A Tactile Dimension

April 03, 2019 by JR Smith

Mike Connealy wrote an excellent blog post recently about using Soviet made lenses on his Barnack Leica. In the post, he made an interesting observation about shooting with this wonderful ancient screw mount camera…

“Besides adding a nice tactile dimension to the shooting experience, the Leica’s slick operation instills confidence while also some practical enhancement to my shooting results.”

This line resonated with me as I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes me choose one camera over another as I head out for a photography walk. It would be easy for me to say that I select the camera best suited to the type of photography I am going to do that day, but the truth is that I have built up a nice stable of very fine old cameras, any of which are capable of great results when used properly. Also, almost all of my user cameras have now been professionally serviced, so I know that whichever one I select will perform as designed.

Sometimes, a camera’s level of automation moves it to the front of the line as was the case with my selection of the autofocus, auto-everything Nikon F100 SLR as a travel camera when I toured the Northwest last year. I wanted auto focus, programed auto-exposure, auto film loading, motorized film advance--essentially a point and shoot film camera for that trip. The F100 was an easy choice and it did everything I asked of it.

But for my more routine photo walks, I am thinking that Mike’s “tactile dimension” and a camera that “instills confidence” are really the deciding factors for me in selecting one camera over another.

Right now, I am shooting an Olympus OM-1 that just came back from a CLA. There’s so much to love about these little OM wonders; small size, gigantic viewfinder, jewel-like build quality. And so light! You can carry an OM camera around all day and barely notice it. The OM-1 and the OM-2 which I also own, are both quite wonderful to use once you get used to the shutter speed adjustment which is located on the lens mount.

I love the little built in handgrip on my Nikon F3. It’s just big enough to make the F3 feel very secure in your hand. And that big HP viewfinder always impresses. The F3 also has a satisfying shutter sound and pleasant film advance. Add the incredibly sharp and very affordable 50/1.8 and you have a well balanced, joyful camera that some call the greatest SLR ever.

You can sure tell that Minolta and Leica were working together when the Minolta XE and XD series came out. The film advance on the XE-7 is one of the nicest I have ever used and its shutter sound is delicious! The fit and finish of the XD makes you want to hold it and use it. I love the way the shutter speed dial protrudes just a bit over the front of the XD’s body making for easy adjustments with the camera to your eye. And I haven’t met a Minolta viewfinder yet that I haven’t loved—big, bright, awesome!

Spotmatic with OEM half case and after-market Luigi strap

Back in the Spotmatic days, the Pentax advertising line was “Just Hold One.” There’s a lot of truth to that. Any of the Spotmatics feel just right in the hand and when you screw on one of those amazing Takumar lenses, the whole experience just goes up a few notches. Focusing a Takumar is sublime and these Taks have nice, reassuring f/stop clicks. Find an original Pentax leather case and use just the bottom portion to make the Spotmatic tactile experience even nicer!

My Canon SLRs get pretty frequent workouts, mostly because they just feel so good to use. The original F-1 is substantial with a wonderful mechanical shutter sound. After a Blue Moon CLA, its meter is dead on! My F-1 New and A-1 have little built in hand grips on the front of the camera that enhance the shooting experience. And all of Canon’s FD mount lenses are quite nice, especially the early breech mount chrome nose editions.

I’d rank the Nikon F4 and Contax RX at nearly the top of my list of electronic cameras that feel wonderful to hold. Both have contoured bodies with built in grips covered with a rubber material that gives the photographer a sense of security during use. The F4 has dials and levers that control everything. It’s a wonderful evolution from purely mechanical cameras to electronic technology. Many people complain about the size and weight of the Nikon F4, but if you opt for the smallest battery pack—the MB-20, the camera is very manageable. The RX compares in size to the F4 and has one of the most unique shutter sounds of any camera I have shot. And of course, it mates with a selection of fantastic Carl Zeiss lenses. Who wouldn’t love that!

I love my little Pentax ME and MX SLRs. Simple, easy to use cameras that never let you down. These little cameras, along with the Olympus OM series, started a movement towards smaller, lighter 35mm SLR cameras. And they feel so good in your hand! With a remarkable and affordable Pentax lens up front, you just can’t go wrong.

Sometimes, it’s a lens or accessory that rounds out the tactile dimension of a camera. I prefer Nikon’s old pre-Ai lenses on my Nikon F2 bodies. There’s just something about those old Nikkors. On the F2, the Nikon AR-1 soft release is a nice option.

And while the Pentax LX is a super capable professional grade SLR with an awesome meter, when you add the OEM grip to the front of the camera, it becomes so much more comfortable to hold.

I realize that this “tactile dimension” is mostly the reason I have not bonded with some of the cameras I have tried. My Rolleicord was a way more capable shooter than I am a photographer, but I don’t get along with twin lens reflex cameras. And the Rollei’s shutter release was in a position I just couldn’t get used to. I tried to love Hasselblad in every configuration possible. By the time I got mine loaded up with a metered eye-level finder, it was just too cumbersome to use outside of a studio environment. I didn’t love the Minolta X-700, the Rollei SL35e, Contax 139 Quartz, Canon AE-1 Program or Mamiya 1000s either. And when I think back, it wasn’t because they couldn’t make good photographs. It was the tactile dimension.

