denis_connolly

Ok maybe it's my fingers then!

 

I would never post anything that was knowingly offensive.. although some of the Nikon/ Canon people might find my love of my Minolta gear an affront!

 

Seasons greetings to all.

I think I read previously that there weren't any a moderators on the

Minolta forum.. but one or two of my posts have mysteriously vanished

over the last couple of weeks. Finger trouble on my part perhaps??

Tom asked, "Question for responders: How is it you can provide answers when Dennis hasn't identified the camera?"

 

just to clarify I will use the lens on a Dynax7 most of the time, 800si a little less, these are my colour/ mono bodies. My favourite films are Portra 160 in the 7 and FP4 or EIR in the 800si.

 

I was a bit slow and the 1.4 I had seen advertised has been bought by someone else, lots of 1.7's on sale elsewhere but no 1.4, either not many were sold or the users love them and don't want to part with them.

 

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It's coming up to Christmas and I'm thinking of asking Santa (wife)

for something special, a 50mm prime lens would be my preference and

I'm just wondering if you guys reckon the 1.4 is worth the extra cash

over the 1.7?

 

Although I have a Sigma 28-70 zoom which I was happy with, having

witnessed the sharpness of my Minolta 24mm f2.8 I think I have 'seen

the light' regarding the quality of Minolta primes.

I have the 24mm f2.8 and it's noticeably sharper than my Sigma 28-70 f2.8, really an excellent lens.

Just wondering.. doesn't the DX coding indicate the number of exposures and could a bad contact here be the cause, making the camera think it's got a 24 loaded when it's actually a 36?

Paul, you could try removing the battery for a few minutes, replace it and then press the manual rewind button, this may clear the film jam. If that doesn't work I think your only hope of rescuing the film is if you can remove it in a changing bag. My 500si did this a lot though I was always able to clear it by removing the battery.

Another to add to the list of Sigma lenses that need to be rechipped for the Dynax 7, this is the 70- 210 f2.8 APO.

Yeah you can use it several times, just increase the dev time a little. I think you can get charts showing the increase-per-uses on the Ilford website.

 

I have used old brown ID11 that should have been poured out months before and still got good results so I wouldn't worry too much!

A relative wants me to recommend a new KM body to her. I've read

reviews of the 60 which seem pretty positive, however I haven't read

much about the Dynax 5 (film).

 

They are both within budget so can anyone advise which would be the

best specified body?

Donald I have wondered why printing paper is made with an aspect ratio that doesn't match the 35mm neg.

 

When I print my mono shots on 10x8 in the darkroom there is an obvious mismatch- I can't see why the paper can't be made the right size?

Recently I've been amazed to see how much of the 35mm frame my local

minilab (Boots in the UK) is not printing. About 3mm all round the

frame is ignored. I only realised this was happening when they d&p'd

my holiday photos (Paris) and the top was missing from all the Eiffel

tower shots.

 

Checking over some older negatives I can see this has been happening

for a long time though I had assumed the framing erors were my fault.

 

Is this just one bad minilab or is this problem more widespread?

This (as far as I know) has only happened to me once and that was quite recently with my newish Dynax 7. A roll of Portra 160 registered as ASA 40. Luckily the body flashes the ISO briefly when loading so I was able to override the setting. Goes to show it's good to keep an eye on the technology.

I have some first hand experience of this because after 5 years with an 800si I changed to a 7 a few months ago. In my opinion, the Dynax 7 AF is far superior to the 800si. In particular where sports are concerned, I have found the 7 will keep up with the action way way better than my 800 did. The 7 will bag 5 shots where the 800 would still have been hunting around.

 

 

Sorry I can't back up any of this with figures but I can tell you the difference is real!

I was just wondering what other spectacle wearers do when using their

cameras?

 

I keep my glasses on while shooting though I find I sometimes make

framing mistakes because the glasses make it difficult to see the

whole of the viewfinder frame at once.

 

I've tried adjusting the diopter setting on the camera and shooting

without the specs and it's nice to see the whole viewfinder frame

properly though then it's about the only thing I can see clearly!

 

I am only a +3 prescription so not a severe case, I seem to be making

more mistakes since I changed from an 800si to a Dynax 7.

Hi Mike, you are right, the lens is indeed at minimum aperture all the time. So as everything else seems to function normally I guess it's a mechanical/ electronic fault with that part of the camera.

Interesting that this has come up because I've decided to start using the P mode when using flash on my Dynax 7, up until now a lot of my exposures have been wide of the mark.

 

I'm a little embarrased to admit that since upgrading from an 800si to a 7, I miss the program exposure modes (portrait/landscape). Ok I'm getting used to doing it in A mode instead, it's not that hard and probably does me good but it was very convenient to let the camera do most of the work!

The viewfinder image in this camera has gone unusually dark and

appears to have several diffraction effects (coloured fringes). I can

shoot in MF but not AF because the AF system can't focus.

 

The fault is in the body, can anyone advise what's happened and if

it's worth getting it repaired?

 

Thanks.

Lars, is the Sigma lens new or used? I ask this because there are known compatiblty problems between some older Sigma lenses and the more recent KM bodies. For example, I bought a Dynax 7 recently and had to have my Sigma 28-70 2.8 and 70-210 2.8 rechipped by Sigma. Before the rechip the lenses would lock up the body after a few shots, especially if I zoomed the lens while shooting.

 

You could try emailing Sigma technical support to find out if your lens is likely to need rechipping, they will need the model and serial number. In my case they initially said my lenses couldn't be rechipped and I'd have to buy new- I put pressure on them and they agreed to do it, they did a very good job in the end.

I have owned an 800si for several years and always considered the AF performance acceptable. I suspect the 600si is similar. Having bought a Dynax 7 recently I am amazed at what I have been missing, it is incredibly fast. So my view also, no doubt the 600si is a good body but there are far superior ones now available for a good price.

Well people I am pleased to say Sigma UK have rechipped both of my lenses and they work fine, approx ?33 each including return delivery. So I consider it a success, the only downside is the incorrect and potentially costly information their technical dept gave me the first time around.

Thanks for the all the suggestions, I have put some pressure on Sigma UK and they've agreed to have a look at the lenses so I'll get them sent off next week, will update you when I have some news.

 

Although I could have lived with the loss of the 28- 70, the thought of scrapping my 70- 210, a fantastic lens, is too much to bear! I have been using both of them without problem on a Dynax 800si by the way.

There's an ad that appears on the forum sometimes, looks like it might be useful to you,

 

http://www.vintagebatteries.com/battery.html

Sorry if this has been covered previously, but after reading here

that the Dynax 7 body had been discontinued I decided to buy one and

I agree with all the comments, it's an excellent body.

 

However I have found that the body locks up when I use my main two

lenses- Sigma 28- 70 f2.8 and 70- 210 f2.8. Sigma say I'll have to

buy new lenses from them as they don't have an update available. This

surely can't be an acceptable policy considering the lenses were a

major investment and are maybe only 4- 5 years old.

 

Does anyone know of a solution to this problem?