I am a Dutchman living in the northwest of Germany. In the cow-rich landscape of Ostfriesland. In the middle of the protected international nature reserve of the Dollard.

After a lifelong period of working, I have been retired for a few years now and had the time and opportunity to pick up two great passions again. Firstly, growing perennials and a little later photography.

I took my first photos with an old camera from my father. A Zeiss Ikon Nettar, a self-erecting folding camera (6x6cm). Later I got one of those well-known Practika cameras. A little later I bought a Nikon FE. All still in the good old days of analogue photography. I still plan to digitize various negatives and slides.

After some small digital compact cameras, I bought a Canon EOS 400D in 2007. I did take photos with it at various times, but due to lack of time the camera often stayed at home.

Early 2022 I started to get the itch again and decided to buy a new modern digital camera. After much comparison and hesitation, it became the Nikon Z 5. A great camera that also allows you to take pictures with old Nikkor lenses (and I still had a Nikkor 50mm 1.8 AI that fits on the Nikon FE). To be able to do this, an FTZ adapter is needed, so that any lens with an F-mount can be used on the Nikon Z.

So I started taking pictures again since 2022, but I still have a lot to learn.

I am interested in the old film look. For this I have bought several old lenses and I am experimenting with them. These old lenses are of course without autofocus. But with the focus peaking on the modern (mirrorless) cameras, this is relatively easy to do in many cases. Examples of lenses I own are:

- Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5

- Nikkor-Q Auto 135mm f/2.8

- Helios 44M 58mm f/2.0

- SMC Takumar 55mm f/2

- Meyer-Optik Görlitz Primotar E 50mm f/3.5 (1957)

- Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8 (1955-1958)

The non-Nikkor lenses have an M42 mount. These are also very easy to use on the Nikon Z5 with the help of an adapter.

Later I also bought several Fujifilm cameras. An X-E1, X-T1 and X-T20, with the first generation sensors. They are worth it for their appearance alone. With all those buttons and dials they look very similar to the earlier analog cameras. But they can also take great pictures.

Very recently I expanded my collection with a number of 'old' digital cameras, including the Nikon D700 and the Canon 5D. Both from the period 2005-2006 with approximately 12 megapixels. For that time an enormous resolution. Nowadays that is of course nothing. And yet, in my opinion, they are still very usable (and very cheap to buy). They both have a special color processing that can provide very beautiful pictures. There are still professionals who use these cameras daily. Two classic cameras!