I feel so fortunate that I have had a few extra dollars to spend on photography during a time when digital cameras have made analog ones affordable enough to own more than one.

Thanks again to Mike Connealy for the inspiration for today’s post.

Frames found

April 02, 2019 by JR Smith

Like finding a twenty dollar bill in the pocket of a pair of pants you haven’t worn in a while, I’m discovering partially shot rolls of film in some of my cameras. It’s a nice surprise.

I’d honestly thought I’d processed and scanned the last few rolls from my final months shooting on the coast, but when I went to use my Olympus OM-2n last month, there were 32 shots exposed on a roll of Fuji Acros. I clicked off the last few and sent it off to Boutique Film Lab.

I must have started this roll last summer, based on the fact that my subjects are lightly dressed and they lingered in the cold Pacific long enough for me to get this shot.

I miss my walks on the beach and it was nice to get this roll back from the lab.

Olympus OM-2n with 50/1.8 Zuiko on Acros 100

Revisiting the Olympus OM-2n

March 28, 2019 by JR Smith

December through early March was just a blur. Packing, moving, new house, new job, new everything. All the while, my photography languished. And each time I had a spare moment, the weather did not cooperate. We’ve had historic rain in Northern California.

But one Sunday early in March, the planets aligned giving me both a free day and good light. It had been a while since I exercised my little Olympus OM-2n, so I loaded up some Kodak Portra 400 and took a drive up to Yountville, CA for a walk around downtown. The sun was shining and skies were mostly blue when I left Napa. Twenty minutes later, clouds rolled in and I dodged spotty showers all day as I explored the business district.

Yountville is a pleasant little Napa Valley town located about 60 miles north of San Fransisco. Around 3,000 people call Yountville home and over a third of the population lives at the Veterans Home of California Yountville, the largest facility of its kind in the US. As I drove by, the grounds and facilities looked impressive and I am going to find out if I can visit and photograph there.

The shops along Washington Street provided for some pleasant browsing and at this time of year, there weren’t many tourists. The locals tell me by late Spring and through Summer, the streets are packed. I realized when I got this film back from the lab that I must have been obsessed with signs that day. The town has some great signs!

Hunger pains set in on the way home, so I made a pit stop at Oakville Grocery for a hunk of cheese and a bottle of sparkling water. Founded in 1881, Oakville Grocery is California’s oldest continually operating grocery store. The cheese was delicious and the fizzy water hit the spot!

I always forget what a joy the Olympus OM-2n camera is to shoot. Its small size and lightweight make it a perfect “walk around all day” camera. It offers everything a 35mm film photographer could want with great metering, manual and aperture-priority exposure modes and top notch Zuiko lenses. I just picked up a nice CLA’d OM-1 and am quite anxious to take it for a drive. The OM-1 is the manual everything OM camera.

My OM-2n was CLA’d by John Hermanson. He does fine work and specializes in Olympus.

My Portra 400 film was processed and scanned by Ryan Tolbert at Boutique Film Lab. I am working with them exclusively this year as an experiment in getting to know one lab and refining my workflow.

My last shots on every roll are mirror selfies. I flipped this one in Lightroom.

Best of The Beach (VOL 3)

March 15, 2019 by JR Smith

It’s hard to say anything negative about the Pentax Spotmatic F camera, especially after you’ve had yours serviced by master Pentax repair guru Eric Hendrickson.

Even with a camera functioning as designed, things can still go wrong. I shot a whole roll of Kodak Portra 400 on the beach in Bodega Bay on New Years Eve 2017. When I went to pick up my film at the lab a week later, the guy behind the counter told me that my roll was one of several that “got stuck” in the machine during processing causing overdevelopment and staining. Apologies, a no charge for the processing and a free roll of film helped ease the disappointment.

Even though many of my last day of the year shots were completely ruined, the few that poked through the processing mistake were surprisingly pleasing. Here is one of my favorites.

Spotmatic F with 55/1.8 SMC Takumar, Kodak Portra 400

To CLA or not to CLA

March 11, 2019 by JR Smith

I follow several photography groups on Facebook and besides making the occasional complimentary comment about someone’s gear or a photograph, I rarely engage in conversation. It’s mostly because I have found that even the ones that start out positive tend to make wild swings in the other direction and I just don’t have the truck for that.

Recently, however, I did join in on a discussion in which one person asked if anyone knew a good source for a CLA on his Pentax ME Super. Several people, including myself, weighed in with suggestions while another asked why anyone would waste their money servicing an old camera when, in many cases, you can just buy another for far less than the cost of a CLA.

The guy had a point. There are ME Super bodies all over eBay for under fifty bucks and a good service from a qualified tech will probably cost nearly twice that. There was a joke told on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update some years back about a cat requiring hip replacement surgery. “Cat hip replacement surgery—$5,000. Total cat replacement—$50.” Using the cat analogy, I can certainly see that some photographers would rather toss an old malfunctioning camera and replace it with a new one rather than having it serviced.

