Camerosity

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

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 S

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 di

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 / Mamiy

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

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 Lense

We're back with Episode 93 of the Camerosity Podcast! This time, we've altered our recording time to better suit those of our listeners across the pond who are normally sleeping when we record at our usual time. For this 'European time zone friendly' episode, we welcome special guest, collector, and author John Wade who has written or contributed to more than 30 books, including a couple which I have relied on for several of my camera reviews. In addition to John, we were joined by callers Brian MacDomhnaill from Ireland, Fernando Villava from Germany, Guy from Germany, Leon Blankenhorn from Germany, and domestic callers Miles Libak and Andrew Madsen. And of course we had our regular hosts, Anthony Rue, Stephen Strangways, and our time zone friendly recording time also allowed Paul Rybolt to join us who has been vacationing in Ireland for the past month. As this episode was recorded at 4am in Sydney, we gave Theo the day off. With John's expertise, we spent a lot of time talking about Britain's only 35mm SLR, the Wrayflex. As the author of the only specialized book on the Wrayflex and the company who made it, John has a fascinating level of knowledge on this attractive and quirky camera. In addition to Wray, we spent a lot of time talking about clockwork cameras, you know, those cameras that have a spring tensioned wind up film advance mechanism. We discussed a wide variety of models from the very first wind up camera, the Japy Le Pascal, Ansco No.1A Automatic Ansco, and later cameras like the Debrie Sept, Bell & Howell Foton, Canon Dial, Ansco Auto Half, GOMZ Leningrad, and others. We briefly talk about the British Leica copy, the Reid and Sigrist Reid camera and the American equivalent the Premiere Instrument Kardon, among other popular British cameras. In addition to John's contributions, Paul shares with us another 617 camera he's got his eye on, Brian tells a tale about lenses he thinks he needs and never uses, Mike shares an uncommon German camera he recently GASsed over, Guy brags about all his working Rollei A110s, the brightness of the Olympus Pen F's viewfinder, and we go around the room asking which cameras each of us have the most duplicates of. 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 back to our regular recording time and will be welcoming Meredith and Corey Reinker from Roberts Camera/Used Photo Pro in Indianapolis, Indiana to share with us their stories selling vintage cameras on eBay and in a well established retail environment. We may welcome some callers from other camera stores too, but you'll just have to join us to see who calls in! We will record Episode 94 on Monday, June 16th at 7pm Central Daylight Time and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time. In This Episode Henry Scherer Passed Away / Mike Doesn't Know the Difference Between Ireland and Scotland Retro Cameras / What Motivated John Wade to Start Writing About Cameras John Wade's A Wrayflex Story / John Researched That Book by Interviewing People Who Used to Work There Early Wrayflex Prototypes / John Does YouTube Videos on Amateur Photographer's Channel Reid and Sigrist Leica Copies / Premier Instrument Kardon Leica Copy Kodak Brownies and I

