On the 1st September 1914, a small grey bird fell from its perch at Cincinatti Zoo…… The mid 1970s saw a rash of camera developments. While these produced amazing technological marvels the headlong rush to ever more sophistication while keeping the price down meant compromises. The first casualty of any price war is almost always…
Endings are strange things. It’s often hard to see where the ending of anything is until years after the event. Rome wasn’t built in a day they say but it didn’t fall in a day either. It’s only on reflection, after the passage of time, that you can put a pin in a calendar and…
A step by step guide to Minolta X-700 capacitor replacement in the popular 35mm SLR Camera. Copyright 2023 High5Cameras, Free to use, copy and distribute so long as no charge is made for use, distribution or access and authorship and web address is freely acknowledged. The Minolta X-700 is one of the most popular cameras…
Before we discuss the Minolta X Series (X-700, X-500 and X-300 etc), let’s step back in time. Back in the mid 1970s and early 1980s the 35mm SLR camera market was in turmoil. The big boys were busy forcing the smaller companies out and there was a rush of developments as each manufacturer tried to…
A step by step Nikon E Series Repair Guide to the first version of the Nikon Series E 50mm f1.8 lens. Copyright 2022 High5Cameras, Free to use, copy and distribute so long as no charge is made for use, distribution or access and authorship and web address is freely acknowledged. The Series E 50mm f1.8…
As a New Year comes in I get mellow and like to reflect on the years gone by, and hopefully the ones to come. On my mind today is a question and a reflection.When is a camera more than a camera? What is any camera REALLY worth?Sometimes, and this may happen only once in your…
What is Lens Fungus: – 2,400 Million years ago fungus developed. Long before most life on the planet and it’s been going ever since. These days if you’re an avid photographer with a penchant for classic lenses you’re most likely to discover it in a lens and will want to remove lens fungus quickly. So,…
Konica Pop Review: Dating from 1982 the Konica Pop is a classic budget point and shoot. This one comes from 1985 or later as its shows the ‘Hexanon’ lens marking. The lens is stated as being a 36mm f4 and is of course fix focused.The specification for the shutter was 125th but I timed this…
The Minolta XG-1 was the second in the XG series launched in 1977 as a budget camera to complement the top of the line XD series. Unlike its predecessor the SRT series, the XG series was all electronic. By the time the XG series came to market the SRT series was looking tired but would…
If you have read the previous articles about buying cameras on eBay then this quick film camera buyers guide will give you the essentials for the most common cameras for sale. This film camera buyers guide is not fully comprehensive, doesn’t cover every 35mm SLR ever made but is based on hard-won experience of cameras…
