Classic Camera Revival

Classic Camera Revival - Episode 166 - Resolved:2023

Well, we made it to the end of another year, and the whole team is back around the table for one final episode, including a special guest, John Meadows. If you remember, at the start of the year, we all shared some of our photographic and personal goals, so we're coming back around and sharing how we all did. Not to feel guilty if we didn't make it but rather to be encouraging. The team also discusses the joy of photography and what photography can bring during the holiday season.

Here are some handy links for those new to the show this season!
CCR Episode Archive: alexluyckx.com/blog/classic-camera-revival-episode-list
CCR Facebook Page: facebook.com/classiccamerarevival
CCR Instagram: instagram.com/classiccamerarevival

Our host's Instagram Accounts
John Meadows (Emeritus): instagram.com/johngmeadows
James Lee: instagram.com/james.lee.photo
Bill Smith: instagram.com/wbsmith200
Jess Hobbs: instagram.com/jesshobbsphoto
Alex Luyckx: instagram.com/alexluyckxphoto
Chris Wu: instagram.com/wutography

 

Classic Camera Revival - Episode 165 - Frugal Film Project Roundtable

The Frugal Film Project is a collective photography challenge to help reign in the cost of photography. Starting in 2018, it encourages using budget cameras, lenses, and film over a year. The framework in which those participating work includes a camera/lens that costs no more than 75$ (USD) and a relatively inexpensive film (no Portra). And shooting one roll of film a month. Bill has been participating in this for several years now. This year marked the first time Alex joined in, so we're bringing in a small cross-section of those who participated in a couple of chats on today's episode. This is the first time CCR has done a round-table 'open source' style episode, so it is split into two parts recorded on two separate days. If you want to join in on next year's FFP, you can head over to the Facebook group and join in the fun!

To Find the Frugal Film Project...

Facebook: Official FFP Facebook Group
Instagram: instagram.com/frugalfilmproject
Web: rr1photography.com
The Original 'Zine: magcloud.com

Classic Camera Revival - Episode 163 - The Other Nikons

Throughout its history, Nikon cameras have been primarily aimed at the professional market, from their stunning rangefinders in the S-Range to the original Nikon F and beyond. However, the mid-century and post-war economic boom brought a new group of photographers, the advanced consumer. Now, hobbyist photographers have always been around. These new photographers want access to the same quality cameras and optics as the professionals. And while Canon and Minolta were certainly starting to fill that gap, Nikon wanted a piece of the action. While their initial offerings under the Nikkorex line fell flat, save the Nikkorex F, it was their second attempt, the Nikkormat or Nikkomat line of SLRs, that proved to be successful. And these lovely cameras make for an excellent addition to any Nikon photographer. What set these cameras apart is that Nikon went with the Copal Square shutter for each camera, starting with the Nikkorex F rather than building in-house shutters. Also, the Nikkormat EL is the first Nikon camera with a semi-automatic exposure system. Overall, the Nikkormat line was replaced by the small-form-factor SLRs of the FM and the FE.

Nikkormat FT (1965) - The Original Nikkormat body that featured a full F-Mount (Pre-AI) and a metered prisim using the same metering technology as the Nikon Photomic T metering head.
Nikkormat FS (1965) - An unmetered version of the Nikkormat FT.
Nikkormat FTn (1967) - An improved version of the Nikkormat FT, it now uses a classic 60/40 center-weighted metering. An improved match needle display in the viewfinder. The FTn underwent a number of changes over the course of the camera's production that lasted for nearly a decade.
Nikkormat EL (1972) - Uses a CdS meter cell and provides semi-automatic aperture priority auto-exposure.
Nikkormat FT2 (1975) - Rolled all the improvements of the FTn into a single camera, and changed the power source from a mercury cell to a silver oxide cell.
Nikkormat ELW (1975) - Basically the same camera as the EL, but added the contacts for the AW-1 autowinder.
Nikkormat FT3 (1977) - Basically took everything from the FT2, but updated the mount to accept the new AI lenses natively.
Nikon EL2 (1977) - An improved ELW, with a SPD metering cell, AI lens support (native).