Like the saying goes, "better late than never", the Camerosity Podcast is back with Episode 91, which is dedicated to cameras of the 90s. Which 90s you prefer, 1890s or 1990s, all 90s cameras are welcome! Joining Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike are returning callers, AJ Gentile, Ira Cohen, Miles Libak, Nick Marshall, Robert Rotoloni, and Will Pinkham and we cover a wide range of 1990s cameras and technologies. Paul starts off with some stories about mini labs and how single use cameras became a big thing. We dive into bridge cameras, including the Olympus IS-2 which Mike gave rave remarks to. We discuss a large number of point and shoot cameras including premium models by Nikon and Konica, and ponder why the Olympus Stylus Epic is so popular today. We talk about some dead end technologies from the 90s such as Minolta's ill fated Creative Expansion and Canon's obscure barcode scanner for the EOS 10S. Not all technologies from the 1990s were failures though as the 1990s was the first decade of digital cameras. Models like the floppy disc Sony Mavica and Nikon D1 were great cameras with a historical significance which helped prove that digital photography had arrived. We round out the discussion with why Theo loves the Mamiya 7 so much and how it compares to the Mamiya 6, Robert shares some info on the development of the Nikon S3 2000 edition, and we have a thorough discussion on Kyocera's Contax SLRs. 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 decided to explore the Italian camera industry as its not often discussed in camera collector circles. While Germany, Japan, the Soviet Union, and the United States were well known as makers of fine cameras, a great number of really cool cameras were made in Italy such as the Rectaflex, Ducati Sogno, Gamma II, and other models by Bencini, Durst, and Ferrania. Join us if you're a fan of cameras from this "boot shaped" country, and see if we can manage to fill an entire episode without getting distracted! We will record Episode 92 on Monday, May 19th at 7pm Central Daylight Time and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time. In This Episode Jeff and Gabe Can't Pronounce French Names / Alan Peres Sends Us Emails Now Sometimes Its Hard to Remember That We Like Cameras from the 1990s The 1990s Was the Decade of the MiniLab and Single Use Disposable Cameras Olympus Invested Heavily in Point and Shoots in the late 1980s In the 1990s, Olympus Gave Up on Traditional SLRs and Created the IS-Series Olympus IS-2 / In the 90s Zoom Reach was Over Valued By Novices Why Are the Olympus Stylus Epics so Expensive? / µ[mju:]-II Nikon F5 Improvements Over the F4 / Paul Really Hates the Nikon N70 The Nikon N90/F90 Was Nikons Best Semi-Pro SLR of the 1990s Broken Battery and Film Doors Were a Huge Problem Back Then The Nikon 28Ti and 35Ti Are Impressive Cameras but Terrible Investments 1990s Underwater Cameras / How Many People Kept Shooting 80s Cameras in the 90s? Contax S2 and Other 1990s Contax SLRs / Contax S2 and ST Mike Likes the Contax RTS II and the Contax RX / Large Contaxes Like the N1 and AX The Minolta Maxxum 600si/650si Has Mechanical Knobs and is Awesome / Minolta Maxxum 9xi Minolta's Horrible Creative

A topic that we've lightly touched upon in previous episode, but never dared devote an entire episode to is the taboo subject of repairing your own cameras. There are those who firmly believe all repairs should be left to the capable hands of professionals, but there are others who have no problem with opening their own cameras and trying it out themselves. If you're in the latter group and are interested to hear some tips and tricks from those of us who have been brave/foolish enough to try it, Episode 89 is all about repairing your own cameras. Joining Paul, Stephen, Theo, and Mike are returning callers A.J. Gentile, Alyssa Micha, Andrew Reynolds, Christopher Wells, John Michael Mendizza, Keir Frei, Larry Effler, Pat Casey, Rafael Espinoza, Ray Nason, Wayne Scheipers, and Will Pinkham who all share their own experiences. We cover a wide range of topics, starting with what you can and cannot repair on a Kodak Medalist and whether you can still send your Leicas to the factory in Wetzlar to get repaired. Hear who we think makes a good set of JIS screwdrivers, lens spanners, and Mike recommends a rubber grippy tool. We share our recommendations for cleaning cameras, getting sticky residue off film doors, replacing mirror bumpers and foam light seals, how not to clean a reflex mirror, what works on lenses and what not to use. We even cover the taboo topic of washing your camera in the dishwasher! Although there is very little GAS in this episode, we do get into a few model specific camera repairs. Alyssa Micha shares with us her beautiful 1903 Kodak camera which had moldy bellows and what she needed to do to replace them. We talk about how to and how not to fix the infamous Canon Squeal of the Canon AE-1 and A-1 cameras, along with how to deal with the sticky backs of the Nikon N80 and N90, Mike talks about a product he used to mold a custom hand grip for his Minolta 650si. We talk about various cleaners, when and when not to use lighter fluid, acetone, glass cleaner, and for the love of God, please never use WD-40 on any camera! Although this whole episode is about home repairs and cleaning, we end the show talking about how best to take care of your camera to minimize its chances of never needing to be repaired, how to deal with humidity, and whether or not to store your cameras in their original leather cases. Meet Anthony, Paul, and Mike: If you are in the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday, March 22nd, come to the Ohio Camera Swap at the Hilton Garden Inn Cincinnati/West Chester and say hi to us. 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. Our next episode will be number 90, and like we've done for episodes 70 and 80, we will be devoting the show to cameras of that decade. For Episode 90, we will discuss cameras of the 1990s (or 1890s for that matter)! Finally, Theo will get a chance to talk about his beloved Mamiya 7, but in addition to that there were many other terrific cameras from that decade like the Nikon N90s and the premium 28Ti and 35Ti point and shoots, the Contax AX, and the Olympus µ[mju:

