My film camera buying spree appears to be continuing unabated, especially with my growing interest in midcentury rangefinders and other 135 cameras. One of my recent attempts to expand my collection was a particularly beautiful Zeiss Ikon “color dial” Contax IIIa, a truly iconic camera that many consider to be one of the finest cameras made in its era, if not one of the finest of any era. Unfortunately, the story didn’t end as well as I’d hoped. And while I don’t normally review cameras after just one roll of film shot and thus little operational experience, this review will, of necessity, be an exception for reasons that will become clear.
Continue reading…October 2020
Time Capsules: The Voyeuristic Joy of Found Film
I like shopping for classic cameras, I suppose — I must, given how many web sites I frequent, just seeing what I can find, and at what price point. So it was a few weeks back when I was on shopgoodwill.com, the online auction site for numerous Goodwill Industries chapters through the US and Canada. The site has myriad camera listings, but most of the merchandise is, candidly, not that desirable to me. Still, I look from time-to-time, which is how I found an interesting listing, for a not-so-interesting camera.
Continue reading…Tracking Fixer Exhaustion: My Approach
I used to think that the best way to get into an argument with someone was to discuss politics. I think there may be a close second: Talking about exhaustion of darkroom chemicals — at least if reading photography forums is any indication. But I’d prefer not to argue about it, and instead offer a way to track the exhaustion of a key chemical in the development process: fixer.
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