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A History of my Camera Equipment

Over the years I've used quite a variety of cameras to take my photos.

Table of Contents

Really Really Old Stuff(TM)

When I was about 8, enjoying the delights of avoiding school due to chickenpox, Mum took me down to a nearby village and gave me my first ever camera, a Kodak "ColorSnap 35". I don't recall any photos specifically made with it apart from an occasion when I was supposed to be taking a shot of a swan in a pond and it came back totally missing the bird altogether...

Start of the Modern Era

Zoom forward a few years and during University, I used Mum's old Olympus Trip 35 mostly.

When I left Edinburgh and got a job, within a month I acquired a Canon EOS300n with which to equip myself for a friend's wedding. That lasted me a few years bumbling around Croydon with particular outings to the Lake District and beyond, but didn't really excite me and I can't say I knew that much about art, let alone the art, of photography, at the time. There are a few photos I remember taking with it: http://pig.sty.nu/Pictures/gallery/gallery.rb?series=Scotland.

When I left that first job, I acquired a tiny Kodak digital camera, 1MPel. Nothing is memorable off there either.

The Rise of Digital

From humble beginnings, I progressed through a Sony Cybershot (2MPel) digicam, to a Fuji s602. There are one or two photos taken with those I consider memorable.

At around this point I started to get more serious about the photography itself and acquired a Sigma SD9. The lens was a huge mistake - a 24-300mm all-in-one lump of glass with quite poor image quality, coupled with the weird Foeveon sensor (3MPel but with R,G,B photosites at different depths into the sensor so they marketed it as "more like 10MPel" - yeah right). One thing I did like: the camera body itself was heavy and presented very few controls. None of the automatic stuff that I'd been using on the Canon and Fuji cameras previously.

Serious Digital

Fortuitously, an increasing interest in understanding photographic technique, coincided with the release of the Nikon D70. This was an absolutely lovely camera, albeit only 6MPel - but that's enough to cover A4, so for my purposes it became the camera of choice and I acquired the 18-70mm kit lens, a cheap 70-300G zoom lens, and even a 24mm wide prime which went on at the start of a week's holiday and didn't come off until the other end. That camera was a classic, and friends noticed a distinct rise in the quality of results.

Evolving Film

I had still been shooting using the canon up until the d70 but there came a time when it fell apart on me - spring went below the shutter button and all sorts of things went wrong, so in the fulness of time it met the bottom of the dustbin outside. Thus perish Canons.

Meanwhile, I was getting interested in medium-format. I considered 645 (eg Mamiya) but the aspect-ratio didn't appeal - amongst other things, the idea of using more of the lens's coverage (effectively the rise/fall shift movements from 645) on every shot was appealing, and particularly the difference in composition technique was interesting.

I found a Lubitel 166B lurking in a local camera-shop in Perth and took it and a light-meter out for a couple of afternoons and evenings, with no fallback gear, deliberately. Some of the results were actually quite decent, although of course it was a realy pain to use as the waist-level finder actually needed holding really low down in order to cover the full size of the ground-glass. Some of the results are to be found in my gallery, here: Lubitel 166B photos.

Anyway, I was hooked. Square-format was established as viable, so I went from there to a Rollei 6006 (Mk I).

The Rollei was a nice camera with aperture-priority mode and the best automatic light-meter I've seen, usable even with slide film, but I really couldn't afford any more lenses or interchangeable backs, and the battery was decidedly on the blink.

Then I bought a Bronica SQa on eBay, and got on so well I collected more kit around it - first came camera, then a replacement lens, then a spare back and a prism finder and "press" grip, neither of which I particularly liked, but you have to find out somehow... The bronica got used for a couple of successful portrait sessions, which is pretty rare for me.

Diversifying: Large Format

shen-hao-HZX45-IIA-camera-rodenstock-210mm-lens.jpg

Having rediscovered the joys of scanning one's own films, I thought it was time to try my hand at large-format. I spent about two months researching and coming to grips with the terminology, learning how you're supposed to use a view-camera and what the common pitfalls are.

