Tag: Camera Review
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Canon Demi EE17: The everyday diptych machine
There are many cameras out there that take standard 35mm film and expose alternative formats for creative effect. The Noblex’s literally sweeping panoramas, the Nishika N8000’s 3D gifs, and the Lomography Pop’s 9 frame pop-art “explosions” all have their appeal, but they all share the same problem: their form factor and results are too niche…
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Shooting the Leica M1: From 1960s British holiday camps to the streets of 21st century England
I am a great fan of the Leica M1, having first used this camera in the late 1960s as a camp photographer at Butlin’s in the UK. I can safely say that for me, it has everything necessary for quick shooting and nothing that you don’t need. So before I get stuck in, let me…
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Push me, pull you: The Contax RTS III and Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 35-70mm f/3.4
Following my CONTAX S2 review last year, I got thinking why I liked using my S2 so much more than my RTS II. After all, the RTS II had some great features with its centre weighted meter and aperture priority mode, it was a more relaxed camera than the all-manual S2. And yet, I did…
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Compact, lightweight medium format panoramic photography with the Horseman SW612
I first came across the Horseman SW612 when I saw a stills photographer on a film shoot I was on using one. I was impressed by the compactness of the camera compared to my Fujica G617. The SW612 is about the same size as modern pro DSLR, and as such is a much more portable…
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CatLABS X-Film 80 with the ONDU 612 MULTIFORMAT pinhole camera or… how to screw up a roll and learn to love the mistakes
An article about learning to love photographic mistakes may not be completely interesting to all of you reading this. Stay with me for a minute. My promise to you is that at the very least, I will end with my feelings on Catlabs X-film 80 as they specifically relate to my experience with the ONDU…
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The best (and worst) film cameras of the 1990s
My take on the 10 “best” film cameras released during the 1990s. It’s not a countdown in the traditional sense and “best”…well…
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Building the Goodman One: A homemade, 3D printed plastic fantastic (review)
Do you remember being a kid and building stuff out of whatever you had lying around? It was difficult at times finding the right materials or the perfect tools. The good part about being a grown-up is that you get to play with tools which are much — MUCH — more fun! Queue the 3D…
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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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- My First Roll… With a Yashica Mat 124G
- The Contax 645: Not just a wedding camera
