What's New

The International Camera Show Listing My 25th annual show listing is now posted. I am currently gathering information for more 2024 shows. Feel free to contact me with information.

Blair No.3 Focusing Weno Hawk-Eye Shortly after 1900, a couple makers created "hybrid" cameras for a market moving from plates to roll film. These were folding-plate cameras with new features trying to approach roll film convenience or, depending on how you look at it, roll film equipment with a ground glass to aid in focusing and composition. Once again, Blair creates something a bit strange.

Flat Folding Kodak (August 2024 update - paper finished and webpage to be updated in the near future) This is a camera that has been on my wish list for nearly 15 years. Kodak's Production Order Book notes 400 cameras "ordered." New research leads me to conclude this is an important camera that linked the Kodak's older designs to their future of new folding roll film cameras that dominated the industry.

Newly Acquired Cameras: Check my Most Wanted page to see "preview" pictures.
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Website Development: This website has been online since 1998 and over the years I updated the web development tools ... well not as often as I'd like. The site is currently developed on an older software platform and is not optimized for mobile devices. (Then again, mobile devices weren't around that much.) Additionally, other common features like dynamic resizing are not in place and you might see some misalignment, text overlapping and other issues. At some point I'll migrate this site to an updated platform, but rebuilding over 175 webpages will be quite a challenge and time consuming.

Photography (because I am often asked about it): The one thing I consistently update is my photography gear. I've been deep into photography my entire life and started collecting early cameras accidentally when I was gifted a Century No.7 studio camera outfit. Although playing with cameras early in life, I developed my first rolls of film at the age of 11 (had my own darkroom at that point) and was shooting 8x10 negs at 17. In 1980, I was accepted into and participated in one of Ansel Adams' famous Yosemite workshops. (Alan Ross was Ansel's darkroom manager in those days.) In some ways I miss the wet darkroom process but today I can do much more digitally. But honestly, using Ansel's zone system when shooting digital, which he would have never envisioned, is a great thing.

The goal is to present each camera online the best I can. My first digital camera was, let's face it, primitive. Since 2017, my setup is a Nikon D850 with an incredible Tamron 90mm macro lens mounted on a heavy Manfrotto tripod with sliding rail. Raw+JPG formats, sRGB colorspace. Cameras are staged on a table with an infinity wall and color balanced softbox lights. Sometimes small details need auxilliary lighting; in 2022 I started using Lume Cube lights. Maximum front-to-back sharpness is achieved by focus-stacking. Image processing workflow uses Helicon Focus, Lightroom and Photoshop.

Thanks for visiting!