Posts

Late March Weekend in Midtown

Image
 We're at the other end of this trio of Fomapan 400 negatives, and a bookend, if I started off with my Leica R5, the Nikon FE2, is probably the closest competing camera body when they were both on the market in the 1980s. While Leica's R5 had features, the Nikon FE2, had two modes, full manual mode, and aperture priority, and shared a lot under the skin with the Nikon FA. If Nikon held off another six months the FE2 would have come with Matrix metering but product planners were hell bent on getting Matrix Metering on the market.  The philosophy of the FE2 would be under the file,  simple and rugged.  While I own both the R5 and FE2 and love both cameras, if I were to recommend a system, Nikon will win every single time for practical reasons. Nikkor glass is cheaper and almost as good as Leica R glass, and are more repair techs that will be able to work on the Nikon FE2 as there are more parts available.  Camera: Nikon FE2, Nikkor Ai and AIS lenses.  Film: F...

Yorkville and Summerhill in Early March with a Nikkormat EL.

Image
 I was invited on to an in depth Gen X photography Podcast on the subject of Everything Nikkormat   and had a blast. With that, I had to pull out one of my Nikkormats for a spin, choosing the EL, testbed for Nikon for emerging technologies like battery operated shutters and aperture priority, bleeding edge for the early 1970s.  The EL is different than the mechanical Nikkormats in form factor featuring conventional controls, and the battery, the 4SR44 is located under the mirror in the mirror box. Not an easy place to get at when replacing the battery, but it's more protected from temperature swings.  Overall the EL is a great camera, if you're a Nikkormat fan, if you can find one with decent electronics (they are over 50 years old at this point), they can be a nice workhorse, if their mechanical counterparts aren't your cup of tea ergonomics wise.  Fomapan 400 and 510 Pyro is an interesting combination, I had three rolls in this batch, one from the R5 las...