I am not into writing camera reviews. I enjoy reading them(hello 35mmc community), but never were I interested in writing one actually myself.
One of the reasons for that is even though I am a professional celebrity portrait photographer working in Tokyo (yes, its a pitch for next story) - I really don’t care much about "technicality" of digital/film cameras. What I enjoy in camera reviews is personal stories or how techincal aspects connect to them - cause thats what cameras are all about, they are tools to tell stories.
Before we talk film, lets talk digital...
I happen to use Nikon as my main camera (I jumped ship from Canon when D800 came out, at that time the decision was purely based on need of more pixel cause I had more work when clients demanded crop), but now it does not matter to me if its Canon, Sony or anything else - I can produce great result with pretty much anything in my hands.
Me and many people in industry worked with cameras that had non of the amazing features modern cameras has now – and still managed to produce great or satisfactory results, and before “digital” many people created and still continue to create amazing images with film and the world was alright.
Once I overcame the fear of “being not techincally perfect” and realized that photography is about your identity and not features of your camera – I got free.
Too objective, too technical camera reviews, from my point of view, are missing the point of image making all-together... and pixel-peeping is just an entertainment for bored(or really passioned?). It is my impression that most of the features modern camera has this days are aimed to give a feeling that there is a fast way to better image making. But we all know there is no fast way to achieve great results… I even go so far as saying that majority of articles with tips and advices to improve your photography are adding fuel to this misconception of "fast way" and take you further away from relentless practice, discipline and time-taking process of independent (self)discovery that are keys to all success.
I think that in this age not knowing and discovering something by your own self is more important than getting fast answers.
Of course, its ok to search for answers. But find your own way. Be a light for your own self.
But back to camera talk:
my clients dont care what camera or lens I use - they care about the results and "proof-safety" of the shooting process. I get occasionally a question by an actor or a client - if I am "Nikon-ha" or "Canon-ha" - and I always reply I don`t care, unless they want to endorse me.
From my professional point of view in digital photography world we`re at point where pretty much all modern cameras and lenses are good enough - you choose them according to your likeness or purposes of your work. Thats all there is — you choose camera that helps you be in control of the result - thats what work is about most of the time.
In digital world we`re at point where pretty much all cameras are good — you choose them according to your likeness or purposes of your work.
Ok, now when its off my chest… lets talk film.
Its so much different for me when it comes to film or film cameras.
In this age of consumerism I feel that its easy to get obsessed with goals and results; pre-designed image of life that we often see on sns often makes us forget about the importance of process of how to get to the goal.
The demand for work on film is getting less for me(but it is also because of the genre i am in right now) – there is no time, budget etc. So, recently, when I take film camera – its mostly for personal reasons , and one of them is:
A film camera is not just a tool to produce images for me, it is also an escape.
An escape from controlling things, a way to enjoy the unpredictability of life and not being able to immediately enjoy results of my work.
Its strange, but once I become professional I started to look for ways to become amateurish in some way (when everything was exciting). Going film or using film camera is one of those ways.
Film helps me to be in the moment, care about the moment and helps me to be not overly attached to it, by positioning the result further in time. (also the despair of failure is so much richer — cause most of the time with film if you fail — you fail completely, there is no turning back)
Than I enjoy the physicality of film shooting process. Its subtle, but you can actually feel the film inside the camera. And for some reason I feel more romantic when I am with film camera opposite when I am with a digital one. I will not say that only film inspires me - but I will say that film cameras and the process of film shooting helps to sustain my inspiration alive.
Search for failure and betrayal.
I have more pleasant surprises when something fails or not going as planned - which is a rare thing with digital camera that is almost fail-proof, especially now that EVF became a common thing. An occasional (or intentional!) light leak, a misalignment of film, double exposure and e.t.c. — all those things excite me with their unpredictability.
Film betrays me – and when I say “betray” I mean it in a good way: when it ignores my expectations and goes its own way. There are times when film refuses to capture a persons soul when I am expect it to do so, other times - it brings "soul" where I thought it was absent. The film adds something... like its own will... and a film camera plays vital role in it also.
(Am I saying that digital cannot capture soul? No. Its just in my experience it has "less voice" in process of soul capturing).
The review.
Now, finally, let me introduce you the camera that made me write my first review in the first place.
One with the lever...
Have you heard of Konica Autorex. Known elsewhere as Auto-reflex.
I dont remember how I stumbled on it, probably just by seing a tweet of a japanese used camera store I am happen to follow. Oh, a konica slr, wait, what? A half-full-frame lever on top!? Whaaat?!
My obsession with half-frame started with Demi-17 with 35 mm lens which was my “first” half-frame compact, after — I tried and used almost all of them, but I only felt in love with the results that Demi produced… maybe because I found it easier to focus with it(ooh, that focus lever is smooth), or maybe because I found the results that were out of focus more romantic. Anyway, I went through 3 or 4 of them, always buying them mostly unused (Japan is amazing for finding cameras), and while at it, in the back of my mind a desire for a half frame slr was builiding up, and it completely revealed itself when I met Konica Autorex.
