5 frames with…

Reto Ultra Wide and Slim (RUWS) in Murky Blue

5 frames with a Reto Ultra Wide and Slim – By Shaun Edwards

The great thing about being someone who creates things – I’ll avoid calling myself an “artist” – is you don’t need expensive equipment to create it. Van Gogh used pretty cheap materials as that’s all he could afford. Brian May made his own guitar with his dad and still uses it today.

I have decent equipment with my Nikon FE and FM3A, along with quite a few other cameras! But having decent equipment doesn’t guarantee a good picture. Ever hear the old adage “All the gear and no idea”? There is a certain allure to using something that is cheap and working within its limitations.

Bronica SQ-A

5 Frames With a Bronica SQ-A – By Jon Broughton

With my finger poised over the ‘buy it now button’ and the endorphins of a soon to be satiated GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) attack pulsing through my body, I heard the fatal words of my 12 year old son: “MUM! Dad’s buying another camera. This time it’s £1,600!”

With the helpful assistance of my wife’s calm reasoning, I managed to reassess my need for a Hasselblad, and closed down my computer with a sigh.

This story had started about 18 months earlier, or to be more precise, about 35 years earlier. I started out in the mid 80’s shooting viewfinder cameras, and saved up my pocket money for a Praktica MTL3 which served me well for years. However I got caught up in the digital revolution and after some poorly developed negatives spoiled my photos from a trip to the Grand Canyon in around 2002, I switched to the dark side.

Leica IIIa

5 Frames with a Leica IIIa, Canon LTM 50mm f2.8 lens and Kentmere 400 – By Richard de Bulat

I have used this little Leica for a couple of years having bought it 2nd hand during the Lock-downs. The original lens was the Elmar 5cm f3.5, the type that sits inside the camera body and you pull out when taking photographs. This lens was not terrible, but lacked the contrast I expect from a Leica camera and, having read about photographers from back in the day who substituted it for a Canon lens, I decided to do the same. This is now the lens that I use, with better results, in my opinion. I decided to use Kentmere film simply to try it out and was surprised at the result in a number of ways.

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