• Kodak Six-20 With the acquisition of this camera I’ve broken two of my rules for collecting cameras. The first is that I would not acquire a camera that I could not or would not use. I’ve on occasion acquired a camera that was supposed to be working, but turned out to be non-functional. However, I’ve never bought ...
  • Trying out my newly acquired Pentax K10 After charging the battery I decided to take my newly acquired Pentax to nearby Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Sleepy Hollow, NY to confirm that it was working and see how it handled. So how did things go. Well, the pictures weren’t bad for essentially quick snapshots. I even quite like a few of them. It ...
  • Another new old camera In previous posts I’ve mentioned that I had started to collect old digital cameras. This is the latest. It’s a Pentax K10D and it’s a 10.2-megapixel (which is plenty for most purposes e.g. web site use, social media and prints up to 12″x8″ prints) digital single-lens reflex camera launched in late 2006. It was developed ...
  • More GAS: Nikon D800 For a while now I’ve been collecting old digital cameras. For how this started see: I don’t know what came over me My latest acquisition is a Nikon D800, which I came across at a very reasonable price. I’d never tried a Nikon full frame camera and thought this might be a good place to ...
  • Another new (used) camera: Fujifilm X-E1 In an earlier post I noted that I had started collect older digital cameras. Over time this has led to the acquisition of Canon EOS 5D; a Nikon D80; a couple of Micro 4/3 cameras – Lumix GF-1 and Olympus OM-D E-M10. I used to own a Fujifilm HS-10, which I didn’t like and ...
  • Film Camera 2019/10 – Moskva 5 – Results I struggled with this camera – not the fault of the camera, more my lack of familiarity with it and some basic mistakes I made. Loading was easy enough, but after that things started to go downhill. Admittedly I was rushing. I was leaving on vacation and wanted to finish a roll quickly before ...
  • Film Camera 2019/10 – Moskva 5 Made from 1955-59 by KMZ, Krasnogorsk (Moscow), USSR. Earlier models were copies of the Zeiss Ikon Super Ikonta C. Unlike the earlier models, this model is a Zeiss Super Ikonta adapted form, rather than a clone and unlike the Super Ikonta, its solid top plate has a built-in rangefinder and a dual-format viewfinder. The Moskva-5 ...
  • Film Camera 2019/9 – Agfa Click I I got this camera for two reasons: 1) A developing interest in bakelite cameras; 2) an interest in inexpensive cameras that take 120 film. There’s really not much to be said about it. As mentioned above it takes 120 film in a 6×6 frame. It was made from the late 1950s into the 1970s and ...
  • Film Camera 2019/8 – Nikon FG – Results My first attempts to use this camera (without film) showed a few problems. I put a battery in and opened up the back. When I closed it again the frame counter didn’t reset. Ah well. Who needs a frame counter. I’ll know when the film stops that I’ve finished it. ...
  • Film Camera 2019/8 – Nikon FG The Nikon FG is a compact 35mm Single Lens Reflex (SLR) Manual focus camera with an electronically controlled focal plane shutter. I bought it after my two attempts to acquire a Nikon EM failed. I like the look of the Nikon EM and its size, weight and aperture priority automation appeal to me. ...
  • Film Camera 2019/7 – Konica C35 – Results I put the film into the camera, closed the back and started to advance the film. Somehow it didn’t seem as smooth as with other similar cameras I’ve used. However, I pressed on and as I took shot after shot the film seemed to be advancing well albeit with a little roughness. ...
  • Film Camera 2019/7 – Konica C35 When I first started collecting cameras around 2011 my focus was on compact rangefinder cameras like my Minolta Hi-Matic 7sii, my first serious camera. This Konica C35 was one of my first acquisitions. However, for some reason I never tried to use it. This may have been because although it’s a rangefinder camera ...
  • Don’t know what came over me again In an earlier post I mentioned that I’d acquired a Nikon D80, mostly because I wanted to see what it was like to use a Nikon Digital camera. Well – I’ve done it again. It all started when came across posts like the following: The Canon 5D Classic – A Review by Ray Goodwin. $76 Full Frame! ...
  • Film Camera 2018/3 – Olympus Infinity Stylus Epic (Mju II) DLX The other day my wife wanted to go to a nearby Goodwill store to look for some pots. While we were there I took a look around. At first I didn’t see anything of interest – just one broken 1980s vintage point and shoot. Then at the back of a bin I ...
