Camera Reviews

Nikon L35AF – Japan’s Pikaichi Point and Shoot
2400 1350 James Tocchio

Photophiles in the 1980s had it good. The camera industry was surging forward on a wave of prosperity. Cameras featured greater automation, ease of use, and affordable quality. At the head of this surge was Canon, a masterful…

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Minolta Autocord – Medium Format Camera Review
2052 1367 James Tocchio

In the early days of mass-produced cameras, when a photographer talked about “the best” he invariably talked about Germany. This reflected a truth; Japanese cameras of the 1930s and ‘40s were in large part inferior…

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Minolta SR-T 202 – Camera Review
1280 720 James Tocchio

Beginning in 1959 with the Nikon F, Japanese camera makers would spend the next few decades perfecting the SLR camera. As rangefinders and larger format cameras gave way to this new wave of machines, more…

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Petri F1.9 Color Corrected Super – A Clockwork Rangefinder at a Point-and-Shoot Price
1280 853 James Tocchio

Ask ten photo-geeks to make a list of their favorite rangefinders and you’ll likely find ten pretty varied lists. We can assume that most will place the Germans at the top, the Japanese at the bottom, and there may be…

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Nikon F – Camera Review
1280 720 James Tocchio

Innovation is a big deal. Companies that invent new products are amazing. Unfortunately for these trailblazers, innovation doesn’t always lead to glory. The last century is peppered with examples of “firsts” being forgotten. While no one remembers…

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Voigtlander Vitomatic Ia – Camera Review
2560 1707 James Tocchio

Voigtländer is the oldest camera maker in the world. The company was founded, astoundingly, in 1756. To help put this in perspective, that makes Voigtländer 20 years older than the United States of America. Amazing.…

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Canon AE-1 – Camera Review
2448 1632 James Tocchio

Canon and Nikon; today, these two brands are synonymous with professional photography, both make fantastic machines, and even the uninterested public considers them equals. But it wasn’t always this way. In the early days of…

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Canon Canonet QL17 – The Ultimate Street Shooter?
1280 720 James Tocchio

Street photography, both easily accessible and frustratingly fickle, is one of those wonderful artistic pursuits that can be entirely rewarding even if mastery eludes you. Clichés be damned, street shooting is truly about the journey and not the…

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Minolta’s X-7A Might be the Perfect Beginner’s SLR – Camera Review
2038 1359 James Tocchio

It’s easy to become a numbers-junkie. Whether it’s cameras, cars, watches, or tech toys, it seems that someone’s always shouting about the superiority of one machine over another based on intangible and often unappreciable figures.…

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Canon T50 – Camera Review
1280 720 James Tocchio

Throughout the 1970s, camera makers everywhere were surging forward on a wave of technological advancement. The continually improved designs of SLRs coupled with perfect marketing practices created astronomical retail success for Single Lens Reflex makers.…

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Minolta XE-7 SLR – Camera Review
1289 1357 James Tocchio

I admire risk-takers in any industry because I feel that visionaries are the ones who urge everyone forward to a better future. The camera industry is no different. When I began shooting photos in college, a professor urged…

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