What happens when you combine very expired film with a lens sometimes called ‘the worst lens Minolta ever made?’ You’d get this little 5 Frame feature from Iain Paterson for 35mmc. In this iteration of ‘5 Frames with,’ Paterson takes a look at the image quyality of the Minolta 35–80mm 1:4 (22) – 5.
6 autofocus zoom lens as shot on a Minolta Dynax 500si Super SLR camera using expired Truprint 400 film. A nearly forgotten kit Paterson had ordered online, this little misfit kit did its best to make the most of a lens that is consistently considered 'one of the worst lenses' out there — at least according to various forum contributors (1, 2)—due to its softness across most of the aperture and focal ranges and a fickle integrated lens cap that oftentimes gets stuck.
The combination of a soft lens with expired film made for some unique photographs.
Despite its less-than-ideal reputation, Paterson’s images came out 'acceptable' in their own words. The images were certainly soft and the colors felt muted, but that could’ve very well have been the expired film as much as the lens itself. However, it’s this very combination—a soft lens with expired film—that left Paterson passively optimistic about the experience.
You can read the full feature over on 35mmc:
5 Frames with ‘The Worst Lens Minolta Ever Made’ – By Iain Paterson
About Film Fridays: We recently launched an analog forum and in a continuing effort to promote the fun of the medium, we'll be sharing film-related content on Fridays, including articles from our friends at 35mmc and Kosmo Foto.
. dpreview.com2021-10-2 17:00
