A free D200 – Nikon’s answer to the 5D Mark I

A free D200 – Nikon’s answer to the 5D Mark I

After blasting every last penny on a Leica M3 my days of spending more than £5 for a charity shop special camera are well and truly over for the time being. Knowing this, the camera Gods then arranged for a message to arrive out of the blue. "Do you have any use for a Nikon DSLR?" "Which one?" "D200." Why yes. yes I do.…
The Cheap Brummie Box – Aston’s Coronet D-20

The Cheap Brummie Box – Aston’s Coronet D-20

There's a junk shop in Lichfield called Quercus of Quonians, its situated down an ancient side street in an equally ancient building. It has the exact musty, old smell you're imaging right now and is rammed floor to ceiling with anything from bits of old crockery to stuffed crows sat on skulls. For some reason, one of the only things they lock away are…
Cheap Medium Format TLR joy – the Lomo Lubitel 166 Universal

Cheap Medium Format TLR joy – the Lomo Lubitel 166 Universal

If you look back at old photography magazines you quickly discover that 35mm cameras were fine, but if you wanted to do real photography then you needed to join the exclusive, expensive medium format club. In this world, people don't shoot off 36 frames with merry abandon, take advantage of automatic modes and *gasp* automatic film winders. No, the medium format photographer is a…
The final word on budget film scanning

The final word on budget film scanning

Since I returned to film photography a few years back, I've been on a mission to do the whole thing on a budget. Price wise, buying film and shooting it isn't too bad, you can still buy black and white for around £5 a roll. Developing is super cheap too, a bottle of Rodinal will cost around £11 and can develop over 80 rolls…
The Goldilocks of stills – The Canon 5D Mark III

The Goldilocks of stills – The Canon 5D Mark III

Is it possible to buy one single camera that does it all? A camera that can replace any others you might own and negate the need to buy another for a long, long time? That's the question I had in mind when I started thinking about buying a new digital camera. Long time readers will know I've been through an awful lot of cameras,…
Progress? Lichfield now and then over 100 years.

Progress? Lichfield now and then over 100 years.

I've lived in Lichfield on and off for the best part of 40 years and, as with anywhere you become familiar with, you'd be forgiven for thinking nothing much ever changes. Lichfield is a city due to its main tourist attraction - a huge, three spired cathedral. The cathedral is indeed monumental and very impressive, but consequently there are about a hundred businesses that…
Infrared from the factory – the Olympus Camedia C2020 Z

Infrared from the factory – the Olympus Camedia C2020 Z

In my constant search to find something interesting from the past, I'll often pick up huge piles of old photography magazines. Not only are they a time capsule of social history, they're also a great source of unexpected inspiration. You'd expect that most of this inspiration comes from things like reviews or tutorial features (and sometimes it does) but many times its the glorious…
Trying to buy my ideal camera – and why I’ll never buy from MPB again.

Trying to buy my ideal camera – and why I’ll never buy from MPB again.

I seem to be one of those few, select people for whom buying things never quite goes to plan. If I buy a car, it either dies within a week or I discover it has an exploding engine. With cameras, I've had similarly depressing experiences - M W Classic Cameras of London ripped me and countless others off and ghosted me when I placed…
Millennial Masterpiece – The Canon EOS Elan 7 / EOS 30

Millennial Masterpiece – The Canon EOS Elan 7 / EOS 30

By the end of the year 2000, the writing was already on the wall for film SLR's. The launch of the insanely brilliant EOS 1v signalled the end of serious R&D spending on film cameras as attention shifted to the growing digital market. Although 35mm SLR's would continue to sell for many years, Canon would release no further professional level bodies and only a…