October 26, 2018The Kiev 4 is a beautiful, silent and graceful camera. It has a classic rangefinder design which just makes you want to pick it up and start shooting with it. Paired up with the well regarded Jupiter 8M Contax mount lens, it forms a formidable team. Especially with a very accurate focus, achieved through one of the widest available rangefinder…
October 19, 2018The BelOMO Agat 18K is a bit of an oddity. It is a camera that by all intents and purposes sells itself as a toy camera, but has functionality which even some “better” made cameras lack. When you first pick it up is feels very light and is considered one of, if not, the lightest film cameras that use 35mm…
October 12, 2018Shooting with the Red October theme is one thing, shooting a Soviet Zorki 4 camera with redscale film is a combination that doesn’t get any more red. This ensures that the tool is red (aka Soviet), but also the result (aesthetically). The thought of this came through a suggestion from a friend on the yearly Red October theme that is…
October 5, 2018The apocalypse will eventually come one day and when it is photographed it will be in redscale. Why wouldn’t it be? Artists would be aiming at a realistic look, and nothing does that better than urban decay in red. This article is also part of the Red October theme being posted this month, where I am shooting with Soviet cameras…
September 21, 2018The Kodak Retina is a camera that holds a certain amount of mystique. It was made by a company that by the 1930s was more focussed on manufacturing film and generally created cameras to support that and the multiple formats they were introducing. Kodak never seemed to aim for or achieve anything above a second tier camera manufacturer, but the…
August 10, 2018Everyone loves a little bit of luxury. The finer things in life. Not that surprising we then have a camera with gold trimmings like the Nikon Lite.Touch 140 Zoom ED AF. A camera that gives the feeling you are using something with leather seats and a top class gold finish. That is if you ignore the fact the camera body…
June 29, 2018Sonnar at a budget price. Those are the thoughts when purchasing a Jupiter 8 lens. A lens design which has become quite a “must have” for a photographer, but can be out of reach in many cases. This is where the wonderful Jupiter 8 (ЮПИТЕР-8) comes in, with a very useable L39 Leica Thread Mount or Contax bayonet mount, both…
June 1, 2018Beautiful. Clean Lines. Minimalist. These are all words uttered about the Carl Zeiss Werra cameras. Cameras with a top plate that only house a shutter release and an exposure value display, sitting within a smooth metal finish that would have made Steve Jobs proud. Only, the Werra 2 covered in this review was produced decades before Apple computers, yet alone the iPhone…
April 27, 2018Very often it is considered a form of flattery to be copied. It means you have achieved something causing envy amongst others and they would like to also have it, but not necessarily have the means to get it. That is the case with Leica cameras. Whilst not everyone covets them, there is many people that do. This spurred on a…
April 6, 2018Summer means sunshine, longer days, heat, sun screen, swimming and fun. During this time, a camera that can be used at the beach, the pool, on land and is not overly expensive or complicated is quite a wish list. The Canon Sure Shot A1 aims to fulfil this, all the time maintaining quality in both the water and on land. …
February 16, 2018The Minox 35 GT is a very convenient camera, mainly due to its diminutive size. At one point it was the world’s smallest 35mm camera, a title which was only relinquished to one other camera before digital took the mainstream. It would very easy to dismiss this as being its one and only differentiator amongst the world of compacts and…
February 3, 2018Film Digital Index (DX) Coding can be very convenient for 35mm. No need to worry about setting the film speed (ASA, ISO etc.) on the camera settings to ensure it meters correctly, just insert film and shoot away. This function is especially prevalent on 80s and 90s compact film cameras, some of which are very popular and getting expensive…