What still amuses me today about large-format is the perception that it's hard, a quantum leap from "what you're used to", "lots of things to learn", etc. Much of that is overrated or untrue. Optically, large-format is simpler than smaller: all you have is a light-tight box with a lens at one end and some film at the other! OK, so you don't get a bunch of snazzy circuitry that tells you everything about how to expose the scene and even where to focus in a fraction of a second, but I would rather toss that out and gain the flexibility and control that manual mode brings, regardless of format. The most complex controls to consider are movements - front and rear tilt, shift, swing, rise and fall and the effects they have on the resultant image. If you're lucky, a camera might come with a small spirit-level on top for aligning it. If you're prepared to look a dork hiding under a dark-cloth, you'll have greater joy looking at the ground-glass to compose and focus than you ever will with a point-'n'-shoot. It is "what you're used to" that's heading in the wrong direction, not LF, not film.

So, back to the story. I acquired a Shen Hao HZX45-IIA 5x4" camera and Rodenstock 210mm lens (one of only two lenses I use with it, the other being a Rodenstock 150mm).

The Shen is still my most favoured piece of kit, with a permanent place in the bag ready for going out to decent locations. I find using it, the movement knobs and locks are just an extension of me. Of course it slows me down, that's what large-format is for: one becomes adept at predicting and patiently waiting for the weather in landscape photography, for example (the record so far being half an hour from seeing the potential for a shot to actually realising it). And of course it draws a fair amount of attention from passers-by!

An Aberration

Around the same time, I decided that digital photography, even using dSLRs, simply wasn't taking it seriously. I was also getting a bit sick of having to blow the dust off the d70's sensor all the time. So I part-exchanged all the Nikon kit and bought an Olympus e-500 with two lenses. This was at the time when 8MPel was new(ish), and much noisier than 6MPel at the same ISO. But at the time, I thought the image-quality might still be adequate and I was prepared to look for other things (most notably the ultrasonic sensor-dust-removal system) in a camera instead.

I admit, that was a mistake. I didn't enjoy using the Olympus E-500 at all. It felt wrong. Only having one control dial and having to use a "shift" button to change between adjusting speed or aperture was just a bad idea. I certainly got lots of nice photos off it - even my all-time favourite - but more by using experience and knowledge gained during the d70 phase than anything else.

DIY development

Around this time I took up developing my own black-and-white films at home using a Paterson System V tank and the Paterson Orbital Processor. I've had good results and learnt a bit about the properties of different developers and films. I've experimented with contact-prints on printing-out paper (POP) just for kicks, too.

Somewhere along the lines I got the idea that one could avoid buying an enlarger by using a view-camera backwards. That's been fun as well.

More Medium-format

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Around September 2006 I part-exchanged both the Rollei and the Bronica (now falling apart at the seams) for a Hasselblad 500CM kit. This has been my staple diet for medium-format ever since and is unlikely to change. I love the whooshing shutter noise and the image quality is superb, to say nothing of the fact that it doesn't have any battery requirements at all.

Meopta

The most recent acquisition in my line-up is a Meopta Flexaret VII Automat ("the meepta" for short) since November 2007. It's a gorgeous little Czech-made TLR from about 1970, complete with self-timer and ability to multi-expose the same frame without winding on. The lens is at best single-coated, if at all, but the results are quite pleasant. It's one of the very few cameras I could take with me and leave everything else at home.

Back with Nikon

nikon-d200-dslr-sigma-24-70-f28-lens.jpg

Just under a year after acquiring the Olympus e-500, I sold it and returned to Nikon, this time with a D200.

I spent a long weekend researching various lenses and ascertaining optimal break-points in the focal length range. After much cogitation, I decided that instead of breaking the range at 55mm, I'd keep with the 70mm split I used on the old D70; this allows me to use a Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 (constant aperture) lens, ideal for most purposes from landscape to church functions, and a Nikkor 70-300 VR lens, ideal for long landscape zooms and airshows. As a bonus, the 24-70mm lens is "full-frame", ie will work with a 35mm film camera or D3/D700, should I ever afford such a thing.

