I’ve enjoyed this series thus far! Thank you. Throughout this trilogy, I’ve been keeping track of the cameras I either own (or have owned) over the decades. I was happy to learn that in this episode, I own three of the ‘groundbreaking cameras’; the Nikon F, the Kodak 110 instamatic (with a pedestal for the flash cube), and the Kodak Disc cameras. I am looking forward to the next installment! Greetings from the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York, USA.
The first 35mm camera I owned 2as the Canon RM. I progressed from there ultimately arriving at the Canon EOS1N HS. via numerous Canon EOS bodies plus dabbled with a Rollei 35, a Fuji STX-1N and a Pentax ES11. Now I just dabbled with digital photography using a Canon eos 760d. Most of my money goes on hifi kit. Mostly Yamaha and Sony.
I feel privileged that during my 60 odd years of being a photographer that I owned & used 3 of the cameras highlighted in your video, namely the Topcon RE, Minolta Dynax 7000 & Nikon D1. What you failed to mention that not only were they innovative but that their lenses & photographic performance were superior to most of the other cameras on the market. The Topcon was probably too expensive to make a large enough profit for future development, being hamstrung by the EXA based bayonet; the Minolta had poor ergonomics and perhaps was perhaps not as robust as the "Conikon" opposition; the Nikon was just superb & launched a line of digital cameras that weren't truly matched by others for nearly 10 years. I'm so pleased I lived & enjoyed my photography during this time. However perhaps surprisingly my favourite camera during the 1970's & 1980's were the old breach lock Canon FD based cameras & lenses.
I remember having a debate with a photographer, at my place of work in the early noughties, who had the Nikon D1 digital camera extolling its brilliance whilst disparaging my favourite film camera as old fashioned and soon to be worthless. I argued that my camera could still take higher quality/better resolution photos than his D1, to which he replied there will soon be an upgraded version that will have a 5 megapixel sensor and far surpass any 35mm film! Another excellent episode and some interesting cameras and stories.
He was right but it took a lot longer for digital to surpass 35mm film than he predicted. Meanwhile, your 'old-fashioned' film camera may well be worth more than the D1 today.
That Kodak DCS420 has a Pentax 55mm Super Takumar lens fitted, although the camera is based on a Nikon. What's going on there? Does it focus to infinity?
The Kodak Instamatic was a beginner Camera for many people, also for me as a child when I got a Kodak Instamatic 233. I like the square format, but the downside was that the filmplane was not complete flat, so you could never really get super sharp photos, a pity, it could have been a superior film format with more sofisticated Cameras. The 110 film format had the same problem with the filmplane that was not flat enough and it was only good for small prints. The Kodak Disc film format should never had been made !!!
The Canon EOS system didn't offer any ground-breaking world firsts, it just did everything better than everyone else, thanks to Canon's brave decision to ditch the FD mount and start again with the new electronic EF lens mount. So I guess on that basis you could argue that it deserved to be included. We'll be covering the development of AF in the 80s in our next video.
Konica and Minolta had great engineers, remember the coopertion of Minolta and Leitz (Leica) in the 1970´s and the 1980´s, so Sony today have a really good back history of Cameras, Lenses and Electronics.
Indeed. If you take the view that Sony is effectively Konica Minolta re-badged, then KM not lives on, it's thriving, though we must acknowledge Sony's enormous contribution to this success.
I have tried Leica M cameras, I am not impressed ! I do not like the OVF, you do not get the WYSIWYG like you do with a SLR Camera in the view finder ! Today I love to use mirrorless Cameras with excellent EVF !
Leica M film cameras take some getting used to but once you do they are great for certain types of work. Of course digital M series rangefinder are also mirrorless and have excellent EVFs. They're not cheap though!
John how do you keep all your camera collection safe from Wife!? When I get given any I have to Smuggle them into my Darkroom especially if they are in Dusty Old Boxes or I.m in Trouble!
I would not use any of these for groundbreaking, particularly the fragile SLRs. On the other hand my trusty Barnack iiic could be used for driving tent pegs, etc. without complaint.
Shout out to John Wade. He was my tutor for the Bureau of Freelance Photographers Shoot n Sell course many, many moons ago, Thanks John.
I’ve enjoyed this series thus far! Thank you. Throughout this trilogy, I’ve been keeping track of the cameras I either own (or have owned) over the decades. I was happy to learn that in this episode, I own three of the ‘groundbreaking cameras’; the Nikon F, the Kodak 110 instamatic (with a pedestal for the flash cube), and the Kodak Disc cameras. I am looking forward to the next installment! Greetings from the Adirondack Mountains in Upstate New York, USA.
