Shining a Light on Bright-Line Viewfinders

Over the years, many different manufacturers have offered many different types of accessory viewfinders that have taken on numerous forms. I have tried only a handful but am pretty committed to what are known as as "bright-line" accessory viewfinders. Unlike early viewfinders that consist only of wire frames of appropriate sizes or even simple optical...

My New Daily Carry Camera Bag – ONA Prince Street

I've never been one to care very much about stylish camera bags. As long as I had something durable that I could organize neatly, that has been fine. I justified my position by thinking that a cheaper, more tatty looking bag was less likely to attract attention and get stolen. And hey, cheaper camera bag,...

Leitz 5cm f3.5 Elmar: The Meaning of Gestalt

I'll admit it. As I shuffled around the streets of downtown Frederick, Maryland anticipating the paths of passersby and lifting my little black Leica to my eye, I imagined that this is what it was like for Henry Cartier Bresson before this equipment was legendary, new methods were standard practices and the genre was a...

Happy Birthday, Kodak Tri-X

Kodak Tri-X, as a concept, has been around since the 1940's when it was a 200 ISO b&w sheet film. Because it was their first fast film, when Kodak released the 400 ISO roll film version, the Tri-X name was maintained. Just like Kodak TMAX P3200 revolutionized low light photography in 1989, Tri-X was an...

5 LTM 50’s for $500 or Less

Choosing Leica mount lenses is always a bit of a struggle for me. I can find things I like and don't like about them all. And the ones that meet my ideal specs are often out of my price range. So I will end up buying another lens as a reaction to something I did...

Ilford XP2 – A Smart Go-To B&W Film

Are you interested in shooting black and white and want to know what film to start with? Do you you use a lab to process your work, or do C41 at home? I highly recommend giving Ilford XP2 a spin. 35mm Ilford XP2 400 Super rated at 1600, scanned without ICE Ilford XP2 400 Super...

New Kodak Backing Paper

A few weeks ago, I picked up a Yashica A TLR and was eager to test it.  I bought a fresh 5- roll-box of Kodak Tri-X 120. When I opened the film, I was surprised to see that the backing paper design was different and had a waxy sheen to it.  I found that, in...

Defending the Nikon FM10

The Nikon FM10 is a camera that experienced/knowledgeable film photographers take pride in dismissing. The chorus is common: "It's all plastic!"  "It's not even made by Nikon!" But look, what the vocal opponents don't seem to get is that the Nikon FM10 is actually a highly evolved, practical camera, capable of terrific photos.  And it...

Leicavit vs. T-Winder

I'm as much of a Leica fan as anyone but I have to admit, the Japanese reincarnate of Voigtländer seriously one-upped the German Leica gods when they designed their T-Winder. Let's begin at the beginning. Leica introduced a few rapidwinder devices for it's screw mount 35mm rangefinder cameras in the 1930's or 40's.  The exact history...

Behold, the Konica III

It's been a few weeks since I retrieved my Konica III from BP-ES where it's sticky shutter was repaired and rangefinder calibrated.  I'm carrying the III with me daily, slowly working my way through a few rolls of Tri-X as I come across interesting scenes in my life. I have only owned one other Konica...