereof in my case) of the photographer, not the brand of camera. So, I decided to stick with Minolta and after many trips to Yodobashi camera, I bought an Alpha 507si (Maxxum 650si stateside). It’s highly regarded because the controls are in the classic style with knobs and dials rather than buttons. What is great about it is that you can quickly look at the camera to see the settings you have. The camera didn’t have to be on either. With the more “modern” cameras at the time, you had to turn the camera on, then peer at the tiny lcd screen to see what mode you were in. In Minolta’s later models, the 9 and 7, they have wisely gone back to the dial style. I really enjoy using the 507si. The autofocus is very nice, especially as you get older and your eyesight starts to go. Also nice is the autowinding. I bought a vertical grip for this camera, which lets you hold it in “portrait” mode more comfortably, and you can also load it with 4 AA batteries. Again, my favorite lens is the 50mm, but I also like using a 28mm. I do hope that Minolta comes out with an inexpensive digital camera body that accepts 35mm SLR lenses, just like the Canon Digital Rebel. I’d jump on that in a heartbeat! The Olympus E-10 is good, but the longest shutter speed is only 2 seconds. Now I can’t decide if I want to tote around my X-700 or 507si… Decisions… 2003 Dec 09
Was taking a walk down memory lane today by perusing the Battlestar Galactica site. What a show. My favorite character was Sheba. I thought she was so hot. 2003 Dec 08
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