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Me and my cameras
1980´s Around 1982 I got my first SLR, a Minolta XG1, purchased, I think, from NK in Stockholm. As far as I can remember I had a basic 50mm lens and a Minolta 70-210 mm zoom for it, plus a Sunpak 4000 hammer flash and an NK photo bag, both still in my possession.
I joined a photo club in the community center (Spånga Församling), where they had a complete photo-lab, so I learned to develop B&W film and make my own prints. Many hours were spent in the lab, trying to get the one picture perfect…(a bit like today, but now the computer is the tool, and complete darkness not important…) In a way I miss the photo lab, but again, it’s nice to not have all the chemicals drying out your skin and only having the red light to guide you, or swearing when the film wouldn’t slide in to the reel for the developing tank properly and it took 10 minutes to sort it out in complete darkness. Apart from B&W (Kodak Tri-Max 400) I only took slides, using Agfachrome 100 (I liked the neutral colours) or Kodachrome 64 for incresed sharpness. I worked at Arlanda Airport in the weekends and used to bring my camera with me to take photos of the planes from the tarmac (this was before the super security they have today). As my interest grew, the limitations of the XG-1 made themselves more clear. I wanted to start elaborating with manual control, double exposures and having depth preview to see how sharp the background was going to be (although in retrospect, I never used this feature much, as the preview is so dark, it seldom showed me what I wanted in enough detail). I can’t really remember what cameras Minolta had for advanced amateurs at the time, it could have been the X-700 & 500. After reading magazines and checking with my friends at the photo club (most were using Nikon) I found that the camera best suited to my needs (& economy) was the Nikon FE2. I think this was around 1984-85. In spite of all the warnings (snob warnings IMO), I also purchased the 50mm series E lens with it, because the normal (AI-series) 50mm was too expensive. That is something I never regretted. The pictures from this lightweight lens were great, the only limitation was me, not the equipment (it still
is…).
The FE-2 had all I needed in a camera. I almost regret selling it. The step above it, the FA, had the new matrix metering and a few other things, but I never felt it worth the money (even though I use matrix metering alot today). I especially liked the 1/4000 shutter time and the 1/250 flash sync. The only thing I didn’t like was the lack of grip on the front for the right hand (as found on all new models now). A used MD12 motor drive solved that problem, and also added a few hundred grams of weight to the package. Combined with the Sunpak 4000 hammer-flash and Vivitar 75-300 zoom, also a great lens, it made me look like a real pro…. (this was before size & weight became more a problem than a feature). Joining my equipment over time was a Nikon series E 28 mm lens and an Osram VM-300 flash, although not TTL, a great flash I can’t understand isn’t made any more, which I still use, and will until I find a SB-800 for a good price. I took pictures for the local community magazine, (Spånga Församlingsblad) and once or twice for the regional newspaper (Västerort). I also managed to have a postcard from Arlanda Airport made from some of my pictures taken there. Otherwise it was just the fun of taking pictures, developing them and creating a perfect print in the lab that I enjoyed, or getting vivid landscape pictures with slide film. What I never did manage to get the hang of was why some films I developed turned out grainier than others, in spite of being of the same type (Tri-Max) and using the same developer (Kodaks whatever it was called for perfect results), fix & stop bath.
1990's In 1990 I was to begin business studies at Vaxjo University. Needing money and also beleaving that I wouldn’ be doing any serious photography for the next couple of years, and that a compact Olympus would be enough, I decided to sell my equipment. The FE-2 house and MD12 motor were easy to sell; I think I got about as much as I’d paid for them a few years earlier. I can’t remember if I sold any of the lenses then. Maybe the Vivitar zoom, I’m not sure. Of course, the end of my photo career only lasted a few months… I have always liked writing and quickly joined the Univarsity paper as a writer. They needed photographers too, and I couldn’t keep away from this for long. Well, it had to wait until the next summer (1991) when I had worked up the money to buy a new camera house. As I loved the Nikon FE-2 my first intention was to buy an old one of these. But, when looking around at prices and also at the technology available at the time, I realised that the newer cameras offered the same features (or almost) and more for a lower price than a used FE-2. Besides, the type of shooting I would be doing at University; events, sports and such, often required continuous shooting to get a good picture of the action. An FE-2, having no built in motor, would require a MD12 as well, adding price and weight (size was also becoming important, but in the opposite way from 1984; now bulk was more a problem than something cool…). My analysis of the current offerings by Nikon concluded the F601m as the camera best suited for me (I still had the manual E-lenses and didn’t believe AF to be of any benefit, nor the built in flash the m-version lacked). Compared to the FE-2 it had more electronic information, matrix metering (which I found to be quite useful), bracketing and a built in drive. The max shutter speed was only 1/2000, which I could live with, and flash sync only 1/125, that did on one or two occations present a limitation when using fill flash outdoors in sunlight to take portraits. But all in all it was an acceptable substitute for the FE-2, abit with a little plastic feel to it.
The F601 did its service well for a number of years, but after leaving University in 1994 and moving to Malmo, work and other things prevailed over photography. Also, I didn’t really know what to do with my pictures. Just taking them and putting them in an album never viewed, wasn’t very constructive, nor was keeping slides in boxes for years (or pictures on your hard drive / DVD-disc as we do now…). Photo competitions and such have never interested me either. Although I love looking at photo exhibitions, I’d never felt my pictures suited for competitions and such, as competition photo’s in my opinion often are overdone and unnatural, abit beautiful to look at. My style is more of catching the moment and not doing a lot of post processing, So, the 601 was just lying around not used, and deciding the money it represented could be better used elsewhere, I sold the house and the lenses in 1999, to partly finance a Canon MV100 DV film camera. Later in 1999 I almost purchased the Nikon Pronea 6i APS SLR when in Singapore. I had agreed on the price when the salesman said he wanted cash not credit and on the way from the shop to the ATM to get cash I regretted myself and walked away from the deal (luckily enough…).
