Photo Equipment

Entrance to Chinatown, San Francisco, CA

Equipment is where the photographer spends the most money. How much depends on one's budget and what kind of equipment is desired, whether it be a certain kind or model of camera or darkroom equipment. For those on a tight budget and don't mind used equipment, ebay is a great place to find cameras, accessories, enlargers and other darkroom equipment.

Below is what I've used in the past and use now. I'm not a professional photographer, at least not yet, so I still don't follow the rules much of the time, so I don't expect anyone who reads this to follow any advice I may give. Take a photography class, then come back and see if what I said was B.S.!

Cameras - 35mm

Right now, my camera of choice is a Minolta XG-M. No, I don't think Minolta is the best camera out there; it was already there. It's a camera that I've grown very comfortable with over the last few years. My only big peeve with it is the lenses for the old Minoltas and the new ones are not interchangable, so it's next to impossible to find brand-new lenses and that's one reason why I haven't bothered investing in a new camera. Since I "borrowed" this camera, my dad has purchased close to half a dozen more off ebay, plus a Minolta SRT-100, an even older camera. It's not battery-operated, except for the light meter, which neither of us have figured out how to read on that thing, so I don't use it that much, only when I have a lot of time to mess around with my hand-held light meter beforehand.

Minolta XG-M

Medium Format

Rollei TLR, 2x2 format

I've only messed around a little bit with medium format, though that's the format the professionals use. I purchased an old Rolleiflex (2x2) off ebay last summer. The larger negatives are nice, because they're more fine and larger prints can be made with lesser appearance of grain. The down side is 120 Rollfilm only averages 12 exposures. Most portrait photographers use a Mamiya or Hasselbad with the interchangable backs--color, black & white, sepia and polaroid.

Digital

This is my dad's digital. Nothing really fancy, but it's a great little camera for getting the feel for digital. Me, personally, I'm holding out for a digital SLR.

Fujifilm FinePix 2600J Zoom