Lenses and gear from Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Minolta, Sony, Panasonic, and Pentax
Vintage Lenses and Beyond

Digital photography image quality matured around 2010-2013. Since then, there have only been marginal improvements.

Manufacturers have made large improvements in video features, resolution, and quality. Around 2016 is when good quality 4k at 30fps was widely available.

The shift from DSLRs to mirrorless cameras also resulted in the discontinuation on the Canon EOS EF and Nikon F lens mounts.

This all adds up to being able to SAVE SHOCKING AMOUNTS OF MONEY BY BUYING USED!!!* It is possible to get absolutely obscene price to performance value on used gear.

If you’re looking for your first dedicated camera, it rarely makes sense to buy new. Spening thousands of dollars on new gear doesn’t mean you’ll actually like using it. My two recommendations for camera shopping are:

  • Don’t discount the importance of size and weight. Smaller and lighter is better.
  • Think about the lenses you’ll want. Don’t spend your entire budget on a camera body to get stuck with a kit lens.

Just like all new tech, camera gear quickly depreciates. Last year’s best in class camera is often this year’s 50% off used deal. That doesn’t even mean it is worth buying because until you have experience, you don’t know what camera features are actually important to you.

The difficulty in finding deals is that there are hundreds of different camera models. Dozens of them might fit your needs. To make your life easier, I’ve been going through series of models to create used buying guides.

  1. Canon AE-1
  2. Pentax K1000
  3. Nikon FM2
  4. Asahi Pentax Spotmatic

All lenses aren’t equal, especially when it comes to vintange and early digital camera lenses. Modern lenses will give you images that are razor sharp corner to corner. Vintage lenses can set themselves apart by how they render, the color you can get with them, interesting bokeh, or other characteristics not valued by current photographers.

On the other hand, many vintage lenses are not good. Their performance may not be good enough to set them apart from other lenses. Worse, as time has gone on some lenses have defects such as haze, fungus, balsam separation, or degraded grease, that will render them worthless because of the difficulty in repair.

I’m somewhat indiscriminate in my purchasing of gear, so I get a mix of good, bad, and average. The lens reviews will help you find a lens worth owning. These are popular film cameras that recieve frequent lens questions.

  1. Canon AE-1 Lenses
  2. Pentax K1000 Lenses
  3. Pentax Spotmatic Lenses
  4. Nikon FM2 Lenses
  5. Nikon FE2 Lenses
  6. Canon A-1 Lenses
  7. Olympus OM-1 Lenses
  8. Minolta SR-T 101 Lenses
  9. Minolta X-700 Lenses

Have you ever been paranoid about the capacity of a battery? Especially if it was from a third party? I was.

I have figured out how ANYONE can inexpensively capacity test camera batteries. I have written a guide on how to capacity test camera batteries. It is a simple DIY project that only requires a screwdriver and pair of wire strippers.

Cameras are the fastest depreciating pieces of photography gear. That’s bad if you buy a new camera. If you buy used, you can get a high-end camera from 10+ years ago for pennies on the dollar.

Being able to use flagship cameras of years gone by is an interesting experience. Medium format in both film and digital become obtainable for non-professional uses. Or owning many cameras is remarkably affordable.

The camera reviews section showcases all of the cameras I have reviewed. You can also find information on camera manufacturers that are no longer in business.

Recent Posts

Camera Buying Guide - Get the Most out of Your Money

Jargon and useless technical information are used as a sales and marketing tactic. What will actually make you happy is usually far removed from what someone wants to sell you. Buying a camera doesn’t need to be difficult. You just need to know a few basics for the types of photography you want to do. For digital cameras, it’s impossible to make a bad choice. Any camera made after 2012 is still capable of taking stunning photos.

A Long List of Film Camera Brands

This is a list of film camera brands and film camera companies. Many of these vintage camera brands have many models that can be found for sale online. For digital cameras, including mirrorless and DSLRs, see the list of digital camera brands. Camera Brands List ALPA Andor Technology Angenieux apertusĀ° Argus Arnold & Richter (see Arri) Arri Asahi (Pentax) Bell & Howell Co. BELOMO Blackmagic Design Bolex Braun Nurnberg Bron Elektronik B+W Filterfabrik (owned by Schneider Kreuznach).

How to Check Olympus Camera Shutter Count

It is important to know how many mechanical shutter actuations a camera has been through. This is because the mechanical shutter actuation count can be helpful for judging the shutter life expectancy. Depending on the camera model, mechanical shutters have life expectancies rated for 100,000+ or more actuations. Higher-end and professional-grade cameras will be have a shutter count raiting that is for 250,000+ actuations. An electronic shutter count is not important as there are no mechanical parts involved.

Digital Camera Banding: Understanding and Addressing the Issue

Digital camera banding is caused by a combination of factors including pixel response non-uniformity (PRNU), algorithmic issues, and the interplay of light and shutter speed. PRNU refers to slight variations in color or brightness among pixels on the camera sensor, which can contribute to banding. Processing algorithms interpreting sensor data and limited data from high ISO or low-light images can also lead to banding. Additionally, when artificial light sources interact with specific shutter speeds, inconsistency in the light source can result in banding.

How to Capacity Test Camera Batteries

OEM batteries have a huge markup. Capacity testing batteries allows you to confidently save money by buying third party batteries. Third party batteries can be 1/4 the price, but there are no assurances about quality. For less than $30 you can have a setup that will allow you to test camera batteries. Capacity testing batteries provides factual data that can be used to judge a battery. You check to see if a OEM battery is dying or a new one is fake.

Types of Camera Memory Cards

There have been a surprising amount of different memory card formats used in cameras. Card formats are often revised multiple times to increase speed and capacity. This can quickly become confusing. The process doesn’t appear to be stopping either. High megapixel cameras and high frame rate 4k and 8k video recording, keep pushing the limit of transfer speeds. Memory card types of been ordered by how common they are. SD CardsCompatibility can be confusing because there are many types of sd cards.