Although branded as a Canon DL-9000, this camera was made by a Taiwanese company called New Taiwan Photographic Corp. who produced a dizzying array of inexpensive knock off “scameras” or “trashcams” that mimic the design of professional quality SLR cameras, but with far worse quality. New Taiwan produced cameras have…
This is a Walz Envoy 35, a 35mm rangefinder camera made by Walz Company, LTD of Tokyo Japan from 1958 to around 1961. The Envoy was an up-level model of the earlier Walz 35 and came with an excellent 7-element Kominar lens, built by Nittō Kōgaku of Japan. Walz was…
I’ve been reviewing cameras for nearly 5 years on mike eckman dot com, and while it’s been a lot of fun, many other vintage camera blogs have come and risen to the occasion doing basically the same thing I’ve been doing. Casual Photophile, 35mmc, Kosmo Foto, Japan Camera Hunter, EMULSIVE,…
This week’s featured post is a very well written and thorough dive into Nikon’s Pre-AI (sometimes called non-AI) lens system. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, AI stands for “Automatic Indexing” and was a way in which the position of the aperture ring could be automatically coupled to…
Kodak’s Plus-X was a type of fine-grained, medium speed panchromatic black and white film originally released in 1938 as Eastman Plus-X, a motion picture stock rated at ASA 50. In the 1940s, it quickly became popular with still photographers as an alternative to slower orthochromatic films of the day. The…
This is a Kodak VR35 K14, a 35mm point and shoot camera manufactured in Japan by Chinon Industries for the Eastman Kodak company between the years 1986 – 1989. It was the top of the line in Kodak’s VR35 family which consisted of at least 15 different models ranging from…
This week’s featured review is for a very cool camera that I am in the process of shooting as well, the Zeiss-Ikon “Bullseye” Contarex SLR from Japan Camera Hunter. German manufacturers are well known for making complex machines. Whether you’re talking about cameras, automobiles, or airplanes, there’s a saying that…
Automation is coming! In the decade after World War II, many of the world’s biggest economies were advancing technology at a fast pace. The United States and the Soviet Union were deep entrenched in a space race to explore the moon and our solar system. People fantasized about flying cars,…
This is a Rolleiflex Standard K2 Twin Lens Reflex medium format camera, built by Franke & Heidecke Brunswick between the years 1932 and 1938. This model was the first revision to the original Rolleiflex from 1929 and upgraded the camera with several significant features, including support for 120 format roll…
A common question I often see asked in classic film or vintage camera discussion groups like Vintage Camera Collectors on Facebook, is for advice on what is an inexpensive way to get into medium format film. Like most questions asked by people new to the hobby, the correct answer usually…
I am a big fan of Australian photographer Cheyenne Morrison after reading several of his posts online and listening to his appearance on Episode 38 of the Classic Lenses Podcast. I always look forward to anything with his name on it, and this week, we have a doozy! Not only…
This is a Yashica Pentamatic S, a 35mm SLR camera made by Yashica Co., Ltd. starting in May 1961 through the end of 1962. The Pentamatic S was the third and final model in Yashica’s unsuccessful Pentamatic series. It featured a unique bayonet lens mount shared by no other camera,…
