My Analog Photography Implements

A brief overview of the equipment I use for analog photography.

Published: 2024-12-17
Updated: 2024-12-18

In my spare time, I enjoy shooting photos on 35mm film. I briefly dipped my toes in the hobby in 2019 as a part of a high school photography class, but I wholly picked it back up last year and managed to procure a decent supply of items related to the hobby. Here’s a quick look at those aforementioned items:

Camera Body

As you might have assumed from the thumbnail of this post, I shoot with a refurbished Minolta X-570 I got off of eBay.

A Minolta X-570 film SLR camera body without any lens attached.

I opted to get this image on the floor of my apartment due to a certain lack of clean and empty tabletop surfaces at the ready. Ignore the clutter in the background, please!

The camera strap pictured isn’t actually a camera strap at all; it’s a repurposed strap from a laptop bag I used to lug around during my secondary education. To be fair, all that the strap really has to do is fit around one’s neck and be comfortable enough to wear for extended periods of time, so it does the job just fine.

I’ve been meaning to explore the possibility of getting a second body, but I have yet to follow through on that due to how little qualms I have with the X-570. It’s a solid body that’s served me well thus far and while it can leave a bit to be desired on occasion, I’m quite affectionate towards it.

Lenses

The X-570 came with a Minolta MC Rokkor-PF 45mm f/1.4 lens, which ended up being the only lens in my possession for a while. All things considered, it was a solid fixed-length lens to start off with.

A Minolta MC Rokkor-PF 45mm f/1.4 lens.

The lens that came with my Minolta X-570 along with its included lens cap, which is one of the less annoying lens caps I've had the pleasure of using.

The versatile aperture range of the lens (along with a quite unhealthy amount of pushing in development) allowed me to get away with shooting in a variety of lighting conditions that I really shouldn’t have been shooting handheld in, but I digress. It served me well for a while, but the fixed focal length was starting to get to me, so I ended up scouting out compatible lenses on eBay yet again.

I ended up arriving at a zoom lens, the Sigma 75-300mm f/4-5.6, which I got for the quaint price of $19.99 (plus shipping). I would make note of the fact that these Sigma lenses aren’t the best you’ll ever find, but for the price points that they’re typically found at, I can’t really be complaining. The fact that they produced lenses for the Minolta SR series of mounts was a nice bonus considering that compatible lenses are pretty hard to come by nowadays given the fact that every entity involved has ceased production of them.

A Sigma 75-300mm f/4-5.6 lens.

The Sigma zoom lens I got off of eBay. It's a tad clunky and there's not enough friction to keep the extending portion in place, but it gets the job done.

I use this zoom lens significantly more than I used the fixed length lens, only preferring the latter when I need that wider aperture. It’s been a solid performer for me at long distances, proving to have been a worthwhile purchase for shots of buildings and the like. Some of my better shots I’ve taken with this lens can be found in the gallery below.

A close-up shot of a train stopped at a station.

A grainy landscape photo overlooking Minneapolis's skyline and I-35W at night.

A landscape photo of a college campus on a snowy day with a single pedestrian in the center of the frame.

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I don't remember if this was before or after I stopped pushing every roll two stops in development (due to the acquiring of a tripod), but it's a decently clear shot regardless. I didn't actually intend to get the pedestrian in the frame, but I'm glad I did as they provide a nice disruption to the flow of the surrounding architecture. A grainy landscape photo overlooking Minneapolis's skyline and I-35W at night.

I believe this one was when I was trying to get a picture of Comet Tsuchinshan–ATLAS (C/2023 A3) passing perihelion, but I got distracted and ended up taking pictures of the surrounding skyline instead. It's quite grainy due to me using cheaper film stock (new Fuji 400 I believe?) among other reasons but I liked it enough despite that. A close-up shot of a train stopped at a station.

A shot I took of the Northstar commuter rail service passing through the dedicated station north of Fridley's. I realized far too late that I positioned my tripod too close to the tracks given the longer focal length I was using, but I managed to make it work. A close-up shot of a train looking on from the side at the rail lying ahead.

A close-up shot of a train looking on from the side at the rail lying ahead.