  • Film Camera 2018/3 – Nikon N6006 I didn’t particularly want this Nikon body. I was more interested in the lens. But the price of the body plus lens was so attractive that I decided to go for it. The Nikon N6006 (also known as the F-601 outside of the US) was launched in 1990. The Nikon F4 was at ...
  • I don’t know what came over me While I fairly frequently purchase old film cameras, I can’t remember ever buying an old digital camera. So why did I buy this one? Recently I’ve come across a few articles on the internet talking about how cameras have become too complicated – with resolution and functionality that we don’t really need, and that it ...
  • Film Camera 2018/2 – Minolta STsi I wasn’t really interested in another Minolta body, but what caught my eye was what came with it: A Minolta AF 50mm F1.7 Lens; Minolta AF Zoom 28-80mm f3.5-5.6; Minolta AF Zoom 70-210mm f4.5-5.6 plus other assorted goodies – all for an extremely low price. I have an old A-mount camera (specifically a Konica Minolta ...
  • HP Photosmart 433 I generally use either fairly recent generation digital cameras (e.g. Sony A77II; Sony RX-100; Sony NEX 5N) or any of a quite large number of old/vintage film cameras. In this case the camera is also fairly old (I don’t know exactly how old, but the date on the accompanying manual is 2003), but rather ...
  • A bag full of cameras A while back I was contacted by friend and neighbor who knows that I collect cameras. Apparently he was at a flea market somewhere and came across a bag of cameras that the vendor was giving away for free. My neighbor decided to take them in case I was interested. I didn’t expect to ...
  • Vivitar 35ES – Results This is my October 2017 film camera. It’s taken me a very long time to complete this roll of film. As you can see from the picture above I started to use it towards the end of November, 2017 (today is 6 February 2018)! There a number of reasons for this. First ...
  • A photographically interesting couple of hours in Pleasantville, NY A few days before Christmas my wife was going to lunch with a friend in Pleasantville, NY. I needed to get out of the house so I decided to go along with her. I knew that there was a small bookstore in Pleasantville and I thought that I would “check it out” and then ...
  • A New (Used) Camera I have a lot of cameras, but most of them are old film cameras. I have only three cameras that I use regularly: A Sony RX100 M3, my carry everywhere camera purchased in 2016 to replace a RX100 M1 that died; A Sony Alpha 500 DSLR acquired in 2010; and a Sony Nex 5N, ...
  • September Film Camera – Canon EOS 888 This camera was given to me by an good friend. He’s not all that much into photography and I imagine that if he wanted to take pictures, he would be unlikely to ever use a 1995 vintage film camera. In fact the camera is in such great condition that it looks as if it’s ...
  • August Film Camera – Olympus OM2-n MD Much has been written (I’ve included links to four pieces below. I particularly like the Mike Eckman article for its honest take on the camera; and the Photography in Malaysia article for its wealth of technical detail) on the Olympus OM cameras including on the OM2-n. Mine also supports a motor drive, hence the ...
  • Olympus Mju (Infinity Stylus) II Zoom 80 – Results Here are some results from my July film camera (See: July Film Camera – Olympus Mju (Infinity Stylus) II Zoom 80). I’d taken a some pictures (in Croton-on-Hudson and while walking to meet a friend in Ossining, NY). Then I went with my wife to Muscoot Farm to see a friends’ paintings – part of a ...
  • Gustavo This my friend Gustavo. We’d arranged to meet at 3 Westerley (See: Sunset Drinks at 3 Westerley and Sunset Drinks at 3 Westerley part II) for drinks and a meal. For a variety of reasons I don’t take many pictures of people. And I don’t usually like using on camera flash, or ...
  • Croton-on-Hudson – Fire Department, Hook and Ladder Company No. 1. Chemical Engine Company No. 1 The Croton-on-Hudson Fire Department has a lengthy, and interesting section on its history, which includes a number of fascinating historical photographs. I’ve included a summary below, but it’s well worth taking the time to read the entire section. “Washington Hand Engine Company” founded in 1891 after an inadequate response to a fire. Soon afterwards ...
