I was quite pleased with the results of the first roll I had shot with my then recently purchased Minolta X-700 so I was eager to shoot a second roll. This time, I used the always reliable Kodak Portra 400.
At the end of May, Holly and I took a fairly long walk east of our apartment toward the Delaware River. For my first roll, I had used the Minolta MD 50mm f/1.7 that came with the camera. Because of having my Minolta XE, I already had a few MC lenses and 1 other MD lens. I decided to use my Minolta Rokkor 35mm f/2.8 for this walk. I tested all of my Minolta lenses and they all fit the X-700, but I soon discovered that some of the older lenses aren’t compatible with the electronics of the X-700. There was no problem shooting with the 35mm, but the light meter only worked some of the time so I had to meter with my phone or my instincts.
Not a big deal, but it wasn’t what I was expecting, and the photos turned out fine.
Toward the end of the walk, I switched to the 50mm since I was starting to feel lazy of metering with my phone.
I also tested taking a few photos out our window.
A couple weeks after that first walk, we took another walk closer to home in an area we have just started exploring more thoroughly. I continued using the 50mm on this walk.
Finally, I finished the roll in our neighborhood trying out the X-700 with my Quantaray 28mm f/2.8 lens, which had no issues related to the metering.
I have loved shooting with the Minolta X-700 and have been pleased with the results. Looking forward to trying it out with black-and-white film!
Khürt Williams
Wow, Tom! Your results with the Minolta X-700 and Kodak Portra are excellent. My results with Portra 160 and my X-700 in the summer were so-so. I suspect there might be some issue with the lightmeter in the X-700.
Tom
Thanks Khurt! You may already know this, but there are free light meter apps for your phone. You could use one of those to double-check your meter. Your photos look grainer than mine but that could be partly the difference between the 160 and 400.