Good morning you awesome blog reading camera geeks! I have so much catching up to do! I just came back from a trip about a month ago and I haven’t moved since π I don’t know where to begin so I might as well start with my latest video and it is a video review of Nikon’s legendary and perhaps infamous Retro DSLR…the Nikon DF β€οΈ
The Nikon DF was introduced in 2013 and even though there was a lot of hype and fanfare around its introduction, the Nikon DF was received with mixed reviews.
Even today, it is a camera that some people love and some people hate.
When it came out in 2013, many people thought of this camera as “SUS” π as the kids today say. That means, we were “suspicious” of its retro looks, I guess the way many people see the new “Yashica” branded retro looking digicams which are dressed up like DSLRs but have tiny sensors.
The Nikon DF however is the real thing! It looks retro but plays the part with a top level, Nikon D4 full frame sensor.
This was a dream camera for me for some time. I’ve only mentioned to a couple of you guys here that I had it π
But I’ve had it since 2020 and this review was long overdue.
To me, it is what I call a “Beautiful Monstrosity” π It is a 16mp Full Frame CMOS Sensor camera that seemed like the by product of an experiment in Frankenstein’s lab! It has the body and chassis of a Nikon D600 and the heart or sensor from a Nikon D4.
Even though it shares the parts of these two cameras, it has its own unique features which are the knobs and dials, apparently inspired by the film camera legends the Nikon FE and/or FM.
It is a unique camera as it’s the only “Retro Inspired” DSLR in Nikon’s now discontinued DSLR lineup. The Z mount system however has two retro cameras in the ZFC and the ZF.
In fact, it was my desire to get a ZF, or shall I say my desire to talk myself out of it that inspired this video π
In this video I go over all of this as well as give you my opinion on whether or not it’s worth the (still) relatively high prices.
I may update this article with pictures and other information so don’t be surprised if you see that.
Thanks for reading, watching, and I hope to be back with you soon!
Just keeping you guys in the loop with my latest video. It is my digital dream camera come true!
In 2008 I found a great deal on the Contax 645, 80mm f/2 Zeiss Planar, prism, 120 back, the whole outfit. I was a new father with a baby girl of only a few months old and as a Contax super fan, I’ve always wanted a Contax 645. I wanted the best camera to document my daughter’s life. To me, the Contax 645 is among the tops!
The Contax 645 was introduced in 1999 by Kyocera. It is a medium format camera that shoots 6×4.5 120 film. But it can also shoot digital with an appropriate digital back.
It is a highly desirable camera, even today, for its autofocus and ability to take film or digital backs. Something only a few medium format cameras can do.
My dream was to shoot the Contax 645 digitally. The only way to do that is with a digital back.
Now back in the early 2000s medium format digital backs were extremely expensive and they always seem tailor made for the ultra rich and super professional photographers.
Today, their prices have come down but they’re still relatively expensive and are still rather esoteric.
In 2022, quite by random, I came across a Kodak DCS Pro Back for the Contax 645 for only $149! It was listed as a “Parts/Repair” unit. Untested. No battery, no cables, no nothing but the back. But the back is the most important thing and knowing how rare this was, especially as this price, I bought it right away!
Now, I didn’t know if this back would work or not but I had to figure it out for myself and I document this incredible journey on this video.
I was thinking of taking a break from YouTube. The AdSense problem I mentioned a few months ago has worked out and I’m making money but not really enough to make it worth the effort.
I’ll probably be back but I wanted to dedicate this video to my OG Camera Legend watchers and gave them one of my very best. I hope you guys enjoy this video. Thanks in advance for watching and have an awesome day you guys! ππΈπ
PS: I’m shooting almost all my videos now on this amazing little device, the DJI Pocket 3!
This awesome little “vlogging” camera can do it all! I was skeptical at first, but now I’m convinced this will be my main YouTube camera for a good while!
Good morning you awesome war torn WordPress camera geeks! Keeping you guys in the loop, as promised. With the sheer amount of gear that I’ve reviewed here over the years, it would be easy to think that I’ve had this camera for a while but no…
Today’s Camera Legend is the Leica SL Typ 601. It is a 24mp Full Frame digital mirrorless camera introduced by Leica in 2015.
With the Leica SL Typ 601 at Photo Plus Expo 2015. Also seen is the big beefy Leica 28-90mm lens.
I first got to play with the SL at the Photo Plus Expo show in NYC in 2015. At the time, I thought it was another cool, overpriced Leica toy. I assumed it had the same 24mp Sony sensor as the then current Sony A7. As it turns out, it’s a different sensor as my video points out.
