9 October, 2023
Nikon FM and How it Became my “Do Anything” Camera
I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of getting to understand one camera so well that it becomes an extension of oneself. Thus, some years ago, I set out to find this m...
22 September, 2023
Praktica BX20 – Meeting my Old Friend after 30 years, a Happy Reunion or a Disaster?
I re-bought a Praktica BX20 to relive the experience of the very first 35mm SLR I bought new. My previous camera, the Praktica MTL3 I had acquired in a ‘well-loved’ ...
This is perhaps a familiar story to photographers over the age of 40. I started taking pictures in the pre-digital era. The first camera that was my own was a Canon Snappy 20* &...
14 September, 2023
Praktica MTL3 – Back to Film, with a Roll of Expired ‘SupaSnaps’ Film
My first SLR was a Praktica MTL3, obtained from an uncle in 1990, it wasn’t my first camera, that would have been a Kodak Disc camera when I was around 10, but it was my f...
28 August, 2023
Nikon FM2 Review – Its significance and modern appeal since 1984
I was hired once to take some portraits of a young woman. I asked her to give me a few portrait examples that she liked. To my surprise, she said that she liked “The Afgh...
This is a review of the Minolta 9000, the first professional autofocus camera. Back in the 60s and 70s the pro camera market was dominated by Nikon with their ‘bullet-proo...
24 July, 2023
Minolta X-300 Review – The Last Manual Focus SLR
In clearing out my late father’s stuff, I came across quite a few cameras. Dad was an instrument maker and specialized in optics. He used to buy up cameras out of ‘...
17 July, 2023
Canon EOS 3 Review – The Good, The Bad, The Heavy
As with many young New Zealanders, my view on the world beyond our pacific isolation was formed on the images and articles presented in moth-balled National Geographic magazines...