By:
On:
In: Camera Review Blogs
With: 3 Comments

To say the Mamiya Universal is clunky and hard to use is an understatement. But it is not wholly un-useable, you just need to find the flow of the camera. The Universal isn’t a bad camera, underrated, hard to use yes, but a good camera. And while the whole Press series is a strange departure and little more than a footnote in the history of Mamiya, it almost seems like they were trying to build a system camera to see that they could before hitting the big time with their medium format SLRs. But there is a strange draw to a camera system that youRead More →

By:
On:
In: Camera Review Blogs
With: 0 Comments

I’m a sucker for mechanical match needle SLRs. They’re simple, elegant and great to learn on and even now still a joy to shoot. The FT3 is just that, an easy to use, fun camera that can if needed double as a self-defence weapon. The sad part is that the FT3 only was made for a few months before being superseded by the Nikon FM. A unique creature among the more-consumer-oriented Nikkormat lines the FT3 can use AI and AI-S lenses even if they don’t have the coupling claw. Sadly you won’t be able to use the Non-AI glass that many Nikkormat shooters love. CameraRead More →

By:
On:
In: Project:1812
With: 0 Comments

One of the unsung heroes of the Anglo-American War of 1812, the burly red-haired Robert Dickson was born to a merchant father in Dumfries Scotland in 1765. After his father’s business had failed, Robert along with his two brothers travelled to Upper Canada to work for their uncle, Robert Hamilton. Hamilton was a wealthy gentleman in Upper Canada, and while the two brothers found success with Hamilton’s business the dull clerical work did not appeal to the adventurous Robert. Robert would find his element in the Northwest upon his posting to Mackinac Island. He expanded his trade network among the northern tribes in both UpperRead More →

By:
On:
In: Project:1812
With: 0 Comments

Robert McDouall was born to a merchant father in March of 1774 in the town of Stranraer, Scotland. Educated at the Felsted School both his father and uncle hoped he would follow in the family trade as a merchant, placing young Robert at a business in London. Robert, however, was drawn to the military life much to his father’s dismay and with his reluctant approval purchased a commission as an ensign in the 49th (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot only to three days later purchase a lieutenant commission in the 8th (King’s) Regiment of foot in 1797. He served during the 1801 Egyptian Campaign against theRead More →

By:
On:
In: Camera Review Blogs
With: 2 Comments

There is a certain class to folders; they have a sleek look that harkens back to the early days of photography. These cameras offer a slim, compact option to bring medium format when space is at a premium. I would have loved to have brought a folder to Europe in 2015 to have a medium format option. Especially in places like the Waterloo battlefield, Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Bruges, but I could not find the right one. The full name of this camera, the Zeiss Ikon Super-Ikonta C 531/2, would have been the perfect camera with a big 6×9 negative, rangefinder focus, and slim size. ForRead More →

By:
On:
In: Camera Review Blogs
With: 1 Comment

Nikon has an uncanny ability to build amazing cameras, not always but sometimes they get one just right, but then it just slides through the cracks. The Nikon F90 (N90 for you American readers) is one such camera, one from a proud line of SLRs that stretch back to the 1960s with the original Nikkormat. While often overlooked against such professional bodies like the Nikon F4 and Nikon F5 which the production of the F90 overlaps. The F90 can be had for a song these days and yet performs well both on its own and when paired with one of those bodies. And while IRead More →

By:
On:
In: Camera Review Blogs
With: 5 Comments

When it comes to game-changing Nikon SLRs, the FA certainly is one of them, and one of a long line of game-changing cameras out of the company. For the FA the change came in the metering system. This was the first camera that featured full matrix metering out of AI and AI-S lenses and full program shooting. The camera accomplishes this by having a small built-in computer storage system that has a selection of scenes and compares the scene in front of the camera and picks the exposure based on one of the scenes in the memory. A smart trick, while not perfect, was theRead More →

By:
On:
In: Camera Review Blogs
With: 1 Comment

Back to the boxes! There is something oddly satifying about shooting with box cameras. Take away all the fancy settings, lens choices, aperture, shutter speed and you’re left with, at least in Nikon’s words, Pure Photography. Point, Guess, Shoot, Enjoy. And that’s exactly what you get with the Agfa Box 50. One of many cameras in the “Box” line. This particular camera was one that belonged to my Opa Oosthoek, that is my mom’s father and has been passed down through my family. In fact we have several photos at home that were taken on this camera. Special thanks to my mom for loaning meRead More →

By:
On:
In: Reviews
With: 0 Comments

These days the two big camera names that see fanboys (and girls) in both camps is Cannon vs. Nikon. But that wasn’t always the case. In the 1950s Nikon and Canon were still fairly unknown in the pro-market, both were producing rangefinder cameras stamped with “Made in occupied Japan” the real competitors of the 1950s was Contax and Leica. Since I have both a Leica IIIc and a Contax IIIa I figured I should do a side by side comparison and have these two heavy-weights of the mid-century fight it out. Before you continue, I suggest reading by reviews of each camera, first the ContaxRead More →

By:
On:
In: Camera Review Blogs
With: 1 Comment

There are certain brand names in cameras and even models of cameras that carry a certain quality that goes along with it, and often the idea that the simple matter of owning one will improve the quality of your photographs by extension. One of those names is Leica. The Leica has been attached to many greats within the world of photography. The Barnack Leicas are among those cameras and have created great images in the hands of famous photographers. So I went into this and found a good camera at a fair price, but I soon found that maybe Leica wasn’t for me, having goneRead More →