After many years of buying and using old film cameras, I am squarely in the CLA camp. First, I patiently shop for any old camera I have an interest in. If I am shopping on eBay, I try and look for listings where the seller has taken care with his photos and in writing the item description. I’m also not afraid to ask the seller questions and I pay attention to the response. Kind, courteous and helpful responses signify an honest seller. At least that has been my experience. I also only buy from those with 100% positive feedback. In ten years of buying cameras online, I have only been stung twice and both times it was because I didn’t follow my own rules. These two cameras were the only ones I tossed out and replaced with new ones.

When a new to me camera arrives, I do a quick visual inspection and check for any nicks, dents or dings that might not have been apparent in the online photos. I also look for rusty screws which is a sure sign that there may be issues lurking inside. I check the battery compartment for corrosion or battery leakage residue as well as look at the condition of the bottom plate. Next up is the film chamber. I check the film door latch and alignment, inspect the film guide rails, shutter curtain and all of the foam seals. I’ve never met an old camera that didn’t need new seals and many of the issues you see in the Facebook forums are problems relating to light leaks caused by failing light seals.

Next up, I check the lens mount for excess wear and take a peek inside the mirror box with a flashlight paying special attention to the mirror bumper foam and other mirror box foams. Many times, a camera won’t focus to infinity because the foam has deteriorated and is causing the mirror to be out of alignment. Gooey foam can also cause the mirror in a single lens reflex camera to stick. So many old camera woes can be cured with a re-foam.

After the visual inspection, I insert a battery and try the camera’s battery check feature. This is the first test of an old camera’s circuitry. After mounting a lens, I switch on the meter and check for a needle or LED readout and check to see if the meter reacts to shutter speed or aperture changes. Then, I fire the camera through all of its shutter speeds. If all seems good, I go out and have some fun!

Even if an old camera functions as designed, if I enjoy shooting it, I’ll invest in a CLA. I am always amazed at how wonderful these old cameras are when they return from a good service. They sound better, the film advance is smoother, shutter and meter have been calibrated and…they even smell good!

If a camera is in nice shape cosmetically and you enjoy using it, I feel is it always wiser to service a camera you already know rather than rolling the dice on a new one. And honestly, after 30, 40, 50 or more years of service, these wonderful old machines deserve a little “spa time.”

Rainy Day, Nikon F2, 55mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor

Rainy Day Projects

March 07, 2019 by JR Smith

My, it’s been raining here in Northern California. And I mean raining. Over where I used to live in Sonoma County, they got almost six inches of rain in one day last week!

We get a little sun here and there and when we do, I get out and take pictures. I have five cameras with partially shot rolls of film in each right now, so there’s plenty of Fogdog Blog content coming once Mother Nature strings along more than 12 dry hours for me.

In the meantime, I’ve been trying to make good use of the indoor hours, taking stock of my gear, replenishing film supplies and organizing digital files. Here’s a little bit of my photographic housekeeping…

I’ve packaged up my Leica R6 so it can get a proper CLA from DAG Camera. I’ve discovered that Garry’s Camera Repair in Illinois will service my Minolta XE-7. I love the XE-7 but it’s got some sort of shutter curtain synch issue and it’ll be good to get it fixed. I love using my Olympus OM-2n, but the 50mm f/1.8 lens that came with it has quite a bit of dust inside and someone carelessly left some cleaning marks on the front element, so I ordered a replacement f/1.4 lens from KEH this week. KEH’s grade on this new lens is “excellent.” I’ve found the KEH grading system is very conservative, so I am sure my new Zuiko lens will be excellent and then some.

A good Pentax friend sold me a nice 120mm f/2.8 Super Multi-Coated Takumar lens that I’m anxious to try out on one of my Spotmatics. I played around with it one afternoon and I think it will be a fun lens to use!

Speaking of my Spotmatics, I have identified a few duplicate SPII bodies I have. Nice cameras, CLA’d by Eric Hendrickson. If anyone is looking for a sweet Spotmatic, let me know before I eBay them.

I’ve taken advantage of some online deals on film, stocking up on some of my favorites; Kodak ColorPlus, Fuji Industrial 100 and 400 speed Tmax. And I’m kicking around ordering a few packs of the latest Polaroid Originals film for my SX-70 and see how that stuff is evolving.

The rainy weather will soon pass and I am anxious to get out, finish up my half-started rolls and explore my new home.

Best of The Beach (VOL 2)

March 01, 2019 by JR Smith

My goodness, I’ve walked some beach miles. It’s where I’d go to shake off a bad day. Or do some thinking. Sometimes not think of anything at all.

Certainly exposed a lot of film there.

I need to find a new place now for peace and solitude.

Bodega Dunes, Leica M4, 50 Summicron, Kodak Tmax 400

The One

February 21, 2019 by JR Smith

Nearly a decade ago, when I took up the photography hobby again for the third time in my life, the landscape had changed considerably. Digital photography had pushed a ton of surplus analog gear onto the used market and cameras that I could only dream about as a young person were suddenly attainable. Working my way through these great cameras has brought me considerable joy and the process of putting hundreds of rolls of film through them has produced an added benefit…I’ve become a more competent photographer.

That being said, I can admit now to a foolish thought I had just about every time I won an eBay bid or clicked the BUY IT NOW button. As I carefully researched the new object of my photographic desire, read the online reviews and watched the You Tube videos, there would be this thought that this next camera would be “The One!” A camera so perfectly designed, with just the right features and a feel so wonderful that it would be the Holy Grail of cameras! I’d happily shoot with it and it alone for the rest of my days.