2000's When my first son Julian was born (December 2000) I wanted to be able to take better pictures of him than the compact camera would allow. I don’t know how many blurry, bad coloured pictures of babies I have received from friends and family. The pictures we distributed weren’t going to be that way… (At least that’s what I thought. The photo labs had other ideas. I don’t know how many times I’ve sent all pictures back for reprocessing, them being too dark, miscoloured, too light, etc. Awful…) By now, autofocus seemed to have become fast and reliable so I didn’t have any problems with buying an autofocus SLR. As I had no old lenses to worry about, I could start fresh looking for a suitable package. At that time Nikon didn’t have a good package in the price range I was looking at. In fact, to be honest, I have no knowledge of the Nikon SLR’s after the F601 & 801, like the N-series. The Canon EOS 300 was the only real contender and Cyberphoto.se had a good package price at the time with the house and two zooms (28-80 & a long zoom, 70-300 I think). For some reason I never really attached to this camera the way I did with the FE-2. It worked fine and so, even though the autofocus sometimes disagreed with me what object to focus on.
Canon had just released the EOS 300D, but at a price far higher than I was prepared to pay at the time (2003). However, there were a few compact cameras that caught my eye, offering the same features as an SLR, but cheaper and less bulky, making it possible to carry them around easier. As I hadn’t followed the photo market and subscribed to any photo magazines for a number of years, I wasn’t aware of the limitations of these cameras in regard to speed (focus, zoom, etc) compared to the D-SLR’s. When I studied tests and read that camera X had excellent results for sharpness, quality and performance, I never reflected it being “for a non-SLR, that is”. There were a few interesting cameras at reasonable prices, the two ones that had most features I needed; long zoom, manual possibilities, different exposure modes, external flash, etc, were Olympus c-750 z & Fujipix 5x00 (can’t remember what digit x was). In the end I purchased the Olympus. I can’t remember which factor was most decisive, probably the smaller size of the Olympus. For such a small camera I’m impressed with the Olympus.
So, adding these things together, I decided to go for a D-SLR. Maria, my wife, didn’t oppose to spending some money on this, so now it was just a matter of finding the right camera at the right price. One camera quickly positioned itself as the main contender, the Nikon D-50. Canon’s cameras (300D & 350D) are still too expensive, and having more feeling for Nikon than Canon it felt right. Even though the D-50 is considered an entry level DSLR I find it has (almost) all features I need. Compared to the D70s, which would be the alternative purchase, the D50 misses out on the ability to master other remote flashes without a Speedlight attached (actually a feature I may well miss, but you can get a Speedlight flash master for the price difference) and depth preview, which I mentioned above I seldom used when I had it. Also, the D70s seems to have easier access to features I use quite often, like bracketing, but the price difference didn’t motivate me to buy the D70s. D50 uses SD-cards, not CF like the other Nikons, but as I had no big CF anyway (the Olympus uses
XD…) it didn’t matter too much, at least in the short perspective. I’d rather buy a Speedlight SB-800 and a fixed 50mm 1.8 lens, to add to the 18-55 DX and 70-300 G zooms lenses I got in the package I finally purchased from Camerastore.com.au for AUD 1100 (alas the 70-300 was only available in
silver…:-( …).
After having the D50 for a few weeks I must say I like it a lot. It feels good in my hand and takes good pictures. The only thing annoying me at the moment is that bracketing is hidden in the menu, apart from that it’s perfect. I’m sure it will do me good for a few years and then, depending on what I do with my photography in the future, could be substituted with a D-200 or whatever Nikon will have then, if I want to step up in features and pixels. For now, the package I have is fine, especially if I add a new flash (to take advantage of the iTTL features) and a 50mm 1.8 (to take pictures in low light without full flash & portraits with blurred backgrounds). I just need a forum to get more use and exposure for the pictures I take. This site has mainly family photos, not necessarily the technically best, but the best ones to illustrate the situation in question. I’ll look and see if there are any photo clubs in the vicinity or other ways of expanding my photography to something more than family photos store on a hard drive…
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But I think the main problem was not the EOS 300 but the awful quality of the photo labs, as mentioned above. I got fed up with all pictures that were not bad because of the photographer (me) but because the labs don’t care to check the pictures they produce. They assume (correctly, unfortunately) that most people don’t care and that the original quality is so bad that their efforts don’t matter. I was also getting all prints scanned in by the lab and thought this a better way to keep archives than keeping track of the negatives. However, the quality of the scans are quite bad, so I made the decision to go digital and leave film altogether. 
When you get the focus right it takes great pictures, from macro to long zoom. The main disadvantage of this camera is the speed it focuses and the time it takes for it to take a picture after the shutter button is pressed. Having two lively boys as your main objects means the Olympus misses more pictures than it hits. This has been annoying me for a while, as I want me to be the only limitation, not the camera. After researching more on this I discovered that a D-SLR is the only solution for this problem. In order to take the pictures I want, the Olympus had to be replaced. Besides, the battery lid on the Olympus broke a year earlier and after having it duct taped, it finally gave up in March 2006 and had to be sent for repairs. So we were out of a camera for a few weeks, not fun when we’re in a new place (Australia) and lots of interesting things happening around us with the house & travel, which we want to document for the future. 