Minolta Hi-Matic GF
Aka, the best thrift store $2 point and shoot I’ve ever owned.
Hey Film Fam, welcome back!
The last two weeks have been busy and chaotic ones but I’m keen as beans to be jumping on here and sharing another roll from my April Film Challenge - where I set out to shoot in only Black and White 35mm Film for the entire month!
If you’re new here, welcome aboard! Have a little sneaky look around at my archive of previous blogs, and various links all over the place, or tip toe over to my Instagram if you want to see some occasional chaotic IG stories about what’s happening behind the scenes.
I recently had the chance to catch up with the amazingly talented and beautiful Olivia, or Lils, also known as Lilsvisual on Instagram. We hung out at a lovely little spot in the Lower Blue Mountains and a few hours quickly turned into a full day of just chatting about all things film as well as our experiences in the creative industry as Women + Non-Binary artists. It was super lovely to finally meet her after 2+ years of chatting online and I cannot wait to see her thrive as she starts her transition into being a full time photographer this year!
I also picked up a gorgeous print by Clyde - known as Cvexplores on Instagram - who I’ve mentioned in a previous blog. He still just absolutely bangs out the most stunning astro and landscape photography and has prints available to purchase. On top of that he’s been holding Digital Photography Workshops in Sydney and around the South Coast areas - including some portrait based ones! I plan to find some time to join one of them and I’m of course going to challenge myself to shoot film for most of it, but who knows? I might dip my toes into the world of Sony Cameras once again - much like when Clyde was kind enough to let me try out a Sony A7C at the last sponsored group event I got the chance to attend! (I swear one day I will get my grubby hands on an A7C like I keep promising myself…)
Links to both photographer’s work can be found by clicking their name or giving them a quick google to find their websites. I hope to bring more cool photographers' work to future newsletters. I want to build a strong supportive community, so any way I can help get people’s work seen even if it’s just sharing a profile, I’m more than happy to do so!
As always these newsletters tend to be quite rambly, photo heavy, and have the vibe of catching up with that one friend you haven’t seen in a while who’s just very passionate about all things film. So if that’s your kind of jam, you’re in the right place!
Grab a coffee, settle in, and let’s get into it!
The best $2 I have ever spent? I think so!
One thing to know about me is that despite my heavy technical talk when it comes to all things 35mm film, deep down I’m not really a camera snob - yes I prefer SLR’s and Rangefinders simply because I love to manual-mode everything - but this little Point and Shoot has won my heart over.
[And I still truly believe the best camera is the one that works and takes photos that you genuinely love and enjoy - regardless of how little (or how much!) it costs you to get out there and create some kickass art you can be proud of.]
A while ago I was flipping through more family photo albums and spotted a film shot my Mum took of one of her Sisters smiling proudly with a little Minolta in her hands. And it looked very similar to the one I managed to find at my local thrift store a few years ago now.
I purchased a little dusty Minolta Hi-Matic GF alongside a Kodak VR35 entirely on impulse. There was a big basket of left behind point and shoot film cameras and I picked these two for no particular reason. I probably just thought they looked cool! They cost $2 each and to my surprise both of them came to life as soon as I put fresh batteries in. Talk about being lucky!
The Minolta Hi-Matic GF first started out as nothing more than a little prop camera if I’m being honest. I didn’t quite “get” how the preset focus points worked, and I wasn’t a fan of the limitations of the camera once I started trying to use it. At that point I hadn’t quite gotten into maintaining or restoring film cameras either so I just slapped a roll of good old trusty Ultramax in it and hoped for the best.
I was disappointed at the lack of clear images and figured it would be best to not bother using it again. I grabbed it on a whim during my first ‘branding’ images for ‘Josie On Film’ in 2021 as a last minute prop and was really chuffed with how the photoshoot turned out.
Nowadays of course I plan to do a branding re-shoot with my SLR’s but this dinky little plastic camera had a charm of its own and it’s still one of my favourite portrait series I’ve modelled for.
This particular Minolta was the last of the ‘Hi-Matic’ series and was released in 1984. It’s a super lightweight compact viewfinder style camera which has