As I pointed-out in my review of the Nikon F4, I’ve said many times over the years that, “I’m just not a Nikon guy.” I also pointed-out that I was walking those words back a bit at that point. And now, as I sit down to write this review, I’m forced the reckon with an inconvenient truth: I am, now, indisputably, “a Nikon guy.” I didn’t see it coming, really, but the acquisition of a Nikon F5 professional SLR is the straw that broke the proverbial camel’s back. What else did I not see coming? How very much I could actually love a modern, highly electronic camera from what I refer to as the “new school” of SLR camera design.
Continue reading…Rigid Body
Review: Minolta XG 1 (XG-1) 135 (35mm) Film Camera
Do you remember your first real film camera? Do you still have it? I do — and I still have mine. That camera? The Minolta XG 1, introduced in 1979, and later (in 1982) very subtly renamed (with a hyphen) as the XG-1, at which time it also received Minolta’s updated, so-called “rising sun” logo. I’ve been writing content here for years, and somehow or another, despite it being my first decent camera, I’ve overlooked writing a formal review of it despite mentioning it in other articles and reviews dozens of times. After the camera received a CLA recently, its first servicing in the 43 years I’ve owned it, I was reminded how much I love the camera, and love using it — and it was about time I shared both its story, and my feelings about it.
Continue reading…Review: Nikon F4 135 (35mm) Film Camera
Over the years, I’ve uttered these exact words, multiple times: “I’m just not a Nikon guy.” But these days, I find myself walking those words back a bit. I wouldn’t necessarily define myself as a “Nikon guy” even now, but I have definitely carved-out a spot in my photographic heart for the beloved Japanese camera and optical brand, having now, with the Nikon F4, discovered for myself what others have apparently long known.
Continue reading…Review: Nikon FE 135 (35mm) Film Camera
Last year, I surpassed the 200 camera mark in my film camera collection, and out of those, only one camera sported the name Nikon: My mother’s mid-1980s N2000 (known as the F-301 outside of North America), which I inherited when she passed a few years ago. It had been a gift to her from my father, and despite its simplicity, it was a little too much camera for her, and saw very little use. When I finally got around to using it, I came away relatively unimpressed. That was a few years ago, and while I need to give it a second chance, my sour opinion of it left me wondering why so many people are so enamored of Nikon cameras, and haven’t ever been able to shake the feeling that I was simply missing something. Recently, I seem to have gotten a glimpse of the reasons for all that Nikon Love among a certain subset of film camera enthusiasts.
Continue reading…Review: Petri V VI (Petri V6) 135 (35mm) Film Camera
When you think of Japanese SLR camera makers from the film camera era, you probably think of Nikon, Canon, Pentax, and Minolta. Perhaps also Olympus, Yashica, Fuji, Ricoh, Mamiya, or Konica as well. Maybe it even stretches to the obscure, like Cosina or Chinon. But seemingly, almost nobody recognizes another Japanese company that made an interesting mark in the history books: Petri. Originally known as Kuribayashi, Petri was initially the name of a camera model, but later adopted by Kuribayashi as (ostensibly) a more market-friendly name for the company itself. In 2022 when I became enamored of 35mm SLRs and wanted to try pretty much anything that looked interesting, I saw, and purchased, a Petri 35mm camera, what I know as a Petri V VI, but often referred to as the V6, Petri Flex V6, Petri Penta V6, and other variations. After putting a couple of rolls through my beautiful example of the type, I decided it’s high time for a review.
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…Review: Ihagee Exakta Varex IIa (VX IIa) 135 (35mm) Film Camera
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.
Continue reading…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.
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