Kodak Instamatic 500

The Instamatic film cartridge was introduced by Kodak in 1963, just as the Beatles started to roll. By all accounts it was very popular and lots of cameras were introduced to use it. Mostly were cheap plastic low functionality jobbies but others were very high end with a price to match. This "500" was the high end entry by Kodak that fitted the "rangefinder" format (Kodak also introduced an SLR 126 camera.)
The 500 is mostly made of metal and has a nice Schneider-Kreuznach F2.8 38mm lens. The 126 format is square, which I like. I have collected a few cameras,  but shooting with them is a challenge as new cartridges are no longer available. Old stock is available though, but it is expensive. I have tried to fudge 35mm film into salvaged cartridges with limited success. It is rumored that Ferrania may start production on them in the near future - I hope so.
Most old film I can find is color. I process it using my standard B &W chemistry which seems to work OK, but sometimes leaves a color cast, which I sometimes leave in after scanning.

Voightlander Bessamatic

 

Voightlander cameras are beautifully designed and constructed and their lenses have a well deserved reputation for image quality. I guess you would call this their flagship SLR from the film era, the noble Bessamatic. It's noble not only because its heavy, but its also semi-automatic and has a selenium cell that needs no battery. Mine is functioning just fine given that  it was built over fifty years ago.
This is no street shooter. At two pounds it's not the kind of camera to casually anchor around your neck for longer than an hour. The screen goes blank after you take a pic as there is no instant return of the mirror. The interchangeable lenses are self contained and don't share their components with the camera as other SLRs from this era do. It has a leaf shutter, which makes it go through some convoluted mechanical gyrations when it takes a shot. Many of these cameras today have sticky shutters because of this. They are supposedly very difficult to service . . . but it is a thing of beauty.

Olympus Zuiko 150mm F4 Lens (and Pen F)

And now for something a bit different, some in-breeding between new and vintage. On the left a Fuji X-Pro1 digital camera with an Olympus 150mm telephoto lens, mounted with a nice neat adapter. Looks like it is meant to fit? But the lens was made over forty years ago for the camera on the right, the Olympus Pen F half-frame SLR. Because the Pen was half frame and took 2 images in the area of a standard 35mm frame, the lenses designed for it were very sharp to aid in enlarging.
The first pic in technicolor was taken by the digital Fuji, today - that's our local beach. The wind chill is -10C.
Below that is Bennie the Bengal taken with the Pen F and the 38mm F1.8 lens attached to it (the camera on the right) This Pen F works a treat and is in pristine condition. But it has a bug - literally, a forty year old bug fossilized in the viewfinder. Puts me off a bit.

Fujifilm GA645zi

The last post featured the tiny Lomo LC-W. Going from the sublime to the ridiculous we now feature the this huge Fuji medium format camera, the GA645zi. This is the so-called Texas Leica because of it's rangefinder style. This camera takes 12 images size "6x4.5" - small by medium format standards by still significantly larger than 35mm.
Despite its size the GA is comfortable to hold and easy to use. The 55-90mm zoom is a bit limited, but in my book is better than carrying two or three primes. Focusing is automatic, so its not exactly equivalent to a Leica. The viewfinder has a frameline and other information in the form of an LCD overlay, perhaps the forerunner of the technology found in the successful X-Pro1 digital camera of today.

Lomo LC-W

The L-CW is a version of the Lomo L-CA with a very wide 19mm lens. Some Austrian students discovered the cute quirky L-CA film camera on a visit to Russia in 1991. They loved the pictures from it and with some smart marketing started the Lomography movement devoted to images taken with this camera. 

This camera is relatively expensive. It's images are not great, but have their own persona. The Russians were heavily influenced in its design by the earlier Japanese Cosina CX-1 which I also have in my collection (there is a film in there now, so maybe I'll post some pics soon.)

 

Ricoh GR1s

 This is the little Ricoh GR film camera popularized by street photographers in Japan - the most well known being Daido Moriyama. The 28mm f2.8 lens is very sharp and the controls make picture taking effortless (and unnoticed.)
I have the digital incarnations of this camera (GRDlV and GR)

Olympus Stylus Epic

The Olympus Stylus Epic is a masterpiece in industrial design. I'm showing here with the "clam shell" partially open. When closed it is one of the most pocketable point-and-shoot cameras you can find, very smooth, no protuberances (almost egg-like) and ready to go on sliding the  cover to the open postion.
Lots of people collect point-and-shoot cameras from this era and the Epic has a cult following. You can get a good one for $25. The 35mm f2.8 lens is sharp and contrasty.