Reunited: Nikkormat FTn

I just received my Nikkormat FTn back from a CLA and modification by my friend Jim Holman at International Camera Technicians in San Diego. I found this camera in my local camera shop and it was in lovely condition. Hardly a scratch anywhere with a very nice optics.

I really like these Nikkormats. I own four now—this FTn, an EL, FT2 and FT3. Nikkormats were built during a time when a camera was designed to last. And you can really feel that, especially after a thorough service.

In addition to the CLA, I had Jim do some modifications on my FTn. My FTn is an early model which came with a matte fresnel focus screen with a central disc of of micro-prsims. My aging eye prefers a split-image screen. Nikon calls this a “K” screen. The focus screens were not interchangeable on the Nikkormats, but a skilled technician can swap them out during a CLA. However, I had to find a donor camera. The Nikkormat FT2 and FT3 came standard with a split-image screen, but I really wasn’t keen on spending the money that these models were fetching just to harvest a focus screen. As I was doing my research, I discovered that later in the production run of the FTn, Nikon offered a K screen option—buyers could order their camera with either a matte fresnel screen or the split-image one. These later cameras also had a plastic tipped film advance and self-timer levers (just like the Nikon F Apollo and F2 cameras). Since “parts only” FTn bodies were selling on eBay for $20-$40, my mission became finding one of these later cameras that had been ordered with the K screen.

This kind of stuff takes patience, but it’s fun. Each day, I scoured the eBay listings for parts only FTn bodies with the plastic tipped levers. Sellers rarely take photos of their viewfinder, so I had to contact the sellers and ask. Finally one day, a listing popped up for a camera in pretty sad shape—missing the film rewind crank among other things. What caught my eye was that this camera came in its original box.

FTn original box

When I saw the K screen indication on the box, I didn’t hesitate. I just pulled the trigger and paid the seller $20. I had a good feeling about this. When the camera arrived, it was a mess…but it had a K screen! And for a pretty sad looking camera, the viewfinder and screen looked really good.

I packaged up my FTn and the donor camera with a note to Jim to CLA my camera top to bottom. In addition, swap out the existing screen for the K screen from the donor camera. Because I prefer the plastic tipped film advance, I also asked him to swamp out the advance lever as well. I never use the self-timer, I left that as-is. Lastly, I asked him to modify my camera to work with a 1.5v 625 alkaline battery rather than the original 1.35v mercury battery.

Film advance lever before modification

Completed, serviced and modified FTn

There’s something special about finding a 57-year old camera in this condition. It’s even more special having it returned to factory specs. Everything is so smooth now and that shutter sounds sublime. I am looking forward to a weekend photo walk with my “new” Nikkormat FTn.

Awesome and Affordable: The Nikon N8008S

For those of us who enjoy photography, we’re living in fortunate times. In the digital world, there is a wide variety of choices; DSLRs, mirrorless cameras and even super high quality cameras in our smartphones. For analog photography, we’re lucky to have a good selection of interesting film stocks to choose from and amazing old film cameras for sale, albeit at higher prices than a few years ago.

On a recent quest to find an autofocus camera or two to add to my arsenal, I picked up a bargain—a very lightly used Nikon N8008S 35mm SLR with a Nikkor AF-D 28-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens for $95. The Nikon N8008S was the successor to the N8008 which was introduced in 1988. The N8008 was Nikon’s top advanced amateur camera at the time, positioned right below the flagship professional F4. The camera was priced just under $900 at introduction. That’s over $2300 in today’s dollars adjusted for inflation! The N8008S debuted in 1991 and added spot metering to its list of features. I say all this because it’s quite amazing that one can buy such a very capable and at one time, a very expensive camera, for under a hundred bucks today. The lens was basically free.

My Nikon N8008S with 50mm F/1.8 AF-D lens

I call cameras of this era “technoblobs”—big bulky heavy hunks of plastic covered metal. Nikon, Canon and Minolta all had similar looking cameras and they certainly don’t fit the mold of what we consider a retro camera today. The Canon AE-1, Nikon F3 or Pentax K1000 might better represent what today’s retro camera enthusiast is seeking and that’s why prices on those cameras have soared making technoblob cameras a relative bargain.

The N8008S is a very capable, feature packed camera. It offers several shooting modes—full program, shutter priority, aperture priority and manual. Its early generation autofocus offers two modes—continuous servo and single servo. The autofocus is noisy by today’s standards, but fast and precise. The camera’s meter offers up matrix, center-weighted and spot. You can shoot at shutter speeds from 30 seconds up to 1/8000th of a second.

You control all of the camera’s functions with a thumbwheel and most photographers can figure out how to drive the N8008S pretty quickly without looking at the owner’s manual. Film loading is easy, just drop in a film cartridge, pull the leader over the red line, close the back and tap the shutter release once. The Nikon advances the film to the first frame. Depending on the mode you choose, the N8008S can burn through a roll of film in as fast as 3.3 frames per second.

The N8008S is not a camera for someone who wants to fully immerse themselves in full manual control of their photography. Rather, this is a camera that you relax and just have fun with. Put it in program mode and let the camera do all of the heavy lifting for you and just click away. By the time this camera came out, Nikon had really nailed TTL metering and I had a hard time coming up with a situation where the N8008S didn’t deliver near perfect exposure. Over a couple of weeks, I shot two expired rolls of film—some Fuji 400 and Kodak T-Max 100. I used the Nikkor zoom and my 50mm f/1.8 AF-D lens. Here’s puppy day at our local park.

My roll of Kodak expired in 2021 but it’s been kept in the fridge. I was shooting some portraits with my Fujifilm X-T1 and brought along the N8008S as well. Between set ups, I just clicked away.

The shot below was made with the N8008S and an off-camera Vivitar 283 flash for fill.

It’s crazy to think about the fact that you can buy what was at the time, one of the most advanced cameras in the world for nearly nothing today. As I write this, there are N8008S bodies on eBay for as little as $20. While it may not have the charm of shooting a Nikon F2, Pentax Spotmatic or Olympus OM-1, this era of camera represents a truly remarkable value in analog photography.

My Minolta, Some P33 & The Beach

My wife and I took our dog Jazz on a mini-vacation earlier this month. We headed about an hour and half west to the small town of Dillon Beach, CA and spent a few nights at a little resort made up of tiny houses near the beach. Jazz loves the water and I will use any excuse to get back to the Pacific which I miss so much since moving inland five years ago.

