Another year, another Year in Review post! Skipping past the obvious summaries of the past 12 months, 2021 was a pretty good year for Mike Eckman dot Com. As was the case every year, traffic increased from the year prior, but this year, traffic really increased, but more on that …
It seems like every few months, another press release is made by Kodak or Fuji with bad news about some film stock that is being discontinued and others that are getting price increases. These announcements inevitably launch a buying frenzy of still available films that quickly deplete available inventories at …
There is a saying that the only two things guaranteed in life are death and taxes, and since I don’t have any interest in writing about taxes, I am sorry to say that this post is about yet another member of the film photography community who has passed away. I …
When someone asks the question “What is the ‘best’ 35mm rangefinder ever made?”, a great number of responses will likely include either the Leica M3 or the Nikon SP. The reason for these two models on the tops of so many people’s lists is that they are both very good …
If you’re like me, it is exciting to see an old camera in a movie or television show set in the past. My attention is quickly diverted and I play this little game with myself where I try to see how quickly I can both identify the camera and whether …
Holy bleep! I cannot believe this year is finally almost over. What a disaster 2020 has been! From COVID, to the killings of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, the US Presidential election, murder hornets, Brexit, that huge explosion in Lebanon, the busiest Atlantic Hurricane Season ever recorded, wild fires in …
For the past couple of months I’ve been working on a new and comprehensive guide that shows how to differentiate between fake and genuine screw mount Leicas. As I was finished up that article, I noticed it had grown to over 4500 words and the words of Stephen Dowling rang …
Quick post here today, but I wanted to share with you a link to episode 93 of the Classic Camera Revival podcast. In the past year or two, I’ve gotten to know show runners Alex Luyckx and Bill Smith and was excited when they asked to be a special guest …
Earlier this year I visited Robert at his home and we had an extensive conversation about Nikon rangefinder prototypes. I was particularly interested in the Nikon SP2 and SPX as they are fascinating examples of cameras that showed a direction Nippon Kogaku did not continue in. But as usually happens …
Earlier this year I had an idea for a fun article full of cameras with strange names, so I put together a list of 10 Unfortunately Named Cameras. The week before I was going to post the article, COVID-19 was officially declared a pandemic and my country started to shut …
If your idea of enjoyable photography is picking up a camera, turning it on, pointing it at something, pressing the shutter release, and getting great images 100% of the time, then collecting and shooting old film cameras is not for you. One of the many reasons you hear for why …
By now, if you’re in my community of film and camera enthusiasts, you’ve probably already heard that there was a fire at Central Camera in downtown Chicago last night as a result of protests over the death of George Floyd. Owner Don Flesch was interviewed last night by a local …