This crazy notion would’ve never even entered my mind if I had to pay the new retail cost for any of these cameras. The first film camera I bought off of eBay in 2010 was the Nikon FE2. I think I paid about $125 or so for it with a 50mm f/1.8 lens. That kit new in 1983 was about $425 or nearly $1,100 in today’s dollars. At over a grand investment, I would have learned to love the FE2 with any or all of its shortcomings. But film cameras are relatively cheap these days and ultimately, the FE2 wasn’t “The One.”

The FE2 got me on to the Nikon F2 and all of its variants. With each new F2 metered prism finder I acquired, I expected that I would reach the pinnacle and scream “I’ve arrived!” The F2 is close, but it isn’t “The One.”

One night, over a glass of wine, I read a review of some of the wonderful SLRs made during the heyday of Pentax. In the haze of the wine and the late hour, I thought that perhaps my future was Pentax and bought the ME Super. A body and 50/1.7 lens cost me around 80 bucks I think. And damn if that camera isn’t a blast to shoot! I still have it, but it’s not “The One.”

I thought I’d found the perfect camera in a Nikon Rangefinder, until I sold it to finance my first Leica M. Careful, Leica cameras are like crack. One leads to another and that one leads to yet another. With all of the hype, you might think that one of the Leica rangefinders might have been “The One” for me. Truth is, Leica cameras are sumptuous, but I’ve discovered that I’m a single reflex guy at heart.

Minolta XE-7, Canon A-1, Minolta X-700, Canon P, Nikon F3, Pentax MX, Minolta XD, Nikon FM2n, Pentax 645n, Hasselblad 500c/m, Nikon F, Rolleicord, Canon F-1, Nikon F4, Pentax K2, Minolta SRT303, Contax RX, Leica R6…and on and on. The eternal quest for “The One.”

Truth is, nearly ten clicks in, I’ve come to the conclusion that there isn’t just one camera that hits every sweet spot for me. Some come darn close and those are the ones that have found permanent homes in my camera closet.

I’ve also found that if I put a camera away for months or even a year, pull it out and put a roll of film through it, I’ll sometimes appreciate it things about it I never noticed before.

I’ve given up the notion of finding “The One.” I’m enjoying the journey instead.

Shooting film in Marin County near Pt. Reyes Station

Best of The Beach (VOL. 1)

February 14, 2019 by JR Smith

I went looking through my photos this week in search of a new screen saver image for my MacBook. It occurred to me, while browsing through my work, that many of the photographs I took of the Sonoma and Mendocino coastline were featured in posts on my old Wordpress blog and have never been seen here. So, every now and then, I’ll post a few in a new feature I am calling “Best of The Beach.”

I moved inland into Napa County in late December, so I’ll not be visiting the North Bay beaches as much, but I do intend to get down to Carmel again this year and maybe shoot some along San Francisco’s Great Highway. And once the weather warms up again and it stops raining, I’ll get out and shoot some Napa vineyards and such.

Here are two shots from not long after I moved to Sonoma County, exposed on Kodak’s BW400CN film with my freshly serviced Nikon F2 with DP-1 Photomic finder. BW400CN was a black and white film that could be processed in C-41 chemistry. It was convenient and I was always happy with my results with it.

Boutique Film Lab

February 08, 2019 by JR Smith

One of the things I had to give up when I moved at the end of last year was the pleasure of taking a long lunch break at work and dropping by the little camera shop near my office to drop my film off for processing and browse the used camera case. The store does C-41 processing and scans in house and sends B&W and E-6 out to a lab in San Francisco. Their in store mini-lab does really nice work and I always enjoyed chatting it up with the folks at the front counter who are all long time photographers. And more than once, that camera case has separated me from some of my cash.

That little camera shop is now more than 40 miles from me and that means a change to my workflow; mail order processing. I’ve used a few mail order labs before and have had good results, but I have always had in the back of mind the thought that it would be a good exercise to find one lab, get to know them and they get to know me. It would be helpful to establish some presets for the various film stocks I used regularly, eliminate at least a few of the variables and heck...maybe even develop my own personal style.

Sometimes, life has a way of delivering what you wish for and as I was packing boxes and working through the various aspects of my move, I got an email through the blog from a film lab in Tennessee asking if I would be interested in giving them a try. Sounded like perfect timing!

Boutique Film Lab is a small, independent lab in Mount Juliet, about 20 miles outside of Nashville. Its founder, Ryan Tolbert is one of us--a film hobbyist who never had the intention of starting a film processing and scanning business. However, after years of sending his own work out, he decided that maybe he could do a better job himself. In the beginning, he was processing film in his kitchen sink. Soon, a few film friends started sending him their rolls to develop. As word spread, the kitchen sink operation grew into a full time business that now processes thousands of rolls a year from photographers all over the country

And while the business has grown dramatically, Ryan is committed to treating every customer relationship as a personal one and process each roll as if it was his own. He’s accessible and loves communicating with his customers. This is a guy who loves film!

In a way, Boutique is really a snapshot of where the film industry is headed. Hobbyists and passionate people who are devoted to analog photography are keeping film alive. And with big commercial labs closing, small custom labs like Ryan’s are going to be holding up the industry. And that’s good for all of us.

