1 post tagged “xk”

The subtitle of this blog should read, "My Life in Cameras." Could there be a more boring topic? Who wants to know about "my" history with cameras? I don't know but I'll tell you one thing, camera's have always had a special place in my heart. The complexity of them, the mechanics and technology in their construction that fits into the palm of your hand is just amazing. Then, to be able to take this cold, inpersonal object and produce an image that is crafted from pure science and creativity—it is completely amazing. Maybe I'll have to write a story about my history with computers next—what do you think? Or maybe my history with watches? Anyway, let's get on with it, shall we? Oh, be sure to click on the photos to read additional information and links.

In 2006 I purchased my first Leica. Well, that's not being completely honest. It's more like, I purchased my first Minox camera, which was a miniature replica of the Leica M3. I couldn't pass it up. There was a picture of it right there in the Air France magazine, inside the duty free section on a flight I was on from Paris to Washington DC. It was only $189. I couldn't pass it up...but lets start at the beginning.

Even during childhood, I had always wanted one of those tiny spy cameras they use to have in the large gumball machines. You would put a quarter in a slot, rotate the cold metal handle and hope you got somthing that was on the display card.

The camera couldn't have been more than 1.5" wide. They were made of metal and used a very tiny roll of black and white film. It must have been the 60's when I first saw this camera. Later in the 70's, I saw the camera again in larger games like what one would see at a video arcade but darnmit, I could never get one. I either wasn't skilled enough to win it or did not have enough quarters to buy everything in the machine until I got the prize I wanted. 

When I was searching for information on this camera, I finally found out the name of it. It is called the HIT camera. Click on the photo at right and you will find a link to a website I found that has more information about this camera that eludes me to this day.

During the 70's, I took photos with a Kodak 126 and even a few with another camera who's name escapes me. It folded out and had a bellows. I didn't really care for it much but hey, my dad gave it to me. About this time, I saw the movie "Le Mans" with Steve McQueen and I became interested in photographing sportscar races. My father and I would go to Palm Beach International Raceway and I would take photos with my trusty Kodak 126. That got old real fast and I knew I had to buy a real camera, a Single Lens Reflex. Afterall, I had failed many times at winning the HIT camera. My brother was pushing me to buy a NIkon but I didn't have that kind of money and besides, I just wanted something to take better pictures of race cars with—I didn't want to become a professional photographer!

So, one day my father and I walked into Benson's Camera on Dixie Highway in South Miami and I purchased a Minolta SRT-201 with a Rokkor 50mm ƒ1.8 and Vivitar 200mm ƒ3.5 lenses. I haven't been able to save a dime since.

When I was in high school I purchased a Minnolta XD-11 with the auto winder and a Rokkor 24mm ƒ2.8 wide angle lens. It was great having two camera bodies. At school I took photos for the Year Book and the school newspaper. My father and I went to a camera show in Philadelphia one year. It was a lot of fun to see so many cameras in one place, I still enjoy going to them even today. 

I didn't see one of the tiny HIT cameras but I did see small cameras made by a company I had never heard of—Minox. They had some really cool cameras! The kind of cameras that a spy might carry. This was way beyond the cheap-o HIT camera I kept trying to win for a quarter. Unfortunately the Minox cameras were very expensive for a high schooler's budget. 

A few years later, my father and I went to another camera show in King of Prussia. At this show, I purchased an experienced black Minnolta XE-7. My understanding was that the shutter mechanism was developed by Leica. It was very quiet and a joy to shoot with. Somewhere along the line, I acquired a 35 - 135mm zoom and a 2x converter for the 200mm. This rounded out my collection of Minolta camera bodies until I moved to Pittsburgh.

I went to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh during the mid 1980's. I picked up a Minolta XK from a pawn shop for $75—how could I pass it up? The head had a big dent in it so the meter did not work. The shutter seemed to be in working order though. I used a hand held light meter anyway so who cared if the in-camera meter worked or not. 

One year I had the opportunity to go to another camera show in Monroeville. A friend of mine from photography school and I went to check out the new Nikon F3 that had come out. Those Nikons were such beasts! I knew that some day I would like to have one but in the mean time, I had my Minolta system.

There, for the first time I came face-to-face with the legend that is Leica. I had seen them at the other camera shows I had been to back East but they just looked old to me—I didn't know what the big deal was. I got to try a black bodied Leica M3 with a motor drive that made the whole package stand about 8" tall. It was such a nice camera. I understood why they used to use these cameras in courtrooms—the damn things barely made any noise when the shutter button was pushed. You couldn't even hear a "click!" It was more like a "cli!" So now a Leica was on my list of cameras I had to have along with Nikon and Minox.

