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Camerosity

Mike Eckman

The Camerosity Podcast is the world’s first open source film photography podcast.

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  • 21 episodes
  • monthly
  • Avg 1 hr 43 min
  • English

Episodes 21

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  • #116
    September 5 · 1 hr 26 min

    Episode 113: GAS Never Takes a Vacation

    After a six week break, the Camerosity crew are back with another episode, but unlike most, we decided not to send out invites and instead just got everyone together and hit the record button. As it turned out, we hit record so fast, we forgot to make an intro! On this, the 113th episode of the Camerosity Podcast, what we lacked in callers we more than made up for in massive amounts of GAS! Who would have thought that keeping five camera collecting lunatics away from each other for a month and a half and we would get ourselves into so much trouble?! We start the show with a brief summary of what each of us have been up to and Mike dominates this section complaining about being without power for over 10 days in mid August due to a massive storm called a derecho which decimated the area he lives in. We quickly get to more interesting discussions, recapping recent pickups both through Japanese auctions and more traditional channels including Theo's beautiful new black chrome Leicaflex SL2 and Anthony's "bucket list" Rolleiflex SL66. We get into more obscure cameras too, such as a beautiful French folding rangefinder called the DeMaria-Lapierre Telka III, a late Voigtländer rangefinder called the Vitomatic III CS, and a Honeywell inspired and Zeiss branded camera built in Braunschweig, Germany called the Zeiss-Ikon Contessa S310. There is a ton of GAS in this episode, but you'll just have to listen to the show to know what it is, but in addition to specific camera models, we talk about the differences between Ai and AiS lenses, the merits of aperture priority AE vs shutter priority AE, and even a hearty discussion about our favorite midlevel DSLRs including a comparison between the equally awesome Nikon D300 and D7000. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. We don't yet have a topic for the next episode, but whatever it is, we will record it on Monday, September 21st at 7pm Central Daylight Time, 8pm Eastern Daylight Time, and 6pm Canada Saskatchewan Time. For more time zones, please consult the World Time Buddy calculator and plug in your time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode Camerosity is back after taking several weeks off / What exactly is a derecho? Mike survived ten days without power / Generators, sump pumps and keeping the camera collection dry Buying cameras from Japan / Buyee shipping options / ECMS versus air shipping Lithium batteries can dramatically change your Japanese shipping options Documenting damaged packages when buying through Buyee Theo gets cameras from Japan to Australia surprisingly quickly Shipping cameras from the United States to Australia can take considerably longer Theo's beautiful Leicaflex SL2 / Black chrome versus black paint Leica black chrome wear / Early Leica M6 finish problems Leica R4, R4S and R4SP / Which version should you buy? The Leica R4's relationship to the Minolta XD / Why some cameras have noticeable shutter lag Minolta's "Final Check" metering system / Feature or workaround? Aperture priority versus shutter priority / Which does the Camerosity crew prefer? Canon AE-1 / AV-1 / AT-1 and the Canon A-series exposure modes Konica's preference for shutter priority Nikon Ai versus AiS lenses / Why AiS mattered for shutter priority and program exposure Olympus OM cameras and why Olympus never offered conventional shutter priority Learning f-stops with pizza mathematics Mike buys an Olympus M-1 from Japan / M-1 versus OM-1 Leica's objection to the Olympus M-1 name Olympus M-system lenses / Other subtle M-1 differences Stephen buys a broken lens just to get the lens hood and accidentally fixes it When a parts camera turns out to be better than the camera it was supposed to repair The Honeywell rangefinder that wasn't a Pentax Zeiss Ikon S312 / Zeiss Ikon Contessa S310 Anthony's Zeiss Ikon Voigtländer Vitessa 1000 SR Theo's Pentacon Six TL / Carl Zeiss Jena 80mm f/2.8 Biometar Repairing a Pentacon Six using a donor body Shooting expired Kodak Panatomic-X in medium format Getting thirteen exposures from a 12-exposure roll Pentacon Six shutter sounds / Thankfully not as violent as a Pentax 67 Adapting medium-format lenses to Micro Four Thirds and Nikon F Biometar versus Biotar / The history of the Zeiss Biometar design How the Biometar design ultimately contributed to the Flektogon Paul is tempted by a Rolleiflex SLX on Facebook Marketplace Rolleiflex SLX batteries and modern replacement options Paul finds an extremely nice Contax IIIa with 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar Anthony finally gets his bucket-list Rolleiflex SL66 Anthony trades his Leica M4-2 for the Rolleiflex SL66 Why Anthony never got along with the Leica M4-2 film loading system Rolleiflex SL66 macro capability / Reversing lenses / Lens movements The Camerosity camera circle continues / Anthony's old cameras find new homes with listeners Finding the correct Rolleiflex SL66 strap Stephen rediscovers early Nikon DSLRs / Nikon D70 for $25 Nikon D200 versus D300 versus D300S Why the Nikon D300 might be one of the greatest digital camera bargains today APS-C isn't necessarily a disadvantage / 28mm becomes a useful 42mm equivalent Nikon D300 autofocus fine tuning / Using Ai and manual focus Nikon lenses on digital bodies Theo used the D300 as one of his main digital cameras for years / Nikon D300 versus D7000 Why the D7000 blurred the line between consumer and professional Nikon bodies Nikon's excellent inexpensive 18-55mm DX kit lens Nikon 18-200mm DX superzoom / Better than pixel peepers might suggest DxO PhotoLab profiles can transform older lenses Correcting chromatic aberration, softness and distortion with modern software Buying a camera because you already own the brochure for it Mike's final Buyee shipment... supposedly / Telka III Asahi Camera annual camera guides / Researching obscure Japanese cameras Why old camera magazines remain invaluable historical resources The decline of blogs and disappearing online camera research resources Mike's Voigtländer Vitomatic III CS / Ultron f/2 lens / A working Voigtländer rangefinder is apparently possible eBay Global Shipping sends a camera on a tour of North America Stephen's month-long shipping odyssey from the United States to Canada Mike buys a Certo Six, a beautiful camera, perfect bellows, dead rangefinder The increasing difficulty of finding technicians willing to repair obscure cameras Camera repair options have noticeably declined during the lifetime of Camerosity Sarah Davis begins learning Hasselblad repairs Why the next generation of camera repair technicians is so important Jeremy Scott rescues auction purchases for several Camerosity listeners 45 Argus cameras weigh approximately 51 pounds Jeremy apparently now has a pile of Olympus OM cameras to repair Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg Sarah Davis Photo Repair - https://www.sdavisphotorepair.com/ The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Camerosity in Spanish Podcast - https://camerosity.es/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #115
    July 27 · 1 hr 38 min

    Episode 112: Fixed Lens Rangefinders and SLRs

    Whenever you get a bunch of camera collectors together to talk about rangefinders and SLRs, the focus of the conversation almost always centers around those models with interchangeable lenses. Thread mount Leicas, Contax rangefinders, Nikon F-series and Zeiss-Ikon Contarexes almost always dominate the discussion. While certainly worthwhile cameras to talk about, lens swappable cameras overshadow their fixed lens counter parts, and for Episode 112, the Camerosity crew decided to take a deep dive into those rangefinder and SLR models where the lens can't be removed. Joining Anthony, Paul, Stephen, Theo and Mike are regular and first time callers A.J. Gentile, Aaron in Idaho, Basile from Montreal, Ben Ryerson, Fernando Villava, Greg Harp, Howard Sandler, Marty Olsen, Ron Gee, Sarah Davis, Vlad Kern, and Wayne Scheipers. We start off the episode asking if anyone who listened to Episode 111 was inspired to buy anything from a Japanese auction, but then we hand over the virtual mic to Vlad Kern who had a crazy eBay story regarding an extremely rare Smena camera he ended up selling, buying back, and then having to sell a second time. In addition, we were joined by Sarah Davis who came back on to check in with how her repair business has been going. Since her first appearance on the show in Episode 108, several Camerosity listeners have reported being very happy with her repair services. When we finally got on topic, we shared our love for a large number of mostly fixed lens rangefinders including the Minolta Hi-Matic 7, Yashica Electro series, the Mamiya Super Deluxe, Konica III, and even though we primarily stayed with 35mm cameras, we discussed Fuji's lineup of excellent 6x4.5, 6x7, and 6x9 rangefinders including the popular "Texas Leica". In addition to covering GAS, Anthony asked the question if any fixed lens rangefinders ever had telephoto lenses, and Mike gave a quick lesson on what exactly the Yashia Electro's "Pad of Death" is and what it sounds like. For fixed lens SLRs, we covered models by Mamiya, Zeiss-Ikon, Nikon, Canon, and a few others. Mike shared one of his favorites, the strange Fujica ST-F with the Ihagee Exa style shutter and in body flash. It wouldn't be a Camerosity show if we didn't get off topic, and our listeners were quick to ask questions about adapting Soviet lenses, what the difference is between an Industar and a Jupiter, whether or not Zeiss lenses for Contax SLRs are better than Yashica lenses, and whether the Vectis APS SLR was responsible for Minolta going out of business. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. We don't yet have a topic for the next episode, but rest assured whatever it is, it will likely involve a bunch of adults irresponsibly spending their money on half century or older cameras! When we know what we plan on talking about, we will be sure to update you through the usual channels, but we will record Episode 113 on Monday, August 10th at 7pm Central Daylight Time, 8pm Eastern Daylight Time, and 6pm Canada Saskatchewan Time. For more time zones, please consult the World Time Buddy calculator and plug in your time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode Has anyone bought anything from Buyee since the last episode? / Nikon F90X Vlad Kern's crazy eBay story / Soviet Smenas / Paul's experience with International shipping Cameras are one of the only collectible things that do their job as good or even better than when they were new Most cameras, even when new weren't very accurate at their maximum shutter speeds Pentax SP 500 with missing 1000 speed / Fujica ST605 with 700 shutter speed and f/2.2 lenses VF Moto Shutter Speed Tester / Shutter speed testers with LED light sources Using a CRT monitor to check shutter speeds Minolta Hi-Matic 7s / Voltage differences with Mercury batteries Theo bought the Agfa Makro 110 camera and it needs 3 Mercury batteries Paul really hates the Konica Auto S2 and S3 / Yashica Lynx 5000 and 14 Rangefinders Yashica Electro 35 series / Theo has an Electro 35 GL / Pad of Death Konica II and III series rangefinders / Konica IIIM Half-Frame Model / FED Mikron 2 Mamiya 528TL SLR / Mamiya Super Deluxe Rangefinder / Majamatic Other Fixed Lens SLRs / Contaflex / Kowaflex / Nikkorex / Canonex / Fujica ST-L Fuji GS645S / Fuji's lineup of medium format rangefinders / Fuji GL690 Professional / What is a "Texas Leica"? Kowa made two fixed lens rangefinders with telephoto lenses / Kowa T85 and T100 Why do Fuji Medium Format Rangefinders have a shutter counter on the bottom? Voigtländer B / L / BR / Vitomatic IIa / Vito III / Voigtländers with Ultron lenses Vitoret 110 Camera / Marty bought a Minolta Vectis off Paul / Other APS SLRs Bridge SLRs / Olympus iS-Series / What is a Bridge Camera? Why didn't Pentax make Rangefinders? / Many Japanese companies "stayed in their lane" Teraoka Auto Terra Super / Minoltina-S / Greg Makes Lemonade from Lemons How do Yashica Lenses compare to Zeiss Lenses for Contax SLRs? Industar 50 and other Soviet Lenses / Adapting fixed rangefinder lenses to M39 and M42 The next episode of Camerosity in Spanish will be about Soviet cameras and lenses Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg Sarah Davis Photo Repair - https://www.sdavisphotorepair.com/ The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Camerosity in Spanish Podcast - https://camerosity.es/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #114
    July 16 · 1 hr 40 min

