These are my babies. Yes, they most definitely are. Yes.
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Hasselblad 500c/m
The Story:
This is my most prized camera.. I dreamt of owning this camera for a long time and actually sold my electric drum kit (which I wasn’t really using anyways) to get the money to purchase this. I was first introduced to Hassleblad cameras back in Year 9 of Secondary School, LONG before I was properly ‘into’ photography. A close friend of mine who was a hobby photographer was telling me about the line of Hassleblad cameras and how their digital backs were capable of taking CRAZILY high quality pictures exceeding 40 megapixels or so.. I read up more on Hassleblads and once I saw the look of their digital cameras, I thought ‘woah.. that thing looks hench! It’s so…… ..ugly’. LOL At the time, I didn’t understand what Medium Format meant.. therefore, I had no idea why the body was shaped the way it is compared to other ‘normal’ SLRs.
Anyways.. few years passed and we come to 2011. Out of boredom, I decided to check out the Hassleblad line of cameras again and stumbled upon their classic 120 Medium Format film cameras… now at this point I was already into film photography, so when I saw the look of these cameras and the amazing photos they produced, coupled with the amazing design.. well, I was instantly blown away. I began to see lots of pictures of Hassleblads pop up on Tumblr.. odd little coincidence there.. it just made me think more and more. I did my research and found out how expensive these cameras were.. (at least not expensive as their H1 digital cameras which are like.. £18000 LOL), this was serious buisness. Definitely not a toy, and definitely something to taken seriously. I had no choice but to turn my head away in shame. But me.. well, anyone who knows me in person knows how determined I am to get something when I want it and I will literally do what it takes..
I had used eBay many times, but had never sold anything through it.. but I did think about it. Eventually, after coming to the conclusion that I could sell my electric drum kit and use the money made from this to go towards the camera.. I plucked up the courage to set up a selling page for the electric kit! One day later, it was sold! I couldn’t believe it.. less than 24 hours! Anyways, a few days after selling the kit, I did some research and purchased each part of the camera seperately at the lowest price-to-good quality I could find. First, I bought the body, which came with the viewfinder. Then the 12A Film Back, and then finally.. I ordered the lens through a site in the US called Adorama. Oh lawdy.. Adorama is an amazing site for photography equipment! I absolutely recommend them!
Again.. I am SO proud to own this. Literally SO proud. I am going to cherish this and never sell it off. I am going to keep it for as long as I possibly can. And hey, in the future.. I’ll pass it down.. LOL oh lawd, the thought of having children. o_o wow.. lolwut.
Annnnnnnnnyways! That’s the story! :) Expect pictures soon!!
Different angle:
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Canon AE-1
I absolutely love this camera to bits! It’s my main camera which I take everywhere with me. It’s easy to use, and a great bit of kit. It’s also a very dynamic camera and can be used in loads of different situations! Most of the pictures I upload are taken with this camera. The shutter speeds range from 2 seconds to 1/1000 and a ‘B’ mode.
What’s impressive is that the AE-1 was the very first camera in the world ever, to have a CPU built into it. The shutter is also electro-mechanical therefore the camera will not work without a battery.
Here’s the AE-1 with my recently purchased Tokina AT-X 28-85mm lens:
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Diana F+
Righty, first up is my beautiful beloved DianaF+ Blackjack. I love the thing to bits! The amazing soft focus photos, the pure lack of consistency and the unpredictable nature of the camera just makes it that much more fun when taking photos with the beast.
I’ve got a 35mm back for it too, as you would’ve probably guessed from the photos I’ve uploaded.
Here’s the Diana with the Fisheye Lens and viewfinder:
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Nikon EM
Truth be told, I absolutely love this camera too even though it lacks a full manual mode (no shutter speed dial), and is intended for beginners. There are only three modes. ‘Auto’, where the camera automatically sets the shutter speed according to where you’ve set the aperture, ‘M90’ which is just a fixed shutter speed of 1/90 which really bugs me… and a simple ‘B’ mode. The camera was passed down to me from my dad who bought it when it first came out back in the late 70s.
Before I purchased my Canon AE-1, this was my main SLR I took around with me. Most of my older film photography was done with this camera.
Below is the picture of the settings:
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Zenit 3M
This camera is a strange old thing. It’s a russian camera from the 60s and was a deliberate copy of the old Leica Rangefinder cameras… except this is an SLR version. Which just.. boggles my mind LOL. Anyways.. It’s a great camera! The version I’ve got is the special ‘50 years of Communism’ Edition which has a nice little print on the top of the viewfinder prism housing:
Here is the Zenit with my Jupiter Telephoto lens:
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Kodak Instamatic 155X
I’m actually still yet to use this baby! That is, if I ever do get around to it. Problem is the type of film it takes. 126 film which is just too expensive to buy and too expensive to develop. There are ways of loading 35mm into a 126 film cartridge but the effort and the skill required… Well, I’ll get around to using this one day!
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Canon EOS 550D
Ahhh! Now for something completely different and all the way at the other end of the spectrum of cameras I own. The Canon EOS 550D! So many memories with this and so many beautiful pictures captured too. Before I got into Film Photography, this was my main camera and went everywhere with me just like the Nikon EM now. The 550D is an absolutely amazing DSLR. When it comes to my digital photography, this is the camera I use. I also love the fact that it can film full 1080p HD which is just absolutely mindblowing!
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So there we go… as of now. This is my camera collection! Expect it to grow, cos I can guaruntee you.. it will. :)
Last updated 11/05/11