Bonjour nos amis! Play The Marseillaise, play it, because your letter of transit is here: Episode № 52 of I Dream of Cameras, “Liberté, Égalité, Photographie.” Jeff’s back from Paris with tales of the XPan and exotic camera shops, plus his abrupt conversion to the cult of the camera bag, while back in the States, Gabe splurged on a sexy black Canonflex. Connectez-vous pour une conversation amusante!

Gabe got a sexy new black Canonflex RM

Jeff’s continuing XPan saga:

The XPan II had problems, so back it went to the dealer… who put it right back on the site without fixing it!

what Jeff learned from his brief time with the XPan II: the O.G. is better!

however, even after repair it kept squeaking and locking up, prompting the impulsive purchase of a backup XPan at K&M Camera in NYC (love those guys!)

Other Paris trip preparation:

the backup camera: a Leitz Minolta CL with the 40mm Summicron

A camera bag (Peak Design Everyday Sling 10L V2) from REI — now he’s a convert!

Portra 400, which is pricey!

at Paris airport security, they refused to hand-check the cameras, so Jeff had to force-rewind the XPan and waste half a roll

Paris camera shops:

Aux Vieux Format

Odéon Occasions Photo, where Jeff met Christopher Nisperos

instead of toting eleven rolls of film back to LA, Jeff took it to a local lab, picturehouse + smalldarkroom, Sissi Lu’s favorite — no extra charge for pano! watch Jeff’s Instagram for the remarkable results!

high-end compact autofocus camera prices are skyrocketing!

A Mamiya MSX 500 at B&H Photo prompted memories of the 500DTL and 1000DTL