I brought two cameras with me, my Fujifim X-T1 digital and my Minolta X-700 film SLR. Since I could shoot color in the digital camera, I brought some Ferrania P33 black and white film along for the Minolta. I reviewed the X-700 in depth back in 2018 here, so I won’t go into a detailed review again, but I really had forgotten how much fun the Minolta is to use and what good results it delivers.

This is only my second or third roll of P33, but I will say that I am slowly falling in love with this creamy, dreamy film that has such a unique cinematic look to it. P33 has an ISO of 160, but I set my camera to ISO 125.

Dillon Beach sits right at the mouth of Tomales Bay. The Pacific Ocean is to the right in the photo below. The tip of Point Reyes is to the left. Point Reyes is protected as a National Seashore.

Dillon Beach, CA

Sleepy Jazz after a day in the surf and sand…and after a bath.

I have to admit that when I travel, I am often reluctant to bring along one of my more expensive film cameras, but I never worry about throwing the X-700 in my overnight bag. Even with its plastic exterior, the X-700 continues to look good and operate as-designed in spite of its mileage.

I like this Italian film so much, I just ordered some more and want to continue to explore its possibilities. As for the weekend in the tiny house, it was quite lovely. We walked the beach by day, watched the sun set sipping Sonoma County wine and Point Reyes Pierce Point cheese and drifted off to sleep to the sounds of the surf.

Jazz liked it too.

Fujifim X-T1, XF 18-55mmF2.8-4 R LM OIS Zoom

The Minolta SR-T 202

Over the past 15 years of serious film photography, there have been several cameras that I initially dismissed because the ones I tried were not functioning as they were designed. My first Pentax Spotmatic was a corroded mess. My first Olympus OM-1 had a gummed up film advance due to years of neglect. And my first Minolta SR-T, a 101 model if I recall, had a dead meter, lots of debris in the viewfinder and a gritty feeling film advance. When you’re buying decades old film cameras online and learning as you go, you’re going to buy a few duds. It’s part of the game. And sometimes, those bad experiences color your opinion about a camera. Luckily, I bought another Spotmatic and had Eric Hendrickson service it. A lovely camera. Same with the OM-1. Found another and sent it off to John Hermanson. A CLA’d OM-1 is a joy to shoot.

And now for Minolta. Recently, a stunning black body SR-T 202 showed up for sale from one of my trusted eBay sellers, freshly CLA’d for a good price. I’m a sucker for black body SLRs and this one, with a six-month warranty, seemed like a good investment.

The Minolta SRT series ran from 1966 to 1981. There are many different models with confusing numbers. My camera, the SR-T 202 was also called the SR-T 303b and SR505, depending on what country you purchased the camera in. All of these cameras are manual focus, manual exposure cameras with TTL metering. Some featured Minolta’s exclusive CLC metering system. CLC stood for Contrast Light Compensator, sort of an early version of matrix metering. The camera had two metering cells rather than just one giving the photographer more precise control over exposure. Or so the manual says.

While I was waiting for my SR-T 202 to arrive, I did some research on early Minolta manual focus lenses and found that the MC-Rokkor-PF 58mm f/1.4 had great reviews. Not only was the lens a stellar performer optically, many photographers raved about how nice this lens was to use. I found a seller online who specializes in this particular lens, services and sells them. My new lens and camera arrived within days of each other.

The SR-T 202 is a big, heavy brick of a camera. There a no contours or curves, little in the way of ergonomics. By comparison, while my Minolta X-700 which came out in 1981 fits my hand like a glove, this camera felt a bit awkward. I also found the strap lugs to be in a weird place, poking my fingers as I shot. As I worked my way through my test roll of Kodak Tri-X, the camera and I made friends and I found some hand and finger positions that felt comfortable.

I had no issues however falling immediately and madly in love with the 58mm f/1.4 lens however. This lens reminds me of the early Pentax Takumars…smooth silky focus and a satisfying aperture ring. This lens is from an era where quality and craftsmanship were top priorities. I am going to buy an adapter and try this lens on my Fujifilm X-T1 digital.

All of the controls on the SR-T 202 are straightforward and similar to most SLRs of this era. The only strange thing is the ON/OFF/BC switch on the bottom of the camera that you need to use your thumb to turn. The viewfinder on most every Minolta I have shot is big and bright and beautiful. This camera is no exception. Shutter speed and lens aperture are displayed along the bottom of the finder with the meter readout on the right side.

Unlike my earlier SR-T camera, this freshly serviced 202 is very pleasant to shoot. Film advance felt smooth, viewfinder was crystal clear, meter responsive and it has a nice, satisfying shutter sound. I took the camera with me on a picnic on Mother’s Day and on a walk downtown. Here are some shots from that weekend.

Some Pinot Noir at our picnic…

I liked this shadow of the basketball hoop on the crumbling court…

Of course, the required mirror selfie which I flipped in post. (I was having a bad hair day.)

I really warmed to the SR-T 202 as I worked my way through the 24 exposure roll of Tri-X. I do wish the strap lugs were a little farther up the body and that ON/OFF switch is a bit of a pain. But all in all, this is nice camera and an awesome lens. Like any old film camera, I really recommend that you either buy one that has been serviced or budget for a service when you plan your camera purchase. In the case of this Minolta, service made all of the difference.

The Contax N1

I recall having a conversation with a professional event photographer friend of mine in the mid-1990s. He was probably in his mid-60s at the time and had just traded in his Nikon F3 bodies for a pair of Nikon N8008s auto-focus cameras. I remember him saying that he would have probably shot those F3s forever if his eyesight wasn’t beginning to fail him. Retirement wasn’t an option, he told me, so auto-focus allowed him to continue earning a living. Luckily, I don’t earn my living with my photography and my +1.50 readers are fine for computer work, reading and other close-up tasks. But I have been struggling a bit with my manual focus cameras lately making me regret selling my last two auto-focus cameras late last year. I have a Fujifilm X-T1 for digital photography, but I started yearning for another auto-focus film body.