    Episode 111: Buyeeing Camera Auctions From Japan

    We're back in time for both the 111th Episode and the belated 5th Anniversary of the Camerosity Podcast! Even though we forgot about our own anniversary, we commemorated the occasion with a topic from the Discord suggestion box, buying cameras from Japanese auctions! If at first, this seems like a dry topic, then clearly you aren't the target audience for this show as any option for more GAS is always welcome here! Joining Anthony, Paul, Stephen, Theo, and Mike are a combination of regular callers and a couple newbies, A.J. Gentile, Bryan Hewitt, NP from Discord, Greg Harp, Heath from Maryland, Ira Cohen, Jeremy Scott, Jody Oliver, Marty Olsen, Nick Marshall, Ron Gee, and Will Pinkham! For those who have only experienced buying cameras through eBay, the first thing you should know about buying on Japanese auction sites is that if you are not in Japan, you need to use a proxy and while there are many out there, they're not all the same. Starting off the show, we attempt to explain the differences between the most popular options, what's similar about them and more importantly, what's different. On the show were a large number of people who have experience with these types of proxy sites, so the various callers shared their experiences, both good and bad, with them, detailing what they liked and where things can go wrong. In our attempt to explain how all these proxies work, we did a pretty poor job of promoting them, and by the end of the show, we may have turned people off from ever wanting to use one! But hey, the more information you have, the better you are able to make a decision. While a majority of the show stayed on topic, we did get to some recent GAS near the end, including Mike's white whale and pickups from A.J., Greg, Will, and a purchase that Stephen made during the show! As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. The recording for the next show is just a couple days away, but for Episode 112, we are going to discuss fixed lens rangefinders and SLRs. While collectors and users often get the most excited over interchangeable lens cameras, there were a huge number of excellent fixed lens cameras and since many don't get a lot of love, we hope to change that on the next show. We will record Episode 112 on Monday, July 20th at 7pm Central Daylight Time, 8pm Eastern Daylight Time, and 6pm Canada Saskatchewan Time. For more time zones, please consult the World Time Buddy calculator and plug in your time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode 5th Anniversary of the Camerosity Podcast / Introducing the returning callers, and a couple of new ones eBay is the de facto used camera marketplace, but Japan has their own auctions Stephen’s GAS is extreme What are Buyee, From Japan, and ZenMarket? / What about Yahoo! Auctions Japan and Mercari Japan? Proxy services are above board and welcomed / Sometimes items are restricted, but you have other options Yahoo! auctions are a soft close, unlike eBay, and it affects sniping Coupons from the proxy services, and the tricks to using them Why junk can be near mint, and near mint can be junk What experiences have we all had with the condition of items? Mike spotted an issue with a Baldaxette through the photos that wasn’t in the description NP’s expired film-buying experience Lack of buyer protections and lack of contact with the seller compared to eBay Consolidated shipping is a huge plus Why you can end up paying for shipping twice, and options for tariffs Packaging can vary when you consolidate, and beware of batteries Deals can be had with items that are less desirable in different regions Camera models sold in Japan can have different names than in other countries Some items can be listed on both Yahoo! and eBay at the same time, and it’s not always legit Fun with translations Anthony takes us to Europe with Catawiki, and compares notes with Ira Cohen Greg Harp and Ira share their big wins with mislisted items: a 1950 Canon and a Leica IIId The Arco 35 with View-Arco is becoming Mike’s White Whale Superbuy is a proxy service for China Stephen goes over Inspection and insurance options on Buyee Greg got some cameras he didn’t buy Paul’s domestic Mercari misadventure with the Rolleiflex SL66 Sharing the GAS: A.J. Gentile’s Kiev 4a and Aires 35-V Marty Olsen snagged a Minolta Maxxum 500si from a $5 bin Will Pinkham had a banner week, getting Canon 110ED 20, Agfa Karat 36, and Lavec Mini Spy XR8 Jeremy Scott ran into Norris Liu on Whatnot Bryan Hewitt modified a Mamiya film back with the Mercury Works 135 Pano Conversion Kit for RB67 Back and uses it on his Graflex Theo picked up an Agfamatic 5008 Makro pocket after the 110 episode Ron Gee got a King Regula after reading Mike’s review, and bought a Rollei 35 T from Paul, a Universal Minute 16 is Greg’s latest Mike finally found a MIOJ Konica I Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Camerosity in Spanish Podcast - https://camerosity.es/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #113
    June 23 · 1 hr 35 min

    Episode 110: Tiny Negatives, Giant Opinions

    We have returned with the tiniest episode we've ever done, covering 110 Pocket Instamatic and other 16mm subminiature cameras. This was a topic which the Camerosity crew had no idea would be so popular, but our loyal listeners came through and delivered a full show of giant opinions about cameras which make tiny negatives! On this episode, Anthony, Paul, Stephen, Theo and Mike were joined by A.J. Gentile, Edward Michelet, Eric Schneck, Fernando from Germany, Greg Harp, Ira Cohen, Pat Casey, and Will Pinkham where everyone spoke about their favorite Pocket Instamatic and 16mm subminiature cameras. We started things off with a bit of history and moved into one of the most consistently popular 110 cameras, the full system Pentax Auto 110 SLR. We talk about other premium 110 cameras like the two Minolta 110 SLRs and the Canon ED, along with a really neat German camera called the Agfamatic 6008 Makro Pocket, a camera that was so awesome, it inspired Theo to buy one while the show was recording. We talk about challenges with the format, including its extremely small size, the lack of a pressure plate, and how 110 opened the door to the ill fated Kodak Disc format which in turn, brought us T-Grain film still used today with film stocks like Kodak TMax. We cover a wide variety of other cameras, including some interesting 16mm cameras made by Minox, Yashica, and KMZ in the Soviet Union and even a few bizarro ones like the Tasco binocular camera and the Voltron Star Shooter 110. It wouldn't be a Camerosity Podcast episode without us getting off topic, and for this episode, our diversion ended up being all about camera batteries! As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. The next episode is coming soon, and as of this writing, we don't yet have a topic, but I am sure it will be something to stretch your GAS budget even farther than before. We will record Episode 111 on Monday, June 29th at 7pm Central Daylight Time, 8pm Eastern Daylight Time, and 6pm Canada Saskatchewan Time. For more time zones, please consult the World Time Buddy calculator and plug in your time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode The History of 110 Film / Kodak introduces Pocket Instamatic in 1972 Limitations of the Cartridge Design / Film Flatness Issues Pentax Auto 110 SLR / Lenses Lack a Diaphragm Best 110 Cameras: Canon 110ED, Minox 110, Voigtländer 110 Agfamatic 6008 Makro Pocket, Minolta Weathermatic 110, Pocket Fujica 110 The Unreliability of the Rollei 110 Camera European Perspectives on 110 / Agfa's Significant Investment in Premium 110 Designs 110 Slide Film / Kodachrome and Ektachrome in 110 Problems Caused by Projecting 110 Slides in Standard Projectors Reloading 110 Film / Single Perforations / Film Speed Notches Which Cameras Can Accept Reloaded Film Other Subminiature Cameras: Minolta 16, Kiev 30 & 330, Vega 2 Who Was the Target Audience for 110 Film? Kodak Was a Film First Company / Comparisons to Disc Film / T-Grain Tasco Binocular Cameras / A Horse Race Radio Camera Mike Wants a Cyclops Binocular Camera / Theo Bought an Agfamatic 6008 During the Show Stephen Loves the Voltron Star Shooter 110 Where to Buy Batteries / Kodak's K-Type Battery / Storing Batteries Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg Adam Paul's 110 Camera Round Up - https://quirkyguywithacamera.blogspot.com/2018/04/small-format-size-big-format-results.html The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Camerosity in Spanish Podcast - https://camerosity.es/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #112
    June 7 · 1 hr 38 min

    Episode 109: Canon Rangefinders Part Deux

    Way back in the early days of the Camerosity Podcast, we did a show with Canon historian and author Peter Kitchingman, and recently as the gang looked back at what topics were worth revisiting we decided to come back to Canon rangefinders. But what expert would we get this time? As it turned out, Peter was available and willing to come back so we decided to retread this bountiful topic and deliver a "Part Deux" to Canon rangefinders. Joining Peter and the regular hosts were Greg Harp, another excellent resource for these cameras who has a great deal of knowledge, plus listeners A.J. Gentile, Ben Ryerson, Ira Cohen, Jeremy Scott, Joan, John Roberts, Norris Liu, William Smith, and Will Pinkham. We start off with some brief history and then get into some of the earliest Canon rangefinders like the original Canon and the slightly later Canon J and JII. Moving onto the historically significant S, SII, and IIBs and eventually covering the II, III, and IV series. We move along to the back loaders like the V, VI, P, and 7 series, covering various lenses, including the 0.95 Dream lens, a very rare original Canon mount wide angle lens, and others. Greg and Peter even share a bit of knowledge about Canon's X-Ray cameras which they made during and after the war. Although a majority of you probably wanted to hear the most about the interchangeable lens models, we give some love to the fixed lens Canonet models like the trigger wind Canonet, the Canonet QL17 G-III, and even some of the more economically priced models. Unusual to a Camerosity episode, we largely stayed on topic for this only only slightly veering into one Argus lens (blame Mike for that), but we answer a bunch of questions such as why is having different magnification ratios for the rangefinder useful, why is having separate viewfinder and rangefinder windows better, and what role did Nippon Kogaku play in Canon's history. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. Our next episode will be number 110, and we listened to you all for a topic and you chose 110 "Pocket Instamatic" cameras. This means the Pentax and Minolta 110 SLRs will definitely make an appearance, but in the event we can't fill a whole episode about 110 cameras, we are opening up the discussion to all 16mm subminiature cameras. We will record Episode 110 on Monday, June 8th at 7pm Central Daylight Time, 8pm Eastern Daylight Time, and 6pm Canada Saskatchewan Time. For more time zones, please consult the World Time Buddy calculator and plug in your time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode Peter Kitchingman is Back / Peter Still has Hundreds of Copies of His Book for Sale A Show Listener Recently Picked up a Canon JII and Asked What it Was The Origins of Canon's Early Models / Rangefinder Less Canon J Nippon Kogaku's Role with the Early Canon Cameras / Serial Numbers are Difficult to Track Canon J-Mount vs Leica Thread Mount (24 tpi vs 26 tpi) / The Canon SII Was the First LTM Canon Canon Remained Profitable During the War Making X-Ray Cameras Mike Thinks the Rotating Prism Was One of Canon's Best Features Which Canon is Good for a First Time Canon Rangefinder Owner? Quick Ways to Differentiate a Canon II, III, and IV / Canon IV Sb The Never Ending Questions About the EP Mark Some Canon Sleeper Lenses / Canon Often Launched Cameras with Wide-Angle Options The Canon V-Series / Lever Wind Models and the VT Trigger Wind Models Japanese Summilix 50mm f/1.4 Canon Lens / Trigger Film Advances CR Skinner and the Canon 1950 Model / Origin of the Name "Dream Lens" Canon 7 / Canon f/0.95 Lens and its Use in Hollywood / Stanley Kubrick's f/0.7 Zeiss Planar Lens Differences Between the Canon 7s and 7sZ / Lenses with Hoods Which Block the Viewfinder Why Do Some Lenses Inexplicably Skyrocket in Value? / Influencers The Helios-44 is Influencer Proof / Getting Stuff from Ukraine Canon Made Some Decent Fixed Lens Rangefinders Too / Trigger Winds Canonet 19 / Canonet QL17 GIII / Canonet QL25 and 28 Models Canon Cameras at the Leitz Auction / Repainted Black Cameras Tips on Identifying a Repainted Camera vs an Original Painted Camera What Are the Advantages of Having Multiple Magnification Ratios in a Rangefinder? Auxiliary Viewfinders / Canon V and VIs Have Built in Automatic Parallax for Viewfinders Experiences with Canon or Konishiroku Collapsible 50/3.5 LTM Lenses Keeping a Record of Camera Provenance and History Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg Camerosity Podcast Episode 18 w/ Peter Kitchingman - https://camerosity.podbean.com/e/episode-18-canon-rangefinders-with-peter-kitchingman/ If you would like to order Peter Kitchingman's book, email him at peterkcrf@iinet.net.au. The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Camerosity in Spanish Podcast - https://camerosity.es/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #111
    May 11 · 1 hr 44 min

