About
Equipment
Canon EOS Elan 7n
This is my second SLR, replacing my old camera after it was flooded and then stolen. My previous camera, the Canon Rebel 2000 was excellent but limited, though it provided me with many years of faithful service. I’m finding the Elan 7 both easy to use and very advanced.
Lenses I use are a Canon 24-105mm f/1:4-5.6 II, and a Canon 70-210mm f/1:4-5.6.
Canon AE-1
This is probably one of the best 35mm camera ever made. It’s metal body is incredible durable, and they just never seem to die. Despite being around for some 30 years, mine works perfectly. I use it mostly for black and white film when out and about.
I use a Canon FD 50mm f/1:1.8 lens, and a Vivitar 50mm Macro Focusing Teleconverter.
Holga 120N
Holga cameras use a single-piece plastic meniscus lens with a focal length of 60 millimeters and can focus from about 1 meter/yard to infinity. There is an aperture switch on the camera with two settings: sunny and cloudy (corresponding to approximately f/8 and f/11, respectively).
As all single-piece meniscus lenses, the Holga lens exhibits soft focus and chromatic aberration. Almost the entire circle of light that the Holga lens projects is captured on film, which gives Holga pictures their characteristic vignetting. The plastic camera body is no less prone to fault, often allowing light to leak into the camera, though this too is quite characteristic of the ‘artistic’ qualities sought from the Holga.
The Holga uses 120 film. I shoot mostly slide film with mine, cross processed in C-41 chemicals.
Polaroid OneStep
Ah, yes. The OneStep. Beautiful in its simplicity. Takes Polaroid pack film; just load, point, and watch the magic happen.
This one is a classic, just like your grandmother used to have. Take the shot, the film pops out and takes about 120-180 seconds for ‘instant’ development. Mostly focus free shooting in 2-24ft range, though there is also a little slide ‘macro’ setting that is used for distances between 2-4 feet. It’s really just a piece of clear plastic from what I can tell, but who knows. Also, there is a slide exposure adjust with three setting from light to dark.
The Polaroid OneStep uses Polaroid 600 and Polaroid 779 pack film.
A beautiful piece of tin from the former Soviet Union. Lubitel means Amateur and that appeals to me greatly. Mine was purchased via eBay and came straight from The Ukraine in absolutly beautiful condition. There’s something about the TLR that I find gives me slightly more confidence when photographing strangers. I think it’s the fact that you’re looking down into the viewfinder rather than pointing a camera at eye level.
The Lubitel is a medium format camera taking 120mm film.
No. 1 Autographic Kodak Junior Model A
I have been looking for one of these that was in decent condition for quite some time. There’s a plethora of them to be found on eBay, but usually of questionable quality. This particular model is in incredible condition considering it’s circa 1910 or so. The camera has a Rapid Rectilinear lens in a two speed Kodak ball bearing Shutter. The waist level viewfinder folds up when the camera is collapsed and focusing is achieved by three preset stops on the scale on the left side of the baseboard. Very Cool.
One particularly interesting feature is that there’s a small door in the back which houses a metal stylus. By opening a small window that opened onto the back of the film paper as it moved through the camera and applying pressure with the stylus, you could compress the emulsion on the film. This allowed you to record a text image of your choice giving you the opportunity of naming each particular frame.
This is a medium format camera that takes 120 film (actually 620, but 120 will work with respooling). Speeds 25, 50, T, B. F-stops 4 – 64.
Diana Toy Camera
Yes, I got this off of Ebay too. I know I have a problem – I acknowledge it I just choose to do nothing about it. In this case there really isn’t much choice but to buy via ebay as they’ve been out of production for quite some time now.
The Diana was made by the Great Wall Plastic Factory of Kowloon, Hong Kong. In the United States, the camera was sold by the gross (twelve dozen) and cost one to three dollars per camera, although it was also won in carnivals and given away as a novelty item. We’re talking cheap plastic toy camera funk but in the right hands you get glorious sweet spots of focus surrounded by hazy vignetting. Throwing some nice professional film inside and push processing brings some very unexpected and pleasing results.
Brownie Hawkeye
Another eBay purchase… One day maybe I’ll have a camera shop and actually SELL some of these things.
The Hawkeye is one of a long line of the “Brownie” series. This one it basically a point-and-shoot meduim format camera. No focusing, no zoom, no shutter speeds, just snapshots.
The Kodak Brownie Hawkeye is probably the “classic” box camera of the 1950s. Manufactured from 1949 through 1961, the Brownie Hawkeye featured a brilliant viewfinder, a rotary shutter and a Meniscus single element lens that was in focus from 5 feet to infinity. The lens aperture is actually about f/22 and the single shutter speed is between 1/30 and 1/60 of a second, depending on the camera. With today’s wide latitude films, you can easily shoot modern films rated between ISO 100 and 400 in a Brownie Hawkeye. There is a provision for bulb exposure, but that seems a bit odd considering there is no tripod mount.
Zero 69 Deluxe Pinhole Camera
These are beautiful handmade wooden cameras made by Zernike Au. If pinhole photography interests you at all, check these out as they are incredible little things. I would have to warn you if dealing with ZeroImage, I did have a bad experience, but can certainly vouch for the quality of the camera itself. A few different models are available, from the really basic 35mm to a full 8×10” view camera.
The Zero 69 is a medium format camera taking 120mm film. You can set the film format to 6×4.5, 6×6, 6×7 or 6×9. Simply select your preference before the film is loaded.
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