| CAMERAS Moon Station Echo | ||||||
| camera | history | lens(es) | good points | bad points | shutter | fond memories |
| Canon A-1 manual focus SLR |
I inherited this camera from my father in October 2003. We bought it together (using his money of course) from a shop in Garland, Texas. | Canon 35mm/f2 Canon 50mm/f1.4 Canon 135mm/f3.5 Sakar 80-200mm/f4 |
quiet operation
easy to use full manual controls exposure settings in half steps |
heavy | B + 30sec - 1/1000sec | buying this camera with my father in
about 1982 taking it to Washington DC on a highschool band trip shooting assignments for my highschool photography classes using it to shoot promo pics for my friend's band, then realizing the film wasn't properly loaded after 40 shots using it again after so many years without it earlier this month (April 2004)
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| camera | history | lens(es) | good points | bad points | shutter | fond memories |
| Canon Elph 2 APS point and shoot |
This was a birthday present from my parents in 1998. | 23-46mm/f4.2-5.6 (35-70 equivalent?) built-in zoom lens |
it's tiny - fits in your pocket autofocus works well looks cool |
grainy pictures, lame flash | I don't know. | Everyone commenting (even today) how cool it looks when I take it out. |
| camera | history | lens(es) | good points | bad points | shutter | fond memories |
| Contax Aria manual focus SLR |
I bought this camera after deciding that
my old Canon EOS Rebel didn't allow me enough manual control. The impetus for the purchase was my friend, Mike's first visit to Japan. I bought it in October 2000 at Yaotomi Camera in Umeda, after selling the Rebel to my roommate. |
Zeiss Planar 50mm/f1.7 Zeiss Planar 45mm/f2.8 Zeiss Biogon 35mm/f2.8 YUS Yashinon 28mm/f2.8 Zeiss Mutar 2X teleconverter |
light weight does everything you'd want a camera to do excellent metering built-in auto-winder bright viewfinder very high quality everything |
expensive lenses | B + 4sec - 1/4000sec | taking it out of the box bringing it everywhere I've been in Japan Nagashima Spaland (2 great trips) shooting portraits of Glenn and Chiemi in Osaka shooting lots of macro shots for the first time in my life showing it to my dad shooting fireflies in Mino River shooting countless festivals |
| camera | history | lens(es) | good points | bad points | shutter | fond memories |
| Fujifilm Klasse posh point and shoot |
When this camera was released in 2001, I lusted after it, but it was so impractical. It's just a fixed focal length point and shoot with some nice professional features, but the list price was 77,000 yen, which was crazy. Some stores were actually asking 70,000, but it was commonly available for around 50,000. Still a lot of money. It wasn't available anywhere except Japan, however, a few months later I noticed that Rollei was also selling this same camera under their own brand. The production run didn't last long. When Mike and Jonathan visited in May 2003, I think I saw one of the last of the new ones on a shelf in Kyoto for only 39,000 yen. I had pangs of regret later because I hadn't snatched it up, and then it disappeared. A few months later, I decided to start looking around for one used, and told myself I would buy it if it cost less than 30,000. I found mine on a visit to Yaotomi Camera in Osaka in September 2003, and bought it. It cost only 20,000, and it's the silver model (as opposed to black), which I think looks much better, even thought the stores used to charge a small premium for the black model. I love it. So glad I bought it. It's a great ultra-portable SLR substitute. | Fujinon Super EBC 38mm f2.6 | aluminum/magnesium alloy body ability to manually set aperture excellent quality lens ability to dial in a manual focus distance bulb and very long exposure settings adjustable exposure bracketing classic looks |
non-zoom lens can't combine timer-delay and long exposure settings lens won't retract with a spent film cartridge inside |
B + 60sec - 1/1000sec | finally getting it after a 3 year wanting
period shooting the sunset on Satsukiyama Nasasaki in November 2004 Guam with Paul and Jenny in May 2005 |
| camera | history | lens(es) | good points | bad points | shutter | fond memories |
| Kodak Retina late '40s-era compact bellows camera |
I think my mom bought this for my father
for $5 at a garage sale. I pretty much took it over as my own, but neither of us ever used it seriously |
Kodak anastigmatic Ektar 50mm/f3.5, built in | German quality elegant design old and mysterious |
no visual focus check hard to use |
B + 1sec - 1/500 sec in old-school intervals |
checking out how cool it is with my father |
| camera | history | lens(es) | good points | bad points | shutter | fond memories |
| Konica Lexio 70 35mm point and shoot |
I bought this in November 2001 at Camera Naniwa in Umeda. I'd been wanting a higher quality point and shoot camera to carry around daily. One of the staff members at Naniwa gave me a special employee's discount | 28 - 70mm f3.4 - 7.9 built-in zoom | good quality lens clean, simple design |
autofocus hasn't worked in flash mode
since I dropped it hard to load sometimes |
I don't know. | getting the discount using it on my birthday at a jazz bar in Kobe (the night I held Kumiko's hand) shooting practice room pictures of my short-lived jazz group Those are good memories. I'd better get this camera repaired and stop neglecting it. Note: I've realized that the only thing not working is the focus when using the flash in timer mode, so this one's back in circulation. I used it exclusively on our last Tokushima trip with good results. |
| Kowa Six 1960s era 6 x 6 SLR |
Bought this by auction from a man in Saint Helena, California in August 2005. He's an old professional, who obviously took good care of it. I don't know why I bought it, except that it seemed like a good value, as I've been ogling some Hasselblads, and getting kind of frustrated by the cost. Now that I have the camera, I don't really know what to do with it, but it sure is pretty. | 85mm f2.8 Kowa with leaf shutter | looks really cool Japan's first 120 SLR, so I've read |