Here are some shots Ryan sent me of his lab. Clicking any of the images makes them larger.

Working with Boutique is easy. Fill out a clean, simple form on the website. There are processing and scanning options and Ryan’s prices are very competitive considering the personalized service you are getting from him. His website lists 5 business days processing time on C-41 and 7 for black and white or E-6. I sent him two rolls of C-41 and two black and white and had all my images back via an Amazon S3 download in 5 days. I received two nice emails during the processing letting me know the status of my orders.

I purposely didn't provide any special instructions when I mailed my film in, just to see what I’d get back. I liked the fact that my image folders were titled with the kind of film I had sent in. My photographs were of nothing special, but the scans I got back were very, very nice. Processing was spot on and the scans were some of the best I’ve had from any lab.

I posted a few of these on January 30th, shot with my Leica R6 in my review of Fuji Industrial 100 film.

And some Kodak Portra 400 overexposed by one stop in my Nikon F3HP…

I’ve always wanted to build a relationship with a lab and I am so encouraged by this first interaction with Boutique Film Lab that I’m going to make a commitment to use them for the bulk of my color (great that they can do E-6!) and most of my black and white photography this year.

You can find Boutique Film Lab here.

I say “most of my black and white photography” because one of the nice things I’ve just discovered about my new location is that there is a very cool rental darkroom about 10 minutes away from me. I’m taking the tour this weekend. I’m excited about having access to an enlarger and for the first time in many years…printing some of my black and white negatives!

New adventures await!

Shooting Fuji Industrial 100

January 30, 2019 by JR Smith

I follow a few photographers on Flickr who are doing some nice work with a very basic color film from Fuji called Industrial 100. This is a film intended for the domestic market in Japan I think and I am sure it is less expensive over there than it is here in the US, but at around six bucks a roll for 36 exposures, it’s a value. I kind of like the minimalist packaging too.

I’m finally getting settled into my new life, allowing me a little time on a recent Sunday afternoon to try some of this film in my Leica R6 around my backyard. I used the 60mm f/2.8 Macro-Elmarit-R lens and exposed the film at its box speed.

The meter in my R6 flirts constantly with overexposure, so I have to pay attention. I love using the R6 so much that I’ve put it in the queue to go to Don Goldberg for a proper CLA very soon.

I am a fan of 100 speed films—Acros 100, APX 100, Plus-X. If Ektar wasn’t so saturated, I’d love it too. This Fujicolor 100 film hits the sweet spot for me. I liked the results it delivered on this first day of shooting in the New Year. I bought a half dozen rolls, so there’s more to come.

PS: I’ve discovered a brand new lab for processing and scans. They did this roll for me along with some Kodak Portra and P3200. I’ll be sharing my experience with them soon and what I have decided to do about processing and scanning in 2019. Stay tuned.

Finally...A weekend of photography!

January 20, 2019 by JR Smith

Feeling a bit more settled now and finished off some Portra 400 in the Nikon F3, Fuji Industrial in the Leica R6 and two rolls of P3200 in the Minolta XD. Ahhh.

Giving a brand new lab a try too!

Camera Therapy

January 11, 2019 by JR Smith

There’s been no familiar point of reference for me these past five weeks. New town. New home. New job. New commute. I’ve had to find a new place to do my grocery shopping and tomorrow, a brand new stylist will cut my hair.

It’s been unnerving. I love familiar and there’s been absolutely nothing about this that’s familiar. I have had my share of anxiety and restless nights.

So I’ve made myself feel better, calmed myself down a bit by setting up a space in my new home for my camera gear. It’s modest, minimalist and won’t always look this tidy.

My desk. I use the red felt pad to work on my cameras.

In my new house, I have a large closet to organize my gear and keep it all out of sight.

It’s been hard for me to find touch points during this transition that have brought me peace of mind, but I discovered that the process of unpacking and organizing my cameras brought about a nice, calm feeling of familiarity. Just handling my gear made me happy.

Photography has always been the one constant in my life, from my awkward teenage years, through a troubled marriage and divorce, moves and career changes, I’ve always had a camera or two. It’s been good and lately, it’s been necessary.

Winter Solstice

December 23, 2018 by JR Smith

I don’t use the camera in my iPhone for much other than taking photos of the analog photography gear I write about in this blog or sell on eBay. Don’t get me wrong, the Apple phone has a fine camera and it’s damn convenient, but I just don’t enjoy the phone photo taking process beyond its utilitarian value. Photography for me is so tactile. Dials, levers and gears. An analog light meter needle swinging up and down in the viewfinder. The wonderful sound of a mechanical shutter.

On Friday night however, I’m glad I had my iPhone handy as the sun slipped below the horizon on the shortest day of the year. Mother Nature served up a spectacular sunset for me. I took a deep breath and held back the tears as the Pacific slowly swallowed up the sun. My last Winter Solstice on the Sonoma Coast.

Sunset over Bodega Head

Coming Around Again

December 15, 2018 by JR Smith

I’ve written here before about the camera that reignited my passion for photography nearly nine years ago; the Nikon FE2. It was the first film camera I purchased back in 2010. This is an image I made at Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay the first year I lived here with that FE2 on now discontinued Kodak BW400CN, a black and white film that can be processed in C-41 color chemistry.

