Camerosity

As the world's first, number one, and only open source film photography podcast, we take pride in that in each episode you all get to influence the discussions we have.  For Episode 74, we decided to take it a step farther and dedicate the entire episode to two broad topics that listeners of this show have suggested to us.  The first is to cover the confusing and wide array of third party lenses and the second to go over some tips and tricks for home film development.  Never ones to disappoint our listeners, the gang took your suggestions to heart and turned both into a whole episode...mostly!

Joining Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike was a full house of returning callers A.J. Gentile, Dan Cuny, Dan Hausman, Mario Piper, Michael Wescott (Wes) Loder, Miles Libak, Ray Nason, Robert Coates, Will Pinkham, and Mark (sorry, Mark, we didn't get your last name!)

We quickly jump into a lens discussion first clarifying what exactly is considered a Third Party Lens maker?  From there the wormhole quickly opens as we bounce around with discussions regarding Asanuma, Vivitar, Kiron, and what Mike calls the "German B-List Lens Makers" like Steinheil, A.Schacht, Staeble, Enna-Werk, and many others. Wes jumps in and pivots the discussion to the vast array of lenses available for the Akarette/Akarelle and Lordomat systems, and then Mike quickly gets back on track professing his love for the Wirgin Edixa.

We cover the Voigtländer Zoomar and the rash of very good Chinese lens makers like TTArtisan, 7Artisans, Light Lens Labs, and the obscure Japanese lens maker MS-Optics.

For home development, we cover a whole host of hacks from doubling up on rolls of 120 on a single spool, how Mike pushes HC-110 to the absolute limit when developing black and white and Anthony chimes in with his suggestions for how to make shooting a Minox camera the most affordable way possible.  We get into other things like tips for flatbed scanning and what everyone thinks about digitizing.  It was certainly a live discussion, but I should probably stop typing here and encourage you to listen to the episode.

For the next episode, we are revisiting one of our favorite brands of camera, Pentax!  Although we have dedicated multiple whole episodes to Pentax, this time we have Pentax historian Gerjan van Oosten who authored "The Ultimate Asahi Pentax Screw Mount Guide 1952 - 1977" which I consider to be one of the most definitive Pentax resources ever written.  The amount of info that Gerjan has about Pentax, Takumars, and everything relating to screw mounts is far more than we can ever hope to capture in a single episode, but we will certainly try!  To accommodate Gerjan's European time zone, Episode 75 will be recorded on Monday, August 5th at the special time of 2pm Central Daylight Time, 3pm Eastern Daylight Time, and 9pm Central European Time.

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

In This Episode

• Clarification on the Ricoh Singlex and the Nikon F Mount / Recommendations for PASM Manual Focus Cameras

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Dan Cuny - https://www.dancuny.com/camera-collecting-blog

Wes Loder - https://wesloderandnikon.blogspot.com/

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

For the second episode in a row, we promised to deliver a thrilling discussion about two brands of Japanese cameras that have more in common than you might think.  Fuji and Ricoh both started making products for the photography industry right before the war, but originally started out in different industries, for Fuji, it was celluloid plastics and Ricoh (then called Riken) it was as a chemicals research company.  Each took a path making lenses and cameras, but in both instances photography was never each company's main focus.  Both Fuji and Ricoh invested heavily in the photocopier industry in the later part of the 20th century, and both successfully made the jump into the digital camera world.  Both companies continue to make new cameras today, Fuji with their excellent lineup of X-Series digital mirrorless, and Ricoh with their GR point and shoots and their ownership of the Pentax brand.

In this episode, Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike are joined by Paul's personal Fuji rep, Bob Grzesiak, returning callers Brad Swain, Howard Sandler, Mark Faulkner, Miles Libak, and first time caller, Dan Cuny.

We extensively cover many of Fuji's medium format cameras from the Texas Leica, their variety of 4.5x6, 6x7, 6x8, 6x9, and even their lone 6x17 model, plus the company's mid century rangefinders, the extremely compact and very quirky Fujica Mini, their entry into SLRs with the Fujicarex, the Fuji ST-series, and the unloved Fuji AX-series.  For Ricoh, time is spent on their Auto-Half series and Hi-Color 35, along with some of Ricoh's screw mount SLRs and Mike's favorite Ricoh, the Anscomark M interchangeable lens rangefinder camera.

