Heads up, vintage camera collectors and Russian camera fans! There's a rare, Soviet Era spy camera that you can snag off eBay, and it's actually a pretty interesting piece of photography history.
Called the F-21 AJAX camera, this tiny snapper is known for being the camera of choice of the Soviet intelligence agency Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti (KGB) during the 1950s. . thephoblographer.com
In many ways, I wish that the Nikon Zf were more like the Nikomat EL camera. They're both small and have beautiful ergonomics. And both cameras are ones that you'd want to bring with you everywhere.
"This camera doesn't use batteries," is what a young man working at a Brooklyn vintage store told me one day when I inquired about a Polaroid Land Camera they had. I can still hear his voice and the disbelief when I opened up the compartment to reveal heartbreak -- aka, battery corrosion due to someone leaving the batteries in their camera.
"Nothing, it's yours," my dear friend told me when she was cleaning out her father's belonging from her childhood home. A regular at one of the bars I frequent saw the joy on my face as bright as the sun reflects off the sea.
Back in 2017, I reviewed the Nikon N80. By that time, it was already an old camera. It's not as well known or as spoken about as many of Nikon's other cameras. However, your parents, aunts, or uncles, probably owned one.
Often seen sitting all lonely and battered at garage sales, the Canon Snappy LXII is glanced over with the same indifference one has when browsing lotions at the pharmacy. That's to say there's total apathy unless someone is hunting for a good point-and-shoot camera.
"That's a really nice camera, mister," is what a young kid said to me the other day about the Pentax Spotmatic I slung around me. That put a smile on my face. And just think, years ago I gave my original Pentax Spotmatic away to someone who I felt needed it to grow as a photographer.
At the launch of every new technology, the headlines release anguished cries: Film is dead. DSLRs are dead. [Insert any form of photography with some history] is dead. I get it — headlines need a bit of drama or else even great articles fall victim to aimless scrolling.