Cameras

A topic about the cameras that have moved through my hands.
Updated 8-4-2009 from a piece I wrote 5-15-1999

I’ve been interested in photography for a long time. When I was kid, a young man, a middle aged man, and even now. There was a period in the 90s when I slowed down but I’ve always had a camera with film ready to go. My best friend Bob Nelson is a professional sports photographer and so the topic is always at the top of our list. I’ve noticed I’ve always had a fetish for photo gear but never had the budget to indulge myself. Even when I had the money I didn’t spend it on the type of equipment that would have helped my craft. Instead I was always looking for the magic camera that was cheap and yet would always take great photos. Even now, in the digital age I find myself drawn to equipment that I know deep down will not be of any long lasting value.

Kodak Brownie Target 6 Sixteen, Kodak Hawkeye?
Kodak Signet 30, Yashica D TLR, Olympus 35SP

During the 60s, my father Ray managed to get some family photos taken but during much of the 70s his photos revolved around work, especially my mother’s. We have stacks of slides which are not the least bit interesting. Like my father and grandfather I started photographing things, which I thought were interesting. It turns out things are rarely interesting, but friends and family always are. Particulary if they seem mundane at the time. The Maas archive is full of bad prints and washed out slides due to cheap film: the parade of cheap cameras have left their mark. Reviewing our family snapshots I noticed poor composition and improperly lighting. I tried to keep this in mind.
I came to my senses in the mid 80s and started photographing more friends and family. I also started buying better Kodak and Fuji film.

If there is one peice of advice I could give, it would be to pay a little extra and get a good camera. Don’t buy a camera because it is inexpensive. My grandparents entire recorded lives will be a couple blurry photos. Photography is not the place to save a buck. I say this as the president of the Cheap Bastards Club. (cbc) Do your kids a favor and take some good photos! Hire someone else if you can’t.

Ray Maas Cameras

Six-16 Brownie
Film size: 616 Picture size: 2 1/2 X 4 1/4" rollfilm, Introduced: March 1933, Discontinued: April 1941
Lens: Diway lens with a close-up lens, Shutter: Rotary, Original price: $3.50,
Description: Leatherette covered metal box front panel with geometric Art Deco design and two brilliant finders
Source: Camerapedia and Brownie-Camera

Kodak Brownie Target 6 Sixteen (ca 1942) and a Kodak Hawkeye?

I got my start in photography from my fathe,r Ray. Ray got his start from his father, Bill. The camera of choice in those days was the Kodak Brownie. It was available in different models. The Maas family must have got the cheapest one because most the photos from the Maas family are under/over exposed or out of focus. Grandpa Bill Maas took a lot of construction site photos with the Brownie 6-16. You can find more info about the Hawkeye at the link above.

Kodak Signet 30
The third model in the Kodak Signet line, produced from August 1957 to April 1959. The Signet 30 lacks the selenium photocell exposure meter of the Signet 50. The Signet 30 is a viewfinder camera, it does not have a built in rangefinder. The excellent viewfinder has a brightline for the 44mm lens. The advance lever is fitted to the base of the camera; the automatic frame counter and rewind switch are located on the camera’s bottom right front. The body is made from bakelite, with metal inserts, fittings, and attached plates. Like many of Kodak’s better lenses of this period, The Signet 30′s Ektanar lens is somewhat radioactive. The camera originally sold for a list price of $55.00.

Ray got this Kodak Signet 30, 35mm camera before getting married.

When Ray was a boy Grandpa Bill gave him a used Rolleicord for Christmas.(or birthday) Dad said it was his favorite gift. He felt proud having such an advanced camera in high school. Dad’s high school era photos remind me of my early photos: some what experimental (in the technical sense not artistic) and not very interesting. Dad’s photos improved after purchasing a Kodak Signet 30, 35mm camera. Dad got this camera on close-out at K-mart. (Just before he was married in 1958.) It was 50% off the $64 price, but the salesman insisted it was 50% off the $32 price. Dad didn’t argue. Ray started shooting slide film. The Ektachrome* slides have faded, but the Kodachrome slides are still good. Dad says they had a great older gentleman in the camera department. He was very helpful and knowledgable- a former photographer. Dad joined K-mart’s film club and got his processing done very reasonably.
* But not as bad as the cheap 3M and K-Mart house-brand film.

