I have had cameras since very young - I was the one member of the family who didn't get an old beaten up Box Brownie to start on. I had a more 'modern' Kodak camera.

 

Photography is something that used to come and go. I would do some when the mood took me (and funds allowed for film and processing) and have been into SLRs for some time.

 

I had a number of SLRs of different makes and before digital used an Olympus OM 10 with manual adapter. I finally 'went digital' with a Canon EOS 350D after trying digital before and being very disappointed. It was the first one that was affordable, yet subtle and adaptable enough to take decent images even in low light. The 5D is the first truly great digital camera I have had.

 

So now I take pictures at work, and I take pictures at home. One day I may get a decent P&S to take pictures more often.

 

So modern stuff can be very good - here's the modern stuff I use;

 

Canon 5D

16-35L

24-105L

70-200 2.8 IS L

1.4 TC

85 L

Sigma 12-24

Peleng 8mm fisheye

580EX

430EX

STE2

Piles of other stuff incl tripods, monopod, flash diffusers, old manual flashes, flash leads, flash triggers, view angle finder.

 

That's a lot to lug around. So I treated myself to a Leica D-Lux 4 which is a superb pocket camera.

 

I also enjoy playing with old manual lenses. There is a great joy in using something years old that does something better than a modern piece of kit, or does something as good but at a fraction of the price.

 

At one stage I had way too many of these; probably almost 50 lenses including duplicates. A house (and country) move motivated me to rationalise to the ones I really want to keep and do use.

 

I often go out with an old prime lens just as a challenge - it makes you think far more about your photography. There's something about getting sharp results and great bokeh with a lens that could be over 40 years old.

 

Apart from the Nikon and Tamron macros, here's my old stuff;

 

 

There's a list in the photo description. If you have some old lenses or get the bug (be careful), there's loads of useful info here;

www.flickr.com/groups/eos-manual-lenses/

 

Why No 4? It is my favourite number in the batting line up (cricket) and one of my favourites on a rugby field.

 

create your own visited country map

  

 

-----

 

We are killing ourselves and the planet. Visit www.greenaware.com or GreenawareGreenaware.

 

-----