The Konica I Rangefinder

If you are familiar with early rangefinder cameras, the Konica I (1947-1951) will look and feel familiar enough. If not, and it is your first encounter with a rangefinder, or if you are used to modern rangefinders, the little Konica...
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The Understated Genius of Saul Leiter

Saul Leiter - An Unfinished World I have long enjoyed the photography of Saul Leiter and my admiration for his work was increased by visiting the "Saul Leiter: An Unfinished World" exhibition at MK Gallery, curated by Anne Morin. A...
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When Photos Looked Like Paintings – Pictorialism

Waterloo Place by Leonard Misonne (1899) There is something magical to me about  pictorialist photography, particularly urban pictorialism, as shown here in Leonard Misonne's accomplished example from 1899.  In addition to having the skill to take photographs with the cumbersome...
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The Kodak No 2 Folding Pocket Brownie

The Kodak No. 2 Folding Brownie was introduced in 1904 as part of the the Folding Brownie series. This was Kodak's least expensive folding roll film camera range with a more basic specification than their Kodak branded counterparts. The smaller...
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The First Camera Lens

The first camera lens was produced by French optician and instrument maker Charles Chevalier's optical firm. Chevalier produced lenses for photographic pioneers Nicéphore Niépce and Louis Daguerre, who both used his lenses for their ground-breaking work in photography. I researched...
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The Nikon FE

The Nikon FE has flown under my Nikon radar for many years. I regularly shoot with the FM3a, F3 and F6, and I've had a FM2/n in my collection for some years, but somehow I remained completely unaware of the...
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The Photojournalist of Apocalypse Now

This article started as research into classic film cameras in movies, which led me to movies featuring photographers, and to my favourite movie Apocalypse Now, featuring Dennis Hopper as a manic photojournalist. The search for the origin of Dennis Hopper's...
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The Greatest Movies about Photographers: Rear Window

This article was inspired by classic film cameras in movies - specifically , Leicas and Nikons. From cameras in movies, it's a short step to movies about photographers. My favourite movie with a photographer as the lead character is Alfred...
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Vivian Maier and The White Bear

It’s hard not be distracted from Vivian Maier’s work by her life. As told in the 2015 documentary Finding Vivian Maier, the extraordinary stories of her life and the discovery of her work have contributed substantially to her posthumous status as a...
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The Kodak No 2 Folding Autographic Brownie

Kodak No. 2 Folding Autographic Brownie The Kodak No 2 Folding Autographic Brownie has couple of unique points of interest. The front plate is engraved with tiny text that describes the rather eccentric ‘Autotime’ system, and there is a stylus...
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Nikon Film Cameras in The Movies

As a Nikon user and collector, I've noticed quite a few Nikon film cameras appearances in the movies and on TV shows. This short article outlines those appearances. I've also written in more detail about the Nikon F's appearance in...
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Early Cameras, a Timeline

This timeline of early cameras describes significant photographic milestones and early cameras representative of their year of introduction between the inception of photography and 1900. I've also provided an overview of the most important developments decade by decade from 1840-1900...
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Leica Film Cameras in Movies

The legendary German marque has had more than its fair share of movie appearances, particularly the M3. Leica pioneered the 35mm 'miniature format', back in 1930 with the first practical camera to use standard cinema film, which required high quality lenses...
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Camera Timeline – Year by Year

This year by year camera timeline lists significant milestones and cameras representative of the year, as well as some curiosities and evolutionary dead-ends, from 1900. The timeline does not include developments in lenses, film processes or camera phones. These can...
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The Nikon F6 – Great Film Cameras

The Nikon F6 was the last of the line of Nikon's professional SLR film cameras, and perhaps the most technically refined and advanced 35mm film camera ever made. It is the film camera I taken most pictures with. This is...
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The Nikon FM3A – Great Film Cameras

The Nikon FM3A (often written as FM3a) is one of the most refined manual SLR's ever made, and as a 21st century manual focus film SLR, somewhat of a throwback. It was introduced in July 2001 when the shift to...
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Photography Timeline – From Chemistry to Computation

My Kodak No 2 Folding Autographic Brownie There are many strands in a photography timeline - the chemistry of film and processing, the physics of optics, the mechanical engineering of shutters, the electronics of metering and digital photography, and the...
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Around the World with a Leica Q

Nearly three years after I first posted about my new Leica Q on this site, it was stolen from a South Kensington Pub. This was after a visit to the Natural History Museum to see the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of...
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Cindy Sherman – Star of the Films That Never Were

Cindy Sherman is one of the world's leading artists – for 30 years, she has starred in all her photographs – and yet the more we see of her, the less recognisable she is.   She's a Hitchcock heroine, a busty Monroe, an abuse...
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Fan Ho – Smoke, Mist, Light and Shadow

I first came across Fan Ho's work in a podcast from Ted Forbes' The Art of Photography.  Some photographer's work gives me an immediate jolt the first time I see it.  Fan Ho's photography, like that of Brassaï and William Klein,...
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Brassaï’s Dark and Beautiful Realm

Brassaï is one of those photographers whose work had an immediate and profound effect on me.  His dreamlike nocturnal street photography and sharply observed portraits of life after dark provide a unique set of images that is as close to a...
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William Klein and The Zero Degree of Street Photography

I came across the work of William Klein when browsing though photography books in a book shop.  It didn't take many turns of the pages for me to decide to buy the book (Photofile, Thomas & Hudson) and learn more about...
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Wet Plate Photography – Alcohol, Ether and Gun Cotton

Wet plate aka gun cotton photography Wet plate photography was not easy.  The wet-plate collodion process used between the 1850s and 1880s uses a solution of gun-cotton in ether and alcohol and requires the entire photographic process including coating the...
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Fox Talbot and Early Photography

Fox Talbot at dawn The recent exhibition Fox Talbot: Dawn of the Photograph at the Science Museum in London which ended on September 11th 2016 was described as ‘magical to behold’ by  Time Out  and ‘ground-breaking’ by The Times.  I found it extremely...
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Is Leica Worth the Money? How the Leica Q Hooked me…

Inspiration When a friend of mine purchased a Sony RX1  in 2016 I thought it was way to much to spend on a compact camera.  At £2,700 this was no trivial purchase and so I looked closely at cheaper options:...
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