Classic Camera Revival - Episode 162 - In the Loupe: Suzanne Pedersen

It's been a while since we've interviewed a fellow film photographer, and today, joining Bill and Alex, is Suzanne Pedersen, a Colorado-based photographer who loves film! And you may have heard her on the Gen-X Photography Podcast! In the episode, we talk about Suzanne's journey as a photographer, a little Nikon GAS and some talk about going to a large format camera.

You can find more of Suzanne's Work Online

Web: https://www.suzannepedersen.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/b.roll.backup/

Gen-X Photography Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gen-x-photography/id1494585131

Classic Camera Revival - Episode 161 - Unlucky

In my experience, there's no such thing as luck - Obi Wan Kenobi

From an RB67 purchased behind a Tim Horton's Dumpster, a sketchy FM, endless Polaroid Cameras, and an over-engineered German Camera, the team at CCR have had some bad luck. So today, for our Friday the 13th Episode, we're digging into our unlucky cameras, films, and developers. But we're also discussing ways to make our luck through careful planning, strategic retreats and experimentation.

Classic Camera Revival - Episode 160 - The Little F’s Pt. 2

Everyone knows and loves the various cameras: FM, FE, FM2, FM2n, and FE2. But there are a series of cameras that are part of the minor F's that make some significant technological splashes and some belly flops that are generally not as well known or are out of reach of the average photographers. These cameras were used to experiment with new technologies before they hit the big times with professional cameras. First is the Nikon FG, produced from 1982 to 1984; it was the first camera from Nikon to have full auto-exposure and semi-automatic and metered-manual modes. The Nikon FA, released in 1983, had a new matrix-metering system that used an internal CPU to determine the exposure based on multi-pattern detection. Produced from 2001 to 2006, the FM3a is the perfect hybrid of the FE2 and FM2n; it is a fully electro-mechanical camera with semi-automatic aperture priority metering and functions as a manual camera when no battery is present. And then there is the FM10, a camera in Nikon name and mount only, aimed as back-to-basic student cameras that were contract builds from Cosina and based on the Cosina CT1 Super but with several customizations not available on the stock model. These included the Nikon F-Mount, depth-of-field preview, meter activation button, and multi-exposure override. Released in 1995, they remained on the market until 2015.

Classic Camera Revival - Episode 159 - The Little F’s Pt. 1

The world of SLRs changed with the release of the OM-System from Olympus. It proved you could have a professional, high-end SLR in a small package. Nikon, at the time, was producing high-end but large cameras. While the F and F2 were solid performers in the professional market, their Nikkormat line of cameras proved popular. It would make the perfect camera to scale down to produce the next generation of advanced consumer SLRs. It also helped the Nikon recently did their first update on the iconic F-Mount, introducing Automatic Indexing or AI. This mount was first introduced in the final two models of the Nikkormat line, the FT3 and EL2. Nikon released the Nikon FM in 1977, an all-mechanical, metered manual camera, and the FE, a semi-automatic aperture priority camera 1978. These were followed up by improved models, the FM2 in 1982 that upped the shutter speed to 1/4000s but retained full mechanical metered-manual operation. It was superseded in mid-1983 by the FM2n that made some minor adjustments, notably changing the sync speed from 1/200s to 1/250s. The FE2 in 1983 carried over similar specs to the FM2n but maintained the aperture-priority metering. While the FE2 ceased production in 1987, it remained on sale until 2001. The FM2n, however, did change to an aluminium shutter in the early 1990s and remained in production until 2001.

Cameras In Today's Show

• Nikon FM (1977-1982)
• Nikon FE (1978-1983)
• Nikon FM2 (1982-1983)
• Nikon FM2n (1983-2001)
• Nikon FE2 (1983-1987)

 

Classic Camera Revival - Episode 158 - Any Given Situation

The whole team is on board for this one! Together we have enough kit to open up a small camera shop or a museum at least, but one of the hardest things many photographers face is when faced with all that gear; what do you bring along? Well, it does all depend on the situation at hand. So in today's episode, join Bill, James, Jess, Chris, and Alex as they hash out what they would bring into some familiar, strange and downright weird photographic situations. The team discusses their choices for the following conditions: cameras to lenses and film to developers.