In addition, we get to hear which of these two companies used to throw the best parties for camera dealers, a little bit of history regarding the Fuji Finepix S-Series DSLRs, a bit about the Ricoh GR-series, plus a strange digital camera that had not only interchangeable lenses, but also interchangeable sensors, plus some bonus discussion about Mamiya Prismat "bastard cameras" like the original Ricoh Singlex with the "sorta" Nikon F-mount, and a strange Tower branded camera made by Mamiya with an Ihagee Exakta lens mount and a Canon lens.

This proved to be a very lively discussion, covering a huge amount of different camera models from two brands that don't get discussed nearly as often as others.  If you find that your collection is thin on cameras by either of these manufacturers, this is the episode that will surely flare up a case of GAS.  Get ready to open your wallet!

For the next episode, we will be exploring the world of third party lens makers like Vivitar, Sigma, Tamron, Spiratone and many others, plus we hope to revisit a topic that started in a thread on the Camerosity Podcast Facebook group regarding home processing.  Episode 74 will be recorded on Monday, July 22nd at 7pm Central Daylight Time and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time.

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

In This Episode

• Fuji and Ricoh Have Remarkably Similar Histories / Roico 127 Camera

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Mark Faulkner - https://thegashaus.com/

Dan Cuny - https://www.dancuny.com/camera-collecting-blog

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

We return with the first episode with all four hosts in nearly two months with a great show.  We had plans to discuss Fuji and Ricoh on this episode, but like our reputation as the first and only open source film photography podcast, sometimes things don't go as planned.

Recorded within a week of the release of the new half-frame Pentax 17 and a video preview of the upcoming Rollei 35 AF, the gang and I just knew we had to share our thoughts on these two new cameras.  But since none of us have actually seen either camera, we called someone who we knew would have some insight into what it is like to make a new camera in 2024, Marwan El Mozayen from Silvergrain Classics.  As you remember, in Episode 52, Marwan came on the show and talked about his project re-releasing the Widelux panoramic camera, along with the support of none other than Jeff Bridges.

Joining Marwan, Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on this episode are returning callers AJ Gentile, Daniel Bemes, Patrick Casey, Patrick Rapps, Skip Williams, William Pinkham, and first time callers Antony Hands, John Frank, and Brad (we never did get Brad's last name!)

We extensively cover the Pentax 17 and the announcement of the Rollei 35 AF with some behind the scenes thoughts on the development of both cameras, but after covering those two models, Marwan shares with us what's new with the new Widelux, where in development it is at, and possible futures for the camera.

Beyond that, we discuss other swing lens cameras like the Noblex and Viscawide 16, and after that we finally manage to get into Fuji a bit, mainly with their instant film cameras, we cover models like the FP-1, the merits of Instax Wide, and even a brief mention of Fuji's Integral film, called Fuji Ace.  Antony shares with us his love for the Fuji GF670 and GF670W, and Mike promotes a new Argus book that was recently released.

This was a very fun episode chock full of great discussion and interesting information.  As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you've been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining!

Silvergrain Classics Discount Code: During the show, Marwan El Mozayen mentioned that listeners of this show get a discount when ordering a copy of issue #23 of their magazine.  To receive this discount, use code: CAMER24510 when ordering.

For the next episode, since we barely scratched the surface of Fuji and never got to Ricoh like we had planned, maybe we'll do that...or maybe we'll do something else.  WHO KNOWS?!  All I can tell you is that we are back to our regular 2 week cadence of recording new episodes, so whatever we end up talking about, Episode 73 will be recorded on Monday, July 8th at 7pm Central Daylight Time and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time.

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

In This Episode

• Guess Who's Back? Marwan's Back! / A Brief Intro

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

Japan Camera Hunter's Live Preview of the Rollei 35 AF - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWz7A2e05Xc

Argus: Fine American Cameras - https://argusinfo.net/argusbook/ArgusBookMain.htm

Silvergrain Classics - https://shop.silvergrainclassics.com/detail/index/sArticle/42181/sCategory/92

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

As promised, here is the second half of the first ever two part episode in the Camerosity Podcast's history!

