Expedition Photography

For the last 5 years or so, I have concentrated a lot of my photography efforts on shooting film, mainly 35mm. My favorite part of shooting 35mm film is the whole slew of options for cameras and lenses. From rare and elusive rangefinders, to my coveted Nikon's and Minolta's. When I first ventured into photography 5 years ago, using film wasn't a big deal. I could shoot a role, take it Walgreen's, and a hour later I had my negatives and a CD. It was great. I loved it. Fast forward a few years and everything has changed. One day I took my rolls up the Walgreen's counter and was informed that film processing is no longer in store, and I would have to wait about a week. Living in a northern Midwest state, in a town of about 20,000, I soon found myself with few options. I found a store at my local mall that developed a roll for me for $1.50! I blew a sigh of relief as I had found an affordable, local film lab. I went there a few weeks later to drop more film off to fin

A Nikon system has been looming over my head for the past year. I have always liked the underdog, and that is why I have centered my film camera system around Minolta's. However, I have been planning eventually to acquire a full frame DSLR and I like to use prime lenses. Prime lenses for DSLR's are typically very expensive and since I already have a rather large collection of manual focus prime lenses, why not use those? My original idea was to stick with my Minolta lenses, and use a Sony a7 with an adapter and use the focus peaking feature. The more I researched this possibility, the more I realized the pain it would be. First I read about issues with focus peaking, then battery life issues with the a7, and finally the fact that the Sony has an electronic viewfinder. I have tested camera's with EVF's and I don't find them a replacement for a large, full frame optical viewfinder. After these considerations, I axed the A7 off my wish list. This is where the Nikon s

Minolta XE-1 w/ Rokkor 35-70mm f3.5 Macro  One of the prettiest cameras to come out of Japan, the Minolta XE-1 is the European version of the Minolta XE-7. I bought an XE-7 a few months ago, unfortunately an inoperative example. I loved the looks and feel so much though that I just had to get another.  If you saw the preview from last week, you'll know that this camera was brought back from the dead, and now works pretty well.  In my hands, this is one of the most comfortable manual cameras. The heft is just right, and it's a tall camera, which means that my somewhat large hands fits comfortably. A person with small hands will find this camera possibly a bit too big. The controls are all just where you would want them to be. I love all the features this camera offers yet keeps the body from looking too busy with buttons and switches all over the place. The shutter release is towards the front of the camera with the advance lever being positioned just so that makes thi

Someday, every camera meets the end of it's life. Whether that's being dropped off a cliff in heroic fashion or being left in a dark closet for 30 years, rotting away, every camera will eventually hit the bone yard. But every now and then, a camera is brought from the dead to be given a second chance at life. I'm giving a sneak preview of a camera I brought back from the dead. It was purchased off of a popular online auction site as for parts or repair  for a relatively small amount of money. The seller said the camera was untested and for parts, and the lens was damaged and scratched. When the camera arrived, the seller had wrapped it via Russian nesting doll style with countless USPS bubble wrap sheets. Oh well, it was safe. When after I reached the end of the hunt for my camera and lens, I looked at the lens first to delay any disappointment for the actual camera. The lens was filthy and had two big dents in the filter threads and was a little loose but other than t

Minolta XD11 with Minolta 35-70mm f3.5 Macro  I have always heard the praise of the Minolta XD11. Many say it was Minolta's finest manual focus camera body because of it's advanced features and being the last of the Minolta camera bodies to be made out of metal. I wasn't particularly looking for an XD11 when I came across this black version, however it is such a pretty camera that it would be hard to walk away from. To think that the store I got it from had a silver XD11 with a Rokkor lens (this camera had a Tokina 28-85mm) that I was going to buy first but the lens had issues, so hence why I got the black XD11. Much to my surprise when I returned and did more research on the XD11 that I found out that the black model is actually rarer and more sought after than it's silver counterpart! Of course deep down in my soul I knew that the beautiful black model that used a coating technique from Leica (the finish is absolutely gorgeous) was more valuable, but I digress

The Canon EOS 3 has always been my favorite looking automatic film SLR, apart from possibly the Nikon F4, or Minolta Maxxum 9, or maybe th-, well, let me stop there. Truth be told, I don't find many of the automatic film slr's to be that terribly interesting because they essentially look like their digital counterparts. And the EOS 3 looks exactly like a dslr, in every way, minus a LCD screen on the back. But that being so, there is just something about it that draws my attention. The Canon 1n (which was first in line with the EOS 3 marketed right below it) is alright, but it has the ultra curvy Canon slr look which I've never cared for. I say curvy but actually the prism looks like an elephant's head (seriously, do a comparison). The EOS 3 slightly detracts from this look. It's still an elephant, but it's a bull elephant, with big tusks. I like it, a lot. ***By automatic slr I am referring to auto focus and automatic film advancing cameras***

My first camera was a Canon AE-1. Why did I buy an AE-1? Well, mostly because I had no clue about cameras when I bought it and knew that Canon and Nikon were the main camera brands. So I bought a Canon. Well after a brief foray into the digital slr world, I decided I wanted to get back into film cameras, for many reasons which I will talk about in other posts. So, what to buy? I had tried Canon now for two cameras, and I was still wanting for more, so I bought a Nikon of course. A Nikon F2 to be exact, an absolute hulk of a camera. Not hulk, this is the AK-47's of cameras. I really haven't come across something that is as well made as this camera is. I thought I was set for a 35mm SLR. But after I developed my first roll of Tri-X 400, I was slightly disappointed with the 50mm F2 non AI lens, and the 40 year old meter. The search continues.... I had been eyeing this X-700 at the local antique store for some time, but never liked how plastic and shiny it was. Not to mentio

This has been in the works for some time now. Photography has been a hobby of mine off and on for about 5 years now. Most of that was spent with a Canon AE-1 and a standard 50mm lens. I made some outstanding pictures with that combination, however common it may be. It was a fairly easy camera to operate, but being film and being the first time I had really taken pictures without one of my parent's point and shoot cameras. It was certainly trial and error at first but I eventually had it figured out. After several years of using the 50mm, I decided I needed a telephoto lens. Not knowing that the zoom lenses of yesteryear tended to be much poorer than the prime lenses, I opted for the Canon 70-210mm f4. Despite the claims of poor performance, I got some decent results from it and it was really easy to hand hold. Grabbing the zoom and focus ring was liking grabbing a 16 oz pounder of Miller Lite. I have a wonderful portrait of me holding this lens attached to my AE-1: Isn't