There's an old saying: If something appears to be too good to be true, it probably is. But sometimes you get lucky.
I couldn't resist the Pentacon sixTL that I saw in FotoSkoda in Prague. I won't say that FotoSkoda is the best camera store in the world, because there are too many other contenders, including many Shutterbug advertisers. It is...
It's a brute: there's no doubt about that. With a 6x9cm back, 75mm lens, and finder, it's over 8" (200mm) tall and weighs well over 6 lbs or around 3 kg. That's one of the biggest, heaviest combinations, but the others...
Bewildering numbers of folding Retinas were built in Germany at the old Nagel-Werke in Stuttgart, an early Kodak acquisition. The first Type 117 Retina I appeared in 1933, and the last folders were the IB/IIC/IIIC, made from 1957-58 to 1960. Retinettes are...
There are plenty of people who know (and care) very little about photography, but feel that their dignity requires a camera with a bit of style and elegance. Today, they are spoiled for choice. Automation makes life easy: they can buy any number of...
Robots are probably the most underrated and underpriced world
class cameras on the used market today. They are built to at least the same standards as Leicas and Contaxes--actually, they're tougher and more reliable--and yet you can...
Anyone who reads Shutterbug regularly will know of my enthusiasm for modern Voigtländer cameras. I'm also extremely fond of the postwar Prominent 35mm leaf-shutter rangefinder camera, and I have a great (though guarded) admiration for its prewar 120 namesake, one of the most...
It's hard not to fall in love with the Baby-Box even before you see the camera itself. If it's in its case, you see the sweetest little saddle-leather box just 31/2x21/5x3". It has a dinky little strap, all of 17" long from end to...
The Soviet-made Zorkii 4K is the high point of the Leica screw-compatible Zorkii series. Zorkiis started out similar to Feds, but later became quite different. Feds, in turn, were initially arrant Leica copies but later diverged in their own account.
It’s a dream specification. Top-flight construction; about the same weight and bulk as a professional D-SLR, though rather more convenient in shape; interchangeable lenses; camera movements; choice of ground-glass or viewfinder viewing; and a great big juicy 6x9cm format. It’s finished in beautiful Morocco-grain leather and the controls and fittings are in nickel and black-lacquered brass. It certainly sounds both desirable and usable.