I considered all of the usual suspects…Nikon F4, F5, N90s…or perhaps I might even begin a journey into Canon auto-focus film bodies. I browsed eBay and also kept my eye on the used gear case at my local camera store. Over the course of a couple of weeks, two cameras appeared there; a Nikon N8008s, which I felt was a nod to my aforementioned photographer friend and a Contax N1. I was very familiar with the Nikon but knew nothing about the N1. The N8008s was a steal for under a hundred bucks complete with a Nikkor 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 AF-D zoom. The Contax body, which was new old stock, in its original box and with the “remove before shooting” insert still in the film chamber. The N1 cost me $200.

The Contax N1 was one of the last film cameras manufactured by Kyocera who, throughout the 1990s, built some brilliant Contax 35mm SLRs. I had a Contax RX for several years and loved that camera along with its amazing Carl Zeiss lenses. You can read my review of the RX here.

The N1 was introduced in 2000, aimed at professional photographers. A pro-sumer model, the NX came out about the same time. In 2002, Contax released the N Digital, the first professional digital SLR with a full frame sensor. Kyocera would halt all camera production a few years later in 2005. Unlike earlier Contax cameras which used the Contax/Yashica (C/Y) mount lenses, the N1, NX and N Digital used the new N mount glass. In cooperation with Carl Zeiss, Contax released a few prime lenses for the N cameras and several zooms:

• Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 17-35mm F/2.8

• Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-85mm F/3.5-4.5

• Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 28-80mm F/3.5-5.6

• Carl Zeiss Planar T* 50mm F/1.4 

• Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 70-200mm F/3.5-4.5

• Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 70-300mm F/4.0-5.6

• Carl Zeiss Planar T* 85mm F/1.4

• Carl Zeiss Makro-Sonnar T* 100mm F/2.8

• Carl Zeiss Tele-Apotessar T* 400mm F/4

While I easily stumbled across the N1 body at a good price, finding an affordable lens, I would soon discover, would be much more difficult. I have always been a prime lens guy and really like 50mm. With that in mind, I started my N mount search looking for a 50mm Carl Zeiss Planar, which I had owned before in C/Y mount with my Contax RX. All of the N mount Planars I found were between $700 and $1000…way out of my budget. After some research, I found that the two Vario-Sonnar mid-range zooms were closer to my price range and would give me the 50mm focal length as well as wide-angle and medium telephoto. The 28-80 was the most affordable and also offered me macro capability. Interestingly, the only Contax N mount lenses I could find for sale in any focal length were from Japanese sellers. I’ve purchased several cameras and a few lenses from Japan and have always had good luck, so after finding a 28-80 from a seller with lots of good reviews and a 100% rating, I pulled the trigger. One of the things I find very cool about buying from Japanese sellers on eBay is that shipping is usually free and the items arrive here in California in 2-3 days via FedEx, as was the case with my lens.

With all of the anticipation of a kid at Christmas, I eagerly unwrapped my lens and mounted it to my N1 body, inserted the big 6v Lithium 2CR5 battery and turned on the camera. Everything came to life except…the auto-focus lens wouldn’t auto-focus. I fiddled with switches and knobs and poured over the owner’s manual. In manual focus mode, everything worked fine. The lens focused manually and the focus confirmation indicator in the viewfinder worked as designed. I was stumped. Was it the lens or was it the camera? While you can find oodles of information about Nikon or Canon camera issues online, there’s not much out there on the Contax N1 or these lenses. I called the camera shop I bought it from and they just shrugged…”Can’t say what the problem might be. Maybe the camera body, maybe the lens. That’s the first Contax camera we’ve ever had in the store. You’re a great customer. You can return it for a full refund if you want.” I really liked the N1 and because it was hardly used, if at all, my hunch told me the fault was in the lens, not the camera body. I contacted the seller in Japan and told him that the lens would not auto-focus. The seller was responsive and kind, suggesting I try this and try that before initiating a return. The one forum I found on these lenses mentioned that it could possibly be a stripped focus gear. After a few days of back and forth messages, I mentioned the stripped gear idea to the seller and he authorized the return for a full refund. Back online, I found another 28-80 from a different Japanese seller and three days later, I was once again unwrapping and eagerly mounting a lens to my N1. This time…bingo! The lens auto-focused like a dream!

The N1 is a feature-packed camera. Multiple shooting modes including manual, aperture and shutter priority and a fully automatic program mode. Multiple metering patterns too. Shutter speeds from 4 seconds up to `1/8000th of second. Exposure compensation, multiple drive and auto-focus modes, selectable auto-focus points, manual focus assist and probably more things once I read the entire owners’s manual.

The N1 has a big and bright viewfinder with adjustable diopter that displays all of the information a photographer needs to know about what the camera is doing along the bottom of the screen. There are five auto-focus points in the center of the finder that illuminate to indicate which one you have selected or all, if you use five-point AF. The N1 focuses quickly and quietly, relatively speaking. One cool feature is that if you are shooting in manual focus, there’s a button on the back of the camera that gives you one quick burst of auto-focus just to for peace of mind. Even though the camera is large with the zoom mounted, like all of the other Contax cameras I have tried, it fits your hand like a glove and is well balanced. Ergonomically, I think Contax really nailed it with the N1.

By the time I got the lens quest figured out, life got busy and I didn’t have much time to get out and do any real shooting with my N1. My test roll was Kodak Pro Image 100 documenting the flowers in my backyard.

And, the wheel on my car…

The N1 would be a perfect auto-focus companion for me if I could find the 50mm Zeiss Planar lens at an affordable price. And I am not sure why these N lenses are so expensive. I mean there aren’t a lot of Contax N users out there I imagine. I need to get out of my backyard with this camera and really put it through its paces, but after this brief test drive, the N1 is definitely two thumbs up.

Etc.

Friday ramblings….

I have some cameras in the review queue right now. I have Kodak Tri-X in a newly acquired Minolta SRT-202 sporting a nifty early generation Minolta MC Rokkor-PF 58mm f/1.4. I had one of these Minolta SLRs some years ago that didn’t work right, so it never got a proper test drive. This one is freshly CLAd and the attached Rokkor prime lens is quite special.

Minolta SRT202 with early Rokkor 58/1.4

I also have some Tri-X in the Nikon F2A that I picked up a few months ago at my local camera shop. I sold my last F2 body several years and ever since, I’ve had the itch to own another. This one is very nice and everything seems right on it. I will see how the shots come out and then send it off to Sover Wong for a CLA. I’ve gushed over the F2 many times in the past. After shooting so many different film cameras since reviewing my first F2, I wonder how it’ll stack up this time around?

