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There is a certain class to folders; they have a sleek look that harkens back to the early days of photography. These cameras offer a slim, compact option to bring medium format when space is at a premium. I would have loved to have brought a folder to Europe in 2015 to have a medium format option. Especially in places like the Waterloo battlefield, Amsterdam, Antwerp, and Bruges, but I could not find the right one. The full name of this camera, the Zeiss Ikon Super-Ikonta C 531/2, would have been the perfect camera with a big 6×9 negative, rangefinder focus, and slim size. ForRead More →

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While one of the least known engagements during the War of 1812, the siege of Prarie du Chien, was part of the drama that happened during the entire span of the war and sealed British dominance in the northwest until the signing of the Treaty of Gent that ended the way. The battle was the only one fought on the soil of what would become the state of Wisconsin. Two hundred years ago the small fur trading post of Prarie du Chien was a part of the Illinois Territory. Founded by the French in the late 1600s, turned over to British control following the French-IndianRead More →

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Nikon has an uncanny ability to build amazing cameras, not always but sometimes they get one just right, but then it just slides through the cracks. The Nikon F90 (N90 for you American readers) is one such camera, one from a proud line of SLRs that stretch back to the 1960s with the original Nikkormat. While often overlooked against such professional bodies like the Nikon F4 and Nikon F5 which the production of the F90 overlaps. The F90 can be had for a song these days and yet performs well both on its own and when paired with one of those bodies. And while IRead More →

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In the words of Jedi Master Yoda, size matters not. And while many in the photography world don’t give a second glance to smaller cameras there’s no denying that in the film world there are plenty small ‘shirt pocket’ cameras that pack a decent punch in both usability and optical quality! So for June the team sits down to discuss some of these small wonders. Cameras Featured on Today’s Show… Olympus XA – Rangefinder power in your pocket, and not just any rangefinder the Olympus XA is the first of a series of cameras that make up the cult-followed XA line. Except the XA1, noRead More →

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The small fur trading post of Prairie du Chien was founded long before the British or Americans came to the old northwest. But rather the post was founded by the French in 1685 and soon became a small post along the Mississippi trade route. Even after the British gained the territory at the end of the French-Indian/Seven Years War in 1763 the population remained French, but the loyalties shifted to the British and remained there even after the Treaty of Paris ceded the territory to the newly formed United States of America. A reconstruction of one of the fort’s blockhouses The first effort to fortifyRead More →

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There is a reason that this camera is nicknamed the fridge it’s big, heavy, clunky, and near awkward to carry with you. But if you treat it right it will give you big beautiful images that will give you a cheaper alternative to 4×5 with near the same quality and more importantly the same aspect ratio in your negatives! Of course, for those unfamiliar with the system, there are two models of 6×7 Mamiya cameras the one being reviewed is the RB version. Special thanks to Alex Koroleski for loaning out this camera for this review! Disclaimer: This is an old review, while I amRead More →

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In the convoluted times that was the Second World War the American photographic industry saw some interesting changes in Up-State New York, specifically in the city of Binghamton. So Alex took a trek down to Rochester, NY to speak to photographer Andrew Hiltz who has done extensive research into Ansco, Agfa, GAF, and the Third Reich. A short summary, Ansco was founded in 1842 as E. Anthony & Co, by 1901 the family has picked up the camera business of Scovill Manufacturing, becoming Anthony & Scovill, this would be combined to become Ansco before 1905. By 1928 the company has merged with German camera giantRead More →

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When Pentax developed their K-Mount, they decided that this, like the M42 they had used before would become the standard for bayonet mount SLRs. And while the K-Mount remains to this day pretty much untouched it did not become the standard with Nikon and Canon developing their own lens mounts. However this didn’t stop other companies from latching onto the K-Mount band wagon and several clones soon popped up. One such camera was the XR7 by Ricoh (oddly enough it was Ricoh that ended up buying up Pentax). And what a camera the XR7 is, this is a small light weight semi-automatic SLR that canRead More →

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Long before we had flexible film and even dry plate it was the wet plate process that brought photography to the masses. This is by no means an easy process involving lots of nasty chemicals and a very slow process that today seems rather strange with head braces, brass lenses, and rubber gloves. But for some it’s their passion and art form, so John Meadows speaks to Shane Balkowitsch about how he got into photography and went right for wet plate. Here are some examples of Shane’s amazing work: We’d also like to thank everyone who made it out to our big meetup at theRead More →

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When it comes to game-changing Nikon SLRs, the FA certainly is one of them, and one of a long line of game-changing cameras out of the company. For the FA the change came in the metering system. This was the first camera that featured full matrix metering out of AI and AI-S lenses and full program shooting. The camera accomplishes this by having a small built-in computer storage system that has a selection of scenes and compares the scene in front of the camera and picks the exposure based on one of the scenes in the memory. A smart trick, while not perfect, was theRead More →