EP238: Half-Frame Panoramic — Minolta P's 24mm f4.5 with Fujifilm 400

Roll #238

Film: Fujifilm 400 (US version)
Developed & scanned: Li-lai Photo, 2024/10/22
Camera: Minolta P's 24mm f4.5

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My experience with the Minolta P's 24mm f4.5 is limited — the last time I used it, my first time, was with Ilford HP5 Plus 400 in black and white. That went well enough that I put the camera away satisfied. But I'd always been curious what the P's would do with color film, so here we are with a roll of US Fujifilm 400.

The Minolta P's is a camera I've put real effort into accommodating, because its 6.5x2.4 aspect ratio is genuinely awkward to present. On a phone screen the ultra-wide frames are hard to appreciate, and in a standard blog layout they collapse into tiny banners due to container width constraints — making it nearly impossible to see any detail.

To give the P's panoramic frames a fair showing on desktop and tablet, I actually modified the site's code so these images can break out of the text container width — enough room to display at a proper size, while the body text stays at a readable line length.

On balance, I think the Minolta P's suits black and white better. More precisely: getting a great color shot with the P's is simply harder than with black and white.

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#1
A Sunday at a campsite with a small wading pool — full of Taiwanese brown frogs. Only my son went in; I hadn't brought a change of clothes. One of the frogs is clinging to his hand in this frame.

 

#2
The weather that day at the Fuxing campsite in Taoyuan.

 

#3
Riding home from school with my son one day, I spotted a beautiful sunset in the distance. I fished the P's out of my bag mid-ride and handed it to him to shoot. Turns out I was in the way.

 

#4
Morning commute traffic.

 

#5
Across the street from where I work.

 

#6
My son has been going to a math class every week — not traditional math, but a course focused on developing logical reasoning and observation skills. I find it genuinely interesting, and the results have been good. This is him mid-class, with the learning materials on the table.

 

#7
Driving home after his math class. The light was long at this red, so I shot three frames. This is the first — flash on.

 

#8
Second frame — flash off.

 

#9
Third frame — flash blocked. At f4.5 in low light, blocking the flash just doesn't work. Not enough aperture.

 

#10
My son's room — mid-reorganization, so thoroughly chaotic, though there's still a corner reserved for Lego.

 

#11
Working from McDonald's this day. I love a well-lit space.

 

#12
The biggest difference between McDonald's and MOS Burger: MOS actually makes the reusable cup program work. They have a dedicated washing sink so you can clean your cup on the spot. McDonald's doesn't — you'd have to go to the restroom, where the water pressure is usually so low it's practically unusable. The dine-in cups at McDonald's are plastic, which is hard to clean thoroughly and tends to harbor residue. Convenience, yes. Hygiene, questionable.

 

#13
From my observation: the less a sign says "luxury," the more luxury the place tends to look.

 

#14
People outside the area might not know this, but there's a locally famous residential development on Jincheng Road in Tucheng, New Taipei called "Jincheng Dance." Hard to explain without knowing the area.

 

#15
People often ask how the Minolta P's compares to the Hasselblad XPan (Fujifilm TX-1). But I don't think the comparison makes sense — different focal lengths, different film area. I'd honestly treat the XPan as a medium format camera: a medium format camera that happens to use 135 film. And the P's achieves its panoramic format through heavy cropping, which effectively puts it in half-frame territory. So are we comparing medium format to half-frame? Is that really the comparison you want to make?

 

#16
In terms of output, yes, the XPan and the P's are in completely different leagues. But the P's biggest advantage is portability — the whole camera weighs 185 grams, while the XPan with lens is about a kilogram. Some shots only happen when you have a camera with you. On that count, the XPan can't touch the P's.

 

#17
The Minolta P's lens isn't particularly sharp, and that shows more clearly on color film. Here you can see a noticeable drop in resolution between the center and the edges.

 

#18
MOS Burger is genuinely a responsible company — their policy of hiring workers returning to the workforce says a lot. And almost every branch has power outlets available. Not sure how they're making money with all that.

 

#19
A Saturday — dropped my son off for his English class, which is more of a conversational immersion format than a traditional lesson. While he was in, my wife and I had an unexpectedly nice stretch of time to ourselves at the nearby MOS Burger.

 

#20
Cropping an image into a letterbox shape doesn't give you a cinematic look. The cinematic look comes from longer focal lengths — a lot of people misunderstand this. Which is also why the Minolta P's doesn't look like a movie frame at all, despite the aspect ratio. It's a 24mm f4.5.

 

#21
My son's English school is right near Zhongxiao Xinsheng MRT Station, which puts Mollie Lifestyle within easy walking distance. Very convenient for picking up film.

 

#22
My son finishing his snack outside Mollie before coming in to browse with me.

 

#23
Sunlight through the front windshield.

 

#24
The hardest part of shooting the Minolta P's is keeping it level. The camera is so small that it shifts slightly the moment you press the shutter.

 

#25
Most of the P's frames in this roll have been horizon-corrected in Lightroom. This one hasn't — I wanted to show what they look like before. The whole world tilts.

 

#26
The Minolta P's lens isn't very sharp. Said it once, saying it again.

 

#27
When I ride the Wenhu Line MRT, I always walk to the first car to watch the track curve ahead. Something satisfying about it.

 

#28
My son's room, continuing to take shape — a Lego workshop in progress. Flash on here.

 

#29
Same scene, flash blocked — I wanted to finish the roll and took the opportunity to test. Confirmed: the Minolta P's really doesn't work with a blocked flash.

 

That's the full roll — Minolta P's 24mm f4.5 with Fujifilm 400. Thanks for reading.