Photography
Images and resources
The family camera, a Konica 35mm SLR, was all but off-limits to me in elementary school. I once was allowed to shoot a half dozen frames of some flowers around the house using a series of closeup adapter lenses that were, to my knowedge, never used before or since.
I really wanted to do some more photography, and high school provided an opportunity. I enrolled in the photography art class, and, after the introductory week in the class, proclaimed to my parents that I now needed a camera. They’d have to let me use the Konica.
To my surprise, they took me shopping for a good student SLR, and I ended up with a Minolta X-700. This camera turned out to be ideally suited to my needs, and I carried it with me everywhere for a number of years afterward, until it was stolen from behind the security desk in the hours following a science fiction convention.
Following the philosophy of a friend of mine, I turned the disaster into an opportunity to upgrade. I’ve built up a Nikon 35mm system. I now carry a couple Nikons everywhere.
Images
Visit my gallery, soon to be overhauled. Currently, all the images there are from my post-upgrade period. I’ll try to dig through my archives once I have access to a film scanner again.
I’ve collected a few links to some other people's galleries that I have enjoyed.
Photographic Equipment
Nikon
My primary camera is an N90s. This is a great piece of equipment. I shoot black and white with this camera, and develop and print it myself. Unfortunately, I’ve just moved, and I haven’t had a chance to build my dream darkroom, yet, so all I can do is process the film. Quite a few rolls have stacked up.
My second camera body is an F801. I shoot mostly color print or slide film in this camera. I picked it up used, surprised at how similar it is to the N90s. Almost all the buttons are in the same place. It’s just a little slower and doesn’t have the nice rubberized gripping surfaces of the N90. The N90 is obviously a descendant of the F801/N8008.
My "standard" lens is the Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 AF lens. I generally like a very moderate telephoto for discreet street photography and impromptu portrait work. I also carry the Nikkor 28mm f/2.8 wide-angle lens, and, to cover the telephoto end in a compact package, the Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6 AF.
For my more involved telephoto needs, I use my Nikkor 80-200 f/2.8 AF lens. This is a wonderful lens to work with, but it’s a bit big for carrying in a small carry-everywhere bag. I also have the more normal 50mm f/1.8 lens, but I find that I rarely use it since I bought the 85mm.
I’ve spent a little time hacking on my Nikon cameras. In particular, I’m interested in mapping the funky 10-pin connector on the newer Nikon SLRs, including the N90, F5, and probably the F100. Someday, I want to write some Macintosh software to automate recording exposure data.
Other Nikon resources on the web.
Mamiya
I am the proud owner of a Mamiya C330 Professional, a medium format 6x6 twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera.
After shooting for years on 35mm, I’ve been wanting more and more to achieve the sharp, high resolution of medium format. Buying a decent TLR seemed like the least expensive way to get into MF, and I hope it helps me decide between 6x4.5, 6x6, or 6x7. I’m currently leaning toward the latter two choices, and the TLR will hopefully help me determine how I use the square frame. Does it make sense for me to go rectangular? Or would I rather do rectangular framing at print time, rather than in the finder?
I recently acquired this camera used, and I had to do a bit of work on the body before I was comfortable using it. I purchased it with a 65mm lens, because that was what was available at the time. Now I’m looking for a 105. (My "standard" lens for 35mm work is an 85.)
I’ll describe what work the camera needed, in case it helps someone else who’s thinking of buying similar camera. Of these problems, I only noticed the first before I took the camera home.
The newer-style collapsing waist-level finder was bent badly enough that it didn’t open and close without concerted persuasion. I spent three hours in front of the TV figuring out how to disassemble, correct, and reassemble the finder. It now works well.
The foam rubber that seals the mating surfaces of the film back against the camera body had deteriorated sufficiently that merely brushing against it left you with black tar on your fingers. I wasn’t going to trust that not to leak light. I replaced it with some new material from the friendly local camera shop. (Mo, the shop proprietor, offered to do the job for me for $50.)
The film back has a prong which presses or does not press a lever in the back of the camera to indicate whether the user has chosen to load 120 or 220 film. The prong was bent, causing the camera to try to expose 24 frames onto 120 film. I didn’t notice this until I exposed my first roll of film (Fuji Astia slide film, chosen to highlight potential shutter timing errors). No biggie; I just carefully bent it back.
Finally, the distance scale window on the side of the camera has a sliding indicator that has slid shut. This makes the distance scale useless. I don’t yet know how to solve this problem. It looks like it’ll involve a fairly complete disassembly of the body.
Oh, and the first roll of film through it turned out great.
Some Mamiya TLR and medium format resources:
Film
I have compiled a small list of film designations and their respective complete names. These are mostly just the films I have used. If you have any to add to the list, please send me mail.
You might also want to peruse the information available directly from Fuji film, Ilford, and Kodak.
Other resources
There is plenty of information out there on all aspects of photography. I’ve collected links to some of the pages I use most.