Uncle Jonesy's Cameras Podcast #29: Let’s Swap Cameras!

Kevin happily swapped his Nikon FE for this!

All around the world, the seasons are changing, cameras are being loaded, and moments and places are being preserved on film. It’s what we do! In this solo show, Shutter Brother Kevin talks about his recent camera swap with fellow Shutter Brother Kelley. Kelley has been looking for a Nikon manual focus camera body to serve as a back-up to his Nikon F3, which currently is being serviced. Since Kevin has not been using his Nikon FE lately, he offered to swap it with Kelley, and in return he got a super nice Minolta X-570. The X-570 is a very close sibling to the Minolta X-700, but Kevin explains why it could become a personal favorite.

Next, Kevin talks about some seemingly “ordinary” photographs that were accidentally added to his television screen saver but are now cherished memories of places and events from the past that are no longer around. Whenever we photographers are feeling uninspired, using your camera to record the ordinary in life is not only good skills practice, but it helps to avoid regret for the photographs you wished you had taken.

Kevin's drum set and home recording studio are
gone, but this photograph captured the memories.

Red Oak Creek Covered Bridge, Woodbury, Georgia
Minolta Maxxum 7000 and Kodak Pro Image 100 film.

Then, Kevin relates his initial experience with Kodak Pro Image 100 color negative film. Kodak labels this film as a “professional” like Portra, Ektar, Tri-X, and TMax, but Pro Image 100 costs the same as Kodak's “consumer” films like Gold 200, Color Plus 200, and Ultramax 400. The box states that Pro Image 100 is for “weddings, portraits, and events,” but Kevin forgot to read the box and used the film to photograph some landscape and nature scenes. How did the film do? Listen to find out.

Finally, Kevin reviews a wonderful coffee table book from the Anonymous Project called, Mid-Century Memories by Lee Shulman. The book presents almost 300 color images taken from the 700,000 images collected by the Anonymous Project, an organization that collects vintage color slides that have become “orphaned.” An orphaned photograph is one that has been separated from the people who were involved with its making to the extent that the identities of the people in the photograph are unknown. The photos in this book beautifully display everyday (and not so everyday) moments of people who, thanks to the available of affordable color film, were persistent in using their camera to record their lives on film. And the film of choice overwhelmingly was Kodachrome. Needless to say, Kevin loves this book!

You can listen to UJC #29 on your favorite podcast source or by clicking here.

As always, the Shutter Brothers would love to hear from their listeners. You can email them at unclejonesyscamera@gmail.com. You can follow the podcast on Facebook and Instagram at @ujcpodcast.

Happy Shooting!