Minolta AF2

I picked up an AF2 at auction that was in excellent condition.  I wanted an inconspicuous  film camera with AF for those rare occasions I'm in town, and want to try my hand at "street" photography.  Loaded it with Kodak Gold200 and gave it a try...not in town, but out in the country where I live.  It's actually a nice little camera that provides "snapshot" quality photos.  It does have vignetting on occasion, which is common in this camera, And is caused by the processing, not the lens itself. Out out of 25 exposures, 23 were in focus which isn't bad; the f2.8/38mm lens is of the usual Minolta quality. That first generation infra-red sensor also didn't seem to be bothered by the ice and snow. Next time I'm in town, I'll have to give it a workout on street scenes etc.

The lengthy review I read on the AF2 that discusses the vignetting stated it was caused by the in-camera processing.  It didn't go into detail.

joelbolden wrote:

The lengthy review I read on the AF2 that discusses the vignetting stated it was caused by the in-camera processing. It didn't go into detail.

What review was that ?

Can you provide a link ?

Vignetting is caused by the lens , not the film processing , typical of wide angle lenses built to a lower budget .

neilt3 wrote:

joelbolden wrote:

The lengthy review I read on the AF2 that discusses the vignetting stated it was caused by the in-camera processing. It didn't go into detail.

What review was that ?

Can you provide a link ?

Vignetting is caused by the lens , not the film processing , typical of wide angle lenses built to a lower budget .

I suspect ya'll's understanding is a bit limited; as was mine. It's a little more complete now due to this Interesting article. The link I looked at was called the Casual Photophile. Here's a different link that describes vignetting in more technical terms. The types of vignetting that might be affecting these pics is described in The paragraphs under Optical and Natural vignetting and would especially affect Rangefinder type cameras.Vignetting - Wikipedia

joelbolden wrote:

neilt3 wrote:

joelbolden wrote:

The lengthy review I read on the AF2 that discusses the vignetting stated it was caused by the in-camera processing. It didn't go into detail.

What review was that ?

Can you provide a link ?

Vignetting is caused by the lens , not the film processing , typical of wide angle lenses built to a lower budget .

I suspect ya'll's understanding is a bit limited; as was mine. It's a little more complete now due to this Interesting article. The link I looked at was called the Casual Photophile. Here's a different link that describes vignetting in more technical terms. The types of vignetting that might be affecting these pics is described in The paragraphs under Optical and Natural vignetting and would especially affect Rangefinder type cameras.Vignetting - Wikipedia

There's nothing in that article that I didn't already know .

Nor is it a review of the camera in question that you referred too , which is what I asked for  .

I've been shooting film a long time , and still do , from sub miniature formats to 8x10 large format film .

Vignetting can affect all formats but are always down to the same reasons .

A badly designed lens or mechanical blockage in the light path .

Vignetting with wide angle lenses on range finder cameras is still an issue with the lens design that's harder to correct than SLR lenses .

Large format lenses can also suffer from this where the solution is an expensive centre spot ND filter .

That's basically a screw on graduated ND filter that radiates out from the centre of the lens to darken the centre of the image as much as the outer to give even illumination .

I have one for my 90mm Super Angulon for when I'm using 5x7 film .

Same lens used on 5x4 doesn't need the centre filter as any vignetting is well out of the frame .

IIRC these filters are also available for some rangefinder lenses to correct this flaw .

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As already pointed out , there is no in camera processing with your camera .

The film is exposed , depending on the aperture the camera selects , vignetting occurs at the larger aperture's .

The film is removed from the camera and then processed .

The end result is as seen .

Unless someone sprinkled pixie dust on your camera , no processing takes place in camera .

I have quite a few point and shoot cameras as well . Most exhibit this flaw .

I forgot to say thanks for posting the images , as I do like them .

What's happening in the last two , are they ice fishing ?

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Another thing to check is that the issues aren't to do with bad scanning .

The last one has certainly not been aligned correctly ( unless you were stood neat a telegraph pole when the shot was taken !) .

It shouldn't be the issue , but if you take a shot of the negative with a DSLR and macro lens ( that you know doesn't vignette ) then invert , and review that .

If vignetting is still present then it's the cameras fault , not the scanner .

Hike Pics wrote:

For those that live here in the states, there are several Hi-Matics coming up for auction at Shop Goodwill. Most are between $39 and $99 starting bid. There is an AF2 coming up starting at $9.99. it will be interesting to see how much it ends for.

The current selling price of film point and shoot cameras have gone crazy !

I've never paid more than about £10 for any of mine .

I've got a new Minolta Prod 20's still boxed that I paid around £10-£20 for about 15 years ago .

These sell from between £100-£200 now .

Maybe now's the time to sell some gear ?