Prior to this latest outing, I had shot with my Minolta Hi-Matic 11 only twice since getting it back in October.
I really enjoyed using the Hi-Matic those first couple of times. It’s my only rangefinder so it’s a different experience from any of my other cameras. It also does not have an aperture priority mode which is usually my default mode. It has a shutter priority mode which I’ve played around with a little, but I’ve mainly used it in automatic mode which I don’t do with any of my cameras that have options to do otherwise.
Previously, I used color film with the Hi-Matic which resulted in pleasantly bright and somewhat over-saturated photos. Blues tended to really stand out.
Given the success of shooting with color, I was interested in trying it with black and white film. I decided to go with the roll of Ilford XPS Super I had gotten from the Casual Photophile Film of the Month Club. I don’t think I’ve used an Ilford film that I haven’t liked and this was no exception.
I went out twice with it, first on a walk in our more immediate neighborhood as Holly and I have been trying to explore more of the pockets of it we haven’t explored before.
The second time out, we went on a longer walk with a friend of ours who was on a mission to take pictures along different blocks of the street where she lives. Her house is on a fairly small street so I was able to take some photos where I had mostly not been before not only along her street but also along some of the parallel streets as we wended our way back and forth.
I was equally pleased with the outcome using black and white film as I was with the color results. The next time I go out with it, I want to concentrate on learning how to use the shutter priority mode.
Now that we’re at the end of July, I hope we’re not too far away from somewhat cooler weather. The pandemic is enough of a barrier to going outside. I don’t need it to be 95 degrees and humid as well.
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