I think this maroon Nikon strap looks nice on my chrome body F2A

Gear Acquisition Syndrome (G.A.S.) is real and I sometimes succumb to a version of it I call Boomerang GAS. With Boomerang GAS, you find yourself longing for and then re-acquiring a camera that you sold. In my case, it’s the Minolta X-700. I have had two, sold both and due to Boomerang GAS, just picked up my third. I honestly had forgotten how much fun these cameras are to shoot. I have some Kodak ProImage 100 in my latest X-700. An updated review on and some images from this great SLR are coming soon.

I tried using “portrait” mode on my iPhone for this image of my latest Minolta X-700

My eyes are getting old and using manual focus cameras is getting to be a bit more of a chore. Cameras with viewfinder diopter adjustment help, but I do see a day coming when I’ll be using auto-focus cameras almost exclusively. I sold my last two auto-focus film cameras; a Nikon F4 and a F100 to friends of the blog some months ago. I probably should have kept one of those but hindsight is 20/20. Since my eyesight isn’t, I’ve begun a quest to find a new auto-focus friend. I owned a Contax RX once that had focus assist. The RX was a sweet camera and the Contax/Yashica Carl Zeiss lenses for it were extraordinary. I did not realize that Contax ever made an auto-focus 35mm film camera until I saw a Contax N1 at my local camera shop. The N1 was the last film camera Contax made. Remembering my RX fondly, I made a sweet deal on the N1 which appeared unused and still its original box with a “remove before shooting” insert in the film chamber. Finding the N1 body was one thing. Finding a lens for it was another. Hoo-boy. That story and a complete review is coming but I will say one thing…the Contax N1 is an amazing camera!

Contax N1 with Carl Zeiss 28-80mm Vario-Sonnar zoom

In other camera news, my Nikkormat EL is in the shop getting new light seals and whatever else it might need. My Nikkormat FTn is also in the shop getting modified with a split-image focus screen (my old eyes again), retrofit for 1.5v batteries and general CLA.

I’m shooting some color film again because Freestyle Photo has a sale on Kodak ProImage 100 film. I like this film and $36.49 is a great price for a 5-pack. As of this writng, it’s still available here.

To filter, or not to filter, that is the question.

I am a member of several vintage camera and general photography groups on Facebook and there are two “conversations” that always amuse me.

The first is around the subject of mechanical cameras that require no batteries and those that do. I am fascinated by the numbers of photographers who go on and on about how mechanical cameras that do not require batteries are so much better than those that require batteries for their shutters or metering. The standard line is that if you are out in the field shooting with a purely mechanical camera, you’ll never have to be concerned about not being able to take a photograph because your battery died. Honestly, I’ve been taking pictures with film cameras since 1975 and I have never had a battery give up on me while out shooting. And even if that happened, I always have a spare in my camera bag. I mean, how hard is it to carry around a little button cell battery? I pay far more attention to the battery level in my Fujifilm X-T1 or even in my iPhone than I ever have with any old film camera. But I digress.

The other Facebook interaction, which happens often whenever I post a picture of one of my cameras with a UV filter on the lens, are comments around my use of protective filters. “Please take that filter off of that lens!” Or, “Beautiful lens ruined by that filter—take it off now!” If I engage in any of these conversations, most of these people tell me how clear protective filters degrade the image quality or cause reflections. It is possible that adding another piece of glass in front of a lens might degrade the image quality in some barely perceptible way, but in all my years of photography, I’ve never noticed it or had any problems with reflections.

I take a great deal of care in finding nice examples of lenses for my cameras and feel that a clear protective filter is cheap protection for my investment. If I get dust on my filter, it’s easy to clean and I don’t worry about leaving cleaning marks on the front element of an expensive lens. I see so many otherwise fine old lenses for sale on eBay that have cleaning marks and scratches on them.

So, I use protective filters on my lenses. Do you?

Looking for Light: Little River Inn

I first read the phrase “looking for light” on the blog of my photography friend, Amanda Creamer. Amanda creates some stunning, dreamy images with her film and digital cameras. I loved “looking for light” so much, I wrote and asked her if I could borrow it and use it here from time to time. Photography is, at its very basic level, the art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light. As a photographer, I find myself looking at the world around me in terms of light and shadows.

Right now, I am focusing my efforts and honing my skills in black and white photography, but not too long ago, my wife and I spent a lovely weekend up the California coast near Mendocino. I brought my Nikkormat FT3 and Pentax Spotmatic with me, both loaded with black and white film. We stayed at the Little River Inn just south of Mendicino and on our first night, we had dinner in the hotel’s restaurant. Our host seated us at a table with a view of the Pacific. It was the magic hour and as I looked out the window, I was awed by the palette of colors. After many years of living at the coast, my experience is that my iPhone rarely gets it right, but this night it sure did. The sky, the ocean and the artificial light from the porch of the Inn all worked together, perfectly. Even the reflection of the restaurant’s chandelier in the upper left is a nice touch I think. I make it a practice not to bring my phone with me for relaxing dinners out, but on this night, I am glad I broke my rule.

The Nikkormat EL

I consider the 1970s the golden age of 35mm SLRs. Canon, Minolta, Pentax, Olympus and Nikon were all in fierce competition to create the very best machines possible. Photographers benefited from this competition with a wide choice of great cameras and amazing lenses. This was still the era of mostly metal and glass and a testament to the quality of camera manufacturing from this time is the fact that many of these machines remain viable, functioning and serviceable today.

I stumbled across this nice example of a Nikkormat EL in my local camera shop. I went to browse on my lunch hour and walked out with a new camera and a thinner wallet. The Nikkormat EL was introduced in 1972 and was one of Nikon’s first attempts at a camera with an electronically controlled shutter and aperture-priority auto exposure. Around the same time, an all-black body ELW was available which is the same camera with the exception of its ability to add an AW-1 auto winder. The EL is a pre-AI body which means that Nikkor lenses need to be manually indexed to the body using the Nikon twist; move the body indexing pin all the way over to the right (looking at the camera body), set the aperture on the lens to f/5.6, mate the lens to the body and then twist the lens to its smallest aperture and then to its widest. This sounds way more complicated than it is but necessary so the camera “knows” which lens you have on. Everything after that is typical 1970s SLR.