I have very little need for wider-angle lenses than that; a fast wide prime would be nice but it's unnecessary for my landscape or irregular portrait work and I can always stitch a few shots together as a panorama (eg using Hugin) instead if I'm desperate.

Miscellaneous Film

Ensign Carbine No.3

ensign-carbine.jpg

Some time around Christmas 2006 I bought an Ensign Carbine No.3 folding 6x9 120-format camera from an antique shop in Falkland, Fife. Originally made in about 1935, it still takes some amusing photos - no leaks in the bellows or anything. It doesn't get used very often but does occasionally get cranked out when I want the dubious blurry "arty" olde-worlde effect.

Afga Speedex Compur

This one has a little story behind it. Whilst turning out cupboards, my parents found a little black folding camera (similar to the Ensign in design) that used to belong to my great-grandfather - with the film counter visible through the back plate and showing `2'. Temptation!

I took the film and developed it myself; there was indeed a photo dating back to the 1970s or so which I'm very glad to have been able to rescue.

It was quite amusing, as shortly after finding this camera, I attended grandad's birthday party and took photos of the guests afterwards: in the one hand, holding a camera that my granddad's father had bought and used, and in the other, a shiny brand-new Nikon dSLR.

Both produced (and still produce) perfect usable photos, although the Agfa will become more a collectable item than anything else.

Film Processing

In September 2007 I bought a used Phototherm film-processor off ebay again. With this I have effectively created a refernce-point for the way I treat black-and-white (5m30s in APH09 1+50) and have successfully processed a handful of E6 films (Fuji Velvia and Provia). I now have no reliance on any external company to develop films for me, and am quite happy with the results - less dust and dirt than the shop down the road for black-and-wihte film, more control (if I wanted it!) with slide film here. I still use Photobox for colour or digital prints, however.

The Way Forward is the Way Backward

My kit-bag (er, rucksack) currently carries the Nikon D200 (both lenses), Hasselblad and Shen-Hao with occasional afternoons spent specialising in one or two options only (normally Nikon, optionally Nikon+Hasselblad). If you were to ask which of these I'd part with, in descending order it would be Hasselblad, D200 and I'd be quite happy if I only had the Shen Hao.

Film-wise, I shoot Ilford black and white (mostly FP4 and Pan-F 50+) or Adox Orthochrome 25, Fuji Velvia (RVP) and Provia (RDP-III). I use Rodinal (APH09) for cheap processing where I don't mind the grain, or Moersch Tanol (a staining developer) which gives amazing smooth lack of grain and gorgeous tonality with Pan-F.

Yet more digital?

canon-g9.jpg

I previously stated it would be interesting to consider a digital point-'n'-shoot. I have recently acquired a Canon G9 compact camera and am pleasantly surprised at how useful it is - image-quality is adequate (with some purple fringing, unfortunately, and lots of noise off the 12 megapixels crammed into a tiny sensor - yes you really do need to live at ISO 80-200 or so) but what I really appreciate are the small size (so it goes everywhere with me) and the ability to store custom preset shooting modes; I have it set up with C2 being RAW plus black-and-white JPEG (and therefore b+w preview mode as well), manual 1/125s at f/5.6, a reasonable starting point for a lot of my shooting. Program mode still suffers for landscapes - while they've got auto-white-balance almost nailed, Canon have yet to understand highlight-biassed automatic exposure.

Rangefinder

ricoh-500g.jpg

In Summer 2008, I acquired a really cheap Ricoh 500G rangefinder on eBay. It's taken me nearly 6 months to run a film through it - in these digital days, one is used to shooting and keeping upwards of 50 frames an afternoon, but not so with 35mm film - but the results off the first film are outstanding. The camera itself is a joy to use; exactly the same size as my Olympus Trip, with a really quiet shutter action - so much so, it's surprising to think that high-quality images come so quickly and easily.