Fotoshimaz

I recently bought a used Sony Alpha 55 camera body on Ebay for almost $200. I think it was a good deal. The reason I bought it was so that I could use the old Minolta Maxxum lenses (Sony bought out Minolta in 2006). These lenses focus without requiring a motor, which is now incorporated inside the Minolta Maxxum (or now, Sony Alpha) body. My reason for buying the Alpha was the promise of sharp Minolta lenses at a bargain price. My Maxxum collection plus the Sony Alpha 55 I have to admit, I was not blown away by the Minolta lenses, especially the zoom lenses. But I will have to say that the Sony compared well to my Canon T2i, despite the Sony only having a 16mp sensor, whereas the Canon utilizes an 18mp one. Regardless, I enjoy having a lot of lens choices with the Sony Alpha, since there are many Minolta Maxxum lenses to be had for cheap. My 28-300 lens covers a great range, but sadly, I can see some evident purple fringing (chromatic abberation). I suppose you really do get wha

Ok, I recently acquired an Olympus Infinity Stylus off of Ebay. It was maybe $25, but the flash doesn't work, and the window that shows the film roll's ISO and EXP is covered with black gaffers tape, since the clear plastic that is normally there is gone. But I had to have this camera, and it was cheap, just to see what this thing could do. Usually an overpriced camera on Ebay See tape covering the hole? Well, after I developed the film, I was amazed by the contrast by just looking at the film strip. I couldn't wait to scan each image. Now that I'm scanning the negatives, I am getting disappointed, as many images are blurry. Not sure why that is. Maybe something wrong with the lens mechanism? Or maybe it was too dark outside? It's blurry! Regardless, I've included some of the images in this blog post so you can see that this camera still has some potential. But I doubt that I will be using it anymore, I already have lots of film cameras, and b

Oh yes, what a camera, the Canon Photura. Came out in June of 1990, and was priced at around $250 according to jollinger.com's review of the camera. Looks like a video camera when you hold it up and use it (or a rocket according to Canon's literature). I'm sure that's what other people are thinking when I take pictures with this camera, that I'm taking video. I got it at Savers (a thrift store) for about $7. Strangely enough, they had two of these cameras on the shelf for sale. The other one had a different name, I think it was Epoca, but other than the name difference, it was the same camera. It's basically a point and shoot film camera, a lens with a camera built around it. It has a nice zoom, some different flash modes, self timer, and a tripod mount. The zoom lever on this camera is iffy, and sometimes doesn't engage, which is very frustrating. It's like the camera isn't even on. It's lightweight, but bulky, mostly a giant piece of

So this little camera is fun to shoot. Unfortunately it uses zone focus, which isn't the most accurate, but can still produce good results. It was manufactured in 1980, so I'm thinking this camera has seen some use. The only real issue I had with the camera was that the film advance would work 50% of the time. So I got lots of double exposures. I would have to try and wind, it would fail, I would shoot a picture (with the lens covered), then I would have success with the advance working most of the time. So not a reliable camera, guessing the gears are slipping, but still very usable. And you have to admit, it looks pretty cool. Chinon Bellami Here are some images that I shot and developed in monobath, then scanned with my Epson V600. I like the images, but others not included here had lots of dust and dried water spots, I need a better wetting agent, and maybe I should prewet before developing, but most say that's not necessary. I am starting to believe that it is