I used to go through a LOT of equpiment...

Searching for the ultimate camera and lens used to be a game I played.  It was a convenient way of avoiding having to make a nice image.  That's all changed since I've moved to digital.  Now it's all about the image and I could nearly care less what equipment I use to achieve it.  Cameras and lenses are only a means to an end.  But it took me decades to realize that.

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Last Updated: 05/07/03

Equipment Bought, Used, then Sold...

This page presents a list of equipment I've purchased, used, and discarded. I include reasons for the original purchase and final sale. I hope you find it fun. Gosh, have I really used all this stuff...?

Large Format Cameras	Reason purchased/notes on use	Reason sold
Sinar F 4x5	First large format camera.  Great Swiss quality.  Simple to use, large to carry in the field.  Expensive lensboards.	Traded straight for an early Linhof Technica III. No lasting regrets.
Linhof Technica III 4x5 (early)	Traded into for use in the field.  Had all the movements I thought I could ever use.  Small lens boards precluded using #3 shutters.  Built like a German tank	Sold to get a lighter 4x5 field camera.  No regrets.
Tachihara 4x5 wood field camera	Bought to help the kit weigh less into the field.  Had plenty of good movements.  Bright ground glass - was one of the nicest surprises in using this camera.  Wista lensboards were cheap from MidWest Photo	Sold to pay for another 4x5 camera.  No regrets. But I miss the light weight. In fact, I've been thinking of toying with a Gowland super-lite 4x5 for those occasions when I want the big image size, but don't want the weight of a German Tank!
Speed Graphic 4x5	It was too cheap. I couldn't pass it up. Such is the price for visiting a local photo swap. The focal plane shutter worked. I even mounted up a 7inch f/2.5 AeroEktar for the heck of it. This would have worked out GREAT in the field. These are wonderful cameras.	Stupidity.
Burke and James 8x10 wood field camera	Was a buy of the century.  Came with a mint 12" Commercial Ektar.  Fairly light for the format.  Was a pain to haul away from the car.  Contract prints were fabulous though.  Some of my most pleasing images from a technical standpoint were taken using this camera.	Too heavy, too difficult to use (or so I thought at the time :)
Seneca 11x14 wood field camera	Was a good buy.  But needed work.  I never completed the project.	Sold to make room for a 12x20 Folmer and Schwing that required less work. Talk about going from the frying pan into the fire!!!
Folmer and Schwing 12x20 field camera	Was a very good buy. But needed a small army to operate.	Sold to make room for a brand new Mamiya 7 (go figure!). The size and weight of the F&S was simply too much to deal with in the field. Any my 4x5 equipment fit my ability and needs, and the new Mamiya has some of the sharpest optics I've ever tested. Besides, the smaller equipment is easier to travel with and I'm just a hobbiest, not a pro...

Large Format Lenses	Reason purchased/notes on use	Reason sold
Fujinon 240 A f/9	This was my recent madness to procure and use Fuji LF optics. This was a wonderfully small, light lens and it was very sharp.	Sold due to it's very close proximity to my 200mm Nikkor M f/8, and due to the fact that I never used it, even on 8x10. OK, so I used it once in four years. But that was it. Time to liberate the money and buy something else. The proceeds were used to buy a Mamiya RZ camera kit (complete with 110mm Z lens and 220 film back). No regrets yet.
Fujinon 450 A f/9	This was another of my recent madnesses to procure and use Fuji LF optics. This was a very small, light lens and it was very sharp for it's focal length.	Sold due to the fact that I never used it, even on 8x10. It was time to liberate the money and buy something else. The proceeds were used to buy film backs, a new screen, a 180mm W-N lens, and a 65mm L-A lens for my Mamiya RZ system. No regrets yet.
Kodak 100mm Wide Field Ektar f/6.3	This was my last attempt to press small, light lenses into use in the field. This was a wonderful lens and was sharp.	Sold the make way for a fabulous new Schneider 110mm Super Symmar XL lens of greater coverage. No regrets, particularly since the Super Symmar is such an incredible piece of glass!
Kodak 135mm Wide Field Ektar f/6.3	This was my second lens to press small, light, great coverage lenses into use in the field. This was a wonderful lens and was very sharp.	Sold to help finance the purchase of a fabulous new Schneider 110mm Super Symmar XL. No regrets, particularly since the Super Symmar is such an incredible piece of glass!
Schneider 150mm Xenar f/5.6	This was a find! I didn't realize that Schneider continued to make small, light, sharp large format lens. It was wonderfully light, sharp, and fun to use. This is highly recommended to anyone who might be on a tight budget. I paid $375 new for this one.	Sold the make way for a mint Fujinon W/EBC 135mm lens.
Kodak 200mm Ektar f/7.7	This was my first attempt to press small, light, decent coverage lenses into use in the field. This was a wonderful lens and was very sharp.	Sold to help finance the purchase of a fabulous new Fuji 240mm A No regrets, particularly since the Fujinon 240 A is such an incredible piece of glass!
Schneider 210mm f/5.6 Symmar S/MC	This was my first large format lens. It was sharp, contrasty, had tons of coverage. Beautiful. But it was also a heavy lens.	Sold to pay for a Kodak 203mm Ektar f/7.7 Occasional regrets.
Schneider 90mm f/5.6 Super Angulon	This was my second large format lens. It was huge and heavy. It had plenty of coverage.	Sold to avoid the weight and single coating on all those elements! Eventually replaced by a Kodak 100mm Wide Field Ektar f/6.3. No regrets.
Schneider 150mm Xenar f/4.5 Linhof	This was my third large format lens. It was very light, sharp, and was fun to use. This is highly recommended to anyone who might be on a limited budget. I paid $125 for mine and it was mint!	Sold the make way for a lens of far greater coverage: Kodak 135mm Wide Field Ektar f/6.3. No regrets, particularly since I found out that Schneider still makes this Xenar, and I bought one. :)
Schneider Angulon 90mm f/6.8	Bought to replace the 90mm f/5.6 Super Angulon boat-anchor. This example was very sharp, light, and was mounted in a modern Compur shutter.	Sold to make way for a wonderful Kodak 100mm Wide Field Ektar f/6.3. No regrets, particularly since the Kodak 100mm lens provides a bit of coverage over the Angulon
Schneider Angulon 65mm f/6.8	Bought to use for 4x5 work. This example was very sharp, light, mounted in a modern Compur shutter, and extremely small.	Sold out of lunacy... Regrets.
Kodak Commercial Ektar 12inch f/6.3	This lens came on the Burke and James 8x10 view camera. This is one of the world's greatest lenses (he says ever so humbly). It was sharp, contrasty, and the Ilex shutter even worked reliably.	Stupidity. Particularly since I've gone off and bought a Deardorff 8x10 and needed lenses for it... oh well... Regrets. Though I did recently pick up a 300mm G-Claron f/9 that's as sharp as any shorter lens I've ever tested! This new lens will work on the Deardorff.
Goerz Red Dot Artar 45cm f/11	In barrel, this was a very cheap lens. I think I paid something like $89 from Midwest Photo. The coating on the rear element was coming off. It had bad marks on that element. But one would never know it from the images it produced. Along with the 12" Commercial Ektar, this was one of the sharpest lenses used in 8x10 format.	Sold when I 'got out' of 8x10. No regrets.
14inch Goerz Doppel Anastigmat Series III	In barrel, this was a very beautiful uncoated lens. Easily covers 12x20 and was very very sharp. Great inexpensive way to get lenses for very large format equipment. I'd heard that they were getting harder to find.	Sold when I 'got out' of 12x20. No regrets, except from a 'historic' standpoint.
Rodenstock 24inch f/9 Ronar	In barrel, this was an inexpensive and very heavy lens. The coating on the front element was coming off.	Sold when I 'got out' of 12x20. No regrets.