The EL is basically a large Nikon FE. The viewfinder read out is the same as the FE and FE2 with a big analog needle. This display is my favorite of all of the Nikon SLRs of this era—it’s easy to read and makes total sense. Other than having to index the lens to the camera, the EL’s other quirk is the battery. The EL takes a type PX28/4LR44/544 battery which looks like a little AA battery. The battery chamber is behind the mirror so you need to take off the lens and lift the mirror to insert the battery.

My EL is almost pristine. I cannot see any scratches or scuffs anywhere. I wonder if it was ever used? As I inspected the body inside and out, I did notice the seals were original and deteriorating pretty badly which is pretty common for a 50+ year old camera. My plan was to put a test roll through the EL and see if everything else was working and if I enjoyed shooting it. If it passed those tests, I’d sent it out for new seals and a general look-over.

I found a roll of Kodak Portra 400 in the back of my fridge and shot it over a weekend in March. I rated the film at 200 ISO which I always do with Portra 400. On a walk around my neighborhood, I discovered some spring color.

I connected my Aodelan wireless flash trigger to the hot shoe of the EL. The receiver and my Vivitar 283 flash were mounted on a tripod. Orvie, our Golden Retriever, is always a willing subject. The EL’s shutter synchs at 1/125th of a second.

Willing, but quickly bored of Dad’s photography.

I follow a number of Facebook groups for vintage camera collectors and users and I find it amusing when someone buys a camera as old as this EL, especially one with electronics, and are surprised when the machine doesn’t perform as if it were brand new. How many 50 year old cars can chug along for decades without service? In the back of my mind, as I was shooting with this camera, I wondered how the auto exposure was working and whether or not those crusty old seals would give me any problems. My fears were confirmed when this roll came out of the lab. Some of the shots showed signs of a light leak but the meter did a fine job of handling most everything I threw at it.

Yes, someone had a bay cow on a leash.

I enjoyed shooting the EL and I am impressed enough with the results I got from this hobbled camera to send it off for new seals and meter calibration. The fit and finish of this camera is exceptional, as are the other Nikkormats I have tried; the FTn, FT2 and FT3.

The EL and ELW were the last cameras to carry the Nikkormat name. Nikon had wanted to differentiate between their advanced amateur and pro bodies; Nikkormat for the former and Nikon for the latter. In 1977, Nikon was proud enough of their Nikkormats to throw the Nikon nameplate on the final camera in this series, the EL2.

The price of film cameras has increased substantially over the past few years, but it seems that these Nikkormats have flown under everyone’s radar. I paid $75 for this one and with a basic CLA, I will be all in for under $200 making Nikkormat one of today’s best vintage camera investments.

Ferrania P33

I had big plans to take my Nikon FE everywhere with me for a couple of weeks as I tried my first roll of Ferrania P33 black and white negative film. I had been reading good things about this film and wanted to give it a proper test drive. Fate had other ideas. A friend was looking for a nice FE and asked if I would sell mine. Just about the time I was asking if I could finish off the roll of film I had in the camera, he sent the PayPal payment. So, I clicked off a half a roll at my desk and around the house, rewound the film and packed up his camera.

Ferrania P33 is an ISO 160 film manufactured by Film Ferrania, an Italian company that has been making film since 1923. Film Ferrania calls P33 “a breakthrough in black and white photography blending innovation and tradition.” From the few shots I made with my test roll, mostly close ups of some of my gear on the white surface of my home office desk, P33 may become my go-to black and white film. I like it a lot.

The film has very little grain and and a pleasing range of tones; inky blacks, subtle mid-ranges and crisp whites. The speed of this film is perfect for me as I shoot a lot of 100 speed black and white film. Kodak’s Plus-X Pan 125 was one of my favorite films when it was in production, so P33 hits a special sweet spot for me. At $11.99 per roll, Ferrania P33 falls right into line with a number of similar black and white emulsions. I liked it so much, I ordered a few more rolls from Freestyle Photo. I am excited to try more.

Fear of Flash (Or, how a 50-year old Vivitar 283 helped me conquer it)

I’ve always had a fear of electronic flash photography and I admit, it was a fear of the unknown. My experience with flash photography was limited to flashcubes on Kodak Instamatic cameras, flashbars on Polaroid instant cameras and the SB-24 Nikon Speedlight I bought for my Nikon N90s back in the 1990s. I never got good pictures from any of those set-ups, mostly because I really didn’t know what I was doing. Many years ago, a friend hired me to shoot his wedding. To this day, I still cannot figure why he did or moreso, why I agreed to do it considering I didn’t have a clue. It was an outdoor daytime wedding and the available light stuff was pretty acceptable. The few flash shots with my N90s and Speedlight were horrible. The marriage didn’t last but my friend, who is still my friend, said it had nothing to do with my photographs. Thank goodness for that.

The rest of my portfolio of flash photographs consisted of over-exposed and washed out shots of my kid’s birthday parties or similar results from other family gatherings. I don’t think I had ever taken a flash photograph that I have been happy with. My history, coupled with what I perceived as the complicated process of achieving good results with flash, has contributed to my fear.

A recent acquisition of a Fujifilm X-T1 digital camera prompted me to starting wondering again about trying some flash photography. With the X-T1, I could experiment, learn and see my results immediately rather than incur the expense of film and processing while I fumbled my way around. I was also very curious about off-camera flash, both for still subjects and maybe even some portraiture. The most important part of this fear-conquering journey was not spending tons of money doing it. So I began my research and ended up going back in time 50 years.

The Vivitar 283 electronic flash was introduced in 1970 and quickly became the most popular professional and advanced amateur flash of its day. Vivitar sold more than 3 million units by 1973 and the 283 remained in production, on and off, for nearly 30 years. The power and dependability of the 283 along with a wide range of accessories, made it the choice of wedding and studio photographers. Because of the vast numbers of 283s produced and their outstanding reliability, you can pick one one up today for around $10, which is what I did. Mine came in its original box with instructions and shows little signs of use. The day mine came, I quickly installed four AA batteries, turned it on and pushed the test button. It worked!

