Category: Collecting Cameras
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Certo Super Sport Dolly, Model A
A review of the Certo Super Sport Dolly, a folding camera for 120 film. It’s a winner, both in use and in results.
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Repairing the focus stop on a Certo Super Sport Dolly
I don’t enjoy repairing cameras unless it’s quick and easy. Fortunately, repairing my 1930s Certo Super Sport Dolly was both. Here’s what I did.
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Trying to repair a sticky shutter on a Canon EOS Rebel S
When I reviewed this Canon EOS Rebel S not long ago, two thirds of my test roll’s photos were mostly or entirely black. The shutter was clearly not firing properly. I said I thought it was failing. Fellow film photographer Mark O’Brien left an incredibly helpful comment: “…the problem with the shutters is that the…
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How to get into film photography on the cheap
People who see me out shooting with my film cameras sometimes tell me they’re curious about trying film, too, but they don’t know where to begin. I’ll tell you what I tell them: buy any used Canon EOS-series or Nikon N-series 35mm SLR from the 1990s or early 2000s. They are plentiful and can be…
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My favorite cameras
I’ve owned north of 200 cameras in the 40 years I’ve collected them, from crappy Instamatics to professional-grade gear. But I return to just four cameras over and over. As I’ve grown to love photography, these are the cameras I want to shoot, and shoot, and shoot. Pentax ME. I love this camera beyond all…
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I may have lost my mind a little
I bought very few old cameras last year as I focused on shooting my Nikon F2. But as 2014 ended, I kind of went a little nuts. Call it unslaked gear thirst. Last year’s Nikon adventures showed me that I really enjoy shooting SLRs, so that’s mostly what I’ve been buying. I know I’ve said…
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The year of the Nikon F2
I’ve learned so much from you film photographers whose blogs I follow and who follow my blog. I don’t remember which of you said it first — was it Mike Connealy? — but more than one of you suggested that you’d become a much better photographer if you’d just stick to one camera. I thought about that idea often.…
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Film cameras photographed with a film camera
Thank goodness winter is over. The long, severe winter we suffered severely curtailed my photography and made me plenty sour. At one point I got desperate and searched the house for subjects. Cameras are in abundant supply, so I put several on my coffee table and photographed them. Ilford Delta 400 film was in, and…
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Why I collect cameras
From a very young age I’ve been fascinated with anything that has buttons or knobs. I love to figure out how things work. The summer I turned 9, my brother and I took our first annual summer trip to visit our grandparents at the little Michigan lake to which they had retired. We spent a…
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You win some and you lose some when you shoot with old cameras
I’ve had a lot of fun shooting my new old cameras this year, but I also got out a couple old cameras I’ve had for a while and loaded some film into them, too. When I first wrote about my Kodak Tourist several years ago, I said I’d probably never run film through it because its…