I had to be quick with the shots I got while the train was stopped at the station as it only sticks around for twenty seconds or so, which I thought was interesting given the low frequency and long distances of the line. Most of the shots I got of the train didn't turn out so well, but this one was a decent exception. A signpost reading 'Track 1' with an accompanying railroad track leading off into the background.

A signpost reading 'Track 1' with an accompanying railroad track leading off into the background.

Once the train passed by, I took a few shots of the track it ran on to expend the last exposures on the roll. I quite liked the look of the surrounding digital information signs, so I ended up taking a few shots like this one of them. A self-portrait of the author standing on the train station's platform looking away from the camera at the southbound tracks.

A self-portrait of the author standing on the train station's platform looking away from the camera at the southbound tracks.

Using this lens tripod-mounted made focusing an auto-timed shot of myself quite easy, especially given the adjacent information signs that I could use to gauge the focus distance.

The zoom was nice, but I very much wanted a solution for closer subjects as well as wider landscapes. For this, I would need a lens wider than 55mm! So, I also snagged a bit more exotic of a lens off of eBay, an ultra-wide aspherical Sigma 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5 lens. Despite the lofty second-hand price tag of $70.00 (plus shipping) and the commentary I was able to find not exactly giving it glowing reviews, I purchased it and began to use it in my photography.

A Sigma 18-35mm f/3.5-4.5 lens.

The Sigma aspherical lens I got off of eBay. The pictured tulip lens hood actually happened to be included in the listing, which was a nice surprise.

The ultra-wide capabilities of the lens have been quite nice to have and the vignetting that the lens produces when set to 18mm has produced some interesting artistic effects in my shots despite the aforementioned online opinions from those much more experienced than I ascribing it as a negative trait. I’ve been quite pleased with the performance of the lens, and it offers a nice amount of versatility for wider shots compared to the fixed-length Rokkor-PF. A handful of shots I’ve taken using this lens can be found in the gallery below.

An individual with their back turned towards the camera, sitting on a rocky beach.

A long pathway stretching out from the viewer's perspective with buildings and rails on either side.

A path cutting down a courtyard with a building on the left and right and a streetlamp in the foreground.

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A prime example of the vignetting that the ultra-wide lens experiences when set to 18mm. This trait as mentioned in the opinion pieces I read initially scared me off of it, but I find it produces a nice framing effect for these wider landscape shots. A long pathway stretching out from the viewer's perspective with buildings and rails on either side.

A thing I liked doing with my ultra-wide lens was taking pictures of open corridors that make them appear to be longer than they actually are. This one is a nice example of that as the distanced pictured is walkable quicker than it may appear. An individual with their back turned towards the camera, sitting on a rocky beach.

A self-timed shot of myself sitting on a rock on the beach of Lake Superior. This is closer to the 35mm focal length of my ultra-wide lens as evidenced by the significant lack of vignetting around the borders of the image. A close-up flash photograph of the internal components of a computer.

A close-up flash photograph of the internal components of a computer.

I don't do flash photography often, but the ultra-wide lens has been a nice tool to capture objects close to the lens which allows my short coiled cable between my flash and my camera to not restrict the angle that I can position the flash at relative to the camera.

I’ll often use the 2x tele-converter pictured below which a dear friend of mine got from an antiques store in her area when using the ultra-wide lens, providing a bit more flexibility for subjects that might be further away.

A 2x tele-converter for Minolta MD mount lenses.

The tele-converter I use with my ultra-wide lens. It's a bit particular about its use, but it gets the job done to bring that lens further out.

It does make focusing a bit funky and the image sharpness does take a hit, but I’ve found myself relying on it more often than not when I’m out taking pictures.

Remarks

While it isn’t a lot compared to the five figure arsenals of filters and accessories a lot of professional photographers carry with them, I’ve found that the equipment I’ve gathered has been quite sufficient for my needs as a hobbyist. I’ve been able to capture a lot of the environments and objects that I’ve wanted to with the meager sum of equipment I’ve gathered and that makes me happy. I’m sure I’ll be adding more to my collection as time goes on (particularly in terms of filters) and I’ll try to update such changes here when they occur, but I’m quite content with what I have especially given what I paid for it.