One of the things you will read if you begin to research older flashes is the danger of high trigger voltages. Today’s electronic flashes use very low voltage at the hot shoe to trigger the flash; usually under 10v. Some of these older flashes, some 283s included, create trigger voltage as high as 250v which could damage the electronics in newer film and digital cameras. My Fujiflim X-T1 allows for a trigger voltage as high as 300v according to the manual. Since I was going to use my 283 off camera or with one of my old mechanical film cameras, I was really not concerned about the higher trigger voltage, but out of curiosity, decided to see what my 283 tested at.

Checking the voltage per some instructions I found online, the trigger voltage on my 283 was just under 8v which is fine for any film or digital camera. Even if you find an older flash with high trigger voltage, you can use the flash with a remote trigger, which is what I intended to do. For my set up, I found this AODELAN wireless flash trigger and receiver on Amazon for $42.

You simply mount the transmitter on your camera’s hot shoe and the flash mounts to the receiver. I mounted my receiver and flash to an old Bogen tri-pod. This inexpensive wireless set up triggers my 283 flash like a dream with the Fujifilm X-T1. I swapped out the digital camera for my Nikkormat EL and the set up worked just as well with the old film camera.

You can use the 283 in auto or manual mode. In auto mode, you twist the little calculator dial on the side of the flash to whatever film speed you are using, seen on the lower part of the dial.

Vivitar 283 flash calculator. This dial evens lights up with a cool green backlight.

You adjust the distance from flash to subject on the Auto Thyristor sensor on the front of the flash. If your subject is up to 15 feet away for example, select the blue color and then read your f/stop off the calculator. In this example f/8. If your camera is set at whatever shutter speed it synchs electronic flash with, you should get a good exposure.

The Auto Thyristor sensor

Side of the Auto Thuristor sensor set to BLUE

Like I mentioned above, Vivitar made all sorts of crazy accessories for the 283. One is the VP-1 Vari-Power module which replaces the Auto Thyristor sensor on the front of the flash. With the VP-1, you can manually dial in just the right amount of flash you want for your subject from full down to just a splash of fill. I found my VP-1 on eBay for $8.

Vivitar VP-! Vari-Power module

A family member wanted some portraits taken for a work project. I knew I could get some decent available light shots outdoors with my X-T1, but I thought this might also be a good time to experiment with off-camera fill flash using the 283, VP-1 and my camera set on manual mode. I set the camera to 200 ISO and the shutter speed to the camera’s 180th of a second synch speed. It was a bight sunny day. I put the tripod-mounted flash off to one side of my subject. Full power was way too much but as I dialed the output power back to 1/16th of full, the results were outstanding. I shot a series of portraits which looked amazing. My subject has not given me permission to share those headshots at this point, but I intend to shoot some more I can share here with permission as well as enlisting Orvie, my Golden Retriever, who loves to pose for portraits.

The Vivitar 283 also gave me an opportunity to try out my Minolta IV-F Autometer, taking flash readings. I connected the Minolta meter to the flash using a PC synch chord, held the meter near my subject pointing back towards the camera. Pressing the button to take the reading fires the flash, giving me the proper exposure setting. I did feel kind of like a pro photographer with the Minolta Autometer dangling from my neck.

I am encouraged by the results from my first experiment with the Vivitar 283. For around $60 all in, I have a really nice flash set up which can help me overcome my negativity and fear of flash photography. I am sure there are newer flashes that do all of this and more and probably do it easier than this set up. But in the doing, I am learning. And that’s a very good thing. I will share some results here soon and in the meantime, hope to hear from any of my readers who know more about this subject than I do.

The Vivitar 283 is a very powerful, versatile, well-built, affordable flash unit that is helping to teach this old dog some new tricks.

10 Years of The Fogdog Blog

When I began dabbling in analog photography again in 2010, I started writing my thoughts about the old cameras I was trying in a paper journal. A few years after that, I launched a Flickr account and began sharing pictures of my old cameras and the photographs I made with them. Other Flickr members commented on my gear or complimented my photos and that felt good. I enjoyed the connection with other photographers. About the same time I launched my Flickr account, I came across Jim Grey’s Down The Road blog. As I browsed through his posts, I found we were on similar paths, navigating life after the end of difficult marriages and discovering the joys of old cameras. Jim’s blog became an inspiration for me to start one of my own.

I began the blog over on WordPress in 2014. I lived in Bodega Bay, CA then. Bodega Bay is often foggy. Sometimes the sun would break through the fog in interesting ways. These bright or clear spots in breaking fog are known as fogdogs. Photography has been, in one way or another, always a part of my life. During some very dark and difficult times, it was my way of coping, giving me a bright and clear path forward. I decided to call my online place The Fogdog Blog.

For a reason I cannot even remember now, I became frustrated with WordPress, had a tantrum and moved my blog over to Squarespace in 2015 where it lives today.

I do admit, there have been times when I have considered turning the thing off, but then someone will comment on a post or send me a nice note through email telling me that they Googled a certain old camera and found the site and how helpful my information was to them. Or that they enjoyed one of my photographs. And even though I’ve never really worked at building an audience, it is gratifying to see some of my camera reviews show high up in the search rankings.

Honestly, the best part of all of this are the friends I’ve made here. Kind, thoughtful, curious, generous people who all share a love of analog photography. Thank you, all.

No connection to the blog but Joseph Phelps Vineyards in Freestone, CA used to make a wonderful Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir called Fogdog which l loved so much, I bought the hat.

Rollei RPX 400

This is not a proper review of Rollei’s RPX 400 black and white film. This is a grumbly review because while shooting this roll during my recent weekend in Mendocino, my Pentax Spotmatic decided to jam up on me. The film advance just stopped dead winding from one shot to the next. Grrrrr! I got about a dozen frames into the roll. Rather than tear up the sprocket holes, I rewound the film back into the canister and called it a day. Oddly enough, when I got back home and fiddled with the Spottie, everything seemed fine.

Rollei RPX 400 is a high speed black and white negative film that was recommend to me by fellow photographer Gregory Gross. It’s distributed by Maco (Hans O. Mahn GmbH & Co. KG, Maco Photo Products), a Germany-based supplier of photographic films and chemicals, licensing the Rollei brand name. The company says that Rollei RPX 400 is a new film that is based off of the original Agfa APX emulsion. Some digging revealed that this film is most likely made by Ilford. Whatever the truth, I loved the old Agfa APX 100 film and was anxious to try RPX 400 and the slower, finer grained RPX 100. I only wish my Spotmatic would have cooperated.