Leica SL Typ 601 & Mystery Lens β€οΈ To be revealed in future episodes!
This is a camera I didn’t expect to get, but as I explain in my video, the best cameras come to me when least expected.
To prevent it from being extraneous or superfluous, it is replacing my Sony A7R as my platform for adapting all my old manual lenses. I only have one AF lens for it. It’s a Sigma 45mm f/2.8 DG DN. Photo samples below. It was one of the cheaper lenses I could get. The native Leica SL lenses are very expensive and I have no money left π
Anyway, this is a very cool and interesting camera that I look forward to trying it out! Bear in mind folks, I’m keeping it real. While the SL is fantastic, there’s no reason to think a ten year old camera is any better than your modern equivalent. Just saying! Have a great weekend and thanks guys! πβ€οΈπ
Good morning awesome camera geeks! Today’s post is a little bit of a rant but please bear with me as I’ll share some insights and information so that hopefully you won’t run into the same situation. You would think that after getting a (mostly) good response from my last full length video, which is the video about the legend of the Nikon D3, that I would follow it up with something to keep up the momentum right?
Well, today’s article is about how YouTube and specifically mother Google killed my motivation.
Now, before we continue, I’ll admit that I made some mistakes here too, but the majority of the problems came from the YouTube and Google Bots and I’ll explain.
Above you see what my current AdSense situation is. I didn’t know I had two AdSense accounts. I thought that was cleared earlier. So I closed one AdSense account but I have another one that was already linked to the channel but for some reason I am unable to reconnect it to YouTube.
The screenshot that you’re seeing in this posting basically says that I am not currently being monetized. Before we get to the current situation, it’s important to understand the whole situation right from the start.
Ok, so the story goes, in December I was monetized after being accepted into the YouTube Partner Program months earlier. Without making a long story even longer, just know that to be monetized you have to have at least 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours and I reached the 4000 watch hour threshold so they started to monetized my videos.
This is the message I got in December 2024 upon being finally monetized on YouTube.
Now before you think that this can change you from rags to riches overnight, I’m here to tell you that it won’t. We’re talking about literal cents per video.
My earnings through December of 2024.
But the good thing is that it adds up and I enjoyed looking at those metrics. It helped me to see which videos were doing good and what topics people actually wanted to see.
Flash forward to the end of January. I noticed that my monetization seemed to stop and I didn’t know why. There was no clear reason given, no notifications on YouTube.
Here’s the part where I think I messed up. In messing around trying to figure out the problem, I found that I had a second AdSense account. Now if you’re not aware, you can have multiple channels but only ONE AdSense account. Now I had an AdSense account from like 20 years back, of which I had no idea which email it was linked to and this was supposedly cleared when I started the Camera Legend AdSense account so I don’t know how I had this new account.
It is possible that I my panic mode I may have clicked on something that created another account. I don’t know for sure because I messed with a lot of settings.
The sad reality is this…
Through my own research I found out that the monetization wasn’t actually stopped, it was paused. The reason for that is because at some point Google sends a physical snail mail PIN to verify your home address.
Well, dumb me cause I DIDN’T KNOW THAT!! Had I known they’d be sending me a PIN I wouldn’t have messed with any settings. But nobody tells you this! At least I don’t remember hearing anything about having to wait for Google to send a PIN for me to verify.
So long story short, after numerous chats with tech support, I deleted the second AdSense account and am two weeks into the 32 day wait time that the system requires for me to reapply for AdSense.
I’m sharing this story for anyone who’s been recently monetized or looking to get monetized so that they don’t run into the same issues. You will receive a PIN from Google through snail mail at some point. Wait for it.
My real rant comes from the fact that while Google is seen as the cutting edge when it comes to tech stuff, their AdSense system is ridiculously old and antiquated. Anyone who has run into AdSense problems I think can testify to this. When problems occur, there’s no clear explanations, no clear links to correct things. Most “help” links will send you straight to these outdated pages that seem like they were written in the early 2000s.
It reminds me of the US Postal where you go into the post office and still see antiquated machines being used by the most unenthusiastic workers ever. Sorry if you’re an enthusiastic USPS employee reading this π I admire your hard work, this is not about you.
There’s actually a lot more to this story, but I’ll give you a last and good example. When the Bot found that I supposedly had two AdSense accounts it said “You already have an AdSense account. Use that one or delete your other account.”
Fair enough but there were no links, no way for me to put the channel back on the correct AdSense account, which is still open. Since it was already linked to YouTube, one would think the machine would automatically do it or at least give me a link to do it, but no. Nothing.
