Gear Porn

A recent post by @MountainMan79 triggered some bittersweet memories of gear gone due to departing film and developing a difficulty using manual focus. So... some ghosts from Gordo's gear bookcases shelf.

Film. Of the old film gear I owned, I miss my old AE-1P, F-1 New, and F3HP the second most. Most missed will be in the next post.
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Also miss my first SLR, a Vivitar XV-2. And a follow-on "disposable" V-2000 I took with me on trips where camera gear might not make the return trip. Later replaced with disposable cameras. Lots of good memories of trips in the AF with the Vivitars, no photos of those.
 
I had a love/ hate relationship with the Nikon Df. Loved the concept. Loved the ability to use the old non-Ai Nikkors. Hated the OVF, it was so wrong for my eyes it knocked by binocular vision out of whack and induced migraine-level headaches, even with as little as 20-25 minutes use in the span of an hour. This camera pushed me into other digital brands looking for "better". And as time progressed I found it increasingly difficult to do the manual focus thing on SLRs/ DSLRs/ MILCs. With the exception of rangefinder. The number one reason I do not darken the doorway of a Leica store.

These non-Ai Nikkors were picked up as trades or purchases for peanuts. The 24 and 135 were almost pristine, the 35 and 50 had a little more wear but were in exceptional condition considering the age.

With non-Ai NKJ Nikkor-N Auto 24mm f/2.8, serial number placed construction sometime in the '69 to '71 timeframe (if I read the charts correctly).
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With non-Ai NKJ Nikkor-S Auto 35mm f/2.8, serial number placed construction sometime in the '63 to '64 timeframe (if I read the charts correctly).
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Last two.

With non-Ai NKJ Nikkor-S Auto 50mm f/1.4, serial number placed construction sometime in the '66 timeframe (if I read the charts correctly).
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With non-Ai NKJ Nikkor-Q Auto 135mm f/3.5, serial number placed construction sometime in the '66 timeframe (if I read the charts correctly).
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As a gear uy hobbyist, it pained me (still does) to let the gear go, but I didn't have room anymore to keep stuff I wasn't going to be using. :(
 
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My Nikon Z fc light travel setup: Nikon Z 28mm f/2.8 for AF duty and run-and-gun stuff; Voigtländer 35mm f/2 Macro APO-Ultron, Voigtländer 23mm f/1.2 Nokton and Laowa 10mm f/4 Cookie. Loads of fun - and much better performance than the decidedly stylish appearance might suggest. Conducive to thoughtful photography. Everything fits beautifully into my smallest shoulder bag, the ThinkTank Retrospective 4 v2.0 (that'll also take my general purpose travel setup, the Z 6 with Z 40mm f/2 and Z 24-200mm f/4-6.3 - though it's kind of a tight fit). This is what I'm going to take on my little Christmas trip (alongside the Fujifilm X100V that travels in its own belt pouch).

M.
 
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The "film crew": Leica M6 TTL with Elmar-M 50mm f/2.8 (Kodak ProImage 100), Leica Sofort (Fujifilm Instax Mini Color), Zeiss Ikon RF with Voigtländer Nokton Classic 35mm f/1.4 II (Kentmere 100). Shooting the M6 alongside the Zeiss Ikon makes for an interesting experience; in spite of the undoubtable convenience of the Zeiss Ikon's aperture priority mode, I tend to prefer the more direct and thoughtful control the M6 necessitates. The Leica Sofort transforms the handling of what is essentially a Fujifilm Mini Neo 90 Classic into something that suits me a lot more - of the simplistic automatic instant models, this is my favourite one (in spite of the existence the LomoInstant Automat Glass that sports a much, much better lens but comes with its own technical quirks - like its slowish shortest shutter speed of 1/250s). That said, I'll take the Polaroid OneStep+ for a spin next ...

M.
 
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Breaking out some things I haven't used in a long while: I'll take the D750 with the Voigtländer 58mm f/1.4 Nokton IIS for a spin tomorrow; the OneStep+ is ready to go as well (film's just freshly out of the fridge and warming up) but won't fit into the same bag, so the Leica Sofort is going to tag along ...

M.
 
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