Sadly, I inherited my father’s camera gear. He was a gadgeteer, and always had to have top end equipment. He shot film on a Minolta before it was acquired by Sony, and then moved to a Sony digital body. He had not owned the Sony camera for very long, but he was excited to posses a modern professional grade camera. It was purchased for two upcoming trips. One trip was to Alaska, and the other was the Panama Canal. He made it to Alaska.
Having gathered up all of his camera gear, I quickly realized that I had a treasure trove of options. I could adapt the vintage Minolta lenses with the digital body. I now had everything that I needed to learn professional photography. In fact I was excited to find that a few of the vintage lenses were sought after by photographers who shoot vintage glass. I was immediately drawn to my Dad’s Minolta 58 mm. It’s super fast at f/1.2. That means that the aperture opens very wide allowing lots of light in. This serves two purposes. One, it creates a shallow depth of field which is responsible for that creamy blurred background effect, known as Bokeh. Second, the lens is good in low light conditions because of the amount of light that the lens draws in. All beginners obsess over fast lenses and Bokeh, I was no different.
The 58mm lens is quirky. It creates Bokeh that is ring shaped rather than solid globes like modern digital lenses. It’s only with the aperture wide open, and I like the effect in some situations.
The lens functions really well in low light. Manual focus in this situation is the way to go. I don’t trust the software to decide what I want in focus.
I learned a lesson, as did my father before me, that good gear doesn’t make for good photography. It was several years before that vintage Minolta paid off. I was a walking poster child for the Dunning-Kruger effect. So, I had to actually spend the time to learn. That’s where the Covid-19 “lock down” gave me a helping hand. I had an unusual amount of time on my hands, so I began to consume video tutorials, and web published articles. I’m guessing that I have enough time invested to be the equivalent of an associates degree. Some of the content published by companies like B&H Photos, or Adorama, on Youtube; and, many of the photography personalities that have their own channels are incredible. The amount of information available to us via the Internet is truly overwhelming. Oddly enough, this style of learning worked better for me than any learning style employed by my university. I’ve considered that this style of learning will definitely serve me in other areas and interests.
I believe that my Dad would be impressed by what I learned using his equipment. As cliche as it is, I wish that I could show him.