This one features your two favorite Camerosity hosts Theo and Mike, but unlike in the first half, we had the call in lines open.  Joining us are returning callers Brian Howard, Ira Cohen, Mark Faulkner, Patrick Casey, Will Pinkham, and first time caller Erik Geiger.

In this episode we get into a variety of topics such as the effects World War II had on the production of cameras during and after the war, Mark admits that he doesn't like his Leica M3 and wishes he had an M2 instead, how Ira ended up with two Ensign Multexes with no lenses, Theo's recent pickup of a Balda Super Baldinette, Mike's "reverse GAS" pickup of a Canon A1 and his recent test of a Super Pentacon 35mm SLR, and how much everyone loves the Pentax Q series for shooting C and D-Mount lenses.

If two Camerosity Podcast releases in the same week isn't enough to satisfy your "nerdy podcast cravings", look for our upcoming announcement for Episode 72 on Friday.  We will record this episode on Monday, June 24th at our regular time of 7pm Central and 8pm Eastern.  We are going to get back to what we do best and talk about cameras!  For this episode, we have chosen the one-two punch of Fujica and Ricoh cameras.

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

In what has been the most hectic period of the podcasts history, Paul went on a month's long vacation to Ireland, Theo became the most important man in Corporate Australia, Anthony's personal life dialed it up a notch, and Mike became Mr. Soccer Tournament Man so the scheduling of four hosts in three different time zones, two continents, and one podcast became difficult.

Not wanting to deprive you all of more of the nerdiest film photography discussion, we decided to throw caution to the wind and record separately, first with Anthony, Paul, and Mike, and then again with Theo, Mike, and you all.  The original plan was to edit these two separate recordings together, but even that became too difficult, so we decided to break up both recordings into two halves of Episode 71...our first Two Parter!

In this episode, Anthony tells us about alligator mating calls and how he's thinking of selling his collection to buy a Leica M2, Paul meets up with Brian MacDomhnaill and then convinces another site listener to buy a Nikon point and shoot, and Mike tells us about a rare camera he was loaned by a reader of his site.  We cover a great deal of other topics as well, but unlike most episodes where I painstakingly type up an index of topics, for this one, you'll just have to listen and discover whatever nonsense we discuss, on your own!

As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you've been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining!

You won't have to wait long for the next episode as Episode 71 Part 2 will be just around the corner, but after that, we are planning Episode 72 to be recorded on Monday, June 24th at our regular time of 7pm Central and 8pm Eastern.  We are going to get back to what we do best and talk about cameras!  For this episode, we have chosen the one-two punch of Fujica and Ricoh cameras.

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

Is it a coincidence or did we plan it all along?  Episode 70 of the Camerosity Podcast is all about the 70s!  In this episode, the gang does our best to fit the best, the worst, and other noteworthy camera and photographic advancements of an entire decade into a 104 minute podcast!

Joining Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on this episode are returning callers Daniel Belmes, Jordan Berube, Patrick Casey, Tim Peters, and first time callers Gheerwijn Clicque and Will Pinkham.

We start off this episode dedicated to the 1970s, discussing a camera from...the 1960s!  As we often do, the show gets off topic quickly and we end up discussing the merits of the Canon Pellix and pellicle mirrors, but we get back on track with other Canon SLRs like the Canon AE-1 and A-1.

We discuss the beginning of the auto focus era, and cover the first ever auto focus SLR.  In addition, the topic of everyone's favorite 1970s film, Pocket Instamatic Type 110 is discussed, why it was invented, notable cameras that used it, and some tips and tricks to home developing and scanning your own 110 film.

We declare the two companies who we think were the most and least innovative camera makers of the 1970s.  Can you guess who they are?  I'll give you a hint, one of them rhymes with "Schmoloroid"!

Realizing that we made it more than halfway through the show without discussing too many cameras, we did a lightning round asking everyone to share their favorite, least favorite, and at least one noteworthy camera from the 1970s.  Be sure to listen to the show and see if your 1970s camera was mentioned.

As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you've been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining!

