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Minolta A1 Sample Images

A day at the Des Moines Botanical Center when the snow is still flying through the air is a treat not to be taken for granted. These tulips are about to become stems. Their "last hurrah" proved to be well worth the attention in this photograph.

As with all photographs on this page, it was taken with the Minolta A1.  Unfortunately, photographers are currently restricted to using using tripods during slow times only.  This being a Sunday afternoon precluded my being able to tote in the Bogen.  Therefore it was taken handheld with Anti-shake turned on.  Anti-shake proved to be the most crucial feature of the camera during this day.

Learning the tools.  Time spent shooting and critically studying the results is very important to maximizing future results.

This photograph is an example of what works and what doesn't. The camera was set to "Vivid" and the saturation cranked up some.  The highlights washed out and the tulips turned nuclear. By this point I had taken almost 200 pictures in 90 minutes--all with Anti-shake turned on.  The sensor was warmed up and CCD imager noise was much higher than the pictures taken at the beginning of the session.

Still, after moderate editing this photo produces terrific prints.

In the studio the Minolta A1 is a rock-solid performer. The on-demand grid overlay makes framing easy. The external x-sync connector links to common studio lighting.

Best of all, the live monitor allows you to work on a screen not unlike using a waist-level finder on a medium-format camera.

Hey, this camera might look rough, but it remains my primary film shooter.

This photograph is the only one on this page using flash or tripod.

Anti-Shake is the "killer-feature" of the Minolta A1 and A2. This photograph is an example of that.

I took this picture late one evening. I had been out chasing Northern Lights to no avail, so I returned to the city center and spent a half-hour walking around, shooting pictures and being told to "go home" by the local gendarmes.

The camera lens was extended to the 200mm (equiv) position, F3.5, 1/4 second, ISO 100.

Oh, did I mention that it was handheld?

I work full-time in the telecom industry as a data network engineer. I photograph many items in and around our facilities for internal use, publications and trade magazines.

For this photograph, I set the camera on the wires, used the timer, prefocused for hyperfocal distance and let the camera do the work.

With a larger format this photograph would not have been possible. The 2/3" sensor does have advantages in the DOF arena.

What about B&W?

The Minolta allows you to shoot B&W in RAW format while retaining all color data. This means that you can decide during conversion whether or not to use B&W or color for the picture.

I had the saturation and contrast cranked up. The noise level is much higher than I would have preferred--but completely acceptable. (Do not judge this resized and jpeg'd image for grain/noise).

Other than minor curves adjustment and cropping there is no further editing on this image. It is almost exactly how it came out of the camera.

Neither this or the previous photograph had any filters applied either optically or during post-production.  These are straight out of the camera with minimal curves adjustment.

Tonal response is very good and adequate for producing high-quality prints. When shooting B&W, I highly recommend using the live histogram to make sure that the highlights are protected.

Is the Minolta A1 able to produce sharp photographs? Yes. There is a "sweet spot" for the lens. With my camera, it's between F4 and F5.6.  I would also recommend shooting RAW for maximum sharpness.  JPEG XTRA-FINE is excellent, and highly recommended for portraiture and general photography.  Use SOFT sharpening in-camera.

The lens is as flare-resistant as any I've ever used.  The CCD will typically overload and streak before rings appear.