    Episode 108: The TLR Episode

    Episode 108 is all about a topic we've touched upon in a large number of Camerosity Podcast episodes, but after reviewing our show notes, we realized we had never covered thoroughly in a single show. Since you've probably already read the title of this post, I can't really hide that I'm talking about TLRs, or Twin Lens Reflexes for those of you who are acronym-adverse. Theo was absent for this one because he only likes cameras that involve 7 of something, but joining Anthony, Paul, Stephen and Mike are callers A.J. Gentile, Brian MacDomhnail, Chris Sherlock, Ethan, Joao Gomes, Howard Sandler, Jeremy Scott, Norris Liu, Robert Rotoloni, Sarah Davis, and Will Pinkham. We quickly get started with some TLR history and then introduce a couple of our first time callers. One such caller for the show was long time listener/first time caller, Sarah Davis who repairs cameras and specializes in TLRs. What Sarah lacks in gray hairs she more than makes up for in experience. Studying under some well respected camera technicians, Sarah has learned from the best and can now tear down most mechanical TLRs and Nikon film cameras, bringing them back up to life. We regularly hear of long time technicians retiring or passing away and it is refreshing to have a new option for your camera repair needs. As you should expect, we cover a tremendous amount of GAS including some of our favorite models medium format, 35mm, and subminiature TLRs. In the roughly hour and forty minutes runtime, we cover the gamut from some of the most popular Rollei and Yashica TLRs to some really wild and rare models like the Welta Superfekta, the Tessina 35, AGFA Flexilette, and we even take the opportunity to talk about our beloved Chuzhao (which isn't actually a TLR). Mike discusses the closest he'll ever come to shooting a Nikon TLR, why he hates the label "Pseudo TLR", and shares some trivia about interchangeable lens TLRs. If you were to assume that an entire episode about TLRs would attract everyone who loves shooting TLRs, you'd be mistaken as we hear from a couple callers who aren't fond of the design, especially the horizontally flipped viewfinder, and why it can be difficult to get perfectly straight horizons. In addition to TLRs, we cover topics that are TLR-adjacent such as some of the different designs of focusing screens, why Rick Oleson's screens are better, and some fascinating pros and cons to leaf shutters, including why most of them can't actually move any faster than 1/500th of a second. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. For our next episode, we will be revisiting Canon rangefinders (again). We tried to do this for Episode 108 but had to push it back due to a scheduling conflict, but we're giving it another go! The last time we spent a majority of an episode on these wonderful cameras was way back in Episode 18, so we thought it was time to invite some newer fans of the show to call in and share which models they love and whatever else they want to talk about! We will record Episode 109 on Monday, May 18th at 7pm Central Daylight Time, 8pm Eastern Daylight Time, and 6pm Canada Saskatchewan Time. For more time zones, please consult the World Time Buddy calculator and plug in your time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode Quick TLR History / The Original Rolleiflex Used 117 Film Original Rolleiflex compared to Rolleiflex T (photo) First-time caller Ethan has four TLRs, but confesses he doesn’t like shooting them Stephen Strangways find he tilts not only film TLRs, but also the digital Chuzhao and Paul Rybolt figures it’s due to shutter button placement Paul likes the Rolleicord and Rolleiflex, but hates identifying them. Xenons, Xenars, Planars, and Tessars, oh my! Sarah Davis fixes Yashica, Rollei, and Mamiya TLRs, as well as some Nikon and Canon SLRs Chris Sherlock of Retina Rescue has repaired some Tele Rolleiflexes: “try and take note of what I took apart, and put it back together so it works.” Sarah shares why the Yashica TLRs, after the Pigeonflex and Yashima Flex, are so durable Brian MacDomhnail took Mike’s advice to pick up a Yashica-D to replace his Lomo Lubitel Mike finds the non-Mat TLRs are simpler and smoother, Sarah recommends the Yashica-Mat LM and EM Anthony Rue had a Rolleiflex 2.8E that he traded for a Leica M4-2, but kept his Yashica Mat 124, but shoots his Meopta Flexaret VI the most, Anthony also loves his Voigtländer Superb, and Mike has a theory as to why it’s so different Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex “coffee can” Focusing screen brightness, Fresnel lenses, Rick Oleson Bright Screens, Martin Seelig’s mirrors A.J. Gentile has tips on shooting with TLRs Howard Sandler thinks the Minolta Autocord and Ricoh Diacord have great ergonomics, Sarah has some repair insights into them, and Mike explains the Autocord’s backwards film loading Leaf shutters vs. focal plane shutters, and the tricks used to get leaf shutters beyond 1/500th, as on the 1/800th Kodak Chevron and Tourist, the Graflex Super Speed Graphic’s 1/1000th, and the Minolta V2 and V3 Are the Mamiya C-series cameras, TLRs with interchangeable lenses, huge and reliable, or just huge? The Koni-Omegaflex M is even bigger / Rex Reflex The reason for TLRs, and medium format film Going smaller: Agfa Flexilette, Bolsey Model C, Samocaflex 35, the Gakkenflex DIY kit Even smaller yet: Tessina 35, GemFlex, Goerz Minicord Is it a pseudo-TLR, or something else? Argus 75, Voigtländer Brillant, Lubitel, Kodak Duaflex, Bedfordflex, Windsorflex Paul’s Rollei Magic Rant, and why it breaks Mike’s brain João Gomes on the underappreciated Zeiss-Ikon Contaflex and Ikoflex III Norris Liu’s funky Toyocaflex 35, Welta Superfekta and Perfekta Paul’s 1937 Minoltaflex (photo he sent in FB group chat) Jeremy Scott brings up f/2.8 TLRs with his Rollei, and Mike has a Fujicaflex Anthony’s Ansco Automatic Reflex 3.5 regret, Mike expands on the history of them, and Norris has a Rocca Super Reflex Will Pinkham opens a can of worms about viewing and taking lenses Stephen didn’t think his Mamiya C330f was too huge, just too convoluted, and servicing simpler cameras to keep them working Wrapping it up with some one-off TLR models A surprise guest swoops in like a Seagull Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg Sarah Davis Photo and Repair - https://www.sdavisphotorepair.com/ Chris Sherlock - Retina Rescue - https://retinarescue.com/ The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Camerosity in Spanish Podcast - https://camerosity.es/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #110
    April 15 · 1 hr 39 min

    Episode 107: Chris Sherlock No Longer Repairs Retinas

    For over a year, one of my most sought after guests to come on the show has been Chris Sherlock of Retina Rescue. Way back in December 2019, I had a chance to sit down and have a discussion with Chris and I have wanted to have another opportunity ever since and it finally happened! Episode 107 is all about Chris Sherlock and his experience repairing and collecting the Kodak Retina system. I promised Chris, I would make it very clear that he is still retired and is not taking in any new work, but Chris is still active on YouTube, publishing complete walkthroughs of CLAs on Retinas and other cameras. Joining Chris are Anthony, Paul, Stephen, Theo, and Mike and a long list of callers, including A.J. Gentile, Aaron Knesal, Ben Ryerson, Doug Willoughby, Eric Schneck, Fernando Villava, Joao Gomes, Greg Harp, Howard Sandler, Michael Boudreaux, Norris Liu, Pat Casey, Robert Rotoloni, and Will Pinkham. Chris starts things off with how he got started repairing cameras, all the way back in the 1970s working for Kodak in Wellington, New Zealand and then continues onto his first Retina models and why he started his site. We discuss a wide range of Kodak Retina models, from the folders, solid bodied rangefinders, to the SLRs. Chris, Mike, and others share their favorite models and which ones we recommend for first time shooters and which ones have issues to look out for. Chris explains what kinds of problems the Retina cocking rack may cause and why the later cameras have a long silk cord in them. It wouldn't be a Camerosity Episode if we didn't get off track, so we can thank Howard for bringing up the Voigtländer Ultramatic, Theo gives an update on the most recent Sydney Camera show, Greg Harp shares his recent 1930s Canon Standard pickup, and Aaron talks about his Yashica 44 TLR he bought from Paul. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. For our next episode, we are will be revisiting Canon rangefinders. The last time we spent a majority of an episode on these wonderful cameras was way back in Episode 18, so we thought it was time to invite some newer fans of the show to call in and share which models they love and whatever else they want to talk about! We will record Episode 108 on Monday, April 27th at 7pm Central Daylight Time, 8pm Eastern Daylight Time, and 6pm Canada Saskatchewan Time. For more time zones, please consult the World Time Buddy calculator and plug in your time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode We Are Recording While Artemis II is Coming out of Radio Blackout / Anthony's Artemis Launch Photos Chris Sherlock is Not Coming Out of Retirement / Chris Still Gets Requests Daily to Repair Retinas How Chris Got Started Repairing Cameras / Working in Wellington Repairing Instamatics Chris's First Retina was a Retina Ib / Started Selling on Auction Web (Predecessor to eBay) The First Version of Retina Rescue was an ISP Personal Page Spare Parts Are Important to Camera Repair / Chris's Tips for Starting to Repair Anthony Gets his Dad's Retina Reflex III Repaired by Chris Paul Barden Also Repairs Some Retinas / Chris's YouTube Videos Are Incredibly Helpful Too Not All Retina Cocking Racks Are Weak Points Is the Retina IIIC the Best Retina? / Differences Between the IIIc and IIIC Using Auxiliary Wide or Telephoto Lenses on the Kodak Retinas The Retina With the Most Problems with Haze / Cleaning Lenses Were the Early Ektar 3.5 Lenses Actually Made by Kodak? What Would be Chris's Favorite Retinas to Shoot? / Kodak Retina IIS and IIIS How Far Did Chris Tear Down the Shutter when Doing a CLA? Doug Can Recognize Chris's Hands in a "Hand Lineup" Kodak Retina Automatics / Other Contemporary Cameras to the Retina The Kodak Retina II Type 122 is Unobtanium for Chris How Long Did it take Chris to CLA a Kodak Retina? Where were Chris's Customers From? / Selling Cameras is Difficult Retina Reflexes Had a Silk String Inside Them / Voigtländer Ultramatic You Can't Just Repair One Part of a Camera, You Must Do it All Chris Likes Jigsaw Puzzles But Not Zeiss-Ikon Contaflexes Mike's Favorite Retinas are the IIa, Ib, and IIIS Greg Picked Up a Canon Standard Rangefinder / Joao's Ansco Super Speedex Theo's Update on the Sydney Camera Show / Seagull TLRs Aaron Buys a Yashica 44 from Paul / Shooting 127 Film Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg Chris Sherlock's Retina Rescue - https://retinarescue.com/ Chris Sherlock's YouTube Page - https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisSherlock The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Camerosity in Spanish Podcast - https://camerosity.es/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #109
    March 30 · 1 hr 43 min

