Category: Film camera reviews
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The mighty Fujica Panorama G617 Professional camera review
The mighty Fujica Panorama G617 Professional was the camera that made me return to shooting on film. After I’d sold my film gear and gone all digital, I had thought that if I ever found a panoramic camera in a second-hand shop, that it might tempt me back to film – I was right. I…
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GAS and the “wrong” camera: Skateboarders with the Pentax 6×7 in Singapore
I suffer from GAS: Gear Acquisition Syndrome. Even as I write this I have a painfully expensive Mamiya 6 on its way from Japan because I just had to have a medium format camera that’s light and easy to carry. You know, because my 35mm cameras are great, but what if I find myself in…
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A complete guide to the Mamiya RZ67, part five: conclusion and personal stories
This five-part review has taken the best part of three years to complete. At over 40,000 words, I admit that it is quite long (!) but I wanted it to be as detailed and as precise as possible. To the best of my knowledge, no book has ever been written about the Mamiya RZ67 Professional,…
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Building a point and shoot 6×17 camera: the TwoFourths DIY camera kit
In 2016 I decided to back the TwoFourths DIY 617 Kickstarter project, paying about $185 for a kit that would let me use two lenses on the wood and plastic 6×17 format camera. I saw this as a point and shoot camera, requiring less effort than my 4×5 and 8×10, and much less expensive than…
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The mighty Salyut-S; Or how I learned to love a Hasselbladski
While there were a number of different models made – see below – the Soviet copy of Hasselblad’s 1600F modular camera is commonly known as a Kiev, which was both a model name and a reference to it’s place of manufacture, The Arsenal, or more correctly, the Arsenal State Enterprise of Special Instrumentation in Kiev…
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A complete guide to the Mamiya RZ67, part four: maintenance and miscellaneous accessories
Over the past three weeks, I have introduced you to the Mamiya RZ67 Professional camera, its series of film holders and the extensive lens system. In this, part four of the series, I will introduce you to the main system accessories and some basic maintenance/troubleshooting concepts. The neck strap After purchasing my RZ, the first…
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A Day in the Life: London Street Photography with the Leica M6
This article is part diary, part camera review, part lens review, and part film review, all based around my average day-to-day exploits as a film-based street photographer and photojournalist in London.
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Camera review: 14 years with the “invisible” Nikon FM3a
In January 2006, after 5 or so years of film photography with a combination of cheaper cameras (e.g., a Minolta SRT-101, a Fed-3 and an old Mamiya 35mm), I bought a like-new Nikon FM3A for $429 USD on eBay. Since then it has shot hundreds (if not thousands) of rolls of film, and has accompanied…
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A complete guide to the Mamiya RZ67, part three: lenses, filters and accessories
Welcome back to part three of this guide. We’ve already covered a deep overview of the Mamiya RZ67 Professional system as well as a look at the system’s film holder options. For part three, I’ll be covering the lenses. If you’ve read the previous two parts, you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of the…
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A complete guide to the Mamiya RZ67, part two: film holder system
Welcome to part two of this short but exhaustive series of articles on the Mamiya RZ67 Professional camera system. In part one I gave you a deep overview of the RZ67 system; its history, breadth, basic steps to taking your first photograph, focusing and use cases. Part two dives deep into the RZ’s revolving back,…
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A complete guide to the Mamiya RZ67 Pro: part one – deep system overview
The Mamiya RZ67 is very interesting and in many ways, an unusual camera. It’s not very easy to operate and a little bit slow if you’re not used to it, so it’s maybe not a camera for everybody. It’s also huge and a bit heavy and was primarily created for studio work and landscapes for…
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The TLR, a Goldilocks camera design
The Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) is a camera design over 130 years old and it’s almost a hundred years since its now-familiar appearance first was brought to the mass market by Franke & Heidecke and subsequently, so widely and successfully copied. It is a “just right” Goldilocks camera if ever there was one. I am not…
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The Ricoh GR10: “piggy in the middle” GR sibling (plus GR1s comparison)
A year ago I was looking for the “ultimate film compact camera”, the Ricoh GR1 series, but I was somewhat afraid of what I’ve read on many websites: they’re fragile, they can’t be repaired (or at least, not easily and cheap), and I was scared of wasting more than 600€ that I could invest in…
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Choosing a 35mm film SLR? A quick look at six (vintage?) film camera manufacturers…
Since the publication of my original book, “Nikon Film Cameras, Which one is right for you?“, I’ve acquired a number of additional cameras and lenses which I describe and evaluate from personal experience in the newly released second edition, which recently went live on Amazon. In addition to the extra hardware, I tracked the prices…
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Camera review: the Contax S2, “Simple is Best”
Two years ago at a tram stop in Antwerp, I misstepped on the pavement’s edge and fell over. It was a bit embarrassing and it wasn’t helped by my own wife and daughter doubled up with laughter at my expense. “Why didn’t you put your hands out to break your fall?”, they asked. To them,…
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Ricoh GR1s vs Ricoh R1s: Is “premium” really worth the money?
Here’s a question you’ve probably asked yourself before: “Is it really worth paying for a premium compact 35mm camera when a lesser-known, lower spec’d camera can produce a comparable result?” To answer it, I decided to see if my “premium” Ricoh GR1s and not-so-premium Ricoh R1s were really as different as the marketing and internet…
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Compact camera mega test finale: 12+ high, mid and low-end 35mm point and shoot cameras head-to-head
One day, some time ago, I hatched a plan to do the biggest comparative test of compact film cameras that had (possibly) ever been done in the history of the human race. Surely it must have been done before? Well, not quite. Not as broad as the one you’re reading this very minute. This test…
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Compact camera mega test: Yashica Zoomate 115, the poor man’s MJU Zoom
Welcome to the twelfth and final quick camera review for my upcoming 12-camera 35mm camera mega test. In this series, I’ll be comparing image quality, durability, speed and overall performance for cameras ranging from the very high end of the 35mm compact camera world to the very low – or close to it. I’ll be…
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Compact camera mega test: Samsung Vega 700, does Schneider-Kreuznach equal “better”?
Welcome to the eleventh in my series of quick compact 35mm camera reviews. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be publishing a total of 12 of these articles as part of a 35mm compact camera mega test spanning cameras made from 1990 to 2003 – arguably the golden age of these pocketable beasts. You can find…
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Camera review: Polaroid Automatic 100 Land Camera
In 1963, the Polaroid Corporation introduced the Automatic 100 Land Camera (also known as the Model 100). Named after Polaroid co-founder and genius inventor Edwin Land, the Land Cameras would go on to be a successful line of cameras for the company, produced in one form or another until the early 2000’s. The Automatic 100…