I sold that first FE2 for a small profit to help finance my first Nikon F2 and I’ve always kind of regretted letting it go. First, it was a really nice chrome body that I hardly paid anything for. Second, it was just a damn nice camera to make pictures with.

Some months back, I got to thinking about that Nikon FE2 and mentioned on the Classic Cameras Facebook group I belong to that I might want one again. It wasn’t long before photo friend Johnny Martyr messaged me that he had one he wasn’t using much and offered it to me for sale. Johnny’s camera was a black body FE2 that was in really good shape. I knew I wanted to properly review the FE2 this time around, so when the camera arrived, I immediately sent it up to Blue Moon Camera & Machine for a CLA.

The Nikon FE2 is a manual focus 35mm camera with manual and aperture-priority auto exposure modes. It was made from 1983 to 1987 and sold new through dealers until nearly 1990. Its predecessor was the FE, a fine camera in its own right. Nikon dropped a titanium-bladder shutter into the FE2 besting the FE and allowing an amazing 1/4000th of a second top shutter speed. The camera featured Nikon’s reliable and hard to fool classic center-weighted TTL metering.

This entire class of Nikon F cameras, including the FM, FM2n, FE, FM3a and FE2 are just the right size and weight. With a normal 50 out front, they feel just right in hand. Of this entire series, I love the meter display in the FE and FE2 the best, a simple analog needle that swings up and down on the right hand side of a magnificently bright viewfinder. There’s a split image screen in the FE2 to make focusing easy. While I’ve always considered 1/2000th or even 1/1000th of a second fast enough for most any shooting I do, it is reassuring to know that you’ve got those upper gears if you need them. And the FE2’s shutter sound is so nice!

I was bouncing back and forth between shooting my Nikon F3HP and this camera, so it was interesting to compare the pro-level F3 to the advanced amateur FE2. While the F3 certainly felt more robust and refined, the FE2 had features I wished the F3 had…most notably the FE2’s fine meter display. And even though the FE2 is not up to the F3’s professional build quality, you could head out on any photo adventure and not worry that this camera would let you down.

I loaded up some Kodak Pro Image 100 one Sunday and took my new FE2 for a late afternoon walk on the beach.

I was surprised to see some flowers still smiling in early December

It was getting dark by the time I got home. I am happy I left my string lights on.

Shooting the FE2 again after all these years, it was easy to see why this camera inspired me to start shooting film seriously again. It feels great in the hand, is super easy to use and has bullet proof light metering. As a platform for an incredible selection of Nikkor manual focus lenses, you really can’t go wrong with either the FE or FE2.

I shot my very first photographs of the Sonoma coast with my chrome FE2 nine years ago. It’s ironic that I shot what could be my last roll here with this FE2. I’m moving inland very soon to take advantage of an opportunity to advance my career. New life and new photo adventures await.

Third Time Is A Charm!

December 07, 2018 by JR Smith

I’ve owned three Nikon F3 cameras.

The first was purchased used at Lewis Camera Exchange in Scottsdale, Arizona in 1994. I was getting back into film photography in a big way and had bought a new Nikon N90s and 50/1.8 AF-D kit a year or so before. I didn’t need the F3, but it was a gently used trade in and the price was right. I hardly used that F3. Not because it wasn't a nice camera, but because the N90s was a GREAT camera and auto-focus was such a marvel. I loved shooting that N90s, so my first F3 sat mostly in a camera bag until I sold it during my divorce in 2000.

I got my second F3 about five or six years ago from a photo friend who was selling off some nice gear to fund a Leica acquisition. Didn’t need another camera, had too many already and my second F3 only saw a roll or two before I gifted it to another photo friend.

I never regretted parting ways with either of my first two F3s. I love Nikon SLRs. In fact, the bookends to the F3, the wonderful Nikon F2 and the revolutionary Nikon F4 are two of my all time favorite cameras. I just never clicked with the F3 and had one of my trusted sellers, Josh Cohen at Victory Camera, not sent me a photo of an almost new, minty Nikon F3HP he just got into his shop, I’d probably never have given this camera another thought, but as I gazed at the photos of the subject camera, I got to thinking that maybe I’d never given the F3 a fair shot. If you’ve followed my blog for any time at all, you know it wouldn’t be the first time that I have given a camera a second (or third) whirl and changed my mind. Besides, I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing how much to pay for an old camera and still leave some room to make some money if I had sell it. At least, break even. I gave Josh the green light.

My third F3 arrived from Colorado in a few days. It came nestled in its original box and foam insert, complete with the little white plastic bottom plate cover. If this camera was used at all, it was pampered. No nicks, marks or scuffs. This F3 has the HP or high-eyepoint finder. Nikon says this finder is great for people who wear eyeglasses as it allows the photographer to see the entire viewfinder even if your eye isn’t right up against the camera. I don’t wear glasses, but I appreciate the big viewfinder with its soft rubber eyepiece.