In yet another request from our listeners for topics you wanted to hear, for Episode 88, you can include me as someone whose been interested in hearing an episode about the Kodak Retina and other German Kodaks. For many years, whenever I needed to write something about the Retina, the person I always reached out to was Dr. David Jentz. David is not only the founder of the Historical Society for Retina Cameras, but also has published multiple written works about the Retina and its history. In addition to his knowledge about the Retina, David frequently collaborates with historian Klaus Schicht who has studied the man who created the Retina, Dr. August Nagel. Although Klaus does not appear on the show, David was able to quote some information regarding topics we discussed on this show. If one Kodak historian was not enough, we also invited Todd Gustavson from the George Eastman Museum to be on the show to fill in the blanks for any other Kodak related questions which came up. This was a closed episode, so we did not have any callers, and both Paul and Theo weren't able to make it, but what we lacked in callers, we more than made up for in fascinating Kodak, Nagel, and Retina history. Listen to Episode 87 to get a background on who Dr. August Nagel was, how he became a doctor, brief histories of his time working for Contessa Nettel, Zeiss-Ikon, and Nagel Kamerwerke prior to joining Kodak. Did you know that before Kodak AG made cameras, they made film in Germany? We discuss other German Kodaks such as the Recomar, Pupille, Kodak Duo Six-20, and the mysterious Kodak Regent. We get into the differences between the use of "Nr." and "Type" when referring to prewar and postwar cameras, and finally solve the mystery of Paul's Retinette Angenieux lens. In addition to camera history, we also take a deep dive into Kodak's introduction to making 35mm film. While Kodak's type 135 daylight loading cassette was their most notable contribution to 35mm film in the 1930s, did you know they made 35mm film for the Leica and Contax before that? David shares with us information about Kodaks original 35mm film, along with some detailed patent information about the Retina, and much more! 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 getting on a boat and heading on a "Three Hour Tour" for our second Desert Island episode. If you were stranded on a desert island with only three cameras, which three would they be? Will a high spec but fragile electronic camera make the cut, or will people choose less technically impressive models built to withstand a lot more abuse? Let us know what you’d choose! We will record Episode 88 on Monday, February 24th at 7pm Central Standard Time and 8pm Eastern Standard Time. In This Episode David's Origin Story / His First Camera was a Kodak Retina IIIS Kodak Used to Have a Camera Museum in Stuttgart David Jentz Formed with Peter Tosh the Historical Society of Retina Cameras HSRC Received Permission from Kodak and the Rights to use the Actual Retina Logo Are the Retinas Separated in the George Eastman Museum? / There Are 22,000 Items in the Eastman Museum Collection Who was Dr. August Nagel? / Nagel Started Contessa

The Camerosity Podcast returns with Episode 85 where we wander back into the wonderful world of high end camera auctions. For this episode, we went all the way to Vienna, Austria and invited Jo Geier from Mint and Rare Cameras and the Wetzlar Camera Auctions. In addition to Jo, we also welcomed back Dan Tamarkin from Tamarkin Camera and Auctions. Joining Anthony, Paul, Theo, Mike, and our two special guests are returning callers Brian McDomnhaill, Dan Cuny, Fernando Villava, Gheerwijn Clicque, Ira Cohen, Wes Loder, Miles Libak, Tom Zoss, and Wayne Scheipers, As you might expect when you have two of the world's most respected camera auctioneers on the same episode, we talk about a lot of super rare and collectible cameras. Everything from the original Ur-Leica to rare cameras like the Carl Zeiss Jena Contax, the Australian Snider 35 rangefinder, and Luxus Leicas. In addition to some pretty deep GAS, some love is given to several more affordable cameras like the Canon P, Tower/Nicca rangefinders, and the Nikon F4. In addition to GAS, several great questions were raised including whether or not the definition of 'rare' has changed over the years, whether or not finding collectible cameras is getting harder to find, and why there aren't more younger people collecting cameras. Jo tells us his origin story to how he started both companies and shares with us what his 'white whale' camera would be, Dan and Jo show appreciation for each other and talk about how they have collaborated in the past, including a very special Leica which Dan found at a Pennsylvania garage sale. We revisit the need to get old cameras repaired sooner than later and how quickly experts in certain cameras are disappearing, tips and tricks for new collectors, and Jo proposes a $10 "ugly" camera challenge for anyone going to a camera 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. For our next episode, we are are going to the suggestion box and covering a topic that you all have told us you wanted to learn more about, adapting lenses. There are many people in this hobby who love cameras, but love the lenses more. While an old Kodak Ektra might be pretty to sit on the shelf, it is more practical to adapt that lens to a modern digital camera and see what kinds of results you can get from it. Episode 86 will be dedicated to the hobby of using old lenses on modern digital cameras. We will record Episode 86 at our regular time on Monday, February 10th at 7pm Central Standard Time and 8pm Eastern Standard Time. If you live in a different time zone and would like to participate, be sure to check your favorite time zone calculator to find out the exact time in your region. In This Episode Jo Geier's Origin Story / Shooting a Yashica FX-D with No Film Wetzlar Auctions Runs One Auction a Year / Jo Doesn't Keep Too Many Cameras Dan Loves Wetzlar Auctions and Has Worked with them Many Times How Jo Determines What Goes to Auction and What Goes to Retail Auctions Set a Benchmark for What Things Are Worth / Collectiblend Has the Definition of "Rare" Changed? / What is the White Whale that Has Never Shown Up? Sometimes a Pristine and Truly Mint Camera is More Rare Than a Collectible Are Certain Thi

