More Snappy Stuff

Canon EOS 5D 35mm SLR (2006 - Present)

The great step has been taken and the T90 honourably retired in favour of a digital model. Personally the T90 was a great camera and still is however the attraction of digital for me has been quite compelling. Having said that I wanted a digital SLR that would be reasonably close in feature set and performance to the old T90 - it has taken a while but I reckon the EOS 5D is pretty damn close so we will see how it goes!

Comparative features between T90 and 5D HERE

How did I decide on the 5D? - see below, The Digital Question.

The 5D styling stacks up pretty well with the original Luigi Colani inspired design of the T90 (although no yellow unfortunately) and the size and weight of the body are not too dissimilar.

The feel of the body in the hands is excellent and not too dissimilar to the T90. The overall noise is lower without the film transport motor drive with the shutter giving a reassuring dull "kerplunk" - it feels solid enough. The eyepiece cover is rubber piece held on the strap which is pretty shonky given that the T90 had an inbuilt device (the AE-1 had a separate piece also that sat in the flash hotshoe when not in use). The Quick Control Dial on the back makes quick work of the menu system and the Main Wheel Dial by the shutter button works similarly to the T90 albeit not quite as smooth.

The T90 still has a few wee features that the 5D lacks (multi-spot metering, multiple exposure, slightly faster fps & flash sync) but none of these are for me a showstopper (I guess multiple exposure can be done in a photo editor these days).

I find the LCD info in the viewfinder gets "lost" compared to the brighter red LED displays of the T90 and the ISO setting can easily be overlooked since you need to hit a button and use the Custom Control Dial - double-edged sword, nice to be able to alter the ISO at will but easy to forget the setting. 

The neck strap for the 5D is quality but a bit "in yer face" and large so I've promoted the ol' AE-1 strap that was used on the T90 - maybe it will bring good karma for the hopefully trusty 5D.

As for all the techo performance stuff well I would refer folk to www.dpreview.com for an indepth review.

The original curvy Canon as designed by Luigi Colani featuring inbuilt winder and AA battery storage introduced c. 1986 and end of production in 1996.

Minox AL 35mm Rangefinder

No longer in the collection this was the camera I used for the simple box Brownie type days -  just go out and snap.

The AL was at the lower budget end of the Minox range and produced in white rather than the usual black however I liked it for the simplicity, 35mm film size and reasonably sharp lens (the lens was not in the same class as the rest of the Minox range however). The lens was 35mm/f4.0 with fixed focus. I loved the simple exposure settings (bright sun, cloudy, overcast) and small pocket size.

Loading the film was a hoot as it always seemed as though the whole camera was being dismantled (most of the outer casing slides off) and the trapdoor front needed to opened for the lens to extend out. This trapdoor was in fact a weak point since the hinging was a combination of metal and plastic with the result that the plastic broke and I needed to fit a black one from another model of Minox since no white ones were available.

The feel of the camera was one of a metal box to hold a good size film with a reasonably good quality lens and minimal exposure requirements.

The Minox for me was a fun wee camera and was great for travelling.

Contax T3 35mm Rangefinder

I wanted a small camera that I could carry around "in the pocket " in order to take a quick snap but it needed to give a high quality result (this satisfies the "Box Brownie mood that sometimes grips me). I find the image quality of the Zeiss lens to be excellent (nice and sharp) and difficult to tell apart from results from the SLR.

The only problem so far has been around the battery cover where there are signs of corrosion which looked like the result of electrolyte leakage from the battery - however since the battery has never been a problem I am at a loss to why this should be occurring.

Unfortunately since I have drifted away from film the T3 has been sold. Replacing it is impossible since in the digital world the sensors of the compacts are as yet nowhere near the quality of SLR sensors whereas in the film world the film quality was the same for a given format.

Hasselblad XPan 35mm Rangefinder/Panoramic

This camera is a flawed gem. I find image quality of the 45mm lens is excellent but the state of the black paintwork on the body is parlous. Given the fact that the body now looks thoroughly used (My T90 is c. 14 years old and looks in better shape)  the camera itself is a joy to use. I have never worried too much about the fact the shutter speed is difficult to read on the rear LCD since moving the eye back is easy enough - what I like is that I can carry the unit in a Lowe photo bag with the T90 and is great for travelling. 

The shutter actuation feels good and I have no problem with the viewfinder at all. Folk do say it is heavy but I am used to a T90 so it is not an issue at all.

The only major problem I had was soon after purchasing it I found the negs were overlapping and the neg spacing was very irregular - a bad fault for a "quality" brand. The repair took c. 7 months and I think the camera travelled right round the world in that time but at least the repair was good and the problem has not recurred at all.

To be sure to avoid the light falloff problem with the lens the circular centre filter is recommended but it does cost an arm and a leg.

A lot has been said about the big price on these XPan's but I guess that is the price of the Hasselblad brand and all said and done I love the panoramic format which is switchable on the fly and the fact it uses 35mm film.

The image quality from the lens for me is outstanding.

The XPan II looks like it has some improved features but if the paint finish is still a bit bodge then I'm glad I got mine a while ago (at a cheaper price) - no regrets at all.