Yashica D
Well-regarded and long-lived twin lens reflex by Yashica in the classic Rolleicord style. The later D models have the better 4-element Tessar-style Yashinon. The D was actually a budget model aimed at entry-level medium format users or advanced amateurs wanting to get into a Rolleicord-style TLR at 1/3 of the price. Nice features: the wheels between the lenses are for setting the aperture and shutter speed, both of which read in a little window on top of the viewing lens, so you can see the settings while looking down on the the camera. The ground glass is dimmer than on some TLRs I’ve used but at least it has a grid to help with parallax. And the hood opens and closes as one piece, something you overlook until you don’t have it! You do have the usual pop-up close focus lens and sports finder. Source: Camerapedia and MattDentonPhoto

Yashica D Twin Lens Reflex purchased ca 1969

About the time I was born dad’s Rolleicord got damaged. He replaced it with a Yashica-D twins lens reflex (ca 1969). I used this twin lens reflex (TLR) for a couple years while I was in camera club. It took good photos if you knew what you were doing- I was just learning and that wasn’t always the case. I was developing black & white photos in the church basement darkroom and taking many short-cuts. I was going to build a darkroom in our basement but never got that far.

Olympus 35 SP
This rangefinder camera was produced from 1969 through 1976. Though somewhat overshadowed early on by the explosive popularity of SLRs, the Olympus SP rangefinder models were sophisticated and high-quality cameras with a tack-sharp 42mm f/1.7 lens of 7 elements in 5 groups. Resolution at all f/stops is outstanding. Unique among 35mm rangefinders, the SP featured a dual metering system, with both spot and centerweighted readings. Its compactness relative to SLRs of comparable ability remains a strong point in its favor among enthusiasts. Source Camerapedia

In July 1973 dad purchased an Olympus 35 SP at Pako.

The West Acres Mall opened, including Pako Photo #951. Dad decided to buy a 35mm rangefinder: the Olympus 35 SP. ($114.95, SN 358331)A very nice camera: auto exposure, hot shoe flash and five year warranty. Dad was very pleased with this camera. He stopped using it years later, when mom complained the pictures where overexposed. Years later I cleaned the dirty sensor- hence the overexposures.

Char Maas Cameras

Instamatic 124
Produced in the
US from July 1968 to April 1971. Model numbers ending in 4 have Flashcube socket.
Source: Camerapedia

The 1989 Canon Snappy AF series were less advanced and aimed at low-end consumers desiring simple point and click compact cameras.

Canon Snappy AF, Vivitar PS35, Kodak Instamatic 124

Char (Letcher) Maas had the usual Brownie cameras when she was a girl. The Letchers had better models than the Maas family and shot more photographs. Once mom got married, she let dad take over all the camera purchases at least for a while.
In the early 70s, Char picked up a Kodak Instamatic model 124 camera. (126 film) These photos are hit and miss, but at least mom did take some photos of the family. Unfortunately, the negatives are lost, the photos themselves have faded or have been mishandled.
In the 80s Char started shooting Polaroid film. Mostly for work, so it doesn’t matter there are no negatives and they look crappy. She even had a Kodak Instant Film camera the Pleaser.
By the 90s, the 35mm point-and-shoot became cheap and easy to use. Char had a number of these. Some like the Minolta Freedom III found their way into the hands of Victor. I told him I had a good camera, but the battery cover was broke so the camera didn’t work. Vic patched the cover with duct tape. He showed me how it works: “All you have to do is hold the camera and squeeze the duct tape to make contact. I works great.” Char’s last film camera was a Kodak Advantix 3600ix, which used APS film.

Polaroid One Step
Alongside the ‘prosumer’ range of folding SLRs, Polaroid released a large number of plastic bodied, non-folding consumer cameras that used the SX-70 integral film. Fixed focus – Generally known (in the US) as One Step models.

Polaroid Zip
Produced: 1974-1977 / Original Retail: $13.95 Smaller body is somewhat more ‘modern’ in styling and dark brown in color. uses Type 87 "square" format film packs.
Source and Camerapedia

Polaroid Zip, Kodak Pleaser, Polaroid One Step

Craig Maas Cameras

I wasn’t very old when dad got me a camera of my own. It was a grey, no-name, which shot 620 film and used flash bulbs. I think I got it for Christmas in 1968.

