Christmas Minolta update

I'd better paint my house soon or other people like me will be stopping by to take picturesque photos of the dilapidation. When Gene M shows up at the door I know I'll be in trouble!

One of my habitual subjects is the old Hyde Manor, a resort hotel nearby that has, clearly, fallen on hard times. The owners could not find funding for renovation, and though they have tried from time to time to prevent total collapse, it's been falling down for the last 20-odd years. In the last year or two, the tower has suffered greatly, and we wonder each week whether we've seen the last of it. They are not friendly to walking around, so we can only shoot from the roadside. Too bad, because the place is just full of interesting architectural ruins. I took this shot using program mode, just to make sure it worked. It does.

I threw on the 135 to try to catch the now nearly gone building further back, which included an elaborate dovecote. The old MC 135/2.8 is a nice lens except that it does not focus close at all.

It's been an odd winter here, with little snow, but I managed to catch a bit.

Brandon, VT was hard hit by hurricane Irene, and the fate of many of its historic buildings remains in doubt. Here's the Watershed Tavern, and boy did it shed some water! It was vacant during the flood, and has not been opened or even cleaned out since then. The Pizza parlor that used to nestle right next to it floated across the street, and is now gone, as is at least one building that was behind it, which we saw being demolished a couple of days ago. The tavern's future is uncertain, but it's a pretty building even now.

Had to see what kind of bokeh that 1.7 lens delivers. That's the only excuse for this banal shot, but I see nothing to complain about on lens performance.

OK, one more and I'll quit this and let you go on about your business. Another favorite spot for testing old cameras is overlooking the falls of the Otter Creek in Middlebury, Vt. Here's a long-abandoned little power house which is just in range of the 135 mm. lens.

Concluding, the X-700 in general, and this sample in particular, is a very nice camera to use, and like many Minoltas of its era, the metering alsways seems to be dead on. Most of the shots in this series were done with aperture priority, a couple on program. The film was Fuji Pro 400, and the scans are the "low res" scans provided by my local lab, without any compensation.
And I'm really happy with that 50 mm. lens. The only problem I have with this camera is that my far-sightedness makes it hard to focus. So until I find a diopter, please excuse the softness of a couple of these shots. It's undoubtedly operator error, not a fault of the lens.

Great shots with a great camera. Loved all of the pictures, especially the "old tavern."
I wish I had taken pictures of our cities downtown before our city council decided to "re-develop it."Now, it is all re-developed, and many of the people who rented or owned the businesses downtown are either out of business or going out of business.
So much for progress.

Nice work.

Sorry to see the old Italianate in near ruins, but glad to see the results from the camera.

Very nice work and I'm glad it is good hands! Great series and I particularly like the The Watershed Tavern. Buy it cheap! I hope it serves you well for a long time!