So I’ll wait out the 32 days. I have no choice. That’s supposedly for security. Ok I get it. But my fear is if after 32 days, if things don’t go smoothly, I’m afraid I’ll be in this cycle of trying to figure out how to get the AdSense account back to my YouTube channel.
This is a major motivation killer. Like I said earlier, I wasn’t making any real money on YouTube but the potential was there. I didn’t start YouTube with the motivation of making money. If I did, I would have done everything I could to get to monetization much quicker than I did.
However, once the Pandora’s box opened, I’d be lying if I didn’t say it felt good to see a little bit of money growing every day.
Now I already had the monetization paused by YouTube when I posted my latest full length video on the Nikon D3, which was (for me) a well received video, so that video would have earned a little but I put it out anyway because I thought people might get something out of it.
But honestly, making these videos take a lot of time and effort. Not to mention a lot of research and editing. Especially harder for a family man with two growing kids. Without the motivation, what’s the use in putting precious time and effort into this?
If anyone of you guys reading have been in this situation I would love to hear from you. Maybe you could help me in a way the Google customer service reps simply couldn’t or wouldn’t and I’d greatly appreciate it!
Sorry for the rant but thank you all for taking the time to read it! πππ
Good February morning you awesome camera geeks! Just keeping you guys in the loop with my latest YouTube video.
Today is the story of the camera Nikon said they would never make, the Nikon D3, their first Full Frame Digital SLR.
The Nikon D3 was introduced in 2007 and it was quite a sensation when it came out because for years and years Nikon had insisted that they wouldn’t be going full frame. But they did it with the D3!
Now had the D3 not delivered on image quality then it wouldn’t still be revered today, as it is, because as you’ll see in the video, full frame alone is not enough to guarantee image quality. But the D3 in many ways over delivered with what I consider really amazing image quality. Image quality that stands up amazingly well even with today’s cameras.
The word “legend” gets thrown around a lot, especially on this channel, but when it comes to digital cameras there are really very few legends.
The D3 is one of the rare few. It set a new standard for image quality and gave rebirth to the legend of Nikon. It rejuvenated the company and breathed new life into the company putting it on a strong and steady path forward.
In this video you’ll also see a brief history of the earliest full frame cameras and you’ll see how the D3 changed Nikon’s trajectory and how it changed the game for Nikon.
There was a time in my life when I “tried” to be a professional photographer. I shot weddings, I did stage and concert photography, I got a paparazzi gig. I might be in the minority but I never liked being a “pro” photographer. I didn’t like the pressure of having to “deliver” to clients and magazines. I liked getting paid though π
You’ll see some of my rarely posted paid work on this video. I’ll admit, I didn’t like the hustle but it did keep me on my A game!
Thanks for watching, and reading this, and have a wonderful weekend you guys! ππΈπ
Good day you awesome YouTube camera geeks! I thought I did all the videos for 2024 but somehow I managed to eek one more out for you guys! π
In this #podcast style video, I will share with you guys my thoughts as well as a few photos from the hot new Viltrox 28mm f/4.5 pancake lens. I hesitate to do a full review because there are so many reviews already but if you think I should let me know in the comments!
I recently became monetized! I’ve made enough to buy lunch lol so it’s no road to riches but the potential is there. Thanks to you guys for making this possible ππ So as a way of saying #thankyou I will help YOU get monetized with three easy steps.
Learn from my mistakes! You WILL get monetized much faster than I did if you follow these simple guidelines. If you are starting out on YouTube or are struggling with a small channel like I still am, I believe following these simple steps will help you make better videos and get monetized faster than I did!
Lastly in this video, we preview what’s ahead for 2025! 2024 was a great year for this channel thanks to you but it can only get better. I pledge to continue bringing you guys the greatest Camera Legends of all time while being as straight forward and honest as always. Thanks for your support and HAPPY HOLIDAYS you guys! πβ€οΈπ
Good morning you awesome war torn and nostalgic camera geeks! Just keeping you guys in the loop.
As a person trying to be a content creator I find myself running out of ideas, just like many “real” content creators I’m sure.
But as I look to these pages of the cameras, lenses, and things I’ve written about here on WordPress I realized I didn’t have to look far for material π
I could literally take the topics done here and make countless videos on them! Now I don’t think I’ll do that but I will do some of the ones I really liked.
So here in video form is one of the true digital Camera Legends that really bring me back to another time, a time when digital photography was coming into its own, a really exciting time for me.
The camera we’re talking about today is the Canon EOS 1Ds Original aka 1Ds Classic. In my opinion, this is the camera that caused the paradigm shift, the camera that made people take digital seriously, the camera that killed film!
