I sort of regret selling my old SX-70. It was the “Sonar” version, with autofocus. It was in great shape, but the scarcity and cost of SX-70 film meant it sat on the shelf gathering dust. I experimented with some of the filter and flash options available at the time, but it was never as good as it should have been. I also stand on the fact that modern Polaroid film is only acceptable to those who never experienced the original.
With a week-long beach adventure fast approaching on the calendar, I decided to break out the Minolta X-370 again and put a roll through it. I planned on taking it and a number of other as-yet-untested cameras with me to decide which I was going to keep and which I was going to part with (Spoiler alert: I only parted with one, and I regret it).
I took the camera with me to go hang out with some friends, and while I’d like to blame the soft focus on my poor vision, there may or may not have been some other factors involved.
The thing is, though, I like these shots. They are as blurry and chaotic as the evening turned out to be. Not every photo was worth sharing, but they all represent the moment perfectly, and I think that’s more important than perfect lighting and tack-sharp focus.
Oh god, I miss peel-apart instant film. Damn Fuji for ending it and refusing to let another company take over production. When these photos were taken, it was about $11 for a pack containing 10 shots. Now a well-expired pack goes for over $200, with no guarantee that it will expose correctly.
I loved the way colors would render with FP-100c as it gave everything a dreamy, instagram-filter feel but you know… authentic. The black and white photos had a lovely curve in the tonality that I found lovely, and of course the magic of instant photography never really fades. I experimented with recovering negatives by bleaching the part of the film you’d normally throw away, with mixed results. I mostly shot on a Polaroid Land Camera, and on a few occasions a Polaroid Big Shot – for the times I wanted to pretend I was Andy Warhol.
I was gifted a Mamyia C33 TLR camera by my sister Audra back in 2016. It was in great shape, and I had no idea how to use it at all. It was my first exposure to medium format film and my first fully manual camera.
Thankfully, we live in modern times, and I was able to locate a manual and a few YouTube videos online. Thanks to eBay, I was able to snag a light meter for a few bucks as well (not so easy to do these days) and ran a few rolls through it.
I enjoy using the C33, but due to its size, weight, and being fully manual, it’s most often found on the display shelf. I do get it out every once in a while, however, and am almost always pleased with the results.
Like a true child of the 80’s, I took a photography class in high school. I absolutely fell in love with the process of developing film and making prints, but once the class ended, I no longer had access to continue experimenting. A few of those old photos survive, but aren’t worth sharing, as I had no clue at all what I was doing.
Some time around Christmas 2017, I obtained a Minolta X-370 and a pair of lenses. The camera had belonged to my wife’s uncle, who had passed away. Having just had a few rolls from the Mamiya C33 developed, I was interested in getting back to shooting 35mm and reliving that classic experience.
The X-370 sports an aperture priority mode, so it was a much simpler experience than the C-33, but it was still a manual focus camera, and even in my 30’s I refused to wear corrective lenses, hence a lot of soft focus. I really didn’t understand how aperture affected the depth of field yet either, so combine that with shooting mostly indoors on Christmas and it makes sense that these images are less than stellar. Still, they invoke a sense of nostalgia, and I smile whenever I look at them – but a lot of that has to do with my son’s Christmas morning hair.
In November of 2025, I joined my wife and father-in-law on a hike in Davis, WV to see the sunrise from Bear Rock near Dolly Sods. I thought I could handle lugging the Mamiya C33 up the hill and dealing with the low light levels without a tripod. I could not. At least if I was smarter, I would have sprung for Portra 800 instead of 400, but alas – I was still learning.
I wouldn’t actually get these photos developed until much later, but I was satisfied with a few shots. Specifically, the last two here are personal favorites from this day. They were underexposed, but I like how they look with the blacks lifted.
