Photos, Tech, Music, and Musings. Travels the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, and Greensboro areas of North Carolina. Always open to a trip to my home state of New York. Also contributing writer for KEH Spotlight blog.
There will be more written about these cameras. Not sure if it will be here or as a contributing writer at KEH Camera’s blog. But there will be much more written about the Contax G1. Why? On a high-level it is so good that…
So I walk into Southeastern Camera…
(The beginning to many a story.)
…and ask, “What do you have in new that is film, auto exposure, with a built in lens and costs around $50.” To which Dennis replies, “I have your next camera right here, Eric.”
This would freak me out, but similar exchanges have become quite common there.
And it was marked at $50 exactly. After a quick flickr sample shot search I was sold. This is not my first film Konica purchased here. Darth Vader’s disco ball helmet (aka AiBORG) preceded it.
But other than being film, AF, otherworldly consistent in image output, and having Konica written on them these two cameras could not be more different. Where the AiBORG is a mash up of 80s form and function oddity born in the early 90s and full blown automation the C35 AF2 (and AF before it) is 70s function and design minimalism birthed in 1980. Where some aspects of the AiBORG beg the question why, everything about the C35 just makes sense. I do enjoy the AiBORGs quirkiness, but I would choose the C35 any day. The only worthwhile advantage the AiBORG offers over the C35 is zoom and that is not worth it. I still enjoy owning (moreso than shooting) the AiBORG, but it has one glaring fault. Its viewfinder is like looking through a hole punched through a potato with a pencil. The one on the C35 is a joy by comparison with it’s big and bright vantage point. It even has a parallax adjusted view box for close framing. In use it feels much like my beloved rangefinders.
Which it seems to actually be… but with AF. On to minuses, pluses, and sample galleries and link to more images. Continue reading “This Old Camera: Konica C35 AF2”
Click image below to go to the post.
My first post with this camera had a preamble if you are so inclined. Suffice it to say the fact that I have already run 4 rolls through this camera and I am currently working on the 5th I really, really like this camera. Not only has this camera cut into my analog time with other film cameras it has also greatly reduced digital saddle time as well. Currently I am using this for day to day and digital for jobs and personal projects. It is that consistent. It is that good.
Usually I plow straight through to showing the scans, but with this camera I must pause for a moment.
The Canon Canonet QL17 GIII is nearly the perfect all around film camera for me. I found it searching broadly for a 35mm rangefinder on KEH. Why? Dunno. Decided I needed one. A more detailed post is due here or at KEH but, in short, it is a nice mix of all the best virtues of my favorite 35mm film cameras. Have also seen it called a “Poor Person’s Leica”. Nah. I would dub it a VW. Since childhood I really like Audis, but by the time I started earning Audi money I could not justify the added expense over the same manufacturer family, top end VW Passat (currently on my 3rd Passat, 4th VW w/ no Audi in sight). Do the top tier Audis have more power, name cred, and features? Of course. Yes. Will those added features add enough to my ownership experience to warrant the added cost in day to day use? No. In both cases if I could bring myself to ignore the mathematical improbability involved to play the lottery and won would I snatch up an Audi or Leica? Perhaps. But back here in reality land the Canonet and VW Passat will do just fine thank you.
Anyhoo. I digress. Wonderful camera that creates wonderful images.
Ongoing gallery here and samples after the jump.
Gallery after the jump.
Continue reading “Scanner Files: Another roll through the Pentax 645 w/ Ilford XP2”
This also serves as a preview for my post next week at KEH.com.
Gallery after the jump.