  • July Film Camera – Olympus Mju (Infinity Stylus) II Zoom 80 Unlike the Mju (Infinity) and Mju II (Infinity Stylus Epic), which both have fixed 35mm lenses (at f3.5 and f2.8 respectively) this one has a 38-80mm, f/4.5-8.9 zoom (5 elements in 4 groups) focusing to two feet and with apertures from f/4.5-8.9. I bought it at a nearby Goodwill store for the astronomical price of ...
  • June Film Camera – Olympus Infinity Stylus This is the original Olympus Infinity Stylus (known outside the US as ‘Mju’), not the rather more famous (and more expensive) Infinity Stylus Epic (see Back to film: Olympus Stylus Epic and Finally found something at the thrift store.  It’s known outside the US as ‘Mjuii’). I have two of them: one I bought myself (it ...
  • May Film Camera – Minolta Maxxum 5 I don’t recall how I managed to acquire this camera. It could be that someone gave it to me. I’ve mentioned before that I missed the entire autofocus fim era so it might be that reading a good review and finding a decently priced one prompted me to get it. Or it could ...
  • New Acquisition – Universal Mercury II CX I’d been looking for one of these for a while – either the pre-WWII Mercury (often called Mercury I) or the post war Mercury II. One of the foci of my collection is US 35mm cameras, most of which (with the exception of my beloved Retinas and possibly a few Argus’s) I find to ...
  • April Film Camera – Canon Eos Elan IIe This, and four other cameras, were given to me by an old friend (see: Cameras Galore). It’s a Canon EOS Elan IIe, also known as the EOS-55-P in Japan and the EOS 50e everywhere else. Launched in September, 1995 it was a mid-range camera (with the single digit professional cameras above it and ...
  • March film camera – Canon EOS 650 Some time ago an old friend gave me a Canon EOS Elan IIE (also known as the EOS 50E and EOS 55 in other markets) with 28-80mm Zoom Lens. I took a few pictures with and liked the feel and operation of it. I felt the urge to try it with a faster ...
  • February film camera – Minolta 70W Riva Zoom I got this camera, (along with four other film cameras), from an old friend who visited us in May 2014 (see: Cameras Galore). She knew I was into camera collecting and thought I would like them. I put a film (or so I thought – more on that in a bit) in it, took a ...
  • January film camera – Fuji GS645S I started to collect cameras about five years ago and over the years I’ve acquired quite a lot. However, looking back over my collection I realize that I’ve only actually used a few of them. So I’ve made a couple of New Year’s resolutions. The first is to limit new acquisitions. Notice that I said ...
  • Thrift store find – Canon AF35M I came across this camera in a nearby thrift store (Goodwill). It seemed to be in pretty good shape and had a solid feel to it. Although I’d already read about this camera before I’d forgotten about it. So I left it. After returning home I looked it up and discovered ...
  • For those Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) aficionados out there If you’re into Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) cameras you’ll love this site. It has a very simple name: TLR Cameras Website and it’s not all that attractively presented. It has a very ‘old style’ look to it, but it’s packed with information about TLRs of all kinds. The section on his collection ...
  • Fujica 35-ML A few years ago I began my camera collection. After getting a couple of rangefinder cameras I started to browse the internet to see what others I might find and bumped into this post on photo.net: The Final Fujica’s Film. I liked the look of the camera and was somewhat taken by the ...
  • Minolta Hi-matic/Ansco Autoset When I started collecting cameras I insisted on getting cameras that worked. After getting a number of them, however, I resigned myself to using only a few. So I don’t really expect to use this camera much – if at all. So why did I get it? I got it because it fits a couple ...
  • Retina IIa I love Kodak Retina Cameras. I’ve already posted about the first one I acquired: A Gem of a folding 35mm – Retina IIc. Since then I’ve acquired three more: A IIIc, a IIa, and this one – also a IIa. The IIIc seemed to work except for the slow speeds. When ...
  • New Acquisitions – Exakta Varex/VX IIa and Exa Two separate purchases landed me with an Exa (original version) with a 50mm f3.5 Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar; and an Exakta Varex/VX IIa with a 58mm f2 Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar and a 30mm f3.5 Meyer Optik Görlitz Lydith. I think I paid around $100 for the lot so I’d didn’t have very high ...