Epko Photo specialized in professional equipment. Dad and I went there on occasion but the professional atmosphere was intimidating.
1973
I started Confirmation Classes. Pastor Olson was very popular with the kids. He started a little camera club, which met once a week in the basement of the Sunday School Classrooms. We used the bathroom across the hallway as a darkroom. Bob Nelson was a new arrival at my school, but I didn’t meet him until he joined our church. More importantly he was there that first day of our camera club. I remember we both started laughing about something and couldn’t stop. Pastor Olson sent us out in the hall. In some ways we’re still laughing. I started using dad’s Yashica-D. The other kids thought it was an old obsolete camera but Pastor Olson thought it was great. The church had a storage area in the basement of the Rec Center. Our camera club was fairly popular, so Pastor Olson got permission to build the darkroom. All the members of the camera club helpped build it. The darkroom was large, with various areas set up for processing and enlarging. Dad donated some lockers from work. (Adams) Pastor Olson rounded up the equipment. As I remember, Bob was the only one really serious about photography. I liked hanging around with Scott Wilcox and Danny Johnston. I didn’t take it very seriously. The church had a pool table in the area outside the darkroom. We talked about camera equipment. Posturing about what we were going to get.

I got this Hanimex Compact A at K-Mart in 1973.

I saved my money but there was no way I could afford an SLR. I bought a Hanimex Compact A 35mm camera at K-mart. It turned out to be a very nice camera. Zone focusing and automatic exposure control. The Hanimex Compact A was like a stripped down Compact R) For the longest time I thought the Hanimex was broke until I put a new battery in it. I got a couple years use as a car camera.

SRT-102 purchased April 1975 at Daytons.

I was reading “Modern Photography” and “Popular Photography”; studying the various features, checking the prices and dreaming of the day I could buy an SLR. I decided I wanted a Minolta. I couldn’t justify the extra money for a Nikkormat, Nikon, or Canon. Scott Wilcox got a screw mount Pentax. I couldn’t wait. I was making model cameras and my drawing notebooks were full of stereo equipment and cameras that I could never afford. April 8, 1975 there was a sale at Daytons (Dayton’s annual Daisy Sale) on a Minolta SRT-102 and a black Minolta MC on sale at K-mart. They were out of stock at K-mart. I told the salesman about the Daytons price; he said I should, “Go for it.”

April 10, 1975 Dad and I went to Daytons and purchased the Minolta SRT-102 and a 50mm ƒ1.4 lens. Dad put it on his charge account ($269.88). The sales lady was very nice, young, pretty and took an interest in my questions. As long as she worked there, I continued to buy film and accessories from Daytons. [now Macys. Body SN:2160551; 50mm Lens SN:3761828] I brought the camera to school. I had one uped Scott. Bob had Mamiya SLR. On 6/8/76 his father bought a Nikkormat FT2. Bob seemed to be the only one using it. Rokkorfiles

Bob was definitely serious, he joined the high school yearbook and also shot for the high school newspaper. I tended to waste film on everyday things, but not on people. My photos were rarely ends in themselves. I used photography as a tool. A lot of photos ended up as drawings and paintings.

I took my Hanimex to CAP summer camp in June of 1975, Dad used my SLR for Sheri Dement’s wedding. “Until you pay me back, it’s my camera.”- I couldn’t argue with that logic. I took the Minolta to Minneapolis in July, but couldn’t photography the big computers at Controlled Data Corporation (CDC) due to security. I remember Duane holding the case for me while I took photos of the glass towers. It was a hard case, with foam cut-outs for each lens. (I bought a 28mm ƒ2.8 and 135mm ƒ3.5 a short time after buying the camera.)

I did a lot of copy work. I liked experimenting with small items: model airplanes, watches, etc. The SLR made close work possible. I got a reversing ring for my lens. I made a bellows out of dowel rods and black poster board, which worked well. I made a mount for my binoculars and our telescope. I ordered an adjustable macro adapter. I finally bought a real bellows. I also bought a cheap 200mm lens.

At ECI, the Carrier Air Conditioner company sent us a video camera and VHS deck- one of the first VCRs out. Soon I was experimenting with that. Bob and I made abstract lighting videos by focusing the video camera into the television at a slight angle. Wild video feedback called for a hard rock soundtrack. I ordered a Macro filter set for the video camera and made a video of my collected artwork.

