Several weeks ago, Derek, the author/photographer of Straight, No Chaser held a film camera giveaway. He asked if any of his readers would like to pass on an Olympus 35mm point and shoot film camera to anyone who would use it, and instructed them to write a comment about who they would pass the camera onto, and why. I rarely ever win anything, but figured it was worth a few minutes to comment and I wrote that I would pass the camera on to my grandson.
I didn’t really expect to receive the camera, but I like Derek’s blog and photos and figured it wouldn’t hurt to add another comment to the pile. To my surprise, Derek sent me a message a couple weeks later, telling me that he was sending the camera to me so I could pass it to my grandson.
When the camera arrived here, it wasn’t working, though it was fully functional when Derek mailed it. We sent messages back and forth and came to the conclusion that it had probably been damaged during shipping. Derek arranged for me to get a replacement from Dan Kagle, the owner of The Darkroom @ Division 9 located here in Riverside, California.
It is a somewhat convoluted story, but as a result of some trading between Derek, Dan, and me, we were able to put a Minolta X 700 with a 50mm lens into my grandson’s hands. He has been shooting with various digital cameras since he was two years old and has also used my film cameras at various times.
A week after he got the Minolta outfit we both had some free time on the same day and we used it to make photographs with our SLRs at a local park, then develop and scan the negatives. Photos from his first roll of film through the Minolta are shown here. I didn’t manipulate these photographs in any way other than to resize them for the Web.
Derek and Dan were the catalysts for the series of events that put the Minolta x 700 in my grandson’s hands. He is already enjoying it a great deal. Thanks, Derek and Dan…
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Derek: Let’s have a round of applause for the grandson. From what I heard he also developed the roll of film himself. Such a trooper at a young age to exploring the world of film photography! That put a smile on my face and that’s exactly all I wanted.
Straight, No Chaser. 
Funny, you hear all the time that you have to upgrade to the latest gear. Even Leica brought out a £9,000 manual camera that only takes BW digital images. Crazy money. And here your grandson captured some great BW shots on a free old Minolta of all things. Keep up the good work.
Well, it was free to him: Derek where it originated, and Dan – from The Darkroom @ Division 9 both had materials and/or time into the rather convoluted events that put the camera in his hands.
He had been shooting digital cameras since he was two years old (now nine) and liked shooting my film cameras occasionally, particularly the TLR. it just seemed like it was the right time for him to have a SLR.
Young eyes, it is amazing how they see.