For the next episode, we are taking a break from our regular two week recording cadence as both Paul and Theo have some vacations coming up.  We will definitely return soon for Episode 71, but as of right now, we do not have a date or a topic set.  As mentioned in this episode, we teased an upcoming Zeiss-Ikon episode, but so far, that's still to be determined...

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

In This Episode

• Camera Collectors vs Camera Photographers / What Do People Like to Collect?

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris and https://www.etsy.com/shop/Camerasandpictures

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/ and https://www.facebook.com/VoltaGNV/

In the 68 previous episodes of the Camerosity Podcast, we've had the pleasure of talking to a wide variety of fascinating guests.  We've had collectors, historians, former Kodak employees, camera repair technicians, and a variety of other bloggers and other assorted people in the industry.  Each of those people were fascinating guests, but each had a special niche where their skill and experience fit in and not every listener of this might would have known who they were.

In this episode however, our special guest is Mike Butkus, someone whose name should ring a bell to anyone who has ever picked up an old camera and searched for information on it online.  It is impossible to collect cameras and never have stumbled upon the massive collection of cameras manuals at Mike's site.  His site has over 6000 high resolution scans of manuals for film and digital cameras, flashes, exposure meters, and much more, available for everyone to view and download for free.  Mike's site is not only big, but it has been around for over a quarter of a century, making it one of the oldest still operating film and digital photography sites out there.

Be sure to check out Episode 69 where Anthony, Paul, Theo and Mike are joined by returning callers Ray Nason, Howard Sandler, and first time callers Brian Zeman and Jordan Berube.

In addition to hearing Mike's origin story and getting a glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes at the world's largest depot of camera manuals, we venture into a wide variety of other topics, such as tips and tricks to selling a large camera collection, what is everyone's favorite 6 x 9 camera, and how heavy is a Koni-Omegaflex M TLR.

Theo shares a story about a camera he bought, then returned, and may one day buy again, Mike gets yelled at by a site reader for mistaking a 2¼ x 3¼ camera for a 6 x 9 camera, and Howard asks why old folding Kodaks aren't valued by collectors.

Donate to Mike Butkus: For the past 25 years, Mike Butkus has run his camera manual website by himself.  He buys all of the manuals he scans with his own money, he pays the hosting and domain registration fees with his own money, and he does all the scanning in his free time.  All of this on a site with no ads.  If you have ever found any useful information on his site, we encourage you to send him a couple bucks through PayPal.

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/butkus

As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you've been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining!

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

We had originally planned on doing a "Cameras of the 1970s" episode for number 69, but with the availability of Mike Butkus, we bumped it by one episode, so for Episode 70, we are definitely getting our disco balls out and putting our bell bottoms on and will be going over the best, the worst, and everything in between from everyone's favorite film camera decade.

We will record Episode 70 on Monday, April 29th at 7pm Central Daylight Time (-5 UTC), 8pm Eastern Daylight Time (-4 UTC), and Tuesday at 10am Australian Eastern Standard Time (+10 UTC). We look forward to hearing from you!

In This Episode

• 2024 is the Year of Solar Eclipses, New Jersey Earthquakes, 17 Year Cicadas, and a US Election / Mike Has a Yashica Dental-Eye

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Mike Butkus - https://butkus.org/chinon/index.html

Donate to Mike Butkus - https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/butkus

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris and https://www.etsy.com/shop/Camerasandpictures

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/ and https://www.facebook.com/VoltaGNV/

For this, the 68th episode of the World's Number One Open Source Film Photography Podcast, the gang invited our friend and film photographer Johnny Martyr to share with us his love of Leicas.  As is the case any time the topic of cameras made by everyone's favorite Wetzlar based company is mentioned, the Force™ beckons our own resident Leica Master, Dan Tamarkin, who also joins us on our first ever April Fool's Day episode!

What is real and what is fake?!  Are Johnny and Dan really here or did Mike just find a really convincing AI voice generator?!  NO ONE KNOWS!

Helping Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike differentiate between reality and imagination, are returning callers Bob Rotoloni, Mark Faulkner, Patrick Casey, Raymond Nason, and first time callers Alan Peres, and Brock's Garage!