So I quickly bought it and was suprised in how good condition it was. Almost mint. I put one roll through it and… camera just stopped working. The film advanced lever refused to move. I brought it to repair shop and got back like new – cleaned, overhauled and oiled. Apparently, oil was all it need to get going. The camera is build like tank. And, boy, its heavy.
Some techincal info on camera:
Camera were sold in 1965, and was the first focal-plane-shutter AE (auto exposure) 35 mm SLR. But at that time it was called EE (Electric Eye! — i am not kidding)
- Available EE mode. with EV2-EV18.
- Exposures available from 1 sec-1/1000.
- 1/125 with strobe.
- ISO settings from 50~800, 1/3 stops (which is pretty neat for camera of this age)
- self-timer 10 seconds.
- viewfinder is 0.87 magnification.
- Ability to choose between half-frame/full frame!
Electric mode, first of its kind for slr, works pretty well even now — if you are lucky enough to get one in working condition. Mine works fine — it has a tendency to overexpose a little, but I just put the iso settings a step higher.
The viewfinder is bright, it has distinctive two black lines in the middle - showing you where the half-frame will be, and a exposure needle positioned on the right with F numbers accordingly. The brochure states that viewfinder equiped with a split-screen and micro-"diamond"-prism (thats what they calling it) and it boasts 1700 pieces of hexagonal micro-prisms! I don`t know if its a lot or not, but for those days... anyway, its pretty neat way to focus your camera.
One of its kind — half-frame/full frame SLR.
Apparently, its one of the only two SLR cameras that can switch between full and half frame and can do so mid-roll. The more simplified version Konica P lacks EE mode, but still has the frame change lever.
Konica is an amazing company that introduced a lot of things that were "first" in camera history.
The only other camera I know and used that can perform that kind of “magic” is Fujifilms TX-1/2(Hasselblad Xpan) – which lets you choose between wide and full frame. But Tx-1 is fully automatic rangefinder – a beast of its own kind. Konica is analogue SLR (aside from EE and meter mode).
In case of tx-1 - if you switch from wide to full it adjusts film for you, with Autorex you have to be just careful and know when to switch the lever: if you change from full-size to half-frame - you wind the film first, than flip the lever, and vice-verse changing from half frame to full-size takes flipping the lever first, than winding film. The minor things is that no matter what size the film setting is, all pictures as the film is advanced, are counted in terms of full size. So the counter on camera becomes useless at some point.
(what it means is that there will be gaps after you switch to a half frame... or if you not doing it right — the frames will overlap. Something like on a second picture with Karina below)
When Konica released this camera — there were all kind of amazing accessories and lens adapters available to it – an adapter to nikon, exacta, practica and even Nikon lenses. The reason for that it has very short flange-to-film plane distance (40.5mm according to wiki). Great for adapting basically any lens imaginable.
Samples.
I used modern Voigtlander 40mm Nokton nikon mount lens for this shots of beautiful gravure model Tsubakihara Ai using the original adapter. And I am really looking forward to use it with amazing 135 nikon df lens that I so much adore.
The original Hexanon 1.8 52mm is also very sharp even wide open. Well, sharp-ish. And its very sharp closed down.
The romantic part.
Technically its pretty amazing camera. But its nothing unless it has that special "it" factor. I think everyone has their own "it" factor that they are looking in camera, mine is a "sound that camera makes". There are times when you want to be discreet — you look for a silent camera, there are times when you want the person in front of your camera feel your presence, hear that he is being snapped away, that they are being photographed… it is all comes to this to me. The models in the studio intentionally or not start to move with the sound that light strobes or camera produce. And it happens the same with the photographer… this sound becomes organic part of our photographing live.
There is nothing better than hearing a pleasent sound of shutter that invites you to take another picture.
If the slap of the mirror and the sound of a shutter that camera produces is not pleasent to my ears… I can`t get much into it— no matter how great results its produces. I hate the sounds that Nikon D800–850 makes, and I really tought myself to ignore those sound. And how I love the sound that Leica R6.2 camera makes, or the fast-clanky sound of Leica M3, or the big deep "swoup" shutter sound that some medium format camera produce. The sound the camera makes become another tool for me in my work… and you make music with it or… well, i guess you just never think about it.
In conclusion.
Here lies the romantic and personal part for me. The long travel of Konica Auto-Rex shutter button, the sound that it produce… it all puts me in a creative trance, a mood where I feel that act of taking pictures has actual meaning, even if its a meaningless picture of a flower or sky. The ability to change the frame helps me to tell stories, or just not care about film cost (which also important). This Konica Auto-Rex is really one of a kind...well, at least for me.
