Just for those folks who may be curious about the type of equipment I use…………..

So where do I start?

I suppose I was lucky in that I started working as a professional photographer back in 1978 and my early tools of the trade were large format and medium format cameras, mainly MPP and Mamiya Universal. The years went by and I’ve used all manner of medium format cameras from the usual suspects but I always end up using an old Mamiya Press (6cm x 9cm) with a 105mm Sekkor and, for my money, a very underrated 65mm Sekkor plus a battered old Mamiya RB67. I shoot large format on an MPP Monorail and on an MPP Technical. To add to this large format mix I built a 10”x8” 1:1 fixed-bellows camera to shoot handmade paper negatives of still life.

When it comes to digital, despite using digital media frequently, I’m still left cold by almost all DSLR cameras and although I do have a D800 Nikon kit, I far prefer the ‘filmic’ feel of my Leica M8 rangefinder with Summicron, Elmar and Voigtlander prime lenses. It may be a crop-sensor but for me it gives a far better ‘feel’ than Nikon or Canon. I simply don’t like modern plastic cameras! I’m sure many will take issue with that.

As an aside…

A few years back I got it into my head that it would be a nice wee hobby to collect a range of 35mm cameras from the 50’s to the 70’s. I’ve always admired the engineering quality of cameras from this period. So through the magic of e-Bay I acquired a whole set of beautifully engineered Voigtlander cameras, numerous Agfa’s, Ilford’s and Kodak’s plus a rather excellent Fuji GX35 Rangefinder. The theme kind of took hold and I ended up compiling complete ‘3 lens kits’ by Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, Fujica and Minolta. None of these kits are ever really used for serious work despite having some great lenses in the collections but just to complete the sad anorak tale………

If forced to commit to 35mm, I’d settle on an Olympus OM2 with the Zuiko 24mm, a Nikon F3 with its 50mm and surprisingly for some I’m sure, a very underrated Pentax ME Super with a Zeiss Flektogon 20mm.