    Episode 106: Camerosity Invades Europe

    Ever since the very first episode of this show, we've aimed to include as many of our listeners in our shows as possible, but that our hosts are located in three different countries and in four different time zones makes finding a time that works for everyone difficult, especially those of you in Europe and other European-aligned time zones where it is often the middle of the night when we typically record. In an effort to give more people in these areas of the world the opportunity to join us, on occasion we change our recording time. For Episode 106, we did just that and saw a large number of people show up! Joining Anthony, Paul, Stephen, Theo, and Mike on this show were returning and first time callers, Brendon Wilson, Brian MacDomhnail, Fernando Villava, Ira Cohen, Joey Alvillar, John Wade, Josh Calvetti, Krijn Vogelaar from Holland, Kamil from Norway, Norris Liu, Pat Casey, Stuart Pratt, Vlad Kern, and Wayne Scheipers. On this show, we covered a wide array of topics including one of Paul's most hated Nikons, John Wade shares with us a very interesting Ilford monorail camera which supports shooting on 35mm film, Ira shares his love for Eigenbau cameras, and we admire Krijn's beautifully painted Kodak box cameras. In addition, we cover a large range of cameras from the AGFA Automatic 66, to the Kodak Medalist, Hasselblad SWC, Leidolf Lordomat, Mamiya RB67, the Tom Thumb 'radiocamera', and Mike shares a quick preview of a neat rangefinder camera he picked up called the Wenk Wenka. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. For our next episode, we are returning to one of the gang's favorite camera families, the Kodak Retina. To help us navigate the nuances of so many Retina models, we are happy to welcome Chris Sherlock, of Retina Rescue. Chris has many years of experience repairing Kodak Retinas and other leaf shutter cameras and is sure to have a great deal of insight into these wonderful cameras! We will record Episode 107 on Monday, April 6th at 7pm Central Daylight Time, 8pm Eastern Daylight Time, and Tuesday April 7th at Noon New Zealand Standard Time. For more time zones, please consult the World Time Buddy calculator and plug in your time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode Happy Birthday to Pat Casey / Kamil and the Olympus mju Zoom / Minolta Dynax 5 / Nikon F80 Paul Really Hates the Nikon F70 / Mike’s First DLSR was the Nikon D40x Fujifilm Finepix Pro early DSLRs were F80 bodies John Wade has stopped writing books, but still writes for Amateur Photographer Ilford KI Monobar, a 35mm monorail camera John has Stanley German’s (Botanist in 1940s) specially made one off camera with all his slides Ira's Eigenbau and Frankencameras / Machinists Who Make Good Cameras at Home John showed a stereo camera which was converted to a Panoramic Camera Paul likes the pretty Kodak Model F 620 box camera Kodak pushed 620 across the world Agfa Automatic 66 and the Goerz Minicord Krijn's Hand Painted Kodak Brownies Brendan has a Mandelar Leica M lens, they are a hot item Third party lenses are really good value Wayne is shooting a Zeiss-Ikon Contessa 35 and a Kiev 88 Vlad has had a few problems with US Customs Mike has gone 3D printing crazy Josh has a new Minolta Rokkor 40mm f/2 CL Leica mount Joey picked up a Hasselblad SWC which could have gone through the Camerosity rounds Leidolf Lordomat / Brian has reduced his camera collection a lot, he is enjoying the Pentax MX Wishing the I Dream of Cameras podcast congratulations for 100th episode Some cameras have strange battery compartments Fernando has a new Kodak Medalist Many photographers used the collected cameras as workhorses Good photographers do not rely on the camera alone for the results Kamil scored a Mamiya RB67 Pro S New seals are often needed for older cameras / Don’t put cameras in the sun Norris brought in a radio camera called the Tom Thumb Mike Picked Up a Wenk Wenka / Stuart has a Rolleicord 5b and some Zeiss Ikoflexes Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #108
    March 10 · 1 hr 39 min

    Episode 105: John Minnicks and the Aero-Liberator

    For Episode 105, it finally happened! As eluded to on a great number of previous episodes and on our official Facebook page and Discord server, the Camerosity Podcast finally dedicated an entire show to large format cameras! And not just any large format cameras, as a special guest for this show, we welcomed John Minnicks, creator of the Aero-Liberator, a home built custom version of a Graflex SLR using aerial Kodak lenses! Joining the gang and John for this episode were a huge number of other guests, several of which own or have shot their own Aero-Liberators. In alphabetical order by first name, we were joined by some guy named Erie, João Gomes, Howard Sandler, Lloyd Greene, Mark Cornelison, Mark Widhalm, Mat Marrash (from FPP), Parker Pfister, Pat Casey, Ron Gee, and Will Pinkham. In addition to hearing John Minnicks origin story, he shares many stories about people who he has sold cameras to and what has been done with them, including taking portraits of Barack Obama at his inauguration and at impeachment hearings in front of Congress. Mat Marrash from the Film Photography Project joins us and gives us his insight into large format and how well it does from the retail perspective. We were also graced with the presence of Parker Pfister who shares his tales of developing film using his own urine! This is the first ever mention of "pee" in a Camerosity episode! We eventually do get into a little bit of GAS, including some pickups by Mark Cornelison from the Chicago Camera show including the Camerosity favorites like the Voigtländer Perkeo and the KMZ Zorki 4. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. For our next episode, we are going "across the pond" to a European time zone friendly time which will allow for more of our European listeners to join us. We'll keep the topic wide open to encourage as many people as possible to join us. If you are in Europe or other "European time zone friendly" areas of the world, we will record Episode 106 on Monday, March 16th at 2pm Central Daylight Time, 3pm Eastern Daylight Time, 7pm Greenwich Mean Time (London), 8pm Central European Time (Berlin), and 6am Tuesday the 17th Australian Eastern Daylight Time (Sydney). For more time zones, please consult the World Time Buddy calculator and plug in your time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode What is Large Format? John Minnicks, Creator of the Aero-Liberator 4x5 SLR Cameras with Kodak Aero-Ektar Lenses Going from a standard Graflex Super D to a custom camera with swings and tilts for a unique lens Three Owners of Aero-Liberators Ron Gee, Mark Cornelison, and Parker Pfister Common Problems with Aero-Ektars / Bringing People Together Photographing Barack Obama with Only 4 Sheets of Film David Burnett and his Aero-Liberator in front of Congress Timtypes / Giving João Gomes some tips on adapting Leitz Hektor projector lenses and Tessar barrel lenses to his Graflex Getting into 4x5 Press Cameras / Crown Graphic and Speed Graphic / Omega and Sinar Monorails Wista, Tachihara, and Linhof Field Cameras Lloyd Greene is shooting a Sinar monorail, Howard Sandler recommends the Graphic as a companion to a Crown Graphic, and how he shares his Fujinon lenses between them Parker shoots 8x10 paper and develops it with help from pee Paul Rybolt misses Cibachrome, Mat Marash from Film Photography Project recommends RA4 reversal X-ray film and trying to prevent scratches Monobath single-shot processing kit as an introduction to developing and a great way to test a camera Sourcing large format films / How to shoot paper instead of negatives and tame the contrast / Light sources for enlargers Erie is a large format nerd and commercial photographer Many different methods for developing and scanning Mark’s trials and tribulations with wet plate collodion Exposure, Computers, and the Kodak Master Photoguide Will Pinkham asks about large format lenses / Schneider, Rodenstock, Kodak, Wollensak, Ilex, Fujinon, Nikkor, even Turner Reich can suit what you’re shooting How do you manage focus when shooting portraits on large format? A bit of GAS: Kodak Retina Reflex III / Nikon Nikonos Mark Widhalm got a Voigtländer Perkeo, which Anthony and Ron love / Howard got an Adox Golf Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg John Minnicks - https://johnminnicks.com/ The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #107
    February 7 · 1 hr 32 min