Starting off the episode, Johnny talks a bit about his business, shooting film and digital with his wife and what kinds of customers would hire a film photographer.  Of all the reasons someone might want a professional photographer, there is one type of gig that people tend to favor film more, but what is it?  Johnny also talks about how when he first got started, his customers struggled to differentiate his film shots from his wife's digital shots, so he sought out ways to come up with his own style.

For the second episode in a row, Leica R SLRs have captivated the Camerosity Crew, and Paul, Mike, and Dan discuss all of Leicas different SLRs, and what they like about each one.  Mike recently shot three different Leica SLRs and clearly loved one over the others, but which one was it?

Have you ever struggled loading film into bottom loading Leica screw mount (and similar) cameras?  Does trimming the leader to the necessary length cause you heartache and slow you down too much?  If so, Johnny has found a new type of take up spool that works in most screw mount Leicas (and copies) that greatly simplifies loading film into these cameras without having to trim the leader.  Enter Ausgeknipst, a small German company who 3D printed a new design that both Johnny and Mike have tested.

Finally, Mike shares his thoughts on a camera he thought would make a good April Fool's Discussion because of how well it "fooled" the community upon its release, but strangely, he ended up liking it way more than he thought he would.  But what was it?

As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you've been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining!

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

For our next episode, rather than discuss a certain brand or type of camera, we thought it would be fun to discuss an entire decade worth of cameras, and what better decade to start in, but the 1970s!  Get out your hair picks, put on your bell bottoms, and spin up some Kiss records and call in to share with us your favorite 1970s cameras!

We will record Episode 69 on Monday, April 15th at 7pm Central Daylight Time (-5 UTC), 8pm Eastern Daylight Time (-4 UTC), and Tuesday at 10am Australian Eastern Standard Time (+10 UTC). We look forward to hearing from you!

In This Episode

• Johnny uses a converted 1930 Leica Model C converted to a III / Mostly uses the Leica M6 TTLs for most shooting in low light

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Johnny Martyr - https://johnnymartyr.wordpress.com/

Dan Tamarkin - https://www.tamarkin.com/

Ausgeknipst Film Spools - https://petapixel.com/2024/04/01/a-new-quick-load-spool-for-barnack-leica-and-similar-cameras/

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris and https://www.etsy.com/shop/Camerasandpictures

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/ and https://www.facebook.com/VoltaGNV/

There's the old saying "If you're going to shoot the king, don't miss..."

In a recent episode of a rival podcast, shots were fired at the Camerosity crew, especially Mike for a perceived slight given by us.  War was declared and many casualties were sure to ensue.  Would the world's first and only open source photography podcast respond?  Of course we would!

In this, the 67th episode of the Camerosity Podcast, Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike have some good natured fun at the expense of Jeff Greenstein and Gabe Sachs of the I Dream of Cameras podcast.  Throughout the episode we make repeated jabs at them, some obvious, some very subtle, can you spot them all?

Of course, this IS the number one open source film photography podcast, so we did eventually get on track with the exciting return of Mr. Rick Oleson, which we haven't seen since way back in Episode 2.  Rick is a master repair technician, who most recently became well known in the film community for a line of improved Bright Screens which can be adapted to a wide variety of medium format SLR and TLR cameras.

Joining Rick and the Gang are returning callers, A.J Gentile, Eric Jason, Ray Nason, and Tim Peters.  During the show we spend a great deal of time learning about Rick and his history repairing cameras and how he got into making the Bright Screens.  If you thought you knew everything there was to know about focusing screens, you really need to listen to this episode as Rick puts on his cap and gown and schools us on how focusing screens work, why the Bright Screens are better than the stock screens, why you cannot simply cut down his screens to 35mm, and why focusing screens in the auto focus era were brighter than in the past.  We talk about Fresnel patterns and the advancements made throughout the 20th century to make your viewfinders brighter, and how to install a new screen in large format cameras.

In addition to everything you didn't know you needed to know about focusing screens, Rick raves about a strange camera called the Continental TXL which he was amazed both at how simple it is, yet how good it is.  Paul and Mike talk more about the upcoming Cincinnati camera show and how Mike is bringing over 13 boxes of cameras to sell and Paul has at least another 10 or so more.  Mike talks about a recent trade with a UK camera blogger, and Rick talks about restoring a classic Mercedes Benz 450SL.

