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camera drop fallout

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

To my dismay, it seems that it's time to say goodbye to another camera -- that's two so far in '09 and three in the past 18 months!

My X-700, pictured above, hasn't recovered from being dropped a couple of weeks ago, and I suppose that it never will. It's got a bad light leak that either comes from the bent film door or from some secondary damage that I haven't noticed (e.g. to the lens mount).

This camera is the one with which I learned most of what I know of the artform of photography. When I started with this camera I was someone who got occasional keepers. When I finally set it aside, I actually knew what I was doing, and could rely on the results I'd obtain. It was a gift from my friends Jon and Charlie dating to 1996 or so, and has subsequently been with me to a number of countries -- and is certainly my "#1 travel camera" as far as total time in hand while traveling. It was also the only camera I took when I lived in Australia for 16 months.

And now I'll be setting it aside for good. I'll miss my old Minolta X-700 (and its year-old covering with griptac from cameraleather.com), but I just can't use it any more. The following are some of the results I now get.

Truth to tell, this one's not too bad. The wide strip of light-exposed film coincides with the fence post pretty well. Not so for the following examples.

With these next two examples, the smear from the light leakage coincides with someone's face. Tragic.

Goodbye, my faithful friend. It was either drop you or drop my son, I hope you see how it is. 8(