The end of the year is almost here, and the guys and I were getting that itch to record something, so on a dreary Boxing Day, we all got together for a spontaneous episode to catch up on what we've been doing. We did not post the join link this time, but we managed to coerce our friends Dan Cuny and Ray Nason to join us for some post-Christmas camera discussion. To help us find things to talk about, we decided to tackle a request made earlier this month in the Camerosity Facebook group, asking for more detail about Contax cameras which we were happy to do. We get into some history, some real world reviews, advice, and other Contax nonsense. Everything from the pre and post war Contax rangefinders, the East German Contax SLRs, and the Yashica/Kyocera Contax cameras were discussed. In addition to Contax discussion, Mike gives an update on what became of the Detrola 400 he "borrowed" from Roberts Camera, Dan shares his thoughts on his most recent review of the Ansco Memo and we talk about Memo cameras. Anthony shares his photographic adventures he went on traveling to New Zealand, and Paul confesses his love for adapting Contaflex 126 lenses! 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 welcome in the new year with Episode 84 in which we will be inviting Jeff and Gabe from I Dream of Cameras. There is a high chance we will spend some time on Alpa SLRs, but there's no telling where the discussion will go with what will effectively two podcasts recording at the same time! If you've ever wondered what it is like to have "too many cooks in the kitchen", this is the episode for you! We will record on Monday, January 13th 7pm Central Standard Time and 8pm Eastern Standard Time. In This Episode Mike's Update on the Detrola 400 / Other Premium American Rangefinders / Ektra, Bell & Howell Foton, Clarus, Perfex Allen Wade is Ray, Paul, and Mike's Source for Camera Repair Mr Zhang Modifies Hasselblad Backs / Mike Didn't Like the Hasselblad SWC Paul Wishes for a 6x9 Mamiya 7 / Fuji 6x9s / Texas Leicas Dan Cuny Talks About His Review Process / Ansco Memo and Agfa Memo Cameras Dan is Curious About the Beier Beira / Voigtländer Prominent Paul's Friend Made a 240 Degree Panoramic Mamiya RB67 Tim Floyd is Contax Curious / Camerosity Presents: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Contax Cameras Pre-War Contax I Pre-War Contax II and III Post-War Contax IIa and IIIa East German Contax SLRs Yashica / Kyocera Contax SLRs and Other Cameras Comparing Shooting a Contax and Nikon Rangefinder / Dan Has Never Liked Shooting Contax Rangefinders What are the Differences Between a Contax / Pentacon / Hexacon SLRs Preset Lenses / Contarex Bullseye and non-Bullseye Contaflex 126 / Instamatic Cameras How Did Yashica Come to Use the Contax Name? Kyocera Made Great Knives and Golf Clubs / Contax T and G Series Cameras Theo is Shooting a Pentacon Six, KMZ Horizont, and Canon 7 Gallus Derlux and Foth Derby / Theo Has a Jolly Look from Antony Hands Mike Picks Up a Taron Supra V18 / Ray Picks Up an Exakta with an Ansco TLR Lens on It Anthony Just Got Back from New Zealand / Voigtländer Bessa and Perkeo II / Anthony Gets a Clip-On Meter Zeiss-Ikon Ikoflex TLRs / What's Next