The venerable Linhof Master Technika is a highly respected, highly regarded camera that represents a significant investment for its owners. It seems clear that they were designed and intended for professionals who don’t generally need to be protected from themselves. They are also extraordinarily poorly documented by Linhof, with owner’s manuals that, quite bluntly, contain misinformation and what I might call “errors of omission” — stuff important enough that it should have been mentioned, but wasn’t. That all might have worked fine if we still lived in a time when you bought your film camera from a local dealer, with real human beings there who could demonstrate and explain what (and what not) to do, why, and how. But we don’t live in such a time, and so the buyer of a Linhof Master Technika (or prior Technika models) is left to their own devices, free to screw things up with impunity, then blame the camera and its design. Some of that blame might be justified, but if you’re new to the Technika, let me — as someone who’s made multiple, expensive mistakes — explain how you can (and should) avoid them.
Continue reading…Wesley King
How to Buy a Student Camera (or First Film Camera)
So, what makes a film camera a student film camera? How is it different from any other film camera? What exactly do you need to look for? Which cameras make good student cameras? And where should you buy one? In this article, I’m going to endeavor to provide my take on the answers to these questions — ones important to anyone who’s signed-up for a film photography class (or is considering it), or who is looking to get into film photography for the first time.
Continue reading…How to Cut and Load Film for the Goerz Minicord
In mid-2022, I was generously gifted a very special camera by a friend: a Goerz Minicord, reportedly the smallest twin-lens reflex (TLR) ever made, and one of the smallest truly serious film cameras ever made for that matter. My friend had inherited the camera, I believe, but had never shot film in it. I have very few “shelf queen” cameras — those that sit on a shelf and either don’t function, or for which film can no longer be purchased. If I own a camera, I want it to work, and I want to have used it at some point or another. As a result, my first objective was to figure-out how to get film into the Minicord and give it a go. Now that I’ve figured it out, it seems useful to share what I found.
Continue reading…This TLR Took a Face Plant (Or, What Not to Do with Your Camera)
Since well before the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve been learning (slowly and carefully) how to repair and restore certain types of film cameras. As time has gone on, I’ve tackled increasingly bigger challenges, and one of them recently was resurrecting a Yashica-D twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera that its previous owner apparently dropped, face down. What follows is a narrative on bringing that camera back — with a subtext for all of us on how not to handle your cameras, since drops onto hard surfaces are not generally reparable. And when they are, as I discovered, it can be quite challenging.
Continue reading…How (and How Not) to Clean a Film Camera
For a few years now, I’ve slowly been learning the art of camera repair and restoration, and no matter the condition of the camera I’m working on, the process begins with a good, thorough cleaning. I tend to think of it as a key part of my bonding process, sort of like giving your baby its first bath, I suppose. In any case, I’ve established both a routine and a set of techniques that are working well for me, and after posting many of these restorations to social media, I’ve gotten more and more inquiries about how I approach the cleaning process specifically. This article aims to provide the answers.
Continue reading…Annual Photo Projects: Benefits, with Commitment Required
If you spend much time in the film photography circles on Flickr or Instagram; spend any time listening to film photography podcasts; or, read your share of film photography blogs, then you’ve no doubt heard of annual photo projects. They go by lots of names: “365” (one shot per day for a year), “52 Rolls” (a roll of film per week for a year) — and I’m sure others as well — generally with the idea that you shoot with a specific camera and/or film regularly throughout the course of a year. Often they start with the new year, and they do indeed fit nicely into a new year’s resolution sort of framing. I decided in mid-May 2021 to jump-in, and managed to sustain the project for a time before I just couldn’t do it any longer. Then I started again on January 1, 2022, and simply couldn’t keep it going. The efforts taught me some things, just not what or where I expected.
Continue reading…Review: Ihagee Exa 135 (35mm) Film Camera
Anyone who’s read my extraordinarily lengthy review of the Ihagee Exakta Varex IIa knows that I have a bit of a fascination with this brand of German cameras, the majority of which were produced in the post-war period behind the Iron Curtain in the former East Germany. But the Exakta family had a smaller, simpler, less costly sibling: The Ihagee Exa. After ignoring these models for a long time, I finally got the bug and secured my first example from an online charity auction.
Continue reading…My Favorite Film Cameras: 2022
My film camera collection has grown over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic — both as I’ve stopped spending money on things like vacations and shifted those dollars to spending on cameras, and as I’ve gotten into restoring and repairing cameras, which involves buying cheap, derelict cameras with a hope of returning them to service. (Sometimes, as with my Yashica-D, it’s been a massive success, too.) But as my film camera collection has topped 130 examples, I’ve been thinking lately about which ones I shoot, which ones I want to shoot more, and which ones I’d keep if I ever chose to downsize. This article is the result of that thought process; a Top 10 (or so) list of some sort, I guess you could say. And foreseeing that my opinions might shift with time, I’ll just label this as being for 2022.
Continue reading…Review: Graflex Pacemaker 23 Speed Graphic Medium Format Camera
My fondness for the iconic Graflex Graphic cameras was no doubt in evidence as I reviewed the Pacemaker 45 Crown Graphic back in 2020, and my fondness for the Graflex brand has only expanded since, as I discovered the quirky but quite usable Graflex Graphic 35 rangefinder cameras for 135 film and restored a few of them on my workbench. But while the Pacemaker 45 scratched the 4×5 large format itch, I continued to be intrigued by its smaller sibling, often referred to as the “baby” Graflex, baby Graphic, or “23” Graphic. The 23 is a reference to the cameras’ use of 2¼ x 3¼ inch sheet film (2×3, nominally), and they’re everything the larger Graphic cameras are — just presented in a petite (and adorable) little package that has charmed me to the core.
Continue reading…Film Camera Repair: Observations and Advice
My film camera collection has grown through various approaches. Sometimes it’s lusting after a specific model, and waiting patiently for the perfect example to come-up for sale. Sometimes it’s been seeing something on the shelf of one of my two local brick-and-mortar camera shops, and having it capture my imagination. Other times it’s been seeing a derelict camera in an auction listing and thinking I can restore it myself (often successfully). And still other times it’s been discovering something in an auction lot I wasn’t expecting, and being pleasantly surprised. But no matter how the cameras make their way to me, not all of them work properly, and not all are good candidates for subjecting to my rapidly growing but still amateur-level knowledge of camera repair. That’s where sending a camera to a professional comes into play, and I’ve learned — and continue to learn — a great deal about that exercise. This article captures some of the insights I’ve gleaned from years of sending my film cameras off for some TLC, and the obscene amount of money I’ve spent in the process.
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