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…Lenses, Accessories and Services
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.
Continue reading…Understanding and Using Auxiliary Close-up Lenses (Proxar, Rolleinar, Portra, etc.)
One of my favorite types of photography is taking images from unique perspectives, revealing worlds unseen — or more accurately, unnoticed; images that reveal something you wouldn’t normally see, or don’t normally choose to look for. It could be shots taken low to the ground, or from the top of a ladder, but often it’s very simply shots taken up close.
Continue reading…Looking Good: Replacing Leather(ette) on Camera Bodies
Much of the world’s total supply of antique, vintage, or simply used film camera gear is at this point decades old. In fact, the newest film camera that I own, my Hasselblad 503CW, would this year (2021) be old enough to drink alcohol in my home state of Colorado (if it were a person), having been born manufactured back in 2000. And my oldest? It’s celebrating its 87th birthday this year. And much like their human counterparts, the years have not always been kind to film cameras. But like us, a little fashion advice (metaphorically speaking), or perhaps a minor little nip or tuck, can have some pleasing aesthetic results. Such is the case with refreshed leather (or leatherette) coverings.
The Curious Case of the Non-Fitting Lens: Kodak Retina Aux Lenses
One of the challenging aspects of collecting and maintaining vintage cameras is the sheer lack of detailed historical technical information available for the vast majority of them. Many of the companies who made all this camera gear are long since gone, and virtually all of them who are still around have shifted their business models, often quite dramatically. That can make it a big challenge to figure-out how to solve weird problems that just shouldn’t be happening to start with. And such as it was for me recently.
Continue reading…When Your Camera Gear Reveals Its Story
To me, one of the more fascinating aspects of using old film cameras is that it feels like I’m actively touching history. I’ve written about this before regarding my Rolleiflex Automat MX, which was made in 1951 — making it the oldest camera currently in my collection. But when I received a pack of four 4×5 film holders from an eBay seller recently, I was brought into a similar type of reflection, and it all started with two words hand-written on the bottom of the holder: Graveraet Tatler.
Continue reading…Review: Benro TMA37AL Mach3 Aluminum Tripod and B2 Triple Action Ballhead
I’ve recently become massively annoyed with my old ProMaster XC525 tripod. Back when I bought it, I honestly wasn’t that much into photography, and didn’t know what I needed. Turns out, what I needed wasn’t really a budget priced, mass market tripod that’s a pain to use, has a jammed center post, and leaves gooey gunk on my fingers after only a couple of years’ use. That sent me on a mission to find something better.
Continue reading…Calibrating a Kalart Rangefinder (Yes, You Can DIY)
I recently acquired a Graflex Pacemaker 45 Crown Graphic camera from National Camera Exchange in Minnesota (see my Vendor Directory for a link). The camera is in really outstanding physical condition (look for a review soon), but it does (or did) have a couple of unsurprising issues.
Continue reading…How to Identify and Use Rolleinar Lens Attachment Sets
One of the great things about film photography is just how much information there is on the internet about various esoterica related to cameras, accessories, film development, and more. But it’s sometimes surprising just how much information is not actually available, and the Rolleinar close-up attachment system for Rolleiflex cameras is a prime example of that.
Continue reading…Color Filters in Black and White Photography: An Introduction and Examples
When I was first into film photography and shooting a lot of black and white (which was about 35 years ago), I never explored the use of color filters for image enhancement — in part because I didn’t know anything about it, in part because we weren’t taught anything about it in high school photography class, and finally in part because I couldn’t have afforded the filters anyway. With my renewed interest in film, and in shooting a ton of black and white, I’ve become interested in ways to achieve better, more interesting photos — especially in situations where things seem washed out, or when subjects fail to “pop” in the image. That’s where color (and other) filters come-in.
Both the blessing and the curse of black and white, I suppose, is that everything renders as shades of gray. It’s really not possible to tell the difference between red, green or blue — they all look the same, depending on the lightness of the color. Yellows, like the color of my MINI Cooper, appear basically white; you’d not even notice the white decal on the side unless you looked really hard at this image. (The car in color is in the inset for comparison; same car, same lower checkered side decal — big difference.)
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