My favorite subject was airplanes. Fargo had Air shows in 1975, 1980, 1986 and then almost every year after. I shot many rolls of film at these air shows, both in Fargo and at the Grand Forks Air Force Base.

In 1978 I bought a Polaroid camera (350 Series) at a flee market. The camera was cheap but I wasted a lot of money on film. I photographed my friends and co-workers. These Polaroids remain personal favorites, so it wasn’t a total waste of money like Char’s Polaroids were.

For the next year or two, I was busy trying to purchase a stereo system. Minolta came out with a new line of professional cameras. The XK was their answer to Nikon’s F2 system. The XD-11 was an inexpensive automatic exposure SLR, but the camera which really caught my eye was the XE-7. The photo magazines raved about this camera and why not: it was co-designed by Leica. Leica based their R3 SLR on this body. But as much as I wanted it, it was too much money.

I was friendly with Dan, who was in my high school algebra class. Dan worked at Labelles, a discount store. I told him about the camera and accessories I wanted to buy. He said he could get them cheap because he worked at Labelles. One day he brought a XD11 to class, “Take it home and try it out.”
It was obvious he was stealing from Labelles. I told him I wasn’t interested. I cooled on Dan after that.

XG-7 purchased July 1978 at Daytons. SN 1174367

After working all summer, I convinced myself I needed two camera bodies. Minolta came out with a new line of affordable automatic SLRs. I bought the Minolta XG-7 at Dayton’s. Over the years my SLR racked up damage. Early on some kid knocked over my tripod; denting the front of my 135mm lens. Bob helped me by epoxying a 52-55mm step up ring to the filter threads. The XG-7 died one day. It was the auto exposure system. Bernie’s Camera Repair told me it wasn’t worth fixing. Rokkorfiles

Even with all the cameras I had. It seemed like I always needed another. I was looking for a small camera. I photographed Debbie Fairbanks’ wedding. She was my employee at NWI. Debbie sold me her old 35mm Agfa camera. I called it my car camera. It came in handy many times, always close by, always loaded with film. I believe the camera was an Agfa Optima or Silette.

I was taking an art class in college. I convinced my girl friend, Justine, to let me draw her portrait. I had to take some photos. I got to borrow an old Leica range finder. (M3 or M2, screw mount lens) The first batch were wrecked there was something wrong with the film transport.
I shot a second batch. Bob let me use his darkroom to develop a roll of black and white film. I was going to print some nice 8x10s. I got in a hurry, and screwed up the temperature while washing the negatives. The second batch was wrecked too. My drawings came out great so there no repercussion from my failed photographic attempts.

I was looking at cameras again: small and large. I was dissatisfied with the flaky exposure control on my car camera. I tried a very small Olympus XA-2 in August of 1981. I shot a couple rolls, but I felt it was over-priced, and returned it. The Olympus predated all the point-and-shoot cameras that are on the market. It had the same body as mom’s Olympus Infinity Stylus Zoom. (I’m currently working on it to fix a light leak. Mom seems to be hard on 35mm cameras. She has gone through at least half a dozen.) Ray thought it would be a good idea to buy a Medium format SLR to replace the Yashica D that wasn’t focusing any more. At Northern School Supply we bought a Mamiya M645 Medium format SLR. I had fun fooling around with it. It was equally fun teasing Bob with something he didn’t have. (yet) I shot a couple rolls before bringing it back- I knew it was a stupid idea.

In October of 1984 Charlie Letherberry, a co-worker, asked me to shoot his daughter’s wedding. I had photographed weddings before and said yes. I decided to get a new flash. I got the state-of-the-art Vivitar 285 with a zooming and tilting flash head. When I started shooting I didn’t have a ceiling I could bounce the light off. The flash was big and high off my camera. I hoped for the best. I should have borrowed some of Bob’s gear. I was embarrassed when most of my pictures came back with red-eye. Charlie didn’t seem to mind- the photos were good except for the red-eye. The couple broke up months after that so it didn’t weight on my mind for long.

Bellows, Sunpack Auto 121C strobe, and Vivitar 285 strobe.
Filters: close up set, polarizer, red, green, blue, and tungston.