Now I don’t mean that literally but I explain everything in the video and I also take the opportunity to thank two real world Camera Legends, Fred Miranda and the late great Michael Reichman ππ
Thank you guys too for reading, watching, I do appreciate your time because I know it is precious. Thank you! ππ
As promised, I am keeping you guys in the loop, even if it’s just a shameless plug for my latest YouTube video π Honestly, anything I could write would be the same as what you’ll see in this video! Thanks for checking it out!
If you have this camera or remember it, I would love to hear your experiences with it, especially the shutter mechanism failure issue. Thank you!
Good day you guys! Just keeping you guys in the loop. This may not be what you’re looking forward to on this channel but if you’re not already on YouTube and you’ve been wanting to do it, this is your video.
I started this YouTube channel about six years ago after years of procrastinating. I wish I had done it sooner! I hate the actual making of the videos, the editing, but I love sharing the knowledge I have gained over the years especially from reading here in WordPress, from forums like Rangefinder Forum, Fred Miranda, Photo.net etc, etc, as well as my own discoveries through real world experiences.
Just like many of you middle ages, I started life on film cameras but was young enough at the dawn of digital to love and appreciate it.
This video is directed at a certain and particular group of people but the message applies to anyone young or old or in between! ο
The point of this video is that there is so much knowledge out there that’s been hidden from the world. There’s things that YOU know that maybe I should know. There’s things that you and I don’t know about certain cameras and lenses that someone out there knows. They may have had the knowledge for years and years but for some reason or another they never thought to share it.
If you have a passion you should SHARE it with the world. If you have an idea that you CONCEIVED and you actually BELIEVE in it, you can ACHIEVE it!
I’m not making money from YouTube but this channel was not started because of money. I wanted to share my passion for cameras and lenses. If the money comes, it comes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t but if you need more motivation, the potential for making money on YouTube is there. What have you got to lose?
Thanks to anyone who watched today’s video. I don’t expect a lot of views on this one but maybe you’ll surprise me ο Please comment, LIKE & SUBSCRIBE to help keep this channel growing! Thank you for your support! οοο
Hello and good morning you awesome war torn camera geeks! It’s been a helluva while hasn’t it? Well, I had a little time so I figured I’d write to keep you guys posted on recent events and what we’re currently doing. I’m going to delve into several topics so forgive me if it sounds like I’m rambling. I will divide the topics into titles for easier digestion π
“Coffee Art” π 2024. We’re still here! π
The Passage Of Time
Last year I took a trip overseas to the Philippines and Thailand. It still feels like I just came back to the States yesterday. But it’s already been ten months! What the?!
Cafe. Tha Sala, Thailand 2023.Beach. Wildwoods, NJ. 2015Camera fun with baby girl and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1 β€οΈ 2009.“I Love L.A.” π Los Angeles, California, 1988. Minolta X-700 & 50mm f/1.7 MD lens. Photo taken by my brother I think!“Sam Fam” β€οΈ 2024. Google Pixel 7 Pro
I don’t want to just talk about myself so if you’re of a certain age, please let me know if you can relate to this…
It seemed not too long ago I was a teenager. Then I became a young man trying to find my way in my twenties. Then I got settled down in my thirties. Then the forties came and went. Now into my fifties, I still feel I haven’t accomplished much of anything. And I wonder how much time do I have left.
Listen, I hate to say this, but at the rate these years have been flying by, we’ll be done before we know it! Fifty years sounds like a long time but when you realize how fast one year goes by, is fifty, eighty, or a hundred even that long in reality?
People say grow old gracefully. I’m trying to do that but I don’t know how to. I mean, I still feel like 35 and sometimes even younger but I know I’m not.
People say the fifties are still young. Maybe in today’s world it is but as a younger man, I remember thinking 50, 60, 70, etc, that’s old! Now I’m in that first spot.
I know I sound like a Debbie Downer but on the positive side, I feel as if I can do almost anything I did at thirty but better β€οΈ I’m more sure, I’m not as awkward.
But one profound difference I can see is the people who are younger than me, people in their 20s, 30s, and 40s see me as someone older or maybe even “old” in their eyes.
And it doesn’t help that physically more fine lines have appeared on my face. The skin sags a little more. The hairline is receding. This is aging.
My Mom once said you’ve got two choices. Either you grow old or you’re dead. Wise words! Yet somehow it doesn’t make me any more comfortable with the thought of aging.
To me as one ages, not only are changes in physical appearance inevitable but there’s also a very real, increased chances of some dreaded illness or disease coming your way. In the past four years, we have lost four beloved family members. That’s one a year!