Here are the frames that were salvageable.

The shot below was a difficult one for the Spotmatic’s basic TTL meter. I was afraid if I metered for the shadows, the Pacific beyond would have just blown out or I would have lost the clouds entirely.

As I said up top, my review of this film is tainted because I get cranky when one of my old cameras lets me down in the field, especially when I’ve traveled so far to make photographs. But there is something interesting and a bit haunting about this emulsion that makes me want to try it again. I’m glad I have another roll of the 400 speed and two rolls of the 100 speed in the fridge. Next time I’ll pop the film into my trusty Nikon F and bring along a Minolta Autometer IV F that I just picked up my local camera shop. The meter came with attachments for incident, reflected and spot metering.

Double X in Mendocino

I had a pleasant weekend up the California coast in Mendocino a few weeks ago wandering about with my Nikkormat FT3 loaded with Eastman 5222 Double X film.

Mods

I’ve been on a bit of a Nikkormat kick recently and picked up a very nice, nearly new in appearance FTn body for cheap. The FTn, like many of the vintage cameras I have used over the years, has a micro prism focusing screen that is not interchangeable by the photographer. My aging eyes prefer a split image screen so I’ve managed to have several of my old cameras modified from micro prism to split image. Eric Hendrickson modified my Pentax Spotmatic SP and K2 bodies during a CLA which greatly improved the user experience for me.

I am currently running a test roll of Kodak Tri-X through the Nikkormat. I’ll post a full review once I’ve finished and developed the roll, but I will say that this is quite an enjoyable camera to use. I think these Nikkormats are often overlooked for sexier cameras and that’s a shame. Although it’s a heavy camera, there’s really nothing not to love about a Nikkormat.

To make this camera a true keeper, I do want to invest in some modifications. First, the FTn uses banned 1.35v 625 Mercury batteries. For my test roll, I’m using a 1.5v 625 alkaline cell. Many FTn users say there’s really no difference with forgiving print film, but I’ll want to have this camera’s meter modified to use the 1.5v battery nonetheless.

In addition to the battery mod, I would really love to have a split image focusing screen installed. This is definitely a job for a skilled tech, so I’ve reached out to Jim Holman at ICT to do a CLA, the battery mod and the focus screen swap. In order to do that, I needed to find a donor camera with a split image screen.

There are always quite a few Nikkormat FTn bodies for sale on eBay, but it’s difficult to find one that has a split image screen. The screens from the later FT2 and FT3, which are split image, will work in the FTn but those bodies are more expensive…more than I wanted to invest just to harvest the focus screen. I discovered during my “research” that the later FTn bodies with a plastic tip film advance and self-timer levers from the F2, often came with the split image screen, also called the “K” screen. Since most of the listings did not mention what type of screen was installed and none of them had pictures that included a clear shot of the screen, I had to contact the buyers and ask.

After several weeks of browsing, I came across a “parts only” FTn that came with its original box and sticker on the rewind lever that identified this camera as having the Nikon K screen. I offered the seller $20 for the camera and the offer was accepted.

Nikkormat FTn box with K screen identifier

Faded but still readable K screen label on the film advance lever

I really prefer the plastic tip advance lever over the plain metal one, so I am going to ask Jim to swap those out as well. When I make these requests, Jim always says “I’ll see what I can do” and then delivers results that exceed my expectations.

I am excited to see the results from my test roll. My FTn looks hardly used so it will be interesting to see how the camera will perform pre-CLA. After that, she gets packed up and, along with the donor camera, it’s mod time at ICT.

One Photograph: Dial O for Operator

I heard a story on NPR driving to work the other day that AT&T has asked state regulators at the California Public Utilities Commission to phase out its obligation to provide landline telephone service. They estimate less than 7% of California households in its service area use traditional copper-based landline phones. 7% doesn’t sound like much but in a state as big as ours, that’s a lot of people. AT&T’s proposal has generated over 2,600 public comments online ahead of hearing before a judge on the matter.

I personally have not had landline service since 2010 but there have been instances since then when, during big storms and wildfires, the electricity and internet were out as well as some cell towers. During one of the big fires, lots of folks I know found it difficult to connect a call. It sure would’ve been nice to pick up the receiver and hear a dial tone.

My parents still have an old black rotary dial wall phone in their basement. It was installed by New York Telephone in 1966 and for 58 years it has always worked no matter what.

I made this photograph of my old Western Electric rotary dial desk phone seven years after I gave up my landline. I used my Nikon F2AS, 55mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor and Kodak TMax 400 film.

Can you even get an Operator by dialing “O” anymore?

Provenance

Over the years, I have built up a sizable network of photographic friends. My network consists of fellow bloggers, professional and amateur photographers, camera repair technicians, suppliers of accessories, current and former camera shop owners and people who buy and sell cameras online. I say “friends” because truly, these are all wonderful people who are enthusiastic about keeping analog photography alive. I feel very fortunate to call them my friends.

Recently, one of them—a trusted seller, offered up a very nice, boxed Nikon F2 Photomic A. I’ve really been trying to thin down my collection of cameras so I spent a good weekend mulling over whether or not to purchase this Nikon. My friend and fellow blogger, Jim Grey recently did a podcast about buying old cameras on eBay. You can listen to it here. Jim offers up some solid tips on buying old cameras online. I will offer one more—the crazy inner voice, the gut feeling that tells you that this is a good camera and that it should be yours.

Besides my inner voice, two other factors influenced my decision. First, the camera was really in lovely condition with a working and accurate meter and second, it came with its original numbers-matching box and paperwork. I’ve never had a vintage camera with its packaging this complete and original. Even the serial number on the Photomic finder is matching to the serial number on the box which is rare because many F2s had them changed out over the years as the finders evolved. It’s cool to have a camera and finder that left the factory together. The serial number on this F2 dates the body to the latter half of 1979, just a year before Nikon stopped building the F2.

I am always fascinated with the provenance of old cameras I buy and for the most part their history and their previous owners are mostly a mystery to me. But the romantic in me always wonders. I tend to buy cameras that are nice condition, so I can only assume that the ones I have purchased either saw very light use or were well cared for…or both.

When this F2 arrived, it was as the seller described. Only very faint signs of use, a very clean and clear finder, a good, strong shutter with speeds that sound pretty reasonable and a meter that matches the readings from my hand-held Sekonic. I opened up the back and the film chamber looked as clean as the outside of the camera—almost like new. And there was a surprise inside. A sales sticker from Shutan Camera Company in Chicago.