big and heavy stiff focus ring |
T + 1 - 1/500 sec, in the lens | nothing yet |
| camera | history | lens(es) | good points | bad points | shutter | fond memories |
| Nikon Coolpix 800 2.1 megapixel compact digital |
I bought this in late 1999 in preparation for my trip to Japan. I was one of the first people I knew to have a digital camera. My friend Travis was the first. He had an earlier Kodak digital which I thought was really something. I bought this camera off a group-purchase discount website. | zoom Nikkor 7-14mm/f3.5-4.8, built-in | seemed small at the time good pictures at maximum resolution |
eats up batteries like crazy no rechargeable lithium ion battery slow response: shutter, focus, image preview |
I don't know. | making Mike jealous. shooting the Day Jobs farewell shots |
| camera | history | lens(es) | good points | bad points | shutter | fond memories |
| Olympus 35 DC manual focus 1970s-era compact rangefinder |
I bought this camera from Yaotomi in Umeda on May 20th, 2004. I was inspired by the good performance of my Yashica rangefinder (now destroyed by my repair attempt) on our New York City trip. I wanted something smaller, but still old and cool. | F.Zuiko 40mm/f1.7, built-in | small and light automatic exposure self-timer beautiful design |
no provision for manual settings requires battery for shutter to fire |
1/15 - 1/500sec Seiko | choosing it from 6 almost identical
cameras everyone's reaction to the design |
| Olympus-35 SP manual focus 1960s-era rangefinder |
This camera is the official replacement for the now defunct Yashica Lynx 5000, which was my first rangefinder camera. I bought both of them off Ebay. This time around, however, I knew a little more about what to look for. The Yashica served me well, though, and I miss it. This camera is of the same vintage, roughly, and I've had it since June 2005. | G.Zuiko 42mm/f1.7, built-in | switchable averaging/spot metering automatic/manual exposure capability self-timer high quality 7-element lens |
ASA setting dial is a bit iffy metering cell is on the body rather than the lens, which makes filter compensation an issue |
B + 1 - 1/500sec Seiko | shooting fireworks in Ibaraki with Kumiko
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| camera | history | lens(es) | good points | bad points | shutter | fond memories |
| Ricoh Caplio RX 3.2 megapixel compact digital |
The Nikon eventually put me off the digital medium. Its faults were hard to get past for me. With the supplied 8mb card, you could only take 8 high quality shots at a bout, and it took forever to download to the computer because there is no USB connection. I stopped using it. The Konica 35mm was my answer to the daily camera problem until it broke. So, I started carrying the APS around, even though I was never satisfied with the image quality. I finally bought this camera, after considerable research, and souped it up with every optional accessory to make it liveable. I bought it from Yodobashi Camera in Umeda in April 2004. | 4.3-15.3mm/f3.1-5.8 (28-100mm equivalent) built-in zoom |
fantastic macro capability fast shutter response nice size and style aluminum body very long battery life |
only 3.2 megapixel everything came separately (battery, memory card, case) no "fine" mode with smallest image size |
8sec - 1/2000sec | taking pictures at the park discussing its attributes with Kumiko dropping it hard on the pier in NYC after Barry and Marga's wedding |
| camera | history | lens(es) | good points | bad points | shutter | fond memories |
| Voigtlander Bessa RF medium format (6x9cm) 1930s era folder |
I purchased this camera through internet auction from a man in Montreal. Having been bitten hard by the medium format bug after using my Zeiss Super Ikonta for a time, I decided I also needed a 6x9 format folder. | Skopar 105mm/f3.5 built-in | excellent lens classic styling built-in hinged yellow contrast filter |
unwieldy to load film easy to mess up color film due to built-in yellow filter rangefinder has separate window from viewfinder |
T + B + 1sec - 1/400sec | To be honest, I haven't had a lot of fun with this camera yet. Still learning how to work with it. |
| camera | history | lens(es) | good points | bad points | shutter | fond memories |
| Zeiss Super Ikonta 532/16 medium format (6x6cm) 1940s-era rangefinder |
I purchased this one after a failed venture with a Plaubel Makina 67. The Makina cost $1200 and immediately began showing problems with meter, film winding, etc. I sent it back and decided to go cheap on my medium format introduction. The Ikonta was only $170. I bought it off Ebay and had it shipped to Texas where it was waiting for me when I visited my mother in February 2005. | Zeiss Jena 80mm/f2.8 built-in | fast lens compact folding design striking, classic looks |
only 11 shots per roll, rather than the
standard 12 bellows are in bad condition takes odd-size, hard-to-find slip-on filters |
B + 1sec - 1/400sec | Walking around Town Lake with old friends
and an old camera Big Bend National Park 2005 people seeing it and remarking that I must be a serious photographer |
| Zero Image Zero 6 x 9 multiple format (6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9cm) pinhole camera |
Hmmm, I must have bought this camera in early 2005, from the Hong Kong manufacturer's website. I'd been researching how to make my own pinhole camera, and came up with a design that looked much like this one. When I saw how well-made this camera was, I realized it was the camera I wanted to build, but would probably fail to build, so why bother? It's a really nice bit of equipment. | no lens, just a pinhole | compact construction switchable format uses 120 rollfilm rather than sheet film like many pinholes beautiful teak finish |
sometimes winds take-up spool too loosely
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B (manual slider) | experimenting with funky close-up shots walking around Umeda just using it is fun |
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