Tag Archives: weathermatic

Vintage Fair, Bleurghhhh and Issues.

Thoughts and Musings, , , , , ,

You may have noticed the change of blog theme just when I was settled on a new layout. I have been having issues lately with WordPress losing media selections from the galleries. This was happening every time I updated or edited a post. It only started to occur since the previous theme change. Hence I thought the new theme was the issue and the reason for this new change.

WordPress help was very responsive and attentive, I can’t fault them on their attempts to fix the issue. But in the end it seems to have fixed itself…for now. It was very frustrating, especially when I edited an older post and had to relink the photos.

The “bleurghhhh” in the title means I am sick, it is cold season and I have a stonker. This week I had to skip work and my volunteering duties, staying in bed watching Game of Thrones. I did manage to attend my very first vintage fair as a stall holder before being afflicted. The fair was not as well attended as in previous years, but I did manage to sell a few cameras. Strangely, I ended up being offered more cameras by visitors. Those that lived nearby went home and got them. At the end of the day I walked away with the same amount. That was interesting, just as I was saying I could not afford new cameras, here are people offering them to me to keep, borrow, or buy for next to nothing.

Here are the phrases I heard the mosts:

  • Oh, I used to have one of those
  • Do you buy cameras? I am sure I have one in a draw somewhere.
  • Can you still get film?

It was nice to chat with people as they seemed genuinely happy to see the cameras, but I would have preferred to sell more. There will be another fair at that location in October so I think I will attend again. I also realized I will never be rich as I ended up giving some film away to a couple of people for various reasons.

It was hard to choose the cameras I put up for sale and repacking them after the event, I changed my mind on a couple of them. One the changes of mind was for the Minolta Weathermatic. It is just such a good camera. I reread my own post and then up popped this one from 35MMC. And after that I checked the prices. Wow, it has gone up in price. That settled it, I am keeping it….Especially as I sold the Sea & Sea at the fair.

Lastly if you are interested in buying a film camera, here is the most comprehensive guide I have ever seen. It is a few years old, but it is a treasure trove of information.

Minolta Dual35 Weathermatic

Junk Camera Finds, Uncategorized, , , , , , , ,

I LOVE this camera, LOVE it..apart from one thing, which I will mention later. Firstly it is bright yellow. Look at it, just look!

This is another heavy duty camera, like the Fuji HD-M I previously wrote about – weatherproof, waterproof, indestructible.  I prefer this one over the former as this one is not zone focused. It has automatic focusing above water and fixed focus below. This one worked perfectly even though it was produced in 1987, 30 years ago and not a scratch, not an issue. The seals were perfect, well actually it has a rubber ring around the edge not the traditional seals. The dual in the name refers to the button on the top which switches the zoom from 35mm to 50mm. There is also a button to allow macro photography underwater, it is waterproof to 5m. I haven’t tested this feature, but apparently it floats too. The only other button is the one for on/off. AND that brings me to the only thing I do not like, the flash is totally automatic, you have no control over it at all. I understand why though, in order to make this camera robust and waterproof it needs as few buttons as possible. On the other hand it takes either one 6V battery or four AAA batteries, how convenient is that? It certainly makes up for the one feature I don’t care for.

I think this might be a perfect holiday camera. For my first roll I used it in Japan and when I arrived back in the UK. It is also a perfect cycling camera as it is not affected by sweat 🙂

You can see in the Japan photos two shots where I pressed the lens select button. These shots show exactly what the dual button does.

Of course the Airbus A380 denotes the change in continents. The film made it through the x-rays as I put the camera in my hand luggage. I did put some spare film in my checked baggage, I will be interested to see that when it is developed. This website by kodak explains the difference in the x-ray processes for checked and hand baggage. I wish I had read it first. Now I will treat the film as an interesting experiment.

Here is another great review of the dual35. What a super camera.