Shutan Camera Company was a legendary camera store that closed in 2008 after 90 years in business. I can only assume that 45 years ago, my F2 was on the shelf at Shutan. While the retail store is no longer around Shutan still offers some photographic services and their website includes catalogs and commercials from days gone by. I found their 1979 catalog with prices on the F2 with a 50mm f/1.8 Nikkor-E lens…$599.95. Adjusted for inflation, that would be about $2,700 today.

Image courtesy of Shutan.com

Image courtesy of Shutan.com

It was great paging through the old Shutan Camera Company catalogs and watching some of their television commercials featuring many of the vintage film cameras I have owned over the years. As a photographer, I always appreciate it when someone asks permission to use one of my images, so before using their catalog images on this post, I called the number on the website and left a message asking for their ok.

I was delighted to receive a call back from Bob Shutan whose father owned the camera store. Bob told me that it was part of the store’s marketing to put the little sticker inside the camera so that every time you popped a new roll of film in your camera, you thought of Shutan Camera. We had a nice chat about old cameras, film photography and my blog. He also sent me a very nice note after looking at some of my past posts.

I will never know who bought this Nikon at Shutan Camera forty some years ago or how it made its way from Chicago to the San Francisco Bay Area, but the good feeling I got in my gut when I decided to buy it that day was confirmed when I opened the back and saw that little sticker and made a new friend.

A Chicago Tribune photographer snaps a photo to accompany an article being written about the store on West Wacker Drive. Courtesy of Shutan.com

The End of AM Radio

This is mostly a blog about film photography and old cameras, but I occasionally write about radio because that’s where I started my career. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I worked as a disc jockey at a number of radio stations in Upstate New York and later, in Phoenix, Arizona.

My very first paying radio job was at a small, daytime only 5000 watt AM station in Owego, New York. The station also simulcast its programming on FM. Owego was a small town, less than 20,000 people, on the banks of the Susquehanna River. We were what was called back then a full service radio station playing adult contemporary music, news, public affairs, even live high school sports. There were a half dozen disc jockeys, a two person news department, copywriter/traffic director, a full time engineer and several salespeople. That’s a pretty decent size staff for a small town radio station and I am not sure how it penciled out, but we all got paid each week and the two local owners lived a pretty decent life. A lot of people in town listened to and depended on the station to get their news and information. I remember doing a live remote at a feed store and enough people showed up to clean me out of station t-shirts and free movie tickets.

There were little stations like that in lots of towns in those days and big powerhouse stations too, like WABC in New York City, WLS in Chicago, KFI in Los Angeles and others. The AM band was alive with music in all formats, talented announcers, jingles and tons and tons of commercials.

For some reason, this morning on the way to work, I did something I haven’t done in years. I switched the car radio over to AM and tuned across the dial, wondering what I’d find. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Like most big cities, San Francisco has a news/talk station-KCBS. KNBR is all sports. Legendary KGO switched its format to sports/gambling a while back. I listened awhile to those big three and noticed a proliferation of ads for firms that provide relief to people who are behind on their taxes, treatment for erectile dysfunction and companies that buy houses in most any condition. None of the advertisers sounded local. As I scanned from 540 up to 1700, there was a mishmash of fading and staticky signals; mostly talk, a couple of religious stations, two Spanish language stations and one in Chinese. The bright spot on the dial was 1530 KFBK, a station out of Sacramento. They had a live and local morning show, traffic, weather, news and commercials for car dealers and local businesses. The station had a clean, clear signal and all of the content was well produced. In a major market, in morning drive, only one station compelled me to listen for more than a minute or two. Only one sounded live, local, fresh, engaging.

I get it. AM radio is a 100-year old technology. FM is better. Satellite even better with no commercials. Some of my co-workers listen to podcasts on their way into work. Audacy, the third largest radio company in the US just filed for bankruptcy. Auto manufacturers are talking about not even putting an AM radio in cars anymore. And I’m not sure how many commercials for ED drugs and tax relief it takes to keep paying the electric bills for a 50,000 watt AM transmitter. I don’t think AM is dead, but it’s certainly dying. And that makes me misty.

Growing up in the 1960s and 70s, all I ever wanted to do was work on the radio and I feel very lucky, I guess, to have been part of radio when it was live and vibrant and healthy. I follow a few Facebook groups where grumpy old radio dogs like myself reminisce and someone posted this picture of a disc jockey, headphones on, playing records, probably at nine o’clock at night and probably on AM.

Late night DJ. I would love to credit the person who took this picture or owns the rights. Please pardon my use here.

One Photograph: Channeling Vivian Maier

Ever since Vivian Maier’s amazing body of work was discovered in 2007, I’ve been a fan. I especially enjoy her whimsical selfies.

I began doing selfies as a way of identifying which camera I was using. I save the last few frames of each roll and shoot a mirror selfie. On occasion while out on a photo walk, I have come across a window where I can snap a good reflection of myself or a mirror in a shop. This is one of my favorites. I happened down an alley that had facing mirrors and took a selfie with my Pentax Spotmatic SP with a 55mm f/1.8 Takumar on expired Agfa APX 100 film.

Mirror Selfie, Yountville, CA, 2019

A Camera I Really Wish I Could Use

A friend who knows I love old cameras gave me this Polaroid Big Swinger 3000. I have the box and the original manual. Unfortunately, I have no film for it. Polaroid discontinued peel apart 100-series pack film a long time ago. There are alternatives from Fuji that have also been discontinued, but are insanely expensive. There was another Swinger model that used Polaroid 20-series roll film, which was the first Polaroid film to develop outside of the camera. You can’t get that film anymore either.

Growing up, several of my relatives had Swinger cameras. They were pretty popular then and the $19.95 price tag was somewhat affordable. I remember that the black and white photos that camera out of the Swinger looked pretty darn good. It would be fun to shoot mine, even once, although I would imagine that I would be disappointed in the results. It seems no one has been completely able to duplicate Polaroid’s instant film stock like the original.

The television commercials for the Swinger starred a young Ali MacGraw. Barry Manilow sang the tune. Here is the commercial. Be careful, the tune and the words can get stuck in your brain.

Meet The Swinger