The Film Retriever

So, i got a Nikkor 28 f/2.8 AIS for £5. What a deal! Well not really - the lens is full of scratches and internal dust. But I imagine, getting a lens for £5 is a good deal anyway. But how does it perform with all these scratches? Is it up to any good? There is one way to find out. My very unscientific test is thought out like this: I will shoot some pictures with the scratched and destroyed 28 f/2.8 AIS and i will shoot the same ones with the immaculate Nikkor 28-70 and compare the pictures. I developed the film - a FOMA 200 - in Rodinal 1:50 and scan the negatives with an old Canoscan 8600F at 4.800 dpi and see which lens performs better. Of course, a 28 AIS performs much better than the Nikkor Zoom, although the 28-70 is a very well respected zoom lens. I shot four sets of pictures at apertures f/4, /5.6 and f/8. No unsharp mask or any adjustment done, all settings on the scanner have been set to default. These are the scans straight out of the scanner. Here are...

This is a review for the Nikon F5. I base this review on the 3 films i have shot with it over the last three months. As it is always the case, if you need a complete overview about the F5, background information and full insight about its numerous functions, visit MIR's excellent website and also have a look at the review by Thom . I will limit my review on my experience of using the camera and i will compare it with it's predecessor - the Nikon F4s - and it's rival; the Canon EOS 1n RT. Using the camera Once you pick up the camera, you are surprised by its weight and its build. Metal, metal and some more metal. Despite being a slightly bigger camera than the F4s, the camera is better designed and balances better in my hand. The hand grip is thinner allowing better hold of the camera. All buttons, switches and dials are well designed and weather-sealed. Of course there are a number of ergonomic hiccups. There are a lot of complaints...

This is a review of the Olympus OM-10. The camera came to me via a colleague at work – it belonged to her father in law and was kindly passed on to me once she found out that I use old film cameras. The Olympus OM-10 has been one of Olympus' most commercially successful models and that is because it was based on a very successful recipe – the OM-10 is a (feature) stripped down OM-2n, a very popular professional model reviewed in this blog. It maintained the small size and compatibility with the Zuiko system, stuck with the aperture priority mode which was so very popular in the early eighties and offered the optional 'Manual Adaptor' that could offer full manual operation. And most importantly, it uses the highly regarded OTF plane metering system of the OM-2n. These features made the OM-10 a very attractive offer, especially if you think that it was competitively priced – Olympus sold these cameras by millions. Top plate is clean and simple The size of t...

This is a review of the Olympus OM-2n – a camera that I bought locally from a shop that was closing down. It cost me £30 which is usually within the maximum amount of money I am willing to spend on second hand gear but still I consider it to be a bargain of a price for such a wonderful camera. Before you start reading this review, read my review of the Olympus OM-1n that I have here . For me, the OM-2n is just like an OM-1n with aperture priority exposure mode. If you did like the OM-1, you will like the OM-2n too. Everything that makes the OM-1n a classic camera, is here with the OM-2n too: Excellent build quality, small size, big and bright viewfinder, silent and smooth operations and beautiful lenses – everything there to please you. But there are some differences too. The OM-2n is an electronic camera, no batteries means no camera. Also the light meter on the OM-2n is very sophisticated, in auto-mode and for the shutter speeds between 1sec to 1/45, it reads The met...

Compact and well made Another camera that wasn't on my plans to buy but it was for £20 and I thought that I should go ahead and buy it anyway. It is a well sought after camera for the Nikonians and I thought I could shoot a few films and see how I feel about it. The F80 came out on the beginning of the digital era, so it probably it did not receive the attention it really deserved although it has become more popular as a model in the second hand market. As with all Nikons of that era, it too suffers from the sticky back syndrome although my sample is not that bad really. First impressions are really good. Compact and lightweight, fits nicely in my hands. Viewfinder is a bit small and not as crisp as the F90x. The user interface on this camera is excellent. Dials and switches to change into different functions, no more those push and rotate interface of the previous models, well done for having it so well thought out. Another plus with this camera is that you will not...

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 ...

Another short review/initial impressions of a camera that unfortunately was not in working order, so I did not put any film in it. This camera was suffering from the dreaded 'Dead aperture magnets' problem, something that marred the first generation of AF cameras from Minolta. When you pick up the 9000 you immediately understand that this is a very well made camera. Although the outer shell is plastic, there is a lot of metal underneath it and fits well in my hand. It has a rubberised grip which unfortunately it suffers from deteriorating and chipping away but this does not impact on the camera's functionality. The camera accepts a motor drive but without it you have to manually advance the film after each shot. I find this quite nice really, especially if you like your camera to be quiet – and the 9000 is a quiet camera. The shutter/mirror vibration/noise is kept to a minimum. The camera offers the 4 most important (according to me at least) modes; manual, ap...

Cameras in this blog are a bit like buses – no camera for months and suddenly four in a row. Two of them were given to me as non working examples so I did not bother putting any film in them but I am happy to share my initial impressions of them. One of them is this Miranda Auto Sensorex EE. If you have not heard of Miranda before, you are not alone. Many people haven't. The thing is that Miranda cameras are exceptionally well build, with high quality optics and features which pro cameras of their time (that is 60s' and 70s) would be envious of. Take this one as an example, it comes from the very distant 1972 (before the OM-1 era) and offers: Dual light metering including spot ! Removable prism. Totally mechanical shutter. Speed priority automation. These sound like old school kind of staff but find a better equipped camera of that time. And not only that, the camera is very well build, it weights 930gr with lens on – that is Nikon F2 category – and...