Once Suzanne moved to New York it wasn’t long until she was asking about a camera. Bob was working part time at Brown Photo. He told me they had a Minolta Hi Matic G rangefinder for a couple bucks. I came in as a trade in. Suzanne and I went on a vacation to California. The Hi Matic G had the same sort of transport problem the Leica had. All but a few of the photos were ruined.

Suzanne bought a Minolta 35mm point and shoot. She loved the camera and shot lots of photos. On my next visit we went to a Bruce Springsteen concert at Madison Square Garden. I borrowed her camera. On the way home she flagged down a car service. It wasn’t until the next morning I realized I left the camera in the car… never to return. Not only were the Springsteen photos in the camera, but Suzanne had photos of her company softball game. She was mad, I felt bad. Suzanne went out and bought another Minolta point and shoot, this time with a zoom lens. Suzanne’s last film camera was a 35mm Canon point-and-shoot. At the time I thought it was pretty good but it wasn’t.

Agfa Compact From The Image Place

My Hanimex died and I started looking for a new camera. I almost bought a Rollei 35T in New York but decided it was too much money. I told Bob Nelson what I was looking for. Bob told me about this Agfa Compact. I picked it up on 10/14/88. A 35mm zone focus, auto exposure camera. Made in Germany it was even smaller than the Hanimex with a faster (ƒ2.8) sharper 39mm lens.

Bob and I attended almost two air shows a year. The Image Place rented equipment. For each airshow I would try a different lens. A 28-70 zoom, a 70-210 zoom, and my favorite a 500mm CAT lens. I was experimenting with equipment. For one air show I ordered some special Infrared film. It made for dramatic photos. I let Bob do most of the work in the darkroom this time. Bob bought a 500mm Soligor CAT lens. He had higher standards and soon was eying a Nikor 300mm ƒ2.8. He sold me his 500mm CAT for a nominal figure.

XE-7 and Sigma F4.5 70-200mm zoom from Cole Camera May 1996.

May 21st 1996, I gave Bob a ride to Cole Cameras. They had a used Minolta XE-7 for less than mail order. The camera of my dreams was now within my price range. They offered a warranty and I negotiated the price down even further. ($159) June 4th I went back and negotiated a price on a Sigma ƒ4.5 80-200mm Zoom lens. ($65.72) Now that I’m set, I have started eyeing digital cameras!

Minolta SLRs: SRT-102, XG-7, XE-7

Craig Maas Digital Cameras

Canon G1 (2001), Olympus D370 (2002), Fuji F10 (2006)

As soon as digital cameras came out I wanted one. They took terrible photos and were grossly over priced, but I wanted one. The first digital camera I got my hands on was an Apple Quicktake 150 that D&M Computing owned. Dave let me try it out for a couple days. I waited as the prices came down the quality improved. At the time there were two good digital cameras the Nikon 990 and the Canon G1. In 2001 Suzanne started asking me about digital cameras. I made her an offer, "Why don’t we buy one together. We can split the cost and you can hold on to it whenever I’m not using it." This worked well until I started using it all the time. By then the prices, quality and size of digital cameras had improved. Suzanne bought a Canon S500.

Suzanne and I chipped in to buy a Canon G1 in July of 2001.

The Canon Powershot G1 was very good camera for the time. It had a fast sharp zoom lens and some nice features like the swivel LCD viewfinder. It used CF cards, it had great manual controls, and was easy to use in automatic. I might still be using it as a backup camera if the soldered on fuse hadn’t blown. I tried to repair it but made matters worse.

Suzanne bought dad this Olympus D-370 in March of 2002.

The Olympus D-370 was never good. Low resolution, weak lens and a nasty noise problem in all but the strongest light. No zoom. For a couple years I was forced to use this camera whenever Suzanne had the G1. Dad would have been better off shooting film.

This Fuji F10 was purchased at Sam’s Club in March of 2006.

I did a lot of research to replace the Canon G1. I knew I would be getting a DSLR some time so I wanted a smaller pocket camera. I knew low light capability was important from the disaster of the D-370. The Fujifilm FinePix F10 Zoom was known for its low light capabilities. I love this camera. It has a very good lens and the photos are usually very good. It doesn’t have much in the way of manual controls but Char likes it because it is small and easy to use in automatic mode.