Welcome to MYFX JOURNAL

The first 10 posts of this blog have to do with cameras I have collected over the years. It is not the only thing I will write about. My plan is to write about my DCC Minox Leica M3 Plus, surrealism and some other fun things. To get to the my first post of "My Camera Histoir: In The Beginning" just go to the next page and find the post at the bottom of the page. I wish I could oranize this blog by topic instead of date. 

Now, about my avatar.

I thought I would do folks a favor and post something larger than a postage stamp so you can see your humble host. This was a bit of an adventure producing this image as I had my camera hooked up to my computer running Nikon Camera Control to capture the image and Adobe Lightroom fetching the RAW files from a hot folder I set up. I ended up using the self timer on my camera and would run back and forth like a nut, hold a pose and wait for the shutter to trip. I had to pre-focus on a guesstimated area where I thought I would sit. Nikon Camera Control gives you the ability to tell the camera to auto-focus before releasing the shutter but since I was using the self timer, I couldn't use that feature. I got close but the full size image is not as sharp as I think it could be.

So, a straight photo was not enough for me. First I made color version, then a greyscale version and finally a split tone version and combined all three using the split tone for the background, the greyscale for the the body and a muted version of the color version. That's a pretty subtle change isn't it. Lets spice it up a bit. 

Since I was planning to use this as an avatar, I thought I'd add an element of MYFX JOURNAL to make it "business-like" but mostly personal. So I took the logo and added a color scheme that was opposite to the photo composite. I still wanted it subtle but it needed to attract attention.

 

My Camera Histoire: You Don't Love Me Any More :-(

In 2008, I made a move on a new camera body. The D-70 was fine for what I was doing but the mega pixel race amongst camera manufacturers was bringing prices down so it looked like the right time. This 12.3 mp camera was great. It was nice to have more resolution and a slew of other great features but now that I had more mega pixels to work with, the D-70 doesn't look so good any longer. Now I know how photographers who move from 35mm to medium format feel.

It makes you wonder when the playing field will level out. How many mega pixels is enough. When we get to that point, I think the camera market will stabilize until the next big evolution in image capture occurs. 

What do you think that might look like?

How about a camera that records a full scale image without clipping maximum whiter or maximum black for starters. The image is scaleable to any size and the detail is tack sharp.

My Camera Histoire: Bigger Is Better

Just a few months after I had purchased the camera, Minox announces a new version of it called the DCC Leica M3 Plus. This version was a major upgrade from the previous model. It had, built-in hard drive and accepted up to a 2gb SD card, rechargable battery, White Balance control, EV exporsure control, an full color LCD preview screen and even video capability. I just had to have it and sure enough, there it was in an Air France magazine in the duty free secton on my way back from Paris. I purchased it and now I am a happy camper again.


I carry it just about everywhere with me. In fact, I'm in the process of trying to make a book of pictures that I will sell on Blurb.com when finished. Unfortunately, what that really means is they'll probably come out with 3 more updated models by the time I finish it.
 

My Camera Histoire: Hold That Drool

I was on a flight back from Paris and saw what would be my first Minox/Leica camera—a 4mp DCC Leica M3. It was in the duty free section of the Air France magazine. I wanted it but could not purchase it at that moment. When I got home, I checked with B&H Photo and found it there and purchased it.

Finally, I had my own Minox and Leica M3 all rolled into one! I was so excited about this new camera. I took it everywhere with me. I purchased a small sack with a zip-tight lock on a string (made by Pelican) and then I could attach it to my belt loop and take it wherever I went. I have to admit, I spent most of my time testing the performance of the camera rather than having fun with it but I did take a few casual photos with it which I'll show you in a separate post.
 

My Camera Histoire: Diggin' Digital

So, 2006 arrived and I finally made the jump to digital with the purchase of a Nikon D-70 DSLR (6mp) but still no Minox and no Leica. Regardless, I was so glad to have purchased this camera even though it didn't have a full 24mm x  36mm frame. I got to take it to the 24 Hours of Le Mans that year. Short of running out of battery power at the race and having to pay $12 per battery (4 needed per pack and I needed 3 sets) it did really well. I wished I had two of them. 


Digital is so exciting and I feel like a pioneer using it :-) I have really enjoyed this camera... and then, it happened.

My Camera Histoire: Oly! Oly!

About the time I was getting my F3's fixed, I started looking at small cameras again and purchased an Olympus XA-2, just for fun. I wanted something small and unassuming that would take nice sharp photos. The XA-2 did a pretty good job. It was just as quiet as a Leica M3 to boot! The only down side was it was fully automatic and I really wanted a manual camera. It was a fun camera though so when an auto focus version of it came out, I couldn't resist. It was called the Olympus Stylus. Both are no large than a pack of cigarettes making them easy to carry. There was a manual version of the XA-2 as I recall but I never was able to track one down.

My camera collection remained this way up until 2006 when I made the jump to digital. Up to that point, I had also shot with 4x5 view cameras and a Hasselblad ELX with a Dicomed BigShot digital single shot back. We (the company I worked with in the 90's) were one of the first companies in the Washington DC area to have a single-shot digital camera. This camera produced an image that was about 20mp when the 35mm cameras were just starting to be designed.

My Camera Histoire: The Beasts

At some point, when I was living in Virginia, I purchased a Nikon F2 Photomic with a motor drive and battery pack from a friend I went to photography school with. Why—because I just had to have it! As I recall, he showed me his Leica M3 he was replacing the F2 with and I drooled (I drool a lot when I'm around Leicas. Maybe I should reconsider getting one or it might get "drool" all over it.

One day, one of my F3's stopped working so after dropping it off at Mora Camera (Washington DC - now closed?), I picked up a black Nikon FM2 with a motor drive to back up the two F3's I had in the event it happened again...and it did...just a few days later, my second F3 had the same problem. Something was wrong with the electronics. Both of them were in the shop with electrical problems. Lucky I had the FM2. I was working for a multi-image slide house at the time and had several shoot pop up on a regular basis.

These cameras (both Nikno F3 HP's, F2 and FM2) have been used to photograph personalities when I worked for the Pottstown Mercury, they sat in the rain, and have been used to photographed many sports car races including the 24 Hours of Le Mans (twice). I still have all four cameras and they are now proudly displayed on a shelf in my home office that is known as THE MUSEUM OF OUTDATED PHOTOGRAPHIC TECHNOLOGY... tickets please.