    Episode 104: Cheap Modern Lenses

    We are back with Episode 104 of the Camerosity Podcast. Unlike the last few shows where we didn't come prepared with a topic to discuss, this time we took a suggestion from our Discord server listeners and attempted to tackle all the new lenses that keep appearing from Chinese companies, With ever faster maximum apertures and wider lenses selling for insanely cheap prices, are these lenses any good, and why suddenly is the market flooded with them? Joining Anthony, Paul, Stephen, and Mike are callers Andy Howarth, Brendon Wilson, Fernando Villava, Mark "Cletus" Widhalm, Martin Olsen, Norris Liu, Pat Casey, Robert Rotoloni, and Will Pinkham. We start off the show with a quick announcement that Fernando has started a Spanish language version of the Camerosity Podcast called "Camerosity in Spanish". They've already recorded two episodes, and if you speak Spanish, it is worth checking out what him and his guests are talking about! For this show, we briefly start off our lens episode talking about Retina Reflexes, but thankfully we don't stay distracted long as we move into the wonderful world of modern Chinese lenses. We attempt to cover different brands of lenses and what kinds of options there are out there and which ones we've personally had experience with. Stephen and Norris have a wealth of technical knowledge and historical perspective for how the Chinese manufacturing industry works, and we get into a bit of why you're seeing so many options these days. While many of the new ultra-fast lenses are extremely affordable, they are built to be disposable and likely won't last nearly as long as the classic lenses many of us collect. Paul shares with us one (non-Chinese) brand that he doesn't like and Stephen tells us what "onion ring bokeh" is. Eventually we do move off from Chinese lenses to talk about extremely wide angle fisheye lenses and Stephen tells us about a clever use of his Olympus Air A01 and we briefly mention strange cameras like the Nikon KeyMission 360 Double Fisheye lens. With Bob Rotoloni on, Paul asks about a Nikon M he is interested in buying and we get into a discussion about the Nikon M and different variants of that particular camera. We keep meandering topics before finally ending up Mike's first purchase on the Japanese auction site, buyee.jp. Come See Mike at the Chicago Camera Show: I will be heading up to the Sheraton Suites Chicago Elk Grove hotel for a camera show on Sunday, February 22nd. At this show will be several callers from this episode, Bob Rotoloni, Norris Liu, Mark Widhalm, and past Camerosity guests like Vlad Kern and possibly others. Mike won't have a table at this one, but I'll be walking around chatting with people so if you're near the area and want to stop by, come see us! As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. We don't have a topic for our next show, but we at least know it will be Episode 105 and we will record it on Monday, February 23rd at 7pm Central Standard Time and 8pm Eastern Standard Time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode The Spanish version of Camerosity Hosted by Fernando Villava / Cletus and His Broken Retina Reflex IV Repairing Retina Reflexes / The Risk of Testing an Unserviced Camera / Leaf Shutter SLRs Are Very Complicated Modern Lenses Have Combinations of Focal Lengths and Speed Unheard of in the Classic Era How We Got to Today / Cheap Chinese Lenses Started with Low Quality C-Mount Lenses The Legalities of Making Third Party Lenses / Why is Nikon Going After Viltrox? Who Are the Most Respected of the Current Third Party Lens Makers? / Different Priorities for Film vs Digital Some Third Party Lenses Require You to Calibrate Your Lens to Your Own Camera What is the Difference between 7Artisans and TTArtisans? / DJ Optical Voigtänder Cosina Lenses Are Less Expensive Alternatives to Genuine German Lenses Some Chinese Lenses Feel Nicer Than They Really Are / Excessive Lubricants The Chinese Make a Lot of Their Own Glass / Mike Has No Idea How Glass is Made Leica No Longer Makes Their Own Glass but they Polish It / Onion Ring Bokeh Are There Any Companies to Stay Away From / Paul Doesn't Like MS-Optics Lenses Differences Between Western and Chinese Manufacturing Philosophies Chinese Manufacturers Typically Didn't Offer After Sale Support or Warranties China's Manufacturing Today is Far More Advanced Than Anywhere Else in the World Norris Goes to CES and Admires Hair Dryers / 40% of Exhibitors at CES are Chinese For Vintage Camera Users You Don't Always Want a Technically Perfect Lens Stephen's Olympus Air A01 and a 220 Degree Circular Fisheye Lens Nikon KeyMission 360 Double Fisheye Cameras / Go Pro / Ricoh Theta Camera Brandon Jumped into the Nikon Zf Using Chinese Lenses / Nikon Z-Mount Adapters Fernando Adapted Leica R Lenses to Leica M and the Results are Great Leica SLRs and Alpas are Almost Always Sold Without Lenses on eBay Come See Mike, Bob, Norris, Vlad, and Cletus at the Chicago Camera Show on February 22nd Paul Wants to Buy a Nikon M / The Three Different Types of Nikon M Rangefinders Mike Made His First Ever Purchase on Buyee of 5 Cameras Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg Chicago Camera Show on Sunday February 22 - https://www.facebook.com/events/sheraton-suites-chicago-elk-grove/chicago-camera-show/774123451683491/ Camerosity in Spanish - https://camerosity.es/ The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #106
    January 22 · 1 hr 49 min

    Episode 103: Don't Snort Your Lenses

    In what turned out to be one of the more unhinged episodes of the Camerosity Podcast, for Episode 103 the gang didn't get the show announcement out until the day of the recording, but that resulted in a near record number of participants, and without a dedicated topic to discuss, we ran the gamut of topics from Theo's recent acquisition of a local lab's Fuji Frontier Scanner, to a very lively discussion about radioactive lenses and why you should not grind up lens glass and snort it. Joining Anthony, Paul, Stephen, Theo, and Mike on this episode were A.J. Gentile, Dan Cuny, Doug Doyle, Fernando Villava, Greg McCreash, Ira Cohen, Jeremy Scott, Mario Piper, Norris Liu, Pat Casey, Ron Gee, Vlad Kern, Will Pinkham, plus a few others who didn't say anything. The show starts off with Theo telling the tale of how a Frontier scanner is coming to him and that turned into a very lively discussion about all scanning options from using professional scanners, flatbed scanners, and then eventually to digitizing with a digital camera. Returning guest Dan Cuny shares some vintage digital cameras he's been working on reviews for including the 0.3 megapixel Canon PowerShot 350 and the floppy disc Sony Mavica! Continuing on the vintage digital discussion was the revelation that three of the five Camerosity hosts all have the 1990s Minolta RD-175 DSLR! Vlad Kern from ussrphoto.com comes on and shares his recent pickup of a spy camera from a shot down Russian drone found in Ukraine which he recently acquired. Vlad's crazy spy camera looks straight out of a science fiction movie and the hosts wonder how he managed to get that past European and American customs! Of course, we get into a bit of GAS including a follow up to Episode 102 where Ron Gee had ordered an Aero-Liberator camera from John Minnicks, Ron came back to talk about receiving the camera and his initial impressions of it. Other cameras discussed are the Tele and Wide Rolleiflexes, a rare Foth TLR, the 16mm KMZ Narciss SLR, a very strange and rare American camera called the Millfred Cand-O-Matic and I give an update on some leather I purchased for a Leica IIIa that needed to be recovered. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. For our next show, Theo will be vacationing in Japan, so he won't be joining us, and there still isn't a topic yet, but Episode 104 will be recorded on Monday, February 2nd at 7pm Central Standard Time and 8pm Eastern Standard Time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode Theo’s big piece of GAS… where will it fit? / Fujifilm Frontier SP-2000 Doug Doyle is excited for the Knokke film scanner Mario Piper gets advice on dealing with spots and dust on negatives Kodak Photo-Flo and Edwal LFN Wetting Agents / Ilford Antistaticum Anti-Static Cloth / PEC-12 Photographic Emulsion Cleaner / ADOX Film Cleaner Add Humidity to your Darkroom to Reduce Dust Epson Flatbed Scanners / Nikon Coolscan Scanners / Camera Scanning with Negative Lab Pro / Romanian Lobster People A good reason to not worry about scanning resolution Dan Cuny is reviewing vintage digital cameras like the Canon PowerShot 350, the Sony Mavica, and the Nikon Coolpix 100 The hosts have way too many Minolta RD-175 DSLRs Scanning Kodak Disc Film and Sawyer's View-Master weddings Vlad Kern Discusses Soviet Film Formats / Russian Drone Cameras Fernando’s KMZ Narciss / Homebrew Photosnipers Ron Gee’s Aero-Liberator / Everyone shares their big Radioactive Aero Ektars Vlad has an aerial camera that’s just missing the MiG-21 fighter jet Jeremy Scott tests his Canon FD concave 35mm f/2 with a Geiger counter / De-Yellowing Radioactive Lenses Foth-Flex and Foth Derby / Tele Rolleiflex / Soligor and Sears 55m f/2.8 macro Lenses / MIOJ Nikkor 13.5cm f/4 version Norris Liu shows off a Millfred Cand-O-Matic made by a Hollywood movie producer Mike reskinned a Barnack Leica with Leather from cameraleather.com Jeremy brings us back around to the start with his bellows film scanning setup Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #105
    Dec 31, 2025 · 1 hr 58 min

    Episode 102: Eggnog Manatees and Opportunistic GAS

    The end of the year has come. As is the case every year, 2025 was filled with some ups and downs. For the Camerosity Podcast, we reached the 100 episode milestone, saw a huge influx of Miranda cameras re-enter the used camera market, and a whole lotta pictures of manatees. For Episode 102, the gang got together with some holiday themed alcoholic beverages and discussed what last minute bouts of GAS we had, and other bits of nonsense we were up to. Joining Anthony, Paul, Stephen and Mike were returning callers A.J. Gentile, Leon Blankenhorn, Pat Casey, Will Pinkham, William Ponder, and first time callers Joao Gomes and Ron Gee. In this episode we start right off with recent pickups, Paul is enamored with his Hasselblad digital back which he has almost permanently mounted to his 907x, calling it the best digital camera he's ever shot. A recent pickup of a Hassy 65mm f/2.8 lens further cemented it for him. Pat Casey talks about his love for 3x4 Graflexes and first time caller Ron Gee is excited for his new Aero Liberator camera he ordered from John Minnicks. We discuss the shift of German cameras being made in countries other than Germany, why West German companies made so many leaf shutters and seemed to be reluctant to adopt focal plane shutters, and Mike (poorly) attempts to explain the confusing history of the Voigtländer Bessaflex, Zeiss-Ikon Icarex and SL706, Voigtländer VSL series and Rollei SL35 series SLRs. Mike shares his two most recent pickups, the first is the brand new and recently released LOMO MC-A which is an impressive premium point and shoot camera and he feels is the best example we've seen so far of what a brand new premium 35mm camera should be. His other pickup is a rather ordinary Vivitar XC-3 with the unordinary XC-A accessory which kinda sorta adds Aperture Priority Automatic Exposure to a camera which wasn't built with it. Anthony talks about a $25 Nikonos III he recently picked up and used to take some of the best photos he's ever taken of manatees in the spring by his house. He also shares with us his oddest camera, the Kirka Electronik Auto Hobby Emergency Car Camera Kit. And right before we were about to sign off, Ron Gee drops not one but two of the largest 6x17 and 6x24 3D printed cameras any of us have seen. With names like Sasquatch and Kracken, these large beasts are not to be taken lightly! As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. We don't yet have a topic for our first episode of the new year, but whatever it is, Episode 103 will be recorded on Monday, January 12th, 2026 at 7pm Central Standard Time and 8pm Eastern Standard Time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches / Ron and Joao are Both First Time Callers Long Time Paul Customers Zeiss-Ikon Contax S / Everyone Needs a Praktica Different Types of GAS / Hasselblad 907 w/ Digital Back Pat Casey's 3x4 Graflex Infatuation / Ron Gee is Getting an Aero Liberator from John Minnicks Kodak Aero Ektar Lenses / Gowlandflex TLR Ifbaflex M102 / Voigtländer VSL1 / Zeiss-Ikon SL706 The Shift of German Cameras Being Made in Countries Other than Germany Why Did Zeiss-Ikon and Other West German Camera Makers Make So Many Cameras with Leaf Shutters? The Technical Limitations of Leaf Shutter SLRs Compared to Focal Plane Shutter SLRs Kirka Electronik Auto Hobby Emergency Car Camera Kit Anthony's $25 Nikonos III Find / Anthony Rue: Manatee Belly Scratcher Sea & Sea Cameras Lenses and Housings / Canon Aqua Snappy / Stay Away from the Nikonos IV Olympus G.Zuiko 42mm f/1.2 C-Mount Lens Check out the Camerosity Discord Server, It Is Way Better than Facebook Olympus Accura View 90 Point and Shoot Mike's Thoughts on the LOMO MC-A Premium Point and Shoot Comparing the LOMO to other New Premium Film Cameras like the Rollei 35 AF and Pentax 17 The Camerosity Podcast Still Likes the Chuzhao Three Months In Vivitar XC-3 w/ XC-A AE Module / Will Picks Up a Zorki 4 What Kind of Camera Would You Like to See Come to Market? Epson RD-1 / Zeiss-Ikon ZM Rangefinders We Need to Do a Lomography Show / LOMO Spinner William Asks for an Update on the Zeiss-Ikon Contaflex TLR Review Sasquatch 617 3D Printed Camera / Kracken 624 3D Printed Camera Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #104
    Dec 17, 2025 · 1 hr 40 min

