Back in 2020 Cheeky Hong Kong based Nons gave us one of the most fantastically innovative camera of the past 10 years with the original SL42. An Instax mini shooting SLR that could use most manual focus 35mm SLR lenses ever made. But it was seriously flawed.
But they’re back with the Mark II. And they’ve almost completely sorted it out giving us one glorious instant shooter.
Those plucky folk at Harman Technologies (the folk behind Ilford and Kentmere films) are back again with yet another cheap camera. But the EZ35 is not just yet another near clone film company simple camera. It has a winder and other features. It perhaps gives us some encouragement that things are actually quite rosy in the the analogue camera world. But is it good as a shooter as well ?
Ever since Nikon produced the original legandary Nikon F, they have been at the forefront of SLR design. Nikon for years was the dominate player in the SLR professional market and their cameras from the 1970’s have gone beyond earth serving NASA in both the film and digital eras. But whilst sought after bodies can still command a pretty penny you can pick perfectly sevicable but overlooked bodies for peanuts making them a great starter. Here’s my 10 overlooked bargains.
I’ve looked at picking up film cameras for peanuts before on this site. I thought I could see what I could get for a pound or less in digital cameras. The DX-10 is a 1999 early consumer model came through the door for just 99p before postage. But is this camera that once cost £250 worth a look ?
Our item today doesn’t appear to have an immediate link to photography. But this represents the first steps in a process that would radically alter how we could make objects. That process would also revolutionise photography putting it in mass reach for the first time. It also allowed for the birth of the motion picture industry. But how our fishing reel leads to that involves transatlantic discoveries, legal disputes and exploding Billiard Balls.
The 1960’s was the decade that Japan transitioned into the worlds major Camera maker usurping the century old strangleholds of European makes. It was a also a period of rapidly changing camera design with increasingly compact & futuristic designs. But is Ricoh Auto 35 Enterprise class or space junk ?
In 2000-2001 analogue film sales sat tat an all time high. Film was king and draw into digital in was yet to happen. But this was the hightide mark. Sales would never be as good. Whilst Film was to have a few more years in the sun the digital would rapidly erode the market. But in 2000 Canon produced the PowerShot G1, a camera that showed the writing was already on the wall.
The Goko UF was one of my better finds from this little known Japanese company. But they even gloss over it in their history in favour of this model. But why is that and is the UF2 any better ?
As i sit typing this just out of full isolation a few days before Hogmanay, it’s easy to reflect on what a crap year this has been. But for analogue photography the game has carried on and quite well in some areas.
The Nikon F6, their flagship 35mm SLR is no more. Ending months of speculation about the future of arguably the most advanced SLR ever made and the last Nikon film camera. But whilst some have claimed this is the end of 35mm SLR era, it is far from that.