the story of a Reica Camera
February 28th, 2010
This sweet sad story would make for an excellent short film.
Focal length
February 16th, 2010
These are all the lenses that I have.
More specifically these are the only focal lengths that I own. I do have two Nikon F2s- one with a beat up forty year old Nikon 50mm and a the other with a 28mm Nikkor. The a 35mm on my Big Mini probably ought to count as well. But that’s it. And that’s enough.
I’ve been going through each of my 2500+ negative files over the past few evening. It looks like about 85% of every frame was shot with a 28mm lens. Second place would be with a 40mm I sold a few months ago. A close third would be the 35mm focal length and finally it looks like less than 20 rolls were shot with a 50mm. This is what works for me. I suppose I have 28mm eyeballs with black and white, and 35mm ones for color. I bought the 50 thinking it would be good for portraits- but if you know what you’re doing a 28 is even better.
Looks like I’ll quote / mention Araki once again this week:
From an essay titled Taking Photographs with the mind’s lens
It may seem like a good idea to take a single camera with a zoom lens when traveling, but it’s too simplistic. It means you can’t decide on the lens you need for your subject. It means you haven’t got your ideas in order. Once you know what you’re all about, all you need is a single Leica 35mm camera. This is how it should be done. If you can’t do it like this, it means that you’re still not up to being a photographer!
a few paragraphs later he adds:
The lens you use depends on a whole range of factors such as the era and how old you are. If you really want to feel close to someone’s face, if you want to feel you’re in direct contact with their good qualities, it’s best to use a 50mm lens at the distance of 50cm or a meter. I don’t like taking people with skew-wiff expressions. I guess I just don’t like using the lens for expressive purposes. Photographs aren’t about expression with a lens. Absolutely not!
his essay ends with
The important thing is to shoot with an open frame of mind. You mustn’t let yourself step back. You mustn’t make things too complicated. You mustn’t change lenses. You need to take photographs with the lens in your mind!
Best. Camera. Ad. Ever.
February 9th, 2010
1. From today I am looking for an original of this ad to be framed and hung on a wall. The hunt for 1971-1976 issues of Nippon and Asahi Camera is officially on. … that’s like 120 issues of magazines- and an estimated 30,000 pages (I’m guessing at least 250 pages per issue). Perhaps the internet version will suffice.
2. I am seriously considering looking for a Canon F-1. This advertisement = continued success.
UPDATE= Aya Takada, the photographer who loaded this wonderful content onto the web informed me that this came from the Feb. 1975 issue of Camera Mainichi. Which apparently not only features great ads for manual SLRS, but exemplifies the 1970s in the best way possible through font selection. Awesome.
I will go so far to say that flipping through random 30 to 40 year old issues of Camera Mainichi, Nippon Camera, and Asahi Camera is exponentially more enjoyable and fulfilling than most any photo publication on the newsstands today. Even the current issue of Nippon Camera? . . . Yes. Especially the part I am featured in again.
Fuji 645GA
December 31st, 2009
At the beginning of 2009 I tried to get down with the golden 6×6 format but neither TLRs nor Bronica SLRs did it for me. My interest in high quality square pictures wasn’t worth the monetary cost of a Mamiya 6 and so after little deliberation once the chance came up I swapped the Mamiya C330 and some other articles of gear for a Fuji 645GA. Mr. Stella has taken the time to write up a very informative piece on this series of cameras so for technical details please check out what he has to say here. The 35mm film canister is there for scale, and the 120 roll of Kodak Verichrome Pan is there for style.
I did own the earlier manual focus version- the Fujica GS645s- for a few months the year before and found it to be an interesting switch from my usual horizontally structured cameras. But in the end my Mamiya 7 won out and rather than see it sit in a box I sold it to a friend who is putting it to great use. The MF version is usually about the same price as the 645GA in Tokyo camera shops and having shot both I’d say that if you want a quick and responsive camera for street work, the manual one is great since it lacks any delay once you release the shutter. The rangefinder patch on mine was dim on all but the sunniest of days but scale focusing worked well. The 645GA has both a shutter delay and slow autofocus which sounds like it would be a problem but it also has Auto Exposure which makes it easier to shoot. Plus it has a built in flash. The biggest trouble with this camera is the seemingly random selection of focus points. 95% of the time it is on target, but that leaves 5% for frames which make you furrow your brow as you come across pictures totally out of focus when going over contact sheets.
You might also mutter “what the hell?” as you do this.
Physically it is just about the same size as a Mamiya 7 body without a lens. It’s compactness makes it the go to camera if I am in a meduim format kind of mood when headed out for a day when the main purpose is not shooting.
Acoustically the shutter itself is quiet, but each exposure is followed by chirps and beeps and the whine of the camera advancing the film to the next frame. It’s not something I’d use in the subway.
Over the year I’ve shot a few dozen rolls with this camera, and it takes some getting used to but this is the fun part. For now I’m still trying to figure out where to stand with it. And also where to point the lens. And at what moment to trip the shutter. And then whether or not to print the negative and then if I do, how to use the photo I made with it.
Actually, that is how I am with every camera.
The lens is sharp as one might ever need, and it resolves images very nicely. At an 8×10 print the sharpness is as good as any 6×7 neg you might get, and has several times clearer detail than a frame of 35mm film.
Overall it has been a very interesting camera to shoot with. Unlike my “on a non-committal whim” 6×6 experiment I have already purchased a new 645 format negative carrier for my enlarger and that investment of about eighty bucks means I won’t be too quick to get rid of this camera anytime soon.
As I slowly fill a box with prints made from it I’ll learn more- hopefully some more pictures will end up here to be shared.