THE SECOND BIG MISHAP
JANUARY 19 2023
I hope you read my last post here about the X-700 before starting this one, because it’s important that you know how much I like the X-700. But if you want a TLDR version I like the Minolta X-700 A LOT. It's important that you know this because this blog isn’t a story about how much I like the X-700, it’s pretty much the opposite, this is a story about how the X-700 really really messed me up. This is a story about my second BIG film mishap.
This story takes place on Saint John in the Virgin Islands, but the story starts with me in Salt Lake, the night before my flight, agonizing over one big question; what camera I should take?
And if that question was graded I would have scored a 50% because I brought two with me, one that captured the image above, and one that completely failed me. The camera that failed me was the X-700, and that’s why I think you should read my earlier post about it, because, even though it failed me I still love the camera and will still recommend it without question.
Also the reason that it failed me is largely my fault/stupidity as well… but we’ll get into that.
Take a look at the two pictures above, do you notice anything different about them? Aside from the obvious fact that they are completely different photos (subject, lighting, shutter speed etc..) there is a technical difference between the two photos. I’ll give you a hint this “difference” was fixed on the second picture, it might help to enlarge the photos too.
And here are a few more examples… Try to see what’s in focus in these:
Did you see it, did you see what was in focus? Here’s another one for good measure:
If you’re already thinking it, then you are probably right. If you aren’t thinking it and are still looking for what’s in focus then I’m afraid you’ve given me too much credit as a competent photographer. NOTHING is in focus. And it’s not like I missed focus a little bit, pretty much every thing about those photos is blurry.
So what happened, I couldn’t have possibly been that bad at focusing, right? Well, yes and no, I was that bad at focusing because EVERY shot from the X-700 was out of focus, but at the same time I wasn’t bad at focusing because every shot was blurry (bear with me here).
Except for these two, these are sort of acceptable.. a broken clock is still right twice huh.
But the only reason that those photos were in focus is because there was a foreground element, but I’ll let you in on a secret. I was trying to focus at infinity on both of them.
You may or may not know what’s going on by looking at the pictures and my testimony. I certainly didn’t know what was going on, but I distinctly remember being very confused when I setup to take this shot, focused on the hill in the background, took the photo then checked the lens to see that the focus distance was at 2 feet. The hill was without a doubt farther than 2 feet away from me.
After that very memorable photo I returned to my Airbnb assuring myself that I would investigate the discrepancy. The lens and the viewfinder must agree, that’s how all of my other cameras work, that’s how cameras work, I kept telling myself. I did some more tests later that day, but all with the same result, I would focus to infinity, the lens would say 2 feet. I would focus a little bit closer than infinity, the lens would say 2.5 feet.. I didn’t know what to believe. And this is where my stupidity came in, for the rest of my trip I chose to believe my eyes because obviously what I saw in the viewfinder is the exact same thing the film would see when the shutter opened… Or so I thought… it is clear now that that assumption was wrong. But I wanted to use the X-700 so badly that I had to make a decision and just stick with it. It just so happens that I trusted the wrong thing.
How do I know I trusted the wrong thing? Well, after my trip (don't ask me why I didn't look this up sooner) I did some research and found out the X-700 had a replaceable focus screen, once I figured out how to access it I figured it couldn't hurt to try taking it out, and then maybe why not try flipping it over and putthing it back in that way, and voila what do you konw! That was it, that was the fix. Yup, you read that right, the focus screen was flipped, if I had trusted the lens then I would have come away with some incredibly vibrant, sharp and beautiful photos of Saint John and my family. But I chose to trust my eyes that were deceived by an image reflected through an upside-down focusing screen. You can believe how upset I was. Upset I didn’t check the focus screen sooner, upset that I thought I knew better than the lens, and upset that I missed so many irreplaceable photos. But most importantly upset at my stupidity when choosing what cameras to bring to Saint John. The cameras that I chose were a Pentax PC35AF point and shoot that I had used in the past and was quite happy with, and a fresh off the evil bay Minolta X-700 that I had never used before but it turned on and fired when I put batteries in it.
That’s pretty much it! I’ll leave you with one of the good one’s from the trip and at some point I’ll do a full blog about it. Thank you so much for reading. This specific mishap was pretty much the main reason I wanted to start a blog. I wanted to share my journey and my mistakes so that anyone could learn from them, and so far this mistake has been one of the highlights :’) Until next time, and thanks again!