Vintage camera reviews, repairs and photography blog
This category is used as a blanket classification for any posts I’ve written reviewing equipment.
Although it could cover anything, the vast majority will be reviews of vintage photographic equipment i.e. cameras, lenses, photographic processes and other equipment. For many reviews, because they are vintage photo equipment, as well as photos of the equipment and also often sample photos produced with the equipment.
This category is the one which most often has fresh content added, so if you want to be informed when new articles are posted consider subscribing to the site using the link in the sidebar.
The Voigtlander Bessamatic belongs to that family of 35mm SLR cameras which have a leaf shutter fitted between the lens and the mirror rather than a focal plane shutter fitted between the mirror and the film. This puts it in the same class as the Topcon Unirex, Kodak Retina Reflex and Kowa SE to name just three I’ve reviewed on this blog. Voigtlander Bessamatic Images My Bessamatic Camera I picked up this camera along with a Topcon RE Auto in […]
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Occasionally when I purchase a vintage camera for my collection there are other bits-n-pieces which accompany it and this post features one of those accessories – the Kalimar Exposure meter. In the age of early film photography, when cameras weren’t equipped with built in means of measuring the amount of light available to take a picture, most serious photographers would have carried a small exposure meter with them. In fact it was probably the most important part of their kit […]
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This post describes a medium format, folding camera made by Ihagee (later Exakta) in the mid 1930s. The Ihagee Ultrix takes 8 pictures of 6cm x 9cm on 120 format film, has adjustable focus and is fitted with an 8 speed Compur shutter. Ihagee Ultrix Images My Ultrix Camera My camera, along with so many in my vintage camera collection, was an ebay purchase. In this case I paid £15 and bought it because it is a camera which produces […]
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This post looks at the Kiev 4 35mm rangefinder camera, which was a soviet made copy of a contax II rangefinder. The model shown here is fitted with a Jupiter 8 lens and the serial number of 7506090 suggests it was probably made between about 1975 and 1980. Kiev 4 Rangefinder Pictures My Kiev 4 Rangefinder camera I obtained my copy of the Kiev 4 from a local charity shop where a friend of my wife works. She knows I’m […]
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This is a look at a novel little device I bought a few days ago – a USB microscope made by pluggable. I bought this device for about £35 from amazon, and the main driver for purchasing it was to see if it would provide a good image to use in my continuing 8mm telecine project. That is something I will investigate in the next few days and weeks, but in the mean time I’ve been trying out the device […]
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The Olympus 35 ECR is a fully automatic, 35mm film camera with a fixed 42mm f/2.8 lens and rangefinder focusing aid which was produced by Olympus in the early 1970s. Camera Images My Olympus 35 ECR I was given my copy of the Olympus 35 ECT by a fellow camera collector, with a note explaining that there were some problems with it. To be honest, that was a couple of years ago now and I can’t remember exactly what is […]
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In the late 1960s and early 1970s the Instamatic range of cameras from Kodak were very popular and were responsible for many people trying photography as a hobby and progressing onto more advanced models. As well as still cameras, Kodak also made a similar range in cine cameras, and this post takes a brief look at one of those models, the Instamatic M2 cine camera. Kodak Instamatic M2 cine camera images My Instamatic M2 Cine Camera This cine camera was […]
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This post describes my experience of using the Bosch EasyControl smart room thermostat with smart radiator controllers. Although it will probably be of no interest to anyone who visits my site for it’s photographic content, I hope it will prove useful to people thinking about specifically purchasing the Bosch EasyControl unit or another smart room stat. Bosch EasyControl System The Bosch EasyControl system is a modern replacement for the standard central heating timer and combines the job of room thermostat […]
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This is a quick pictorial review of the Mamiya/Sekor 500 DTL 35mm SLR camera which was introduced by Mamiya in the late 1960s. Mamiya/Sekor 500 DTL images My Mamiya/Sekor 500 DTL camera This camera is one of a very select few in my collection in that it was gifted to me. In fact, it was surprise gifted to me by a fellow camera collector John Bear, who also runs a vintage camera site called Camera Portraits. The story is that […]
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The subject of this short article is one of Canon’s early ventures into digital photography, the PowerShot A40 compact camera. This 2Mp, compact, zoom camera was made in about 2002 and offered a range of features for both the holiday snapshot photographer and the more advanced user. Canon PowerShot A40 Images My Canon PowerShot A40 I’ve had my copy of the PowerShot A40 for a number of months now having bought it when I became interested in vintage digital cameras […]
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This is a look at the Hitachi VM-C30E, an early VHS-C camcorder, which was made by Hitachi in Japan sometime in the early 1990s. Hitachi VM-C30E pictures My Hitachi VM-C30E camcorder This unit was an eBay purchase for a little over £10 which I bought simply as a nostalgic purchase. Being interested in the history of home photography, and with an eye to adding home movies to the Found-Film site, I’ve bought several 8mm cine films over the course of […]
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This post looks at the Nikon F-601 autofocus, 35mm, slr camera which was one of the higher, midrange offerings in Nikon’s line up of cameras in the early 1990s. Nikon F-601 Images My Nikon F-601 Camera I got my Nikon F-601 camera as part of a large collection of cameras which had been sold by what turned out to be rather an unscrupulous seller on eBay. They had bundled a large collection of faulty cameras and sold them as untested […]
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This post is about the Minolta Dynax 60 autofocus 35mm SLR which was the last 35mm film camera which Minolta produced, and a pretty capable performer is was too. Minolta Dynax 60 Images My Minolta Dynax 60 I paid a total of £2.99 for this camera, which was sold on ebay as faulty. The fault described was, ‘Camera faulty – back door stuck and won’t open’. I could see from the pictures the seller had posted that there was still […]
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The Waltax Junior is a 120 format, folding camera which was produced by Waltax in the early 1950s. It is a simple, cheap camera which was sold mostly as an entry level, holiday snap shot camera and that is reflected in the construction which is somewhat flimsy. Waltax Junior Images My Waltax Junior Camera I bought my copy of the Waltax Junior on eBay for a few pounds in an unknown condition. It’s certainly true to say that my camera […]
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The Ricoh Singlex II manual focus SLR camera was introduced by Ricoh in the mid 1970s as an improved version of their original Singlex TLS camera. Many of the changes introduced are cosmetic rather than revolutionary, but the Singlex II retains the solid, dependable attributes of the original camera. Ricoh Singlex II Images My Ricoh Singlex II camera This camera cost me £12 from ebay as a Buy it now, postage included sale. It was supplied as only a body, […]
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