    Episode 101: Mike Eckman Man of Mystery

    When it came time to decide what to follow up our 100th episode, the guys made a comment that we should interview a prominent podcaster and blogger in the vintage camera realm. With a long list of guests already, we thought hard about who we've missed, who is one person who has helped grow GAS as much as any one single person can? Anthony spoke up and said, "Hey, it should be Mike"! While I had my doubts about how interesting a whole episode about me could be, I thought that I do like to tell stories, why why not?! Joining Anthony, Paul, Stephen, Theo, and Mike this, our 101st episode are returning callers A.J. Gentile, David Palumbo, Fernando Villava, Ira Cohen, Mark Faulkner, Pat Casey, Rob Lattimer, William Ponder, and Will Pinkham. Over the course of the episode, I field a variety of questions from how I got started, what is my while whale camera, what cameras never clicked for me, what was an example of a camera that I felt overwhelmed trying to shoot. Paul gets me to revisit my 2023 trip to Los Angeles when I went through the collection of Kurt Ingham and what it was like going through such a large collection. We get into camera accessories, especially how difficult it is to adapt Kilfitt lenses and that the "Rear Window" Kilfitt lens was never made specifically with an Exakta mount, we talk about what is a good first camera is, and we get into how I am resisting the urge to collect carbon filament light bulbs and Nixie Tubes. Amazingly, we make it through the nearly 2 hour run time without repeating too much of what's been covered before, and while doing so managed to cover a whole lot of GAS! As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. We will be back shortly with our next episode, which is going to be two days before Christmas. We'll call this one our "holiday eggnog episode" where we recap the year and open up the call in lines for whatever you all want to talk about. Episode 102 will be recorded on Tuesday, December 23rd at 7pm Central Standard Time and 8pm Eastern Standard Time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us! In This Episode Mike’s T-shirt Sorting Techniques / It was Anthony’s Idea to Interrogate Mike How did Mike get started? One night on eBay… He shares the cameras he used, and the ones that started his collection The origins of MikeEckman.com It all started with a Nikon EL2, then a Kodak No.1 Autographic Special, Model A An avalanche begins: Argus C3, FED-2, Konica Auto S2 The Meeting of the Bloggers / White Whales Just Keep Coming ‘What the hell is this?” The Hasselblad XPan Mike Damaged a Pentacon Six TL That Was Loaned to Him Flying to LA: Kurt Ingham’s Collection Mike’s Camera room (Cave? Bunker? Subterranean lair?) Cameras that didn’t click for Mike / Konica AiBORG / Leia R8 Continuation/knock-off/replica cameras… Kiev vs FED and Zorki, Minolta Auto Press vs Plaubel Makina, Contax vs Nikon Rangefinders Hidden histories Clarus MS-35, Vokar II, thousands of 6x6 TLRs, and the King Regula Fernando Villava asks Mike about His Favorite Film / Anthony shares his bulk film lucky find William Ponder wants to know if finding accessories leads to discovering cameras The Kilfitt Konundrum that Mike created for Paul / Mark Faulkner’s Rear Window Lens / Paul’s NASA Lens Will Pinkham wants to know what rarities are on Mike’s Wish List Rob Latimer wants to know Mike’s Favorite Cameras Vinyl Records, Carbon Filament Bulbs, and Nixie Tubes / Theo wants to know Mike’s other interests Cameras that can start a collection, and a good first rangefinder for the SLR shooter Is Mike a foodie? A coffee connoisseur? A traveler? The importance of keeping photography knowledge alive Could there be a Camerosity spin-off some day? Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #103
    Nov 7, 2025 · 1 hr 46 min

    Episode 100: Camerosity Centennial

    Can you believe it? The Camerosity Podcast is back with Episode 100! From what started out as a spontaneous Zoom call on a random May evening during the midst of a global pandemic has turned into one of the most popular and still only open source film and digital photography podcasts! While the hosts have changed since we started, its not really the hosts that make this show what it is, it is the guests and callers we have each episode which keep us on our toes with new and interesting topics. For our centennial episode, the hosts sent out invites to some of our favorite guests and also kept the call in lines open for anyone to join us. We received responses from Todd Gustavson from the George Eastman Museum, Dan Tamarkin from Tamarkin Camera and Auctions in Chicago, Marwan El Mozayen from Silvergrain Classics, Robert Rotoloni from the Nikon Historical Society, and returning for the first time in 50 episodes, Johnny Sisson from Central Camera in Chicago. Joining these esteemed guests were callers A.J. Gentile, Alex Luyckx, Eric Risse, Greg McCreash, Nick Marshall, Pat Casey, Patrick Rapps, Wayne Scheipers, Will Pinkham, and William Ponder. It was a star studded cast if I ever saw one! We get things started out with Marwan giving us an update on the all new Widelux-X panoramic camera prototype and where there at in its ultimate release. While we don't expect to see the new model this year, its release is coming soon! Todd chimes in with updates from the George Eastman Museum and what's new in their collection. He shares what he knows about Eastman Kodak's recent announcement of them distributing their own film again and the new Kodak 100 and 200 films and a project to document the most important historical cameras in history. Dan Tamarkin discusses getting married and the upcoming Tamarkin Camera Auction and gives us a preview of a couple cool Leicas which will appear in the show. Robert gives an update on the state of the NHS Journey and Alex shares what he's working on for his site and an upcoming review of EFKE KB50 film. Johnny Sisson is back at Central Camera and he shares some updates about what's going on there and what's new in his life. While we don't expect to see Johnny resuming his hosting responsibilities, he should be more present in the camera collector community. In addition to the guests already mentioned, other callers chime in with their favorite developers for black and white film, Will Pinkham opens Pandora's Box by asking for recommendations for a good rangefinder to use, and Mike shares his thoughts on the Nikon S3 re-release from 2000 and William Ponder shares his love for the Welta Weltini. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. As we hit this milestone 100th episode, we are taking a short break before our next recording. As of this post, we don't yet have a date or a topic for Episode 101, but rest assured, once we know, it will be communicated via the normal channels! In This Episode Dan Tamarkin Got Married! / Dan's New Wife is a Leica DLux Shooter Marwan from Silvergrain Classics Discusses the Widelux-X Prototype's Debut Why is it Called the Widelux-X? / A Little Background The Prorotype's Black and Brass Body / Comparing the Widelux Lens to that of the Hasselblad XPan Todd Gustavson Joins Us and Talks Recent Kodak Film Announcements Whats New at the Eastman Museum? / Most Influential Cameras of All Time Alex is Working on an Article about EFKE 50 Black and White Film John(ny) Sisson Returns / An Update About the Management of Central Camera in Chicago After 41 Years the Nikon Historical Society Newsletter is Now Digital / No More Printed Copies Mike Shoots a Brand New Nikon S3 2000 Rangefinder Johnny Sets up Bargain Bins at Central Camera / People Dropping Off Collections of Cameras The Eastman Museum Has the Rowe Collection Including a Huge Custom Squirrel Cage Flash Jim McKeown's Camera Guide / No One Writes Camera History Books Anymore / Shutterbug Magazine The Tamarkin Auction is Coming Up in November / Dr. Paul Wolf's Leica Paul and Dan's Thoughts on Light Lens Labs Lenses / LLL Peel Apart Instant Film Slow Black and White Films / More People Should Shoot Ilford Pan F 50 Eric's Corfield 66 SLR / Chinese Great Wall SLR Will Asks for Recommendations on a Rangefinder / Nikon S2 Petri Green-O-Matic / Canon VT Deluxe / Canon P / Olympus 35 RC Eric's Strange Wind Up Generator Flashgun Do Any Professional Photographers Shoot Alpas? Welta Weltini / Welta Perfekta / Welta Superfekta Email Todd if You Want a Tour of the Eastman Museum Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg Official Widelux-X Website - https://wideluxx.com/ Tamarkin Camera Auctions - https://www.tamarkinauctions.com/ George Eastman Museum - https://www.eastman.org/ Central Camera - https://centralcameraco.bigcartel.com/visit Alex Luyckx Blog - http://www.alexluyckx.com/blog/ The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #102
    Oct 16, 2025 · 1 hr 51 min

    Episode 99: Sanibel Island

    For the past several episodes, the Camerosity Podcast has covered a wide range of topics from tiny digital TLRs, to Exaktas, to death and while these were all riveting conversations, we realized it had been a while since the hosts could just talk about what we've been up to. Camera shows, tropical vacations, and recent GAS abound, we decided to not advertise the recording of Episode 99. Although this show was mostly about the hosts, that didn't stop two additional guests, first time caller Douglas Willoughby and returning caller William Ponder from jumping in! We get things started with Paul's introduction to Doug who repaired his Nikon F4 and explains what went wrong. William follows with a discussion regarding Miranda cameras and the tale of a Miranda Automex III that he bought from Mike. We continue on with more Miranda discussion then pivot to Zeiss-Ikon Contax SLRs and other cameras from the Texas collection such as the KW Praktiflex and later Praktica cameras. Mike professes his love for the Contax SLRs shutter and the strange noises it makes. Later we pivot to traveling with cameras, and Anthony, Theo, and Paul all give their tips and shared experiences traveling with cameras and how to get your film hand checked at the airport. We talk about camera batteries, Stephen's journey of modifying his LEGO camera to look like a Leica which then of course turns into a discussion about actual Leicas including Anthony's crazy tale of how he acquired a Leica M2. Finally, we chat about recent GAS pickups, Theo brings up the Mamiya 7 AGAIN and then Stephen shows off a very strange camera called the Olympus Air A01 which is the same size as a teleconverter, but is an entirely self contained micro 4/3s interchangeable lens mirrorless digital camera. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. Can you believe it? The next episode will be number 100! Since May 2021, the Camerosity Podcast has proclaimed to be the world's first and only, open source film and digital podcast. Our show has kept that theme through most of those 100 episodes and the amount of feedback and engagement you all have shared with the hosts is humbling. For this, our centennial episode, we are opening the doors for anyone to call in, but we've extended invites to some of our favorite previous guests. I'd won't give out any names here, but I would be willing to bet if you were to guess, you'd get at least a couple right! We will record Episode 100 on Monday, October 20th at 7pm Central Daylight Time and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time. Be sure you mark your calendars and hit up the Zoom link when it is posted and join us! In This Episode Paul Bought some Brand New Nikon F4s That Didn't Work and Doug Fixed Them / Common F4 Issues William Ponder Got a Miranda Automex III From Mike After Episode 97 Black Paint Mirandas / Theo Likes the Miranda Automex III Soligor Lenses / Many Were Made by Kowa / Anscomark M AIC Was Miranda's Importer in the United States Paul's Haul from the Texas Collection Early Contax SLRs / Black Biotars The Contax SLR Shutter is not Like Other SLRs The Sounds of the Contax Shutter Pentacon SLRs / The Zeiss-Ikon East and West German Lawsuit Theo's Choices for Japan / Mamiya 7 and Nikon AF600 Horseman Convertible 852 / Horseman Field Cameras / Horseman Stereo 3D Camera Anthony's Trip to Mexico / XRay Machine Toasts Anthony's Film XRay Shield Bags / TSA Tips Traveling Camera First Aid Kits / Other Travel Tips Challenges with Batteries on Film and Digital Cameras Stephen Turned a LEGO Creator Camera Into a Leica Anthony's Quest to Own a Leica M2 Reskinning and Repainting Cameras Doug Discusses the Weaknesses of the Pentax LX and Kowa Six Black Paint KW Praktiflex / Mamiya 7 with Pano Kit Minolta Maxxum 5000 and 650si KMZ Zenit 16 / Red Olympus XA2 and other XA Cameras Stephen Shows off the Tiny and Strange Olympus Air A01 Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #101
    Sep 27, 2025 · 1 hr 46 min

