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“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” — Elliott Erwitt
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So, I decided to embark on a little experiment to truly grasp the essence of expired film. My approach? A head-to-head comparison, using the same lens but different cameras. First up was my modern Nikon Z 6, followed by the classic Nikon F100, a relic from the film era. Loaded with a roll of Konica…
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…in which I strap on my new ultra-telephoto and take it into the wilderness aka the local zoo, to check out whether this lens offers the best compromise in cost, size, weight, and image quality for Nikon Z wildlife photography or if it is just too dark, too heavy, and too clumsy to be useful…
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…in which I unbox a new thrift store find and ask the question whether Nikon’s F50/N50 is their ugliest film SLR and whether its technical limitations and poor interface design are a dealbreaker, given it’s AU $19 price tag. Ok, it’s actually closer to $20 but still a bargain… surely?
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… in which I test out another relic from the early digital era. The Nikon Coolpix 4500 is a 4 Megapixel camera from 2002, when the millennial gloss was starting to wear off. But this machine is full of turn of the century optimism. Despite its aged LCD and sensor technology, it’s a well built…
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..in which I try to explore the notion of ‘Fun’, comparing my BMW MINI Countryman to my Olympus Pen F. Both camera and car are often discussed in terms of being fun to use but what does that mean? Are there any salient characteristics of ‘fun’ and how does fun impact on the experience and…
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. in which I shrug off my prejudice about toy cameras and try to make something out of the Diana F, a medium format plastic-fantastic from the 60s, reanimated by Lomography in the 21st century to give your crappy film photos that lustre of hipster cool. But does it live up to its promise? Is…
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…in which I scramble around the granite rocks of John Forrest National Park, Perth, Western Australia, on the quest to capture a waterfall.
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… in which I wipe the grime off a 20 year old Nikon F75 SLR and its 28-80mm kit lens to see if my latest second hand purchase has a worthy place among my other consumer Nikons or whether the abuse it’s suffered over the years is just too much for one camera to bear.…
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Who doesn’t love unboxing videos, right? Well, in my latest video, I attempted to build up some suspense as I clumsily opened what wasn’t exactly a box. Instead, I revealed the Canon Prima 5, a forgotten point-and-shoot from 1991, known by various names like the Canon Sure Shot Max and the Autoboy Mini. I snagged…
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In which I test a 1958 Nikon 50mm optic to the limits, asking the question, can this legendary lens, favoured by war photographers from the last century, live up to its reputation as a sharpshooting combat veteran? Or should it just settle down for a nice photographic nap and let the youngsters take to the…
Mark McMahon 