Of course I try to eat healthy, try to get more rest, try not to stress too much. I need to exercise more. But honestly, there’s only so much one can do. When it’s your time it’s your time. But yes, I want to be around to see what my kids do with their lives, to help them whenever I can.
To me aging is like falling into a whirlpool that keeps pulling you towards that center and you can’t escape it.
How do you guys deal with it? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Perhaps it would help me deal with aging better. Thanks in advance ππ
One thing that’s been with me through all the decades is my love for cameras, lenses, and photography. That is the one singular constant I can think of ππ
THE YOUTUBE DILEMMA
As I mentioned to you guys a few years ago, I was writing less here in order to focus on building my YouTube channel. That was in 2018.
I can tell you right now, unless you can commit to doing it consistently, I wouldn’t recommend it.
I’m still not monetized but I’m close to meeting their requirements. I’d probably have gotten there sooner if I were posting more consistently but as a family man who has two growing kids and a day job, I just can’t. Instead, I just post whenever I can put something together. That’s not the formula for YouTube success.
A recent and seemingly popular video about the cameras of Daido Moriyama.
So here’s what I’ve learned from my six years on YouTube. First you need a topic or subject. In this case, I have many! The channel is about cameras, lenses, and photography. I got this covered!
A recent and not so popular video about my very first digital camera and the early days of film vs digital. As a smaller channel, I noticed that some videos get a lot of views and some get very little views. The most interesting part is that some videos “catch on” but much later! Some people say the dreaded “YouTube Algorithm” is responsible for what people see and what they don’t.
Second, you need good video quality. High quality video production counts on YouTube. I have the equipment to make better videos but I’m not a videographer and I’m lazy so I just use my phone most of the time. Count that as a strike against me πͺ
Third you need to spend hours editing. This is the part I hate most! As a photography and camera review channel, I have to gather the necessary photos from the cameras/lenses being reviewed. Then I have to put them together and often narrate. Then I try to find some ear pleasing music to keep it flowing. After that, I have to edit all the parts together and make it into one cohesive video.
And the worst part? Sometimes I get decent views but often times I get very little views and since YouTube is not paying me yet, I feel very little motivation to continue but I push forward. I feel I’ve just scratched the surface of all the things I’d like to share with the good camera loving folks out there π
Anyway, YouTube and other social media like Instagram and Facebook are what has kept me from this blog for so long. Even though I’m an old school guy, I kinda feel that writing is passe π I know I’m wrong, convince me that I’m wrong!
But yeah, until I can actually see the benefits I can’t really recommend doing YouTube.
RECENT PROJECTS
I’m pretty much doing the same thing I’ve been doing for years, that is I’m shooting with film and digital gear β€οΈ
I’ve been focusing a lot of my YouTube videos on digicams because that’s been a favorite of viewers of my channel and it so happens that I’ve been collecting old vintage digital cameras for a long time so it works out.
The Leica Digilux 2 of 2003.
There’s a lot of film stuff I want to cover, but I feel that the channel doesn’t have enough traction yet to make these videos worth the effort.
Here’s a recent project I’m working on. It’s the original Rolleiflex from 1929. When I got it, the camera had only one working shutter speed which is 1/500, the rest were sticking. I fixed it up to where only the slowest speeds stick and I’m able to use the camera in the range I need. But today’s posting is not about the Rolleiflex, as fascinating as it is. I’ll keep you guys posted on my progress with this legendary camera
And here’s some recent film images…
Pool Party 2023 β€οΈ Leica M6 & 50mm f/2 Summicron on CineStill BWXX ISO 250 developed in HC-110Manila Traffic 2023. Leica M6 & 50mm f/2 Summicron-M on CineStill BWXX Oldest Lady In The Village. Sa Kaeo Village, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. Leica M6 and 50mm f/2 Summicron-M on CineStill BWXX ISO 250. Image was very underexposed but I was able to recover the gist of it and I don’t mind the grit!My most recent project photo β€οΈ Test shot with a Graflex RB Series B 4×5, Kodak No. 33 f/4.5 Anastigmat and Arista EDU 400 film developed in HC-110.The nearly one hundred year old Graflex RB Series B is a “portable” 4×5 camera that can be had around $300. I think this will be a great portrait camera! π
Thank you guys so much for reading this today! If you made it this far I just wanted to thank you β€οΈπβ€οΈ The reason this post is so long is because we’ve got some catching up to do and I’m making up for lost time! Appreciate you guys, thank you!
Camera Legend 