The Nikon F3 was released in 1980 and was Nikon’s flagship pro body until 1996 when the F4 was announced. It remained in production until 2001, but you could find new, in-box F3 cameras on store shelves for many years after that. There are lots of places online to read about the technical specs of the F3, so I won’t go into a long list here. Simply, the F3 is a professional grade manual focus 35mm SLR, built to serve working photographers. Nikon designed this camera to be used and used hard. That’s why it was in production for 20 years. That’s why NASA sent it into space. That’s why so many of the over three quarters of a million F3s that Nikon produced are still around today and still working just fine.

The F3 offers manual or aperture-priority automatic exposure with a top shutter speed of 1/2000th of a second. The shutter is electro-mechanical and is dependent on batteries. The viewfinder is removable and there are all sorts of different finder configurations, focusing screens and attachments. You can also bolt on a huge motor drive if you want. It’s a true system camera.

It has been several years since I’ve handled an F3 and I had forgotten how nice the fit and finish is on this camera. Cameras like the F3, Pentax LX and new Canon F-1 were really the last of the true metal-bodied cameras. Various plastics and rubberized coatings became the norm with the next generation of film cameras. The F3 is all finely finished metal with deeply etched brand and model markings. The controls on the F3 feel reassuring. Film loading is easy and the advance action is sublime. Oh, and the shutter sound of an F3 just brings a smile to my analog face! I shot the F3 concurrently with a Nikon FE2 that had just been CLA’d and while the FE2 is a fabulous camera (review coming soon), the F3 feels far more substantial in every aspect. When you shoot an F3, you know you are using a professional caliber camera.

When I shoot a new-to-me camera for the first time, I usually like to eliminate all of the variables. That normally means selecting brand new, familiar film stock like Kodak’s Portra 400, but I was feeling like living dangerously and loaded the F3 with some Agfa APX 100 that expired twenty years ago. My F3 test drive was a stroll along the Embarcadero in San Francisco.

I think having some miles under my belt and trying so many different brands and kinds of film cameras over the years has given me a new perspective on what kind of camera feels good in my hand. I had forgotten that the F3 has just the slightest of a hand grip built into the right side front of the body. It’s subtle, but just enough to make it one of the best handling SLRs I’ve tried.

In the past, I had considered the F3’s viewfinder display one of the camera’s least attractive features. This time around, I appreciated the simple display of camera-selected shutter speed and photographer-selected aperture. I totally get now what Nikon achieved with this camera…a big, bright viewfinder that gives you just the critical information in a minimalist way, allowing the photographer to concentrate on picture taking. I hadn’t enjoyed a photo stroll so much in a long time. Of course the warm and sunny San Francisco afternoon was nice too!

I finished off the roll with a few shots in the house, pushing the limits of the camera’s meter and expired film under indoor available light. My old school stereo receiver…

And my jar of collected seashells and sea glass…

So, after three of these cameras, I finally get the Nikon F3. It’s a superbly designed, well built picture taking tool and excellent platform for a wide variety of Nikkor manual focus lenses. Nikon’s classic center-weighted metering is hard to fool even when you throw outdated film at it. Yes, it needs batteries to operate and I always read about photographers talking about how great it is that purely mechanical cameras can take pictures all day if the batteries die, but for a casual shooter like me, that’s hardly a worry. I’ve been using film cameras for nearly 45 years and I’ve never had a camera battery go dead on me.

I always ask myself two questions about cameras.

One: If I had to sell all my cameras and keep just one, would I be okay with this one? If it were the Nikon F3, yes. It’s a fun to use, super capable camera that looks great, feels great and will handle most anything you throw at it.

Two: Do I like it enough to invest in a CLA? Yes! Even though this F3 has been well taken care of, it deserves a good cleaning, lubrication and shutter/meter calibration. No matter how nice a camera might look, nearly four decades can take its toll on foam seals. Shutters and on board metering systems can slip out of tolerances as well.

I’m glad I gave the F3 another chance. It’s a fine camera.

Yay! The E100 is here!

December 04, 2018 by JR Smith

Thanks to the Shot On Film Store in Seattle, my Kodak Ektachrome has arrived! So happy to see this iconic film revived by Kodak and super excited about getting out and shooting a roll!

Thankful

November 22, 2018 by JR Smith

It’s been nearly nine years since I started getting back into film photography in a big way. I had just moved to California, started a new job with a regular paycheck after a decade of freelancing, and was nearing the final years of paying off a huge debt load from a difficult divorce. I finally had some time and a few bucks and needed a hobby. If I don’t have a hobby, I work too much. Well, I work too much anyway, but that’s another story.

My first film camera in 2010 was a Nikon FE2 I bought off of eBay. The FE2 hooked me. Whenever I had a few extra dollars to spend, I’d go looking for another classic film camera. Selling some cameras created the revenue to try new ones. I’m thankful I’ve had the time and resources to enjoy so many great old cameras and that the hobby has been mostly self-sustaining. Here’s a parade of photos featuring some of my favorites, starting with that FE2.

The camera that started it all…The Nikon FE2

Minolta X-570

November 19, 2018 by JR Smith

There isn’t much to dislike about the Minolta X-570 35mm SLR. It’s an easy to use, aperture priority film camera that accepts affordable and quite wonderful Minolta SR lenses. I paid about a hundred bucks for this copy with the 45mm f/2 lens. 35 years since new and who knows how many owners later and this Minolta performed exactly as it was supposed to during a Sunday afternoon of shooting. But it left me wanting for more.