    Episode 98: The Exakta Episode

    It has been a couple of weeks but the gang finally got back together to devote an entire episode to one of our favorite, and longest lived camera brands, the Ihagee Exakta. If you are familiar with the Exakta name, you probably know them as a maker of high end, but very quirky 35mm SLRs, however there were far more Exaktas produced in the 20th century using three different forms of film and nine different lens mounts. In Episode 98, the Camerosity Podcast hosts do their best to try and corral all those models and history into a single episode. Joining Anthony, Stephen, Paul, and Mike are returning and first time callers Daniel from Chicago, Eric Lorenz, Fernando Villava, Howard Sandler, Ira Cohen, Michael Boudreau, Mike Toppo, Pat Casey, and Phil Clark. We were unable to find an expert who could speak intelligently on the history and wide range of Exakta models made, so Mike did his best to cover the history, starting with how the company formed, and we go (mostly) in chronological order from the first 127 Vest Pocket Exaktas, the Night Exaktas, the early Kine Exaktas, into the Varex models, the redesigned VX1000 and Elbaflex models, and into the weeds with uncommon cameras like the Exakta Real, Exakta Twin TL, and some other Japanese and Chinese made models. In addition to the Ihagee Exakta, we also dedicate a bit of time to the Exakta's little brother, the Exa, covering that models strengths and weaknesses. We attempt to explain how the shutter on early Exas work, and Mike tells a story of a hard to find "System Exa" that's not even made by Ihagee at all. Many questions were asked with varying levels of good answers, including how many lens mounts can be found on an Exakta camera, how many different companies produced Exakta cameras, what is the best introduction to the Exakta lineup, and whether or not Exaktas are good for shooting or just for collecting. We even spend some time on the infamous Exaka with 400mm Kilfitt lens found in the Hollywood classic movie, Rear Window. And just to round it all off, we spend the end of the episode on the Topcon SLRs which use the Exakta mount, including whether all lenses are fully compatible between the two company's models. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. The last several episodes of the show have been wonderfully exciting and informational. We've had a huge number of guests, many of whom are first time callers who joined a long list of people who have contributed to this show. And while all the hosts enjoy chatting with all of you, we haven't had an episode to ourselves in a while, so for Episode 99, we are not taking any callers. We want to spend this time to get caught up on what we've been doing, share with you some of the private discussions we have behind closed doors, but mostly, we're looking for an episode that's easier to edit. Don't worry though, for the next, next episode, we hit triple digits, episode number 100. It gives me chills just typing that here. We will be looking for something special for our centennial episode and once we know what that is, and what date we are recording it, we will be sure to let you all know! Until then, Episode 99 will be recorded sometime in early October. In This Episode Exaktas Are an Accidental Collection / Mike Had Wanted to Do an Exakta Show with Hugo Ruys Did Ihagee Ever Make Their Own Lenses? / Canon Once Made a Lens Using the Exakta Mount Did Other Companies Make Cameras that Use the Exakta Mount? Topcon R / Mamiya Prismat / Tokiwa Seiki Firstflex 35 Differences Between a Night Exakta and a Regular Vest Pocket Exakta What is a "Kine Exakta"? / Identifying All the Different Exaktas / Mike Mirrors wrotniak.net Captain Jack's Exakta Website / Exakta Books and other Sites What is the Difference between Varex, VX, and non Varex? Paul's Tip for Cleaning an Exakta Ground Glass The Exakta VX1000 Signaled a Big Change in Exakta Design / Mike Thinks the VX1000 Is the Perfect First Exakta A Kickstarter to Revive the Elbaflex / The Real Elbaflex Using the Exakta's Film Cutter / Cassette to Cassette Film Transport / Exakta and Exa Take Up Spools Differences Between Exaktas and Exas The Ihagee Exa that Wasn't Made By Ihagee / System Exa / How Does the Shutter Work on the Exa? How Likely Are you to Find Working Exaktas and Exas? / Cloth Shutter Curtains What was the Lens and Camera Used in the Movie Rear Window? / Kilfitt Lenses / Adapting Exakta Lenses Olympus Made a 4cm f/3.5 Zuiko Lens in Exakta Mount / Exa and Exaktas Advance Film Opposite of Each Other It's Spelled Ihagee, not Jhagee or Thagee The Horizontal and Vertical Exakta 66 Medium Format SLRs The Exakta Real Was an Attempt to Re-Launch the Exakta With More Modern Features Exakta Twin TL and Twin TL 42 / How Many Lens Mounts Can Be Found on Exakta Cameras? Are Exaktas Good for Shooting or Just for Collectors? / The Exakta Self-Timer and Slow Speed Escapement Do Topcon SLRs Have the Same Mount as the Exakta? / Lens Compatibility Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #100
    Aug 28, 2025 · 1 hr 44 min

    Episode 97: Everybody Chuzhao Tonight

    An epidemic has swept Camerosity HQ along with a large swath of the camera collector groups. It seems a cheap Chinese toy camera has made its way into the homes of all of us and resulted in us sharing images from it online. Have we gone mad? Do you dream of tiny TLRs at night? In Episode 97 we tackle the controversial Chuzhao mini-TLR digital camera. This $35 camera available worldwide through Amazon and Alibaba is selling like crazy now and each of the hosts ask our listeners what their thoughts are on it. In addition to Chuzhao talk, we spend a good portion of the show on a completely unrelated topic, which is what to do with your cameras when you die. Mike and Paul both share their stories of picking up large estates of vintage cameras and what we ended up doing with them. If you think the prospect of being asked to tackle a 4500 piece collection sounds awesome, you should definitely listen to this episode as we have some thoughts on what its like. Joining Anthony, Paul, Stephen, Theo, and Mike are returning callers A.J. Gentile, Ed Gabe, Greg McCreash, Ira Cohen, Larry Effler, Pat Casey, Phil Clark, Will Pinkham, and first time callers Doug Doyle, Rob Latimer, and William Ponder. In addition to Chuzhao and Camera Estate talk, Ira shares some selections from his tiny TLR collection including a couple rare Hit film models, Paul shares his thoughts on what you should do in preparation for what happens to your collection after you die, Mike briefly talks about an uncommon 1950s 35mm SLR called the Tokiwa Seiki Pentaflex, and Rob shares his thoughts on the Zeiss-Ikon Super Nettar. Meet Paul and Mike: If you are in the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday, September 6th, come to the Ohio Camera Swap at the Hilton Garden Inn Cincinnati/West Chester and say hi to us. Both Paul and I will have a lot of Miranda cameras to sell! Who knows, maybe even some other Camerosity Podcast regulars will show up as well. While you’re there, maybe you can buy something from us! As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. For our next episode we are devoting a whole show to the Ihagee Exakta and Exa cameras. As one of the earliest 35mm SLRs and also one of the most successful, millions of Exakta cameras were made over several decades of the 20th century, so there are a great deal of them to talk about. As usual, we'll cover some history about the brand, go over their use, and cover some of the more interesting or collectible models. If we have time, we will even cover the "other" Exaktas like the Exakta Real and the Pentacon produced RTL1000. Will we stay on track or end up finally discussing large format? You'll only know if you turn into Episode 98 which will be recorded on Monday, September 8th at 7pm Central Daylight Time and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time. In This Episode Everyone Lost their Minds and Bought a Chuzhao / Many Chuzhao Resellers are Scams / Beware Where You Buy! The Chuzhao is Only Worth it if You get it for the Equivalent of USD$40 or Less / Hacking the Chuzhao Blown Out Highlights / The Chuzhao Is Great for Children or for Having Fun / Battery Life Small Cameras Like the Chuzhao Break Down Barriers when Photographing People Ira Cohen Has Many Other Really Small TLRs / Babyflex, Museflex, and Gemflex / Japanese Hit Film Cameras Constructor and Blackbird Camera / Other Toy Cameras / Lego 3-in-1 Camera 5 Years Ago, Paul Picked Up a 4500 Piece Collection Why Do Some Collectors Have Multiples of the Same Camera Mike Goes to Texas to Get a Large Miranda Collection The Many Variations of the Vest Pocket Kodak Camera / World War I Soldier's Camera Ira Has Negative Niches in His Collection Inheriting a Large Collection is Fun But Overwhelming Advice On What Should Happen With Your Collection After You Die / Tell Someone / Keep Records / Don't Lie How Do You Sell High Value Cameras from a Collection? Mike Recommends Shipping Large Collections with U-Haul U-Boxes Packing Cameras / Estimating the Value of a Collection More Tips for Preparing Your Collection For After Your Demise Tokiwa Seiki Pentaflex / Zeiss-Ikon Super-Nettel / Donating Cameras Yashicaflex TLRs / Do You Get More Satisfaction Getting an Image from a More Difficult Camera? Coated vs Uncoated Lenses / The Non-Rangefinder Version of the Kodak 35 / Canon VI-T Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #99
    Aug 7, 2025 · 1 hr 48 min

