Introduction I will keep this review short and sweet as I am no expert when it comes to he finer points of lens construction and discussing their performance beyond the obvious! Woo Hoo! I now have a third fisheye lens. Unlike my previous two, this is for use on medium format cameras as opposed to…
Author: Bob Giles
Konica FP-1, Is It A Point & shoot Or SLR?
Introduction I must confess that I really like Konica cameras and lenses, in particular their range of Single Lens Reflex (SLR) cameras and their Hexanon range of lenses. They were, in the main, robust and built to high standards. The later models, like so many cameras employed a lot of plastic in their construction. Even…
Another Unexpected Arrival – A Kodak Retinette Type 022
Introduction I am occasionally gifted cameras. One of my latest was a Kodak Retinette (Type 022). The following is based upon the information available from a variety of sources plus my personal observations. I will attempt to highlight its strengths and weaknesses. The Kodak Retinette (Type 022) is a 35mm viewfinder camera produced by Kodak…
An Unexpected Arrival – A Kodak Retina 1a
IntroductionThis little (and I do mean little) beauty was something of an unexpected purchase. I have recently won a couple of online auctions for a variety of vintage cameras from a German seller. Nothing was very expensive but owing to a query on our address, we entered into an email conversation. He was disposing of…
Canon T-90
IntroductionCanon, a name synonymous with quality photography, produced an iconic piece of photographic history with the T90 – in my humble opinion at least! Launched in 1986, the Canon T90 was a remarkable combination of design and technology that made it one of the last great manual focus cameras before the age of autofocus and…
Half Frame Frenzy – Part 3 (Or Two For The Price of One!)
IntroductionI was undecided on which of two titles to give this post and so, in the end, I gave it both! I will explain. I must warn you that my explanation is a little convoluted. Stick with me! It had been my intention to conclude my mini-series of articles on half-frame photography and possible savings…
Half Frame Frenzy – Part 2 Featuring The Olympus PEN-EE S
IntroductionSpoiler Alert! This post has a sad ending! I went looking for an Olympus Pen EE S following an idea which involved experimenting with better quality half-frame cameras and higher quality film stock that has become available in recent years. I was aware that the half-frame format was originally intended for the mass market where…
Half-Frame Frenzy (Part 1)
BackgroundI have previously commented on film costs and possible solutions involving smaller format cameras here. In that post, I mentioned my Chaika 2 half-frame camera. Since then, I have obtained two other half-frame cameras – an Olympus PEN-EE S and a Fujica Half. I decided that it would be good to explore the possibility of…
Canon EOS 300
I will place my cards firmly on the table and say that a Canon EOS 300 is not a camera that I had ever considered actively adding to my modest collection of vintage cameras. Then an acquaintance contacted me to say that they had one that they wanted to dispose of along with a few…
A Tale Of Two Praktica LLCs
What’s the fascination with the Praktica LLC?That’s a difficult question to answer. I guess it is the fact that this camera was an innovative departure for Praktica in that it had a vertical, metal, focal plane shutter unlike its predecessors that had cloth shutters and perhaps more importantly, its open-aperture, through the lens (TTL) metering…