Camera Catalog

After shooting digital for a long time, I gradually switched to film. During that transition I experimented with many, many cameras. I repaired or CLA’d many of the older cameras on this list, and I kept trading up to the very nice cameras I have today. I’m fortunate – the word I use rather than old – to have started down this path before the prices really shot up to where they are today. What follows is a catalog of the cameras I experimented with before settling in on the few that I work with today.

Favorites

When I first started shooting film I was into heavy, metal, mid-century fixed-lens rangefinders. They were cheap and plentiful at thrift shops and flea markets. For a while I found myself lugging around the massive metal Minolta Hi-Matic 9. From there, I experimented with just about every style of camera: TLRs, scale-focus, SLRs, medium format, subcompacts, large format, anything I could find on the cheap.

That journey led me, strangely enough, right back to mid-century rangefinders. I do now prefer more compact cameras with interchangable lenses, but they are still heavy, metal works of mid-century art. Currently, I almost always go out with Oscar, the Leica M4 with an attached MR-4 meter. Occasionally, if it is a particularly contrasty day, I might bring a Gossen Digiflash for incident metering. But, normally, it’s just Oscar and Carl. Carl is a Zeiss C Sonnar 50mm f1.5 lens.

I lean on Oscar for general documentary photography, rather than turning to the always greasy lenses on my iPhone. My other style – if you can call it that – of photography is some weird type of vernacular photography which mixes landscape and architectural styles while attempting to pose as fine-art. Victor, the Hasselblad 203FE, is the one I most frequently turn to for that type of work. You can see examples of that style on my pretentiously named portfolio page, while some of my more documentary style work can be seen in snapshots.

Oscar and Victor are not the only players on the team however. Sometimes Mike, a Nikon FA, gets called up. (You may be asking, “wait, why ‘Mike’?” Well, November didn’t seem to fit and Foxtrot is reserved for the Nikon F3 that I might get someday. The FA has an excelent matrix metering system, so ‘Mike’ it was. And, if you are still lost, then you must not be familiar with the military phonetic alphabet.) Mike has an AI-s 105/2.5 that makes some very nice photos. Finally, there’s Charlie, the lumbering Graflex Crown Graphic.

But, do I have room on the roster for any more? Indeed, there are a few models that I have not spent time with and would like to learn more about. I have often though of drafting a Romeo for the team: either a Rollei 35 Sonar or a “Gray Baby” Rolleiflex. But, since I have some very fine cameras now, I no longer have any excuse for churning out mediocre photos. So, I have been focusing more on photography than switching tools. Perhaps if I ever get good at using the ones I have I’ll branch out.

In addition to Oscar, Victor, Mike, and Charlie, I have enjoyed working with other cameras for some specific purposes. Though I no longer have most of these cameras, these are the scenarios in which I particularly enjoyed a few cameras.

• all-rounder, 35mm point-and-shoot — Nikon 35Ti
• all-rounder, 35mm rangefinder — Leica M4
• all-rounder, 35mm auto focus SLR — Minolta ɑ7 (autofocus)
• all-rounder, 35mm manual focus SLR — Nikon FA
• all-rounder, instant — Polaroid SX-70 Sonar
• all-rounder, medium format — Hasselblad 203FE
• backpacking, 35mm — Agfa Optima 1535
• backpacking, subminiature — Minox LX
• camping, 35mm — Canon A-1
• camping, 35mm — Minolta X-700
• climbing, 35mm — Olympus XA
• sports (soccer), 35mm — Canon EOS ELAN 7e
• sports (soccer), digital — Canon EOS RP

The Catalog

Light Meters

I have picked up a few light meters over the years. I used to rely on the Gossen Luna-Pro SBC, until it started acting erratically. Now, I mostly use a modern Gossen Digiflash, Sekonic L308, or my trusty Soligor Spot Sensor-II. There are times when I will grab the Sekonic L-398 (which lives in my large format bag) or the the CdS version of the Gossen Luna-Pro (which is great for night photography). Working with old cameras brings enough challenges, I see no reason to add the complexity of compensating for a flaky light meter.

Negatives

I digitize most of my negatives using a light box and a T3i. Then, the digital negatives are inverted using a custom python script. The images are optimized for the web prior to being uploaded.