Released in 1983 and a few years after the popular X-700, the X-570 was marketed as a less expensive alternative to the X-700. While the X-700 offered various modes of auto-exposure, the 570 is a simple aperture priority or manual mode camera. From the late 1970s through the end of the 80s, there was a huge market for amateur and advanced amateur SLR cameras. Affordability was the key though and to hit the right price points, camera manufacturers began to abandon metal in favor of plastic bodies and parts. For sure, the X-570 is made of lots of plastic and it is light. It feels sturdy though, crafted from super tough ABS. Despite the plastic, Minolta put a lot of thought into ergonomics—the X-570 feels great in the hand.

I very much doubt that Minolta was dropping their expensive Acute-Matte focusing screens into these cameras, but nevertheless, the viewfinder in the X-570 is Acute-Matte bright and sharp with a nice red LED read out of shutter speeds down the right side of the finder and f/stop display at the bottom. I find the split image focusing on Minolta SLRs to be one of the best of this vintage of camera.

I picked a lousy day to put the X-570 through its paces on the Kortum coastal trail near Bodega Bay. The air was thick from smoke from the wildfire burning in Butte County. Many people I met on the trail that day were wearing masks. I probably should have worn one too. I used Kodak Pro Image 100 film.

There’s an ocean out there…somewhere… through the smoke

Rock climbers often do practice climbs here

As I said above, there’s really no reason to dislike the Minolta X-570. It did everything I asked it to do, despite the smoke, lack of color on the trail and poor choice of film stock for the day. The camera was light and easy to carry on my hike. With the 45mm f/2 lens, the camera could easily slip into a large coat pocket. It would be great for street photography.

In the end, the X-570 just didn’t do it for me. Cameras are highly personal and I just didn't bond with this camera. It’ll be for sale soon for what I paid for it. I’m sure someone will love it.

The Joy of Photography in 2018

November 15, 2018 by JR Smith

As the final days of 2018 click down, I find myself feeling very optimistic about the state of analog photography. That certainly was not the case back in 2010 when I was getting serious again about film and cameras. Seemed at the time every week brought another sign that film photography was nearing rapid extinction.

I watched videos of construction crews imploding the massive factories at Kodak Park and a CBS Sunday Morning story on the last roll of Kodachrome. Fujifilm was pulling the plugs on this film and that. And some crazy ex-Polaroid employees were trying, in what at the time appeared to be a futile effort, to resurrect the recipes for instant film.

Over at my local camera shop, they moved the mostly empty film display cabinet from its place of importance at the main counter to an obscure corner of the store near the picture frames and eliminated the darkroom department altogether. Online, you had to dig real deep on B&H Photo’s web site to find the place to order film. It was hidden behind a symbol of a memory card.

In 2010, I honestly thought I’d shoot my way through a few great cameras until fresh film was no longer available. Then, just as Dwayne’s Photo Lab in Kansas processed the last roll of Kodachrome, I’d send my final rolls off to one a few remaining labs, put my classic cameras on a shelf and feel grateful that I was able to enjoy the last gasps of the analog film era.

And then, something wonderful began happening.

I had wrapped my head around the notion that most analog photographers were like me—aging baby boomers who were trying to revisit their youth by using old cameras and listening to vinyl records. As I started to poke around the internet, I discovered photography blogs written by all sort of people young and old. There were You Tube videos with camera reviews and user experience videos, produced mostly by folks decades younger than me and with an excitement for film photography that was intoxicating! There’s something very fun about watching a millennial discovering a Canon A-1 for the first time! Flickr film groups were multiplying rapidly.

As I became more connected to the online analog photography community, I discovered camera repair technicians dedicated to keeping film cameras working as new. And over the last eight years, those technicians have gotten far busier. When I sent my first Nikon F2 off to Sover Wong in the UK for repair, I had it back in a bit over a month. Now, Sover has so many Nikons in line for repair he has started a ticketing system! Pentax guru Eric Hendrickson has Spotmatics and ME Supers lined up in queue too. I even read he has a young assistant he is mentoring in the fine art of mechanical camera repair.

Back in 2010, eBay was the best source for buying old film cameras. Now, there are dedicated Facebook groups as well as great online camera shops like Victory Camera, fStop Cameras and Blue Moon Camera & Machine. Blue Moon also has a great in-house repair department that I highly recommend. KEH Camera has been around for years and they’re still one of the biggest and best sources of used gear. And last time I ordered film from B&H Photo, the film canister icon was back on the home page!

And even as Fuji pulls the plug on my beloved Acros black and white film, Kodak has brought back Ektachrome slide film and introduced Tmax 3200 black and white. And the instant film folks I mentioned earlier proved everyone wrong by bringing back Polaroid film and even a new Polaroid camera with the Impossible Project, now renamed Polaroid Originals.

My local camera shop hasn't moved the film display cabinet back to front and center, but it’s full of film now. 35mm, 120…even Fuji and Polaroid Originals instant. And my friend behind the counter tells me their stock sells briskly.

Digital imaging has replaced film for consumers and most professional photographers, but film has not met the quick demise people were forecasting in 2010. Instead, analog photography is settling into its own little niche that appears to be growing at a slow but healthy pace. I am pleased by this and happy to be part of a diverse and growing community of analog shooters.