  • Nikon N70/F70 I didn’t especially want this camera. When I started collecting cameras I though I would stick to rangefinders, but somewhere along the line I got distracted towards SLRs. I bought a Yashica FX-3 in a thrift store because I found myself stuck without a camera and wanted to take pictures. I’d never ...
  • Voigtlander Vitomatic II It’s almost a year since I posted anything related to my camera collection. This doesn’t mean that I haven’t acquired additional cameras. It’s mostly because at some point I decided that I wouldn’t post anything to do with the cameras in my collection unless I could also include some pictures taken with the ...
  • Cameras Galore We recently had a visit from one of our oldest and dearest friends. She’s being posted to the UK (London) and went to New York City with her husband and two children. On the way back to Ottawa they stopped by and spent the night. It was great to see them again. As ...
  • Kodak Brownie A Kodak Brownie from 1900. Of course not the original “Kodak” camera from 1888. It’s not even the first version of the Brownie. This came out in February 1900 and was something like a shoe box in that the entire back of the camera pulled off. This is the second version where the “pull off” ...
  • Finally found something at the thrift store There are three Goodwill stores in the vicinity. From time to time I visit them. I’ve only once bought a camera: a Yashica FX2 with, as it turns out, a lens stuck wide open and non functioning 1/1000 speed. I’ve described the story behind this in an earlier post. Usually they have a selection of ...
  • RX100 in Cold Spring As I get older I’ve been gradually ‘downsizing’ my equipment. I switched from a DSLR to a Sony Nex 5N (via a Panasonic LX3, which I love but which in terms of quality is not as good as the Nex and it’s also just a little too big to use as a ‘carry everywhere’ camera). ...
  • New Lens – Minolta 45mm f2 Overgrown bleachers I’d read some reviews of this lens saying it was well made; very sharp and quite inexpensive. So I decided to get one. My first attempt was to buy one with a body attached – in this case a Minolta SCII (essentially a slightly downgraded Minolta SRT-201). I didn’t mind having the ...
  • Nikon N90s I love this camera. Everything about it feels right: the weight, the way it fits into my hand, the controls are where I want them to be. Thom Hogan has a nice review of it on his site The funny thing is that I didn’t even buy this camera. In some cases I see listings for ...
  • A gift from a neighbour One of our neighbours had been to the house and noticed that I collect old cameras. She mentioned that she had some old cameras lying around somewhere and that she would try to find them. A little later I bumped into her and she mentioned that she had found one and was looking for the ...
  • Sony Alpha 500 Ken In an earlier post I noted that my first digital SLR was a Konica Minolta Maxxum 5d.  I bought this camera because: a) I’d had a good experience with a minolta camera in the past. My first serious camera was a Minolta Hi-Matic 7sii. By that time I’d had film SLRs, but when I went to ...
  • Minolta X-700: Color Just acquired a nice Minolta X-700. In it’s day (1981) it was Minolta’s top manual focus camera. It was also Minolta’s final manual focus camera. After this came the Maxxum 7000, the world’s first autofocus single lens reflex camera. It came with a Minolta MD 50mm f2; Rokinon MC 80-250mm f4.5/4.8; Rokinon MC 28mm f2.8; Rokinon ...
  • Canon Powershot S10 My second digital camera after the late, unlamented Casio QV-100. This one had a massive 2.1 mexapixel sensor. Seemed a lot at the time. Digital Photography Review concluded: The Canon S10 certainly sets new ground, and I’m sure it’s sent a few manufacturers racing back to the drawing board (as I’m sure the 950 did when it ...
  • GAS attack gone wrong part two: Yashica FX-3? In part one of this post I documented how I had bought a Yashica FX-2 in a Goodwill store for $9.99 only to find that the lens was stuck on f1.9 and the 1/1000 second shutter speed didn’t work. I ended that post saying that I was looking for a lens that worked. Well I ...
  • Panasonic Lumix LX-3 Panasonic Lumix LX3 with its excellent wide angle adapter. I owe a lot to this camera. Somewhere along the line I’d lost interest in photography. Over the years I’d gone from the Minolta 7sii rangefinder that got me started, to a film SLR (Canon AE-1) and then to digital (Maxxum D SLR and Canon Powershot S-50). ...
