Polaroid SX-70 Shots

Gralin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:08:25 +0000

My new Polaroid SX-70

Gralin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 05:25:06 +0000

New Abandoned Spaces

Gralin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 04:50:54 +0000

I’m really behind on adding new images to the site. Here is some recent stuff I shot.

DigiLomo Camera: The Homemade Lomography Camera

Gralin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 05:10:40 +0000

Great tech article for building your own custom Digital Lomo camera.

http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd/make-your-own-digital-lomography-camera-160888

The Cults “Go Outside”

Gralin — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 03:49:51 +0000

Currently playing on my ipod

Tropicalismo Soundclash @ The Walnut Room

Gralin — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 03:10:43 +0000

Tropicalismo @ The Walnut Room

Gralin — Tue, 24 May 2011 03:18:55 +0000

The Sketchbook Project 2011 Tour

Gralin — Tue, 10 May 2011 03:31:54 +0000

I got a chance to visit my Sketchbook at the Hillyer Art Space in Washington D.C.

The Making of Ephemicropolis by Peter Root

Gralin — Tue, 10 May 2011 03:05:02 +0000

The Making of Ephemicropolis from Peter Root on Vimeo.

Minolta X-700 35mm

Gralin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 03:28:50 +0000

I decided to pull out my old Minolta x-700 35mm a few days ago. It’s been collecting dust for about 8 years now, but I’ve had some recent urges to play with film once more. After a good cleaning some fresh batteries, it’s up and running once again. I picked up a roll of Ilford Delta 400 and I plan to hit the streets in a few days. I purchased this camera back in 1997 and it was the first SLR I ever owned. I am a completely self taught as a photographer and this is what I learned on (kind of like a fist car I guess). I’ll post some shots soon.

A little about the Minolta x-700

The Minolta X-700 is a 35 mm single-lens reflex camera introduced by Minolta in 1981. It was the top model of their final manual-focus SLR series.

Motivated by the huge success of the low-priced Canon AE-1 and other, consumer-level cameras, Minolta followed suit in the new camera’s design by offering more external camera features.This had the effect of lowering the budget for the camera’s internal mechanism.

In a step backwards, the new X-700 was not equipped with the fast vertical metal shutter of previous XE and XD cameras, and was instead fitted with a less expensive horizontal traverse silk shutter, enabling maximum sync speed of 1/60 second, and operated by an electromagnetic shutter release. No mechanical shutter speed was provided, even in bulb mode. The resultant battery drain and inability to meter at light levels below EV-1 makes the camera a poor choice for long exposures or astrophotography. Minolta further lowered the price of the camera by fabricating certain parts in the film advance and rewind mechanism of less expensive materials, and by the use of less expensive electronic components. Even the rewind lever of the camera is made of plastic.

The X-700 was awarded the European “Camera of the Year” award in 1981, and its competitive pricing resulted in its becoming the most successful Minolta camera since the SRT line. As Minolta began to introduce its auto-focus cameras and lenses, further research and development of manual-focus 35mm SLR cameras was shelved. Some internal components of the X-700 were changed over its production run, apparently in an effort to further reduce costs. Minolta was also one of the first major 35mm SLR manufacturer to outsource assembly of its cameras to countries outside Japan. The camera was discontinued in 1999.

Click HERE to read full Wikipedia entry.

Gralin Hughes