Since shrinking my camera collection a few years ago to the 50 or so that I like best, I’ve been much more able to use and enjoy the cameras I own. I still enjoy trying out a new-to-me old camera, but I make a point of using the cameras in my collection regularly. I keep returning to the same half dozen or so cameras in particular when I want to be sure to get the shot.
Not long ago, Stephen Dowling of Kosmo Foto reached out to a number of film-photography bloggers and asked us all to write a post about three cameras of note that we used in 2022, to run in December. I’ve used a lot of cameras this year — how to narrow it to three? I realized that a good filter is to choose cameras that I took with me when I traveled. I always travel with cameras I can count on, reliable old friends. That made it easy to choose my three! Here they are.
Pentax IQZoom 170SL
I took a flyer when I bought this small 35mm point-and-shoot with a long zoom. Pentax’s IQZoom line is such a mixed bag of cameras ranging from meh to wow, and you never know what you’re going to get until you try it. The IQZoom 170SL is wow for sure! I shot black-and-white film in this camera a lot this year. I took it with me to Denmark in August and put a couple rolls through it there. I’m sharing one image from Denmark here, but I promised Stephen that I’d write an article for his site about these images because I shot them on his Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow film. I’ll let you know when I’ve done that!
Yashica-12
The Yashica-12 is turning into one of my all-time favorite cameras, and I reach for it again and again. It’s got a terrific lens, and is a pleasure to use. I took it and a whole bunch of film on a long weekend trip to Madison, a historic city on the Ohio River here in Indiana.
Olympus OM-2n
I got to go to San Diego for a few days this year on business. The company put me up in a hotel on a resort island and we had some fun one evening at a karaoke bar. I wanted a small and light, but highly capable, camera, so I reached for my Olympus OM-2n and my near-pancake 40mm f/2 Zuiko lens.
You might also enjoy reading about the cameras other film-photo bloggers chose as their three this year. If you click one of these links and it leads to a “page not found” message, it means the post hasn’t gone live yet, but it will within the next week or two. I will add links to this post as I learn of other posts!
Peggy Marsh: https://cameragocamera.com/2022/12/07/new-for-2022-my-favourite-film-camera-experiences-this-year/
Alex Luyckx: http://www.alexluyckx.com/blog/index.php/2022/12/16/new-for-2022/
Alyssa Chiarello: https://alysvintagecameraalley.com/2022/12/13/3-cameras-from-2022/
Mike Eckman: https://mikeeckman.com/2022/12/3-outstanding-cameras-from-2022/
Alan D: https://austerityphoto.co.uk/the-three-that-went-3-very-different-travel-film-cameras/
Theo Panagopoulous: https://photothinking.com/2022-12-16-three-cameras-of-2022-for-2023/
Eric Enrico Jason: https://www.aperturepreview.com/three-other-cameras-of-2022
Johnny Martyr: https://johnnymartyr.wordpress.com/2022/12/22/trois-cameras-de-2022/
Jim Graves: https://jimgravesphoto.blogspot.com/2022/12/my-top-three-cameras-of-2022.html
Keith Devereux: https://keithdevereux.wordpress.com/2022/12/25/three-cameras-from-2022-my-favourite-experiences-this-year/
Dan: http://www.goinglomo.com/2022/12/my-top-3-film-cameras-of-2022/
Stephen Dowling: https://kosmofoto.com/2022/12/three-cameras-for-2022/