Medium Format Equipment	Reason purchased/notes on use	Reason sold
Hasselblad 500CM system	I bought this camera after testing a friends Hasselblad SWC. I thought that Zeiss lenses might be very good and that there would be no problems with reliability. I was thinking it might be nice to have a camera with interchangable backs that might also be light enough to travel with.	Strange things happened with this camera. A light trap failed and I lost a few vacation images. The front and rear plates were out of alignment (who ever heard of such a thing?). The mirror was mis-aligned and caused the focus to be off by 1 foot at a focusing distance of 5 feet. One of the rear barn doors spring bent and I lost an entire shoot. So before anything else broke on it or was found to be out of alignment, I sold it. The kit was replaced with a Mamiya RZ kit. For what was paid for the 500CM, 80mm lens, and two film backs, I bought a Mamiya RZ, 65L-A, 110Z, 180W-N, 360Z, two film backs, and several odds and ends. If my experience with the Hasselblad is any indication of reliability, then it's a very overrated camera system. In contrast, my Mamiya has not failed. Ever.
Graflex Crown Graphic 23	I was given this camera and film back by a very kind friend. I bought a 100mm Schneider Symmar Convertable for it after the 101 Ektar that it came with died in it's shutter (800 Supermatic).	Due to the size being so so close to my 4x5 Linhof SuperTechIII, and the fact that the knob wind was so close to the back of the camera that my knuckles hurt, I decided I would sell this wonderful thing and buy a pair of old folder cameras. So now I have a Bessa I 6x9 and a Zeiss Ikonta 532/16 6x6. Only mild regrets.
Rolleiflex 3.5F 6x6	I was still hoping to find the full Rolleiflexes had sharper lenses than my Mamiya C220 Pro. The optics were supposed to be world renowned.	The second camera I owned turned out to be only marginally better than other equipment I already owned. And it failed to come anywhere close to matching the sharpness of my new Mamiya 7. No regrets. For the second time.
Balda Baldix 6x6	I went crazy. The promise of light, portable 120 format cameras drove my buying for several months. I looked at everything. Or so it seemed. And I bought lots of equipment. This camera was a keeper. The lens was small, light, and sharp. The entire system was simple to use and smooth in operation. It was fun.	Sold to pay for a Ricoh Point and Shoot No regrets.
Kodak Special 620	I thought I wanted as large a negative as I could reasonably stuff into a super compact camera. This camera's optics were outstanding, even though they were uncoated! This camera's operation was even smoother than the aforementioned Balda's. Kodak did their job right with this little wonder	Sold to help pay for a Ricoh Point and Shoot Moderate regrets.
Rolleiflex MX 6x6	I was hoping to find a lighter, sharper camera than my current Mamiya C220 Pro. Rollei has a good reputation. The optics are world renowned.	The camera turned out to be the same size and weight as my Mamiya. The lens wasn't any sharper than the Mamiya. It felt 'old'. No regrets, though there is still lust in my heart for someday affording a new Rollei Gx or Fx TLR...