    Episode 96: The AGFA Episode with Very Little AGFA

    If there ever was an episode that epitomizes the concept of the "first and only open source film and digital photography podcast" it is this episode! We started off with the idea of devoting a large part of it to AGFA, makers of Rodinal, Karat film, and a large number of really cool cameras from the mid 20th century. From the moment we got started, we immediately got off topic and wouldn't come back to AGA until an hour into the recording. Never fret, but in the shortened time we covered Germany's version of Kodak, we covered a lot of ground. Joining Anthony, Paul, Stephen, Theo, and Mike are returning callers A.J. Gentile, Fernando Villava from Germany, Mike Litwin, Pat Casey, Will Pinkham, and first time callers David Palumbo and Zack Lothamer. From the moment the show got started, we feel down the Kodak Instamatic (type 126) wormhole, discussing a large number of Instamatic cameras, what kinds of films can be used in 126 cameras today, the Fakmatic 3D printed adapter, and other oddball cameras. We meander around, somehow winding up on the Ricoh GXR Interchangeable module digital camera, and Anthony's love for Kodak 5220XT Film. When we finally get into the world of AGFA, we discuss some of the group's favorite films like AGFA Professional Pan 25, APX25, HDC 100, Scala, and AGFA's original AGFAColor film from the 1930s. Eventually, we get into AGFA GAS with some really cool cameras like the Parat and Optima Parat half frame cameras, the cool twin lens Flexilette and Optima Reflex, the large orange button AGFAs like the Optima 1035 and 1535, the Optima Electronic Flash, Ambi Silette, and the Selectaflex SLR. By far, the most time is dedicated to the postwar AGFA Karat rangefinder with the split image viewfinder, which Mike says is the best rangefinder camera for people with terrible vision. Sprinkled throughout the show we answer questions about how long expired film can be used when refrigerated, what is a recommendation for a good entry into 6x9 cameras, and some warnings about not trying to repair the Zeiss-Ikon Contaflex SLR. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. For our next episode, the entire Camerosity Podcast crew went crazy over a $35 Chinese digital camera. Each of us bought the same camera and played with it for a couple of weeks in an effort to see what happens if expectations are low enough, can you really enjoy a toy camera? In addition, Mike has now gone on two treks across the country to move large collections of cameras, and he has some thoughts (here is a preview, if you are a collector, don't die!) Of course, if anything is certain, is that nothing is certain and Episode 96 is a perfect example where we might plan on talking about one thing and end up on something else. Will we stay on track or end up finally discussing large format? You'll only know if you turn into Episode 97 which will be recorded on Monday, August 18th at 7pm Central Daylight Time and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time. In This Episode Asking David About the Mysterious Curtain on Bronica S2 Backs / Other Cameras with Curtain Dark Slides / Mamiya Six Koni-Omega Rapids / Bronica Lenses / Dave Ditched His Bronica for a Hasselblad 500CM Kodak Instamatic Type 126 Cameras / Olympus Quickmatic / Bell & Howell Autoload 342 Fakmatic 126 Adapter / Using 35mm Film in Instamatic Cameras Magic Cubes vs Flash Cubes / Motor Driven Instamatic Cameras Verichrome Pan is Your Best Bet for Using Original 126 Film Today / Rolleiflex SL26 SLR Theo Wants an "I'm Back" for 126 Cameras / Ricoh GXR Interchangeable Sensor Digital Camera / Horseman Convertible How Long Can Expired Film Be Stored Frozen or Refrigerated? / Does Slower Film Last Longer? Anthony Loves Shooting Expired Eastman 5220XT Film Slide Film Ages Poorly / Some Films Degrade Even After Being Developed Anthony Loves AGFA HDC 100 Color Film / AGFA Pan Professional 25 / APX25 AGFAColor Color Film from the 1930s / Other AGFA Films / Ultra 50 and Scala Developing Early Slide Film Required You to Expose the Developing Film to Light What is Stand Developing? / Benzotriazole / Mike Has Tried All Kinds of HC-110 We Finally Talk About AGFA Cameras / Anthony only Has an AGFA Pioneer The AGFA Optima 1535 Looks Kinda Like the Plaubel Makina 67 / Optima Sensor AGFA Flexilettte and Optima Reflex 35mm TLRs Some AGFA Cameras Using the Film Advance Lever to Rewind the Film More About the Flexilette / Mike Loves the AGFA Selectaflex Don't Bother Trying to Repair the Zeiss-Ikon Contaflex SLR AGFA Ambi Silette / AGFA Parat I / Mike Raves About the AGFA Karat The 6x6 AGFA Isolette and Ansco Speedexes are Great Affordable Medium Format Folders What is a Recommendation for a Good 6x9 Folder? / Voigtländer Bessa The AGFA Compact Electronic Was the Last AGFA Camera Made in Germany Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Reloading 126 Instamatic Film - https://mikeeckman.com/2020/03/reloading-instamatic-film-the-better-way/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #98
    Jul 18, 2025 · 1 hr 45 min

    Episode 95: Let's Wing It!

    Over the past several episodes. we've covered a wide range of topics and had some excellent guests on the show. While we love predetermined topics, the original concept of the Camerosity Podcast was that any topic is always on the table, so from time to time, we like to "wing it" and start recording without any idea of what we're talking about. Episode 95 was one such episode where Anthony, Paul, Stephen, and Mike logged into Zoom, hit record and let everyone in! As always seems to happen, the show fills up quickly with GAS discussion. Guests sharing their recent pickups and anything they're shooting now. For this episode, we were joined by AJ Gentile, Darin Cozine, Jeremy Scott, Kyle Liu, Nick Marshall, Robert Coates, Shane Pacheco and Will Pinkham. We start out the GAS discussion covering Bronica and Mamiya SLRs and TLRs. A discussion about the S2 and S2A and issues with foam seals which need to be replaced on pretty much all Bronica S-series cameras. Anthony shares his experience on a new (to him) Contax D SLR he picked up and that spawned a lengthy discussion on the Contax SLR's shutter and the unique sounds it makes. Jeremy shares the pickup of a lifetime at a recent estate sale in rural Oklahoma where he bought a Zeiss-Ikon Hologon Ultrawide, Canon f/0.95 "Dream Lens", and other highly sought after wide angle lenses. Mike discusses an upcoming storage locker of cameras in Texas he will be picking up soon, along with his pickup of a very early Contax S and an Orion Miranda T with the rare Zunow lens. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. For our next episode, we are going to cover AGFA. As the German equivalent of Kodak, AGFA has a long history of making both cameras and film stocks, so our intent is to do their history some justice and cover their most memorable models and emulsions. We will record Episode 96 on Monday, July 28th at 7pm Central Daylight Time and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time. In This Episode Jumping Straight into GAS / Bronica S2 vs S2A / Mamiya C33 Professional / Who Used the Mamiya TLRs? Anthony Buys a Murder Scene Camera / Paul Sold Cameras to Coroners Bronica vs Hasselblad / Nikkor Lenses on Medium Format Cameras All Bronica S/S2/S2A Cameras Will Need Their Foam Replaced or Images Will Be Out of Focus Anthony Receives and Shoots a Zeiss-Ikon Contax D SLR Mike Gives a Very Poor Explanation for Why 100 and 125 are the Safest Shutter Speeds The Contax SLR and KW Praktina Have a Similar Design Language / Contax vs Pentax? Asahi Pentax ES II and It's Horrible Battery Compartment Why Are Black Cameras Often Worth More than Chrome Cameras? LOMO LCA Wide 120 / Hasselblad SWC Jeremy Scores Big at an Estate Sale / Zeiss-Ikon Hologon Ultrawide / Canon 0.95 Dream Lens / Canon 7SZ The Voigtländer Bessa L is an Economic Alternative to the Hologon Ultrawide / Bessa R Series Everyone Talks About Ultrawide Lenses / Voigtländer 12mm and Canon 19mm Lenses Reveni Labs Lumo Incident and Direct Light Meter Mike's GAS / Contax S SLR / Orion Miranda T with Zunow Lens AJ Buys Himself a Minox B for his Birthday Many Young People Associate the Film Look with Degraded Photos from When They Were Younger Stephen Sold All His Nikon F Cameras and Lenses Then Bought New Ones / Everyone's First Nikon Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Reveni Labs Lumo - https://www.reveni-labs.com/reveni-labs-lumo Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

  • #97
    Jun 24, 2025 · 1 hr 44 min

    Episode 94: Camera Shopping at Roberts Camera and Blue Moon

    We are back with Episode 94 of the Camerosity Podcast. For this episode, we decided to revisit a topic we covered all the way back in Episode 30, which is talking about camera stores with people who work in camera stores. Joining us for the discussion are Meredith and Corey Reinker from Roberts Camera (aka UsedPhotoPro) in Indianapolis, Indiana and Zeb Andrews from Blue Moon Camera and Machine in Portland, Oregon. Of course, two of the Camerosity hosts, Paul and Stephen both used to work in camera stores too, so between those four, we were well represented. Much has changed in the photography space since we did our last camera store episode. Releases of new cameras like the Pentax 17, Rollei 35 AF, and recent announcements of a new "film like" digital Yashica SLR have caused a lot of ruckus and it will be interesting to hear how actual camera store people see these latest developments. Joining Paul, Stephen, Theo, Mike, and our special guests was a long list of callers including A.J. Gentile, Betty Ann Cochrane, Brad, Dan Hausman, Hong Lee, Howard Sandler, Larry Effler, Miles Libak, Pat Casey, Shane from Discord, and Will Pinkham. During the show we ask Meredith, Corey, and Zeb a wide range of questions ranging from what differentiates their stores which has allowed them to remain successful well into the era of digital photography. We cover what the modern camera store customer looks like today and what makes photography appealing to a younger crowd. We cover both lab and home developing, what one camera both camera stores wish there was an unlimited amount of, how they acquire their inventory of used cameras, and Zeb shares a cool story about how Blue Moon developed a roll of film which had images of Mount St. Helens erupting. Mike gets excited that he received a bottle of the new Adox Syrup 110 developer and attempts to break down the myth that C41 home developing is difficult. Theo and Zeb counter that you shouldn't be shamed into developing your own film and that the consistency of a professional lab is worth it. While most episodes are a lot of fun to record, while doing this one, it was amazing how fast the two hours went, and I wish we could have talked to Meredith, Corey, and Zeb longer. Who knows, maybe we'll return for a third Camera Store episode some day! As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. For our next episode, we don't have a dedicated topic and will open up the Zoom recording to anything you'd like to discuss. If there have been any questions or topics from previous shows you'd like to revisit, or share with us your latest camera GAS pick up, we'd love to hear from you! This next one will be a free for all! We will record Episode 95 on Monday, July 7th at 7pm Central Daylight Time and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time. In This Episode Introducing Roberts Camera / They Used to Sell Jewelry UsedPhotoPro Was Started with Corey and Nelson Kopech in 2011 Blue Moon's Origin Story / Blue Moon's Owner Jake Has a Passion for Vintage Typewriters Blue Moon Slits Their Own Minox Film / They Source New Cartridges Direct from Minox What Does the Typical Camera Store Customer Look Like Today? What Inspires the 18-24 Crowd to Buy a Particular Camera? / Is there an Upgrade Path to a Leica? Mike Breaks Down All Film Shooters into One of Three Broad Categories How Were Roberts and Blue Moon Able to Navigate the Film to Digital Switch When Others Failed? Blue Moon Developed Film from an Argus C3 Showing Mount St. Helens Erupting Robert's Early Experience with Mail Order Helped them be Successful Selling Online How Does Roberts Get Their Used Inventory / Burgess Auction in Carmel, Indiana Recommendations for Local Camera Stores How Hard is it to Get Film Processing Labs Repaired? Everyone Talks About Developing Machines How Common is it For People to Develop Film at Home? Mike Gets a Bottle of the New Adox Syrup 110 Overcoming the Myth that Developing C41 Film at Home is Difficult How Do you Handle Developing So Many Different B&W Films at the Same Time? Camera Stories that Depended on Development and Services Struggled the Most What Camera Do Roberts and Blue Moon Wish they had Unlimited Supply Of? Upcoming Roberts and Blue Moon Events Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. Order Your Very Own Camerosity Podcast T-Shirt! - https://www.zazzle.com/z/tbykl0hg The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Roberts Camera - https://robertscamera.com/ Used Photo Pro - https://usedphotopro.com/ Blue Moon Camera and Machine - https://bluemooncamera.com/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

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