Canon T90 35mm SLR (1990 - 2006)

The T90 is a fantastic camera and very robust (I got mine in c. 1990)  however there is a bit of a problem that crops up with the shutter dying. This seems to only happen after a few years and there has been a bit of discussion in the newsgroups about it.

This is what I did to fix mine and it has been going OK for quite a while now -

Open the back and press the stop down button once or maybe twice and if you see the shutter shudder then close the back and operate the trigger - I did and it worked fine, give it a run on H continuous to loosen it up. I think as the camera ages it needs to be exercised as the lubricants are probably tightening up and causing the safety mechanisms to cut in. There is also a school of thought that the problem may only occur when the main AA cells are removed for storing the camera. Whenever the camera is empty just give it a good thrash on both low and high speed continuous motor drive. I tend to leave my AA's in and periodically check them for good condition. Having said that I tend to use the lithium AA cells which have excellent shelf life, are durable and reliable not to mention lighter with four cells weighing about the same as 3 alkaline ones.

The only real criticism is the ease at which the rubber eyepiece detaches from the viewer and of course mine was no exception - last seen somewhere near the Sydney harbour bridge in the 1990's. Don't believe anyone who says the EOS ones are the same - they are not and need to be butchered to fit but don't look right as the dimensions are more rectangular than the original piece.

The T90 is not a light camera but does fit the hand beautifully. It is quite noisy with the shutter actuation and motor drive but I've learnt to live with it.

A film leader out mod could easily be done in hardware (I got mine done by Canon early on) so anyone getting a second hand unit should check this (I think this actually appeared as a Custom Function on later EOS cameras). 

The Luigi Colani inspired styling of the T90 is simply sensational and even when I upgrade to a digital (probably EOS) I don't think I'll be able to let it go - it deserves retirement as a fine objet d'art for the mantlepiece.

The styling makes it the grand-pappy of all the EOS cameras and feature for feature (in my opinion) the only EOS body that came near the same feature set as the T90 was the EOS 3 which was quite expensive when introduced.  It just goes to show how good the T90 was (and still is)  and how long it took for a proper equivalent EOS to appear on the scene. Needless to say the time for EOS film cameras is passing so to get all the T90 features in a digital body is the next milestone.

When it was first introduced folk were uncertain as to how long the LCD display would last - it still looks great to me so no worries there.

For me a great touch of the design was the yellow branding which makes it feel more elegant than the stark utilitarian white that has been used on all the EOS bodies since.

A great camera, no question, simply a classic.

Canon AE-1 35mm SLR (1978-2003)

This was my first real camera obtained in 1978 and quite frankly it was a brilliant wee camera that took great snaps. It was a shutter-priority camera at a time when many manufacturers seemed to prefer aperture priority but was tremendously successful in the marketplace. The last time I used it was in 2003 before it was sold ( a bit of a wrench) and it was still going strong (I held onto the neck strap which still serves me well on the 5D (after tireless service on the T90) since the later straps were all a bit cumbersome).

The biggest nag was the multi-legged bug that lived in the viewfinder which was not too bad since it was in the prism box on the focusing screen so didn't interfere with the actual image taking. I often wonder if it got a headache with all the mirror clunking occurring!

A feature that I liked which you don't get in more modern camera bodies was the fact that the rewind knob movement would indicate that the film was in fact winding on! There was also something nice about using the film advance lever which motor drives have now displaced.

In its lifetime no repairs were required apart from a light sealing job. Because of the age of the camera the light sealing foam inside the body needed replacing after c. 22 years but this was easily done by a good camera repair shop.

The only obvious defect was a crack in the plastic by the self-timer led but this was merely cosmetic so no worry. The only camera I would have upgraded to would have been the A-1 but the brilliant T-90 gazumped that.

I would still recommend it today if in good nick and while film is still available.

Polaroid SX70 Land camera (1970's)

This was an interesting camera but expensive to run.
Basically I thought it might be useful to give more ready access to the snaps rather than depend on the vagaries of photo labs at the time however the downside was that the filmpacks (10/pack) were pricey and the flash bars were disposable and also pricey.
I think from memory each flash bar had 5 or 6 bulbs and were not reusable.

All in all the technology was interesting (a crude variation of the digital environment really) but for me pricey and gimmicky - Ok for folks wanting an instant 'hardcopy' I guess.

Koroll S (1973)

This was the first camera I really used which was my Dad's old one that he had in the 50's.
I don't think the lens was any great quality but it used to take medium format film rolls (120) and had a wee metal cropping frame in the back for the different size of frame (square 6x6/rectangular 6x4.5?).
It came with a brown leather case which by the time I got it was pretty battered.
Produced by a crowd called Bencini an Italian firm from Milano.

The lens barrel needed to be pulled out of the body and then the shutter button would then move a metal lever inside which actuated the shutter - this seemed to be a leaf type with a fine spring from memory.

Kodak Box camera

Mum used to have one of these although I never used it.
I struggle to remember which model it was but it was black cardboard with textured finish.
A few snaps in the family album were no doubt taken with it.