I have a tendency to find and buy cameras I wasn’t even looking for, and one of the latest examples is a classic: an Ihagee Exakta Varex IIa, known in some markets (including the USA) as the VX IIa. But I had dropped into Englewood Camera, my local shop, in late August 2020 for the first time since the pandemic hit in March. As always, I peeked at their used gear case, and there it was, calling my name, for the reasonable price of US$95. Needless to say, it followed me home — and man, am I glad it did.
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Review: Graflex “Graphic 35” 135 (35mm) Film Camera
Here we go again… Another camera I’d never heard of that I see listed somewhere. I go do my homework and learn a little something about it. I become smitten. I buy one (or in this case four). But this time was a little different, since all the examples I bought were non-functional, and I hadn’t a clue who might be able to repair them, or at what cost. I was, as they say, headed down a rabbit hole. Thankfully, this story has a happy ending, but it did take some effort to get there.
Continue reading…Review: Canon EOS Rebel G / 500N / “New” Kiss 135 (35mm) Film Camera
The Canon EOS Rebel G, as it’s known here in the United States, was the last film camera I ever bought new. (Outside the USA, it was called the Rebel 500N, and within Japan, the New Rebel Kiss.) It was the first camera I ever owned for which I had a true telephoto lens, and for that reason, it still holds a special place in my photographic heart. Since getting back into film photography, the Rebel G was dug out of the storage box it had been sitting in for over a decade, had its batteries replaced, film loaded, and was used anew. Was I as fond of it today as I was back in the day, now that I know so much more about photography? (Spoiler alert: Not really.)
Continue reading…Review: Kodak Retina (Nr. 117) 135 (35mm) Film Camera
My collection of film cameras now exceeds 60 different models, and a narrow majority of them use 135 (or “35mm”) film. Each and every one of those cameras owes part of its existence to one man: August Nagel. While the use of 35mm film stocks in still photography was not new, it was Dr. Nagel who saw the value of a daylight-loading film cassette that came factory-loaded with 35mm film, so that photographers wouldn’t have to load their own film into proprietary containers in a darkroom. Nagel’s approach became known as 135 roll film, and to align with the introduction of the film in 1934, Dr. Nagel designed a camera to use it: the Kodak Retina. It would eventually become a long and popular line of cameras that continued well past Dr. Nagel’s death, but the very first of them was the Kodak Retina Nr. 117 — “Nr.” (rather than “No.”) owing to its German origins.
Continue reading…Rediscovering Home Movies: A Brownie Camera, and the FPP
“Load it! Shoot it! Flip it!” I’d heard those words so many times from Michael Raso and the Film Photography Project (FPP) gang on their regular podcast since August 2019, that a year later it had become engrained in my psyche. Raso was referring to his new Double 8 (I prefer to use the term Regular 8, but Standard 8 is also used) film offerings and scanning services, and while it piqued my interest a bit at first, it wasn’t until after a chance notice of a beautiful Regular 8mm Brownie Movie Camera on eBay that I finally decided to bite. What follows is a summary of what my experience was like, including mini-reviews of the 1951 version of the Brownie Movie Camera, and of the FPP’s processing and scanning service for movie film.
Continue reading…The Zone and Scale Focusing Joy of Viewfinder Cameras
When I first started to return to film photography, I sought to shoot with modern, professional gear that I only dreamt of using prior to the advent of digital photography — primarily medium format gear made in the 1990s and later. But when the pandemic started cranking-up, I began to embrace film cameras that not long ago I dismissed as too old and too fussy to bother with. Honestly, it was probably a combination of “retail therapy” and nostalgia for a (theoretically) simpler time that was responsible for driving this, but to my surprise, I discovered that there is both incredible enjoyment (not to mention technical mastery) to be gained from the experience, especially with simple, so-called viewfinder cameras.
Continue reading…Review: Zeiss Ikon Contax IIIa 135 (35mm) Film Camera
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…Review: Kodak Retina IIc (Type 020) 135 (35mm) Film Camera
While I consider myself to be primarily a “medium format guy,” I own a great many 135 cameras as well, and really enjoy their myriad forms and feature sets — from dirt simple to sophisticated, from fully manual to fully automatic. And while there are exceptions (e.g., Rolleiflex, Duaflex, etc.), I don’t often dip into mid-century gear of any kind, since it can often be problematic (and expensive) to keep it all operational. That hasn’t kept me from lusting after some of the more revered cameras of that period, however, and in fact, I was hunting for a Zeiss Ikon of some sort when I instead took home another camera that had been on my mind: a Kodak Retina.
Continue reading…Camera Repair: Specialist, or Generalist?
As my camera collection has now reached the point where the cameras can be counted in dozens instead of one at a time, there’s one aspect of old cameras I’ve come to know pretty well: getting them repaired. And recent experiences have driven home a choice we often make when having our older cars repaired too — do I take it to a generalist, or a specialist?
Continue reading…Review: Rolleiflex Automat MX Medium Format Film Camera
To say that there is a lot of passion about Rolleiflex TLR (twin-lens reflex) cameras feels like a massive understatement. To be sure, there are tons of great film cameras, and there are myriad brands (and specific models) with passionate users. But as I noted in the opening of my Hasselblad 503CW review, for me, anyway, there are just three camera brands that achieved truly legendary, truly iconic status: Rollei, Leica, and Hasselblad. I still don’t own a Leica (maybe one day?), and I’ve already reviewed the Hassy, so it’s time for the Rolleiflex to have a few words on this web site devoted to it.
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