Early Adventures in 35mm

Olympus

The earliest camera I remember having was an Olympus Infinity Stylus Zoom 70 QD. What a great camera to get started with. Compact, 35-70mm zoom, sliding front cover, and film (obviously). I don't remember how old I was, but I had this camera right when my growing love for mountains, hiking, wildlife, and the general outdoors was taking off. Having this camera in my hands fed that enthusiasm and undoubtedly contributed, in several way, to the overall arc of my life.

Minolta

Somewhere along the line I replaced the Olympus with a Minolta Maxxum HTsi+.  My first SLR!  Now THIS was serious photography! 

I started with a Sigma 28-80mm/3.5-5.6 kit lens, but I soon sold some flyfishing equipment to fund the purchase of a Minolta AF 24-50mm/4.  Certainly sharper than the Sigma!  Corner softness at low apertures, purple fringing, and other issues apparently aren't enough to eliminate a following for this lens even today.  It was small, reasonably priced (at the time), and covered my preferred range (at the time). 

Over time, the HTsi+ developed a sticky shutter and a twisted frame.  Not wanting to switch systems (I already had the 24-50, and money was tight), I upgraded to the Maxxum 5.  Lightweight, compact, and more fully featured than the HTsi+, I believed it to be as perfect for hiking as an automatic SLR could be.  It had DOF preview, full aperture and shutter speed manual controls, and (given the proper lens) a very fast but noisy autofocus.  It's lack of mirror lockup was a concern, but I had done without it up until that point and didn't feel like I was missing anything in the sharpness realm.  At one point I bounced it down a hill (though it was still in its case) and it survived just fine. 

Over time, my interests drifted toward exploring large-format photography.  I was able to use my Maxxum 5 as a light meter and snapshot camera for several years during that period, until it developed autofocus issues and eventually stopped working completely.  Right around that same time, Minolta exited the camera market.

I learned a great deal about photography using those two Maxxums and the 24-50mm/4.  I was fortunate to have plenty of other toys growing up, but few of them influenced me as much as those Minoltas.