This was definitely an odd episode, produced during the stress of an ongoing war with another podcast, yet we managed to squeeze in a huge amount of information you won't find on any other podcast out there!  Even if learning more about focusing screens doesn't sound like a great way to spend 90+ minutes, you'd be surprised at how interesting it all is.

Meet Paul and Mike: If you are in the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday, March 23rd, come to the Ohio Camera Swap at the Hilton Garden Inn Cincinnati/West Chester and say hi to Paul and Mike.  While you're there, maybe you can buy something from us!

As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you've been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining!

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

The next episode of the Camerosity Podcast will be recorded on April 1st, aka April Fool's Day, so if you thought episode 67 had a lot of silliness, wait until you see what we have in store for the next episode...  To be perfectly honest, we have no idea what we're going to talk about, but hey, it's a made up holiday dedicated to pranks, so we are sure to have some fun!

We will record Episode 68 on Monday, April 1st at 7pm Central Daylight Time (-5 UTC), 8pm Eastern Daylight Time (-4 UTC), and Tuesday at 11am Australian Eastern Daylight Time (+11 UTC). We look forward to hearing from you!

In This Episode

• Rick Introduces Himself / The Bright Screens Originated From a Pentacon Six Screen

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Rick Oleson's Bright Screens - https://bright-screen.com/

How a Fresnel Lens Makes a Screen Brighter - https://www.flickr.com/photos/rick_oleson/51876542662/in/album-72157706989069321/

Focusing Screen with Microlenses for AF - https://www.flickr.com/photos/rick_oleson/49279918017/in/album-72157706989069321/

Eric Jason - Aperture Preview - https://www.aperturepreview.com/

CJ's Classic Cameras - http://www.cjs-classic-cameras.co.uk/

I Dream of Cameras Podcast - https://www.idreamofcameras.com/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris and https://www.etsy.com/shop/Camerasandpictures

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/ and https://www.facebook.com/VoltaGNV/

The Camerosity Podcast goes full Reddit with our first ever Ask Me Anything, or more appropriately, Ask Us Anything.  Over the week prior to the recording, the guys solicited questions from our listeners through our official Facebook and Instagram sites and our Discord server.  The questions could truly be anything, so while we expected to get a lot of camera and photography related questions, nothing was off the table.

Joining Anthony, Paul, Theo and Mike on this one were returning callers A.J. Gentile, Mark Faulkner, Miles Libak, Patrick Rapps, Ray Nason, and Stephen Strangways where we field questions submitted by our listeners and by the live guests on the show.

If you've ever wanted to know what Anthony's favorite Elvis Presley movie is, or why Paul Rybolt had at one time one of the most notorious mugshots, or what each of our wives think of our collections, this is an episode you won't want to miss.  In addition to these compelling questions, we also hit the hard topics like what kinds of camera ephemera we have, what alternatives to eBay are there for buying and selling cameras, and what kinds of things besides cameras do we collect.

As you might imagine, this was not a typical Camerosity Podcast episode.  This one was light on GAS, but heavy on discussions you won't hear anywhere else!

Meet Paul and Mike: If you are in the vicinity of Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday, March 23rd, come to the Ohio Camera Swap at the Hilton Garden Inn Cincinnati/West Chester and say hi to Paul and Mike.  While you're there, maybe you can buy something from us!

As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you've been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining!

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

For our next episode, we expect to have the return of Rick Oleson.  For those of you who have been collecting cameras for a long time, you've almost certainly run across Rick's name either by his excellent repair website or through one of his very popular SLR and TLR Bright Screens.  Rick was one of this show's earliest guests, last appearing in Episode 2, so it will be great to hear what he's been up to lately.

We will record Episode 67 on Monday, March 18th at 7pm Central Daylight Time (-5 UTC), 8pm Eastern Daylight Time (-4 UTC), and Tuesday at 11am Australian Eastern Daylight Time (+11 UTC). We look forward to hearing from you!

In This Episode

• Mike Had Failed GAS and Couldn't Buy a Meopta Opema / Theo GASsed a Telka III

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris and https://www.etsy.com/shop/Camerasandpictures

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/ and https://www.facebook.com/VoltaGNV/