  • Gone but very definitely not forgotten (even though I’ve tried) – Casio QV100 This is a third of a series of posts. The first covered some cameras, which I liked but which I no longer have. The second covered a camera, which I still have but which I find hard to like. In this post we look at a camera, which I no longer have and which I ...
  • Konica Minolta Maxxum 5D This was my first digital SLR, acquired early in 2006. Naturally enough I used it a fair bit immediately after I got it. But somehow I never took to it. In another post I mention how at one point I had lost my interest in photography in general and specifically in “lugging ...
  • My First Camera I’ve always said that my interest in photography dates back to the mid 1970s when my wife gave me a minolta rangefinder camera. However, I started collecting old cameras a while back and while browsing through a book I saw a camera that looked familiar. It was a Kodak Brownie Vecta and I then remembered ...
  • GAS attack gone wrong? Warning – long post. We’ve just had a few days of quite heavy rain. After one of the storms (once upon a time I thought that the word storm meant strong winds, heavy rain, thunder, lightning etc., but apparently nowadays what I would once have called a rainy day is now referred to as a ...
  • Olympus XA This camera is small – really small. Originally produced in the 1980s it takes regular 35mm film cartridges and most amazingly has a built in, fully coupled rangefinder, even if it isn’t the brightest combined rangefinder/viewfinder I’ve ever seen. It has an extremely good 6 element, 5 group f2.8 35mm Zuiko lens, which doesn’t extend ...
  • My first serious camera – Minolta Hi-Matic 7sii This is my first serious camera. For a long time I thought it was my first camera. I later remembered that it wasn’t, but that’s a topic for another post. My wife, Eirah bought it as a present and that’s what got me started with photography. The first three pictures were taken around the time I ...
  • Forgotten but not gone. Fujifilm Finepix HS10 I little while ago I wrote a post called “Gone but not forgotten” describing some cameras that I used quite a lot, but no longer possess. This camera is quite the opposite in that I still have it, but have very rarely used it and not at all for a couple of years. So why, ...
  • A Gem of a folding 35mm – Retina IIc I love this camera. It’s one of my all time favourites. The usual Kodak philosophy was to produce inexpensive cameras for everyone. In the case of the Retina they moved in another direction. Kodak purchased German manufacturer Nagel in order to produce a camera that could compete with Contax and Leica. This Retina iic is ...
  • Gone but not forgotten – Canon Powershot S50, Panasonic ZS3, Panasonic ZS7 I tend to hang on to my cameras and have only disposed of a few, usually in a good cause. Here are three that got away (There is a fourth, but I think that’s a topic for another post). Canon Powershot S50.  As I recall one of my first digital cameras was a Canon Powershot S10. ...
  • Another oldie – Zorki 4 Along with the FED 2 I got a Zorki 4: another FSU Leica II copy. The first time I used it turned into quite a saga. I went to the city and lost a roll because of a problem rewinding (I didn’t fully understand how to do it and tore the film out of the ...
  • The beginnings of a camera collection: Fed 2 When I decided to start a camera collection this was the first camera I acquired. My first serious camera was a rangefinder camera and I’d heard of Leicas. However, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money so after browsing around on the Internet for a while I decided to try some of the ...
  • Film again – Kiev 4am In 1925 Leitz introduced the first 35mm system camera (not the first 35mm camera however): the Leica . For 7 years they had the field to themselves until, in 1932, Zeiss Ikon introduced the Contax series of rangefinder cameras. Contax cameras were made in Dresden, which during the Second World War was occupied by the ...
  • Olympus Pen FT I acquired this camera as a result of a swap with Tom, a friend of mine. He needed a compact digital camera and was willing to trade the Olympus Pen FT. I had a four year old Panasonic ZS3 that I had bought second hand and was not using that much. What an incredible camera!   ...
  • Back to film: Olympus Stylus Epic My small camera collection has so far mostly (but not entirely) focused on older rangefinder cameras. However, while browsing around looking for Olympus rangefinders I came across this camera. It’s much younger than most of my cameras having been produced from 1996 to 2003. It’s an Olympus Stylus Epic (or mju ii as it’s known ...
  • Bell & Howell I was cleaning out a closet when I came across a small, plastic camera with the name “Bell and Howell” on the front. I have no idea where it came from (I certainly wouldn’t have bought it), but I suspect it’s the kind of thing that is given away with a magzine subscription. I was ...

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