Camera Finds

Look through the viewfinder into my collection of cameras. www.tomsimmonds.com www.facebook.com/thomascolesimmonds www.clickedbytom.tumblr.com/ www.thomascolesimmondsphotography.blogspot.co.uk/

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Camera Finds: Bronica ETRsi

It's been an awfully long time since I've done one of these camera finds posts and to get back into it I thought I'd go with a beast of a camera, the Bronica ETRsi! This camera was one of my early attempts at gambling with my money on eBay and to my relief I ended up with something that wasn't utterly terrible! :D The ETRsi is primarily a medium format camera but it's also incredibly versatile with a broad range of film backs available.

Apart from it's many uses as a camera the overall build quality and the feel of the camera when operating it is one of the things I like most about it, it's an absolute joy to use! As I mentioned previously you can get many back for this camera including a Polaroid version and you can even get an attachment to use a digital back if you have more money than sense.

I managed to get my hands on two types in addition to my 120 version, these allow me to to shoot with 35mm film on this camera. The 135N and 135W the latter of which after using prompted me to alter my style of shooting to incorporate a more panoramic and cinematic look to my work.

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Camera Finds: The Polaroid 195

This weeks post marks the finishing of my long and arduous quest of acquiring a camera that I've been wanting to add to my collection for a very long time, the Polaroid 195! And after a few weeks of intensive eBay page refreshing I managed to find one for a non ridiculous price (in camera terms at least)! :D 

The package made it's long journey from the heart of America and arrived on my doorstep just a couple of months back! And since then I've had a few shoots so I was able to begin testing it out as almost as soon as it arrived! So after loading a pack of FujiFilm FP-100 C the camera was ready and thus begat the clicking! Below are a couple of images that I've taken so far! Unfortunately I only had myself to test it on when it first arrived but that changed after a few weeks. :P

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Camera Finds: The Canon AE-1 Program

For this post I will be looking at the Canon AE-1 Program, this is pretty much the workhorse of my analogue photography as it's the one that I have used most often. And there is a reason for that, it's fantastic! Not only does it look great but it's durable reliable and produces excellent photos. I have a few variants of this camera but this is by far my favourite.

When I'm on a photoshoot this is the camera I'll usually use to get a different perspective. I shoot primarily with an 85mm on my main camera and the AE-1 paired with the 50mm 1.8 gives a wider view on things as well as images with a distinct feel to them.

Below are a few photos taken with the AE-1 Program:

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Camera Finds: The Polaroid 600 SE

Over the years that I have been doing photography I have accumulated quite an array of cameras and as my collection begins to grow I slowly learn more about them and I thought it would be good to share my finds in my blog. For my first post I'm going to look over the Polaroid 600 SE. When I was getting ready to write this post I was surprised by how much time had passed since I got this camera! Almost a year has gone by and although I haven't used it quite as often as I would have liked it's definitely a purchase I don't regret. I got the 600 SE in an online auction and as always you never know what the exact condition of the camera will be but I was very happy overall, after a bit of cleaning up and a replacement dark slide it was ready to shoot!

The camera shoots FujiFilm FP-100C or 120 with the appropriate back. This is obviously an expensive camera to use and this is one of the reasons I don't use it too often, although the main being it's size and weight. It's a very comfortable camera to use with it's built in handle and trigger but tugging it along on a photoshoot with my regular gear means I'm sometimes restricted when it comes to shoots that are out of town.

It is definitely one of my more unique looking cameras and it is an excellent addition to my collection! It looks rather good on display even if it isn't used too regularly.

Below are a few images that I took with it on a shoot with the lovely Louise. You can see a blog post on my shoot with her here. And more on my website at www.tomsimmonds.com/bardotsgirl