 

<ul>

<li>Photo Walks</li>

<li>Landscape</li>

<li>Camping</li>

<li>Portraits</li>

<li>Music Festivals</li>

<li>Urban Exploration/Trespassing</li>

<li>Combat</li>

</ul>

Classic Camera Revival - Episode 157 - The Last of the F’s

While we have given cameras like the F, F2, and F3 their own separate episodes, the final three "Big F's" in Nikon's lineup were more evolutions of each other and were a radical departure from the previous manual cameras of the group. So on today's episode, we dig into the F4, F5, and the F6 to wrap this series up (finally). Like the original F, the F4 did not come out of a vacuum but rather from a combination of other cameras that acted as proof of concepts. The first is the Nikon FG which gave Nikon their first complete AE SLR, then the Nikon FA, which offered Matrix metering, and finally, the F-501, which introduced the original form of autofocus. These all culminated in 1988's Nikon F4. Again turning to the design first of Giroetto Giugiaro, the new design was big, bulky, and retained much of the manual control surfaces that many photographers were used to during this period. The camera won a design award that year, and despite being polarising, it proved that professional cameras could have full AE, integrated motor drives and, more importantly, autofocus. The F4 also has matrix metering; you could add a 250-shot magazine, use pre-AI lenses, and swap out the battery grips to add specific features and increase the frame rate in burst mode. The main weak point in the camera is the autofocus; it's far from perfect and often described as slow in a modern context. But already looking forward, in the early 1990s, Nikon was again improving their cameras. Using things like the F90(x) to move to more buttons, menus and dial-style interface and building a single unibody camera, the F5 arrived in 1998. The F5 proved to be the ultimate culmination of all the previous cameras. An improved 3D Colour Matrix Metering, limited support for manual focus lenses, but full autofocus support even for the new G-Type lenses. Plus, support for AF-S and VR-equipped lenses. The unibody design housed the 8 AA batteries. But unlike previous cameras, there were limited abilities to modify the camera. You could swap out the prism heads and add a databack (the MF-28 is the one you want), but that was about it. But the F5 left a lasting impression as the unibody design was carried over to the first pro digital SLR, the D1 and continued well into the last pro-SLR, the D5. But most pros had gone digital when the F5 ended production in 2004. But there was still a market segment that wanted to shoot 35mm. Meet the F6, a film camera born out of the digital age. With a look and feel similar to the digital SLRs of the era, the D2x and D200, this camera is chock-full of the best metering, autofocus, and other features. Plus, you could add or remove the battery grip to ensure the best use of space. And you had far better support for manual focus lenses (just not pre-AI), with full 3D Colour Matrix Metering. These days all three cameras are excellent performers; it's a matter of figuring out what you want.

Classic Camera Revival - Episode 156 - Live from the TFS

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Toronto Film Shooters Meetup. Our co-founder Alex started the initiative and noticed a post on the old APUG Toronto subforum wanting more film photography-centred meetups in the GTA. Having <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/axle81401/albums/72157626501869889" rel="noopener" target="_blank">co-hosted an APUG/FPP meetup</a> in May 2011, attended <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/axle81401/albums/72157626747162333" rel="noopener" target="_blank">another APUG event later in the month</a>. And also having attended <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/axle81401/albums/72157630286361848" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Photostock in 2012</a> along with a <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/axle81401/albums/72157633984917196" rel="noopener" target="_blank">2013 APUG events in North-East Ohio</a>. He felt ready to start organizing a large-scale regional event four times a year. So in <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/axle81401/sets/72157647846763420/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">July 2013, the very first TFS event</a> took place at Toronto's Evergreen Brick Works. And while the group has grown and changed and even survived a global pandemic, it is still a driving force within the film photography community through the GTA and beyond! You can check out <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/axle81401/sets/72177720309727854/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Alex's photos from the event on Flickr</a>. Looking to join a future walk, or just like the idea of the TFS, you can <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1111824998862507" rel="noopener" target="_blank">join our group on Facebook</a>! Or make sure to check out <a href="https://www.instagram.com/torontoanalogfriends/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Toronto Analog Friends over on Instagram</a> and join <a href="https://discord.com/invite/q7Xxf74c2T" rel="noopener" target="_blank">their Discord</a> for meetup details.