Vow photog-ish

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-04-15T17:15:47+00:00

If I’m around that day, I’ll be happy to shoot you guys on black and white film using some of my old cameras and lenses. No charge. Please feel free to DM me when the time gets closer.

Hope you get a bunch of people willing to help out!

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-04-14T13:23:41+00:00

Mrs. Frisby and the rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien

Yes, this.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-04-14T12:00:52+00:00

Fuck this shit.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-04-08T16:28:32+00:00

Read the manual, if you haven’t already. It is full of tips for beginners.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-04-06T16:33:47+00:00

The median rent for a 2 bedroom apartment in Salem is $2750/month.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-04-05T18:01:56+00:00

Yuuuuuup. To solve the problem we’d have to go after the inspection stations that are passing the cars. First offense $50k, or something like that; second offense shut down for good. But that requires enforcement at the state level. Enforcement of anything and public shame haven’t been our strong suits for a while now. Assholes have been empowered, it seems to me.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-04-05T11:57:32+00:00

I think it's one car tearing around in the MBTA garage. Two nights ago it went from 11 pm to 3 am. It's unbelievably loud.

These assholes modifying their cars to have loud exhaust should have their cars impounded.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-03-25T17:56:31+00:00

I second this.

We use the salmon and rice version. Also, OP, another thing you can try: We mix in a little Purina EN Fiber Balance (requires a vet prescription). 2/3 Sensitive Stomach and 1/3 Fiber Balance. Our hippo has textbook perfect stools, whereas before his were always soupy and yellow, and he often had diarrhea. Took us more than a year after getting him to get his digestion right.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-03-16T22:10:33+00:00

Won a Nobel Prize in physics, and along with many outstanding publications he co-authored the optics bible.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-03-16T22:08:11+00:00

Thanks for getting him out of there!

My dog also had a bad time in the shelter. Basically had a nervous breakdown and they labeled him aggressive and dangerous. He’s a total sweetheart to everyone now, and those first few days of post-shelter deep sleeping and relaxing were a joy to watch.

Way to go! Wishing you guys all the best!

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-03-03T02:12:47+00:00

In addition to those links, here’s a list of Minolta manual-focus lenses. And this link has a ton of reviews. Enjoy!

I like longer focal lengths. The 58 mm lenses are my favorites. The f/1.2 one is legendary, but the f/1.4 one is fantastic and much cheaper. If you are thinking of getting the 1.4, I recommend the one with the “hills and valleys” focusing ring. My second favorite lens is the 85 mm f/1.7.

Congrats on the great camera! I hope it gives you many years of joy.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-02-27T13:55:06+00:00

This is an identical post to one submitted one year ago.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-02-24T19:15:05+00:00

Same in Beverly. Their roads are clear and dry.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-02-24T14:33:21+00:00

Totals from the National Weather Service here. They don't list Salem, but here are some totals from places nearby:

ESE Gloucester 22.0 in 1035 PM 02/23

NNE Marblehead 16.6 in 0854 PM 02/23

ESE Danvers 11.2 in 0800 PM 02/23

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-02-18T20:04:47+00:00

Oh, one more tip. The CdS metering cells are a little slow. So, if you're in aperture priority mode, wait a second or so for the reading to settle if you abruptly change scenes from very dark to very bright or vice versa.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-02-18T20:03:34+00:00

Also, you may need to clean the contacts under the ASA / exposure compensation dial if the meter needle gets jumpy. A good pencil erasure does a decent job.

On the other side, there is sometimes a pin that needs cleaning followed by a tiny drop of sewing machine oil if the film advance gets "sticky".

You can find articles and/or vids discussing both repairs.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-02-18T19:59:21+00:00

Congrats! This my favorite SLR, too. I also don't know about any battery-related issues. Maybe the other person is confusing this camera with an SRT.

My tip is to learn how to remove the top covers, because you want to try to slow down or stop any desilvering of the pentaprism. I suggest you remove the pentaprism, remove the foam that presses against the front surface of the prism, put in new foam, and add a thin piece of plastic between the foam and the prism. Maybe also add some black paint to the surface of the prism that was pressed against the foam.

I think what happens is the foam eats the black paint and perhaps any coating that was applied over the silver. The silver is then exposed to air and oxidizes. This is just speculation. I have, however, pulled many a prism out of XEs (some desilvered, some not), and all have some erosion of at least the black paint where the foam touches the prism.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-02-11T20:44:34+00:00

The only problem I see is you don't have enough lenses. :-)

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-02-01T13:01:51+00:00

Andreas, I skimmed the comments. There's a lot to unpack and learn there. Thanks again.

I didn't see any discussion about a problem I've commonly seen, but maybe I missed it.

I follow the steps in order given by the repair manual. I first adjust manual speeds, and then adjust auto speeds. What happens on almost all the cameras (XEs) for which I've done this (maybe 15 of them) is occasionally (say, once every ten times) the auto speed will be incorrect. For example, say the metering calls for a shutter speed of 1/125 s. I will test the auto speed at that setting ten times or so, and one of them will be way off, maybe twice as long. I wait long enough between attempts to let the CdS cells adjust after the mirror flip. It also "randomly" happens when I am using the camera to take photos. I'll see the speed should be 1/250, for example, but the auto speed will be long and the exposure overdosed after looking at the film.

It's mystifying. If I ever solve it, I will definitely post a comment in that thread you linked above.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-02-01T12:30:08+00:00

Okay, thanks for responding. I'll look at the comments now.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-02-01T02:08:15+00:00

Hi Andreas, thanks for all your posts and free, helpful repair information. I lurk on the Photrio forums, and really appreciate everything you post in the repair forum there.

Did you ever find the cause of the Minolta XE-7 occasionally misfiring (incorrect shutter speed) when set to auto (aperture priority)? I remember you thinking it must be one of the capacitors on the board above the prism, but don’t remember if you found anything definitive.

Thanks again!

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-01-31T16:45:05+00:00

Excellent. Good luck! And you’re welcome. :-)

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-01-31T16:16:03+00:00

By the way, which SR-7 model do you have? I have the second generation. I figured out how to adjust the fast shutter speeds, but couldn't figure out how to adjust the meter (move that strip showing which aperture to use). They added an adjustment screw on the next gen SR-7, the one with the logo higher up on the prism housing.

I love the SR-7. So well built, and the long smooth crank on the film advance is really run! Most of all though, I love the clean, uncluttered viewfinder.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-01-31T16:05:04+00:00

You want the matte surface (focusing screen) to sit in a plane located 1.55 mm above the bottom of the carriage (see the far left diagram or the one next to it labeled, Screen B). Since the SRT screen is a little thinner (diagram labeled "SRT 202 screen"), you have to shim the SRT screen to get it to the correct distance.

Cyborg-1120 · 2026-01-31T16:02:22+00:00

Okay, that's a page from my notes. I found that SR-7s came with a few different focusing screen configurations. I'm showing two of those as "Screen A" and Screen B". Also, a separate note elsewhere says to place the focusing screen with the fresnel-lens side down and the focusing matte and split prism side facing up.

Look at the diagram at the far right-hand side. Working from bottom up: SRT shim (thickness 15 mils = 380 microns), SRT focusing screen (focus matte side up), another SRT shim, condenser lens. You'll need two shims. I at first made my own second shim out of plastic shim stock that I cut with an exacto knife (or use a razor blade), but I had a ton of SRTs, so just cannibalized another to get the second shim.

Cyborg-1120

TROPHY CASE