Silverbased

“The Beast” is this 1969 Mamiya/Sekor 1000 DTL (left) that I scored off of eBay.

[See my entry about these Mamiya SLRs on Camerapedia]

It’s not like I *need* another camera. It’s just that there’s so many interesting screwmount lenses floating around for cheap that I wanted to be ready. It’s pretty crazy that you can get a working film SLR with a decent lens for $41, shipped. And the shutter speeds are still right on!

In the world of Pentax/M42 screwmount cameras, I always thought this was an interesting one–its claim to fame was the switchable spot/average metering. Back when I was the photo editor of my highshool yearbook, one of the other kids used one. I remember thinking that its stop-down metering seemed pretty primative. I guess I was just feeling smug because of my shiny new Canon TX. Of course, both of our cameras were bricklike monsters, and the TX made a deafening “plang!” whenever you tripped the shutter.

Then one day another guy brought in his father’s new Olympus OM-1. It’s probably hard to imagine how shocking it was to pick up a camera that was so much smaller, quieter, and literally 3/4 pounds lighter. This photo doesn’t really convey what a startling difference there is.

About 20 years ago I finally ditched the Canon gear, and put my carpentry earnings into a nice Olympus system. I still love and use the stuff–I’ve yet to meet any DSLR that makes me feel the same way.

[Originally posted on Flickr, 15 May 2006]