Cameras

My cameras from 1955 to today.

Exa - Kodak - Yashica - Minolta - Olympus - Sony - Nikon. My constant work and travel companions.

Photo by John Krantz

My father bought this camera sometime in 1955 an Exa Ihagee, it proved far too complicated for our combined photographic knowledge which was based entirely on Kodak Box Brownies. Many rolls of overexposed Kodachrome were produced. The camera was made in Dresden East Germany.

Photo by home.planet.nl

The Kodak Starflash 127 was my first camera, given to me by my Dad sometime after our failed attempt to use his Exa. A very simple camera but capable of producing some good photos as long as the conditions were right.

Photo by Fogreens

The Yashica J was also bought by my Dad, he was a keen owner of cameras but hardly ever used them, I think the Exa was traded in on this camera. It quickly superseded my Kodak Starflash. The simple design was quite misleading, this camera had an excellent lens, was easy to use and produced hundreds of good quality photos using Kodachrome. It worked perfectly right up to the time in 1971 when I dunked it in the Pacific Ocean while crossing a shallow river mouth at Hat Head on the mid north coast of NSW.

The Minolta SRT101 was the first camera I actually bought myself, bought during a trip to Fiji in 1972. Unfortunately the camera had to be sent for service as soon as the holiday was over, the light metering system was out of adjustment. The money I had saved buying it duty free was used paying for the adjustments but from that day on it proved to be a very good camera. It weighs a ton but is so well made it still works perfectly after 38 years, it has had one interim service for cleaning.

The Olympus AZ200 was bought for work but also proved to be a very good all round camera. A bit on the heavy side but capable of producing pin sharp photos. I used this camera on my trips to China for almost 10 years, it has never needed servicing.

The Sony Mavica FD 5 was my first digital camera, very simple but capable of producing good photos, images were stored on a floppy disk ??? and amazingly these could be sent by email !!!!! It was my work camera and accompanied me on many trips to China until I finally sold it to the manager of the Gnome factory that I worked with. I remember a friend who thought of himself as a photo expert saying to me that digital would never replace film.

The Sony Mavica FD 73 was pretty much a cosmetic improvement over the FD 5 but it still produced great envy in the people at the trade fairs who were still using film. A good solid workhorse that I used for 3 or 4 years before selling it to a customer, who still uses it for product shots today.

The Sony DSC P5 was and still is the most expensive camera I have ever bought, it was the first of the miniature digital cameras and commanded a price that was the opposite of its size. At A$1300 it was almost a deal breaker but in the end was a good choice, it took up almost no room in my briefcase and produced very good photos. It's still working perfectly and there is no way I am going to sell it on Ebay for $20.

The Sony DSC P200 doubled the resolution of the DSC P5 at a fraction of the cost, bought in the USA in 2005 from NewEgg for US$370, this camera has been my work companion and also an excellent choice for mountain bike trail rides both here and in the US. A great camera that is still working perfectly.

 My current non work camera, The Nikon D80 with 18-200 Nikor lens. A beautiful piece of machinery, a joy to use but a bit bulky to use for some travel photography. No plans to upgrade, it does everything I need but maybe a super wide angle lens could be on my shopping list the next time I am in the US.

Not sure what I was thinking when I wrote the previous paragraph earlier this year [2011], why would I buy a wide angle lens for my D80, I would mainly use it in cities and I never lug my D80 when I travel overseas. I saw an advertisement for a new Nikon model, it is the S 9100. I checked it out thoroughly before deciding to buy it and so far I have to say it is fantastic. Light and easy to carry, 24 - 450 lens, HD movies and more filters and special effects than I will ever need. Also a very good panorama maker. I have spent today trying as many of the features as I can and I am very impressed. OK, it does not allow manual control of speed or aperture but I bought this to use when I ride or hike. It delivers pin sharp photos and has an incredible macro performance. Very happy.

Since writing the paragraph above this camera has had to be returned to Nikon for repairs. The soft rubber coating applied to the front panel started to rub through on the corners. They did repair it and it looks brand new but my guess is that the new front panel will have the same problem in future. Not a good choice of material on Nikons part.

The Nikon D5200 has replaced my D80 which was drowned in Malaysia, walking 2 kms. to the taxi pick up point after the Sepang Moto GP race the rain was so heavy it was impossible to keep the water off and out of the D80. So far the 5200 is working well.

I have sold the Nikon S9000 and replaced it with the Sony a6000, This camera has a lot of features for the price. Hopefully it will be as good or better than the other Sony's I have owned.