The Film Retriever

This camera was not on my plans but I came across this advert on the very popular selling site, it was local to me, so I ended up buying it. I paid only £60 for it, most of it was money gathered from selling other cameras featured on this site. Any single digit Canon camera is something special and I always kept an eye open for a EOS-1n. The EOS-1n is a fantastic, reliable workhorse that many people still enjoy using. The EOS-1RS is an exotic variant which utilizes a pellicle semi-transparent mirror that does not lift up during exposure. The result is a ½ to 2/3 of a stop reduced exposure as the 1/3 of the light goes towards the viewfinder. The advantages of the pellicle mirror are: a) no blackout during exposure, you can still see through the viewfinder and b) reduced noise, vibration and shutter lag. Once you pick up the camera, you realise that it is a big camera to hold. It is taller than the Nikon F4s and heavier although the mass distribution is much better. This r...

The story will sound familiar as it has been reported time after time on this blog but it applies to this camera too. I spent a considerate amount of time, back in the very early 90's trying to buy, what I thought, my dream camera that I could afford and there were many cameras that temporarily fitted this role before I ended up buying that Practika BMS. The Minolta X-300 and its “S” variant was one of them – broken-hearted after I realised I could not afford it (second hand market was not that big back on those days in Greece) I settled down with the Practika. I few months ago, I found this X-300 in a charity shop for lunch money so I went ahead and bought it for old time's shake. Minolta was always making beautiful cameras, even the budget models like this one, are well made and with good fit and finish. The plastic top cover could easily pass for metal and despite being the X-700's small brother, it has everything you need: Manual and aperture priority and even ...