Glad you're enjoying the series. Thanks for your support.
The first 35mm camera I owned 2as the Canon RM. I progressed from there ultimately arriving at the Canon EOS1N HS. via numerous Canon EOS bodies plus dabbled with a Rollei 35, a Fuji STX-1N and a Pentax ES11. Now I just dabbled with digital photography using a Canon eos 760d. Most of my money goes on hifi kit. Mostly Yamaha and Sony.
I feel privileged that during my 60 odd years of being a photographer that I owned & used 3 of the cameras highlighted in your video, namely the Topcon RE, Minolta Dynax 7000 & Nikon D1. What you failed to mention that not only were they innovative but that their lenses & photographic performance were superior to most of the other cameras on the market.
The Topcon was probably too expensive to make a large enough profit for future development, being hamstrung by the EXA based bayonet; the Minolta had poor ergonomics and perhaps was perhaps not as robust as the "Conikon" opposition; the Nikon was just superb & launched a line of digital cameras that weren't truly matched by others for nearly 10 years. I'm so pleased I lived & enjoyed my photography during this time.
However perhaps surprisingly my favourite camera during the 1970's & 1980's were the old breach lock Canon FD based cameras & lenses.
WOW !!!!!!!!! Thanks fellows !! I luv watching whatever You 2 do :) :) :)
Thanks for your support!
Canon also had a autofocus lens in 1981.
I remember having a debate with a photographer, at my place of work in the early noughties, who had the Nikon D1 digital camera extolling its brilliance whilst disparaging my favourite film camera as old fashioned and soon to be worthless. I argued that my camera could still take higher quality/better resolution photos than his D1, to which he replied there will soon be an upgraded version that will have a 5 megapixel sensor and far surpass any 35mm film! Another excellent episode and some interesting cameras and stories.
He was right but it took a lot longer for digital to surpass 35mm film than he predicted. Meanwhile, your 'old-fashioned' film camera may well be worth more than the D1 today.
If you have a changing bag, you can shoot 4x5 sheet film on the old Polaroid 95 even without any modification.
That Kodak DCS420 has a Pentax 55mm Super Takumar lens fitted, although the camera is based on a Nikon. What's going on there? Does it focus to infinity?
The Kodak Instamatic was a beginner Camera for many people, also for me as a child when I got a Kodak Instamatic 233. I like the square format, but the downside was that the filmplane was not complete flat, so you could never really get super sharp photos, a pity, it could have been a superior film format with more sofisticated Cameras. The 110 film format had the same problem with the filmplane that was not flat enough and it was only good for small prints. The Kodak Disc film format should never had been made !!!
Disc was a gimmick. I think Kodak was starting to lose the plot by this time!
Great series but I think you should have mentioned the Canon EOS series as I believe this was quite groundbreaking in its design
The Canon EOS system didn't offer any ground-breaking world firsts, it just did everything better than everyone else, thanks to Canon's brave decision to ditch the FD mount and start again with the new electronic EF lens mount. So I guess on that basis you could argue that it deserved to be included.
We'll be covering the development of AF in the 80s in our next video.
Konica and Minolta had great engineers, remember the coopertion of Minolta and Leitz (Leica) in the 1970´s and the 1980´s, so Sony today have a really good back history of Cameras, Lenses and Electronics.
Indeed. If you take the view that Sony is effectively Konica Minolta re-badged, then KM not lives on, it's thriving, though we must acknowledge Sony's enormous contribution to this success.
I have tried Leica M cameras, I am not impressed ! I do not like the OVF, you do not get the WYSIWYG like you do with a SLR Camera in the view finder ! Today I love to use mirrorless Cameras with excellent EVF !
Leica M film cameras take some getting used to but once you do they are great for certain types of work. Of course digital M series rangefinder are also mirrorless and have excellent EVFs. They're not cheap though!
John how do you keep all your camera collection safe from Wife!? When I get given any I have to Smuggle them into my Darkroom especially if they are in Dusty Old Boxes or I.m in Trouble!
I would not use any of these for groundbreaking, particularly the fragile SLRs. On the other hand my trusty Barnack iiic could be used for driving tent pegs, etc. without complaint.
haha. I think you could probably do that with the Hasselblad, too.
You seem to have missed APS cameras.
The negative on the Kodak Disc was the same size as the negative on the Minox.