I was one of those kids whose mother would take a certain percentage of my allowance and any money I earned from working jobs (about most-of-it%) and put it away in the bank. My friends could never understand why I never had any money. After photography school and working at Best Products in King of Prussia for a while, I had about $4,000 saved thanks to mom. I had built up a nice collection of Minolta cameras but I always wanted a Nikon system. Minolta was making the move to plastic XG and X-700 series at the time which didn't really feel like pro gear to me. Another Minolta camera I had always wanted was the XK Motor with an ƒ1.2 85mm lens but they were very, very expensive and even harder to finde so I began to think about what other camera company would get all my hard-earned money for new gear.

I really thought hard about switching to Leica. That M3 rangefinder I got to handle in Monroeville was really nice and now they had just come out with the R4—an SLR version. In some ways I wish I had gone with Leica but I would only have been able to afford a body and one lens, maybe two lenses. I needed something at least comperable to what I had invested in Minolta's. A Nikon system gave me a lot more for the money so I just had to put the Leica on hold.

Originally I had purchase my Nikon gear from New York Camera. Amoungst all the lenses I had ordered, I had selected a 200mm ƒ2 ED IF Nikkor lens with a big-ass skylight filter for it. The filter arrived but not the lens. I was not used to this thing called backorder in those days and I thought it was a dirty trick to play on someone who just ordered $4,000 worth of camera gear so I returned everything I had received and looked for a local camera shop to buy from. 

I found one, in Reading called Deluca's Camera. They had everything I wanted but talked me out of the 200mm. For the total price of about $4,000 I was able to get two Nikon F3 HP's with motor drives, a 500mm catadioptric, 24mm ƒ2.8, 180mm ED, 1.4 converter, 50mm flatfield Macro, 35mm ƒ1.4, 135mm ƒ2.0 and, what has become my favorite lens, a 15mm rectalinear ultrawide. My son calls it the eyeball lens. Life was good...very good.

I sold all my Minolta gear to a friend I used to work with at Best Products. He already had a Minolta XD-11 and I beleive an X-700. I think he purchased the lot from me so he was set with 6 bodies now! Then he drooled over all my new Nikon gear. There we were, sitting on either side of a table that had 8 camera bodies and about 15 - 20 lenses...just droolin'.

At some point, I purchased a Nikon F2 Photomac with a motor drive and battery pack from a friend I went to photography school becuase I just had to have it. Later I picked up a black Nikon FM2 to back up the two F3's I had in the event they failed...and they did...at the same time. Both of them were in the shop with electircal problems. Lucky I had the FM2. About this time, I started looking at small cameras again and purchased an Olympus XA-2, just for fun.

Jump ahead to 2006; I've had a 4 Minolta, 4 Nikon SLR's, a Nikon D-70 DSLR and two Olympus XA series camera's but still no Minox and no Leica. I was on a flight back from Paris and saw what would be my first Minox/Leica camera—a 4mp DCC Leica M3. It was in the duty free section of the Air France magazine. I wanted it but could not purchase it at that moment. When I got home, I checked with B&H Photo and found it there and purchased it.

Finally, I had my own Minox and Leica M3 all rolled into one! I was so excited about this new toy. I took it everywhere with me. I purchased a small sack with a zip-tight lock on a string (made by Pelican) and then I could attach it to my belt loop and take it wherever I went. I have to admit, I spent most if my time testing the performance of the camera rather than having fun with it but I did take a few. I am not going to go into all my findings forthe camera in this blog. I have already done that on my Flickr account here.

Just a few months after I had purchased the camera, Minox announces a new version of it called the DCC Leica M3 Plus. This version was a major upgrade from what I already had. It had, built-in hard drive and accepted up to a 2gb SD card, rechargable battery, White Balance control, EV exporsure control, an full color LCD preview screen and more. I just had to have it and sure enough, there it was in an Air France magazine in the duty free secton on my way back from Paris. I purchased it and now I am a happy camper again.

This is where the purpose of this blog comes in. It is my hope that I can come up with some decent images using this point-n-shoot camera that will be good enough to make a LuLu or a Blurb book. Please do not think that this is a very expensive, high quality camera just because it says Leica on it and was made by Minox. Both of these companies have extremely high quality products. This camera is still in it's infancy I feel. It is getting better with every version but it is not for everyone. For example, did you know that it has a manual focus? You get your choice of infinity, 1m and .5m for focus settings.

This will be my street photography camera. You might ask, why not just use my DSLR for this project. My DSLR is much, much larger than this camera. This camera is descrete and it even attracts attention when you show it to people (that is why I have two)—it is sort of like an ice-breaker. It is limited in what it can do so it sort of fits the expression "give a cheap camera to a pro and he will bring back great images." Well it was not cheap but the quality is still progressing so it sort of fits the bill. I just hope that will be able to live up to the part about the "professional" being able to get great pictures out of it.

As I post photos, hopefully you will see what a delight this little camera can be. I just have to get a handle on it's strengths and weaknesses.

Mark