The Camera Notes

Keeping notes is essential to the orderly mind and to the orderly collection.

I have never had a great memory
and it is getting worse as I age.
I developed the habit years
ago of keeping notebooks. I
have one for house repairs, a couple
for travel planning, and several forĀ 

subects of interest that I research. And so you can imagine that I have notebooks for my camera collecting. I page number them and at the end of each I create indicies for my camera notebooks to that point. That way I can go back to any subject I want to review.

When the spirit moves me to post in my blogs these books are the basis of those posts. I should post more often but that distracts me from my photography and collecting. There is just not time for everything. However I do hope you find these scratchings to be of interest.

The Camera Notes are strictly about the tecnichal aspects of cameras. If you are interested in my thoughts generally on art and photography then check out the Joy of Light on the top menu. Very little about cameras there: just photography.

How Nifty is this Fifty?

How Nifty is this Fifty?

My EF 50mm f/1.8 STM lens mounted on my 5D Mark II. The immediate attraction to this lens is its light weight and small size. But just how good is it?How Nifty is this Fifty?The EF 50mm F/1.8 STMI spend a great deal of time with my various old lenses and have...

The Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-20

The Kodak Vigilant Junior Six-20

The truth is, I cannot walk by a beautiful camera in pristine condition. Yes, yes, I know I collect Canon cameras but that does not mean I love no others. In fact, quite the opposite. But I have a rule about that. You see, If I simply collected everything I came...

A Simple Brownie Hawkeye Lens

A Simple Brownie Hawkeye Lens

I have written before about my love of the Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera. It is a beautiful thing from a simple design point of view and it was a perfect snapshot camera considering the technology of the times, the 1950's. The lens is a simple one piece meniscus. In...

An Unfortunate Event

An Unfortunate Event

The "Four Maidens with Water Jugs" was my principal subject for the morning. This is a delightful fountain sculpture and I have never felt I had done it justice. I'm still not happy but this is better.It is no secret that I like to take pictures. It is a strange thing...

75 Years Ago

75 Years Ago

Photography, like writing, has the ability to be many things. And one of those things is as a keeper of memory. It can record facts like no other medium. And in some cases, like music, it can recall people and places along with powerful associated emotions. But one...

Yashica D

Yashica D

This is the Yashica D I acquired in the last several days. You can see that it is in excellent condition.That's the problem with collecting, isn't it: like a sweet tooth, once you get a taste you can't stop. I just wrote about buying a Yashica A twin lens reflex for...

My Second Camera

My Second Camera

This is not my Dad's Yashica "A" I talk about here but one I have acquired recently and cleaned up.I am standing between my Aunt Katherine and Uncle Harold at the Honolulu airport in Hawaii in 1958 and in my hands I am holding my Dad's Yashica "A".I was in high school...

Canon EOS R

Canon EOS R

I have been waiting for a long time for a Canon mirrorless camera. As I have said here, I even bought a Sony NEX C3 to experiment with a mirrorless body (that just increased my appetite for the Canon offering). For months I have been reading the rumors and...

Hidden Treasures

Hidden Treasures

I want to build a camera. The wonderful thing about a hobby is that the directions it takes do not have to make sense. Sure, I shoot mainly digital but that is not the point, is it? I want to build a camera and experience for myself the trials and tribulations of...

DX Film Code

DX Film Code

I acquired a Canon Photura camera with which I have been preoccupied for the last several days. A really interesting and somewhat curious machine. But that is not what this story is about. It's about wanting to shoot some film with the camera. My bulk loader contains...