Hello my name is Colin....

[maddoc]

Impressive collection ! 😀 Now I am just curious, how do you decide which camera to use ? Depending on situation or mood ? 😕

 

[Avotius]

To answer the nest of bees I have stirred up:

The problem is that you're bored, what you need to do is to spend the money traveling rather than buying cameras.

Your absolutely right, I am bored, im sitting here on my 4th year of college and this is our last semester and I dont have a single class. NONE!!!!!! Im bored out of my mind but have been working on sculpture lately, that kept me busy, also im looking at many option to enter the working pro photographer market. Oh and I travel a lot.

Based on Colin's photo on Flickr, I'd say that he's inspired by his surroundings. Sour grapes?

I am, thanks very much, the surroundings here are quite nice for the photographic eye.

you are a sick man.....send me your canon 1.4 and you'll feel much better....

My canon 50 1.4 has the notorious sticky focus problem these lenses all seem to have, sometimes it auto focuses sometimes it doesnt and it just sticks.

Colin, quite amazing collection. What do you use the most? The M6?

The M6 probably has the least amount of use on it because I just got it not to long ago to cure my Leica itch. Frankly though as impressed with the camera as I am I dont think I will keep it for long. I like the Leica, but as a student I may not be able to "afford" it in my bag : (


I try to keep my gear limited. But I guess I have a fable for 50mm lenses. : D

So do I, I have oh too many 50's :angel:

Not only is that a nice collection, that's a really nice photograph of the collection. Now I know what to do next rainy saturday.

Heh, why not, no one said we had to be busy ever moment of the day.


BTW, what camera did you use to take the picture?

My gf's Panasonic FX9

What girlfriend? I didn't see any girlfriend........

🙂

She was helping me set it up : )

could you post a thumbnail of the collection? Flickr is blocked for me here at work.

Have you seen it yet?

In times wherein a lot of young people doesn't even show intrest in anything, I don't see a problem here. Seeing his flickr gallery I can see that Colin is inspired with photography, and must be inspired also in the historic value of his camera's and the stories behind it.
Friends of mine buy expensive cars and trade them in in a couple of years (for economical reasons). Nobody criticize such actions. The price they easily pay in a single transactions extends the value of my camera collection, and Collins.
I think Collin is just an enthuousiast.

I am a camera enthusiast as much as I am a photo enthusiast, I am very enthusiastic about taking photos and using and most of all learning about all the equipment. Why do I have such a strange array of cameras? Not just for penis waving rights, not at all actually, but rather to learn about different cameras in general. I can pick up just about any camera now and know how to use it, and in a pro photo environment, especially for studio work, that is a valuable asset, unlike my classmates who are all 4th year students and said the x sync speed on the camera is the shutter speed that gives the sharpest best quality result when taking pictures. I kid you not, these are 4th year photo majors. My teacher/friend almost choked up a lung when he heard that. Shame.

ps. I also love a camera with a story behind it, love the history.

i think you may have inspired a few rainy day projects colin!

i'm thinking that i'd like a shot of my well manicured 3 kits...

I would like to see that shot! I think you may be one of the gassiest people on here 🙂

Colin's work with cameras is remarkable. He has earned the right to have as many as he wants. One can tell he uses them.

BTW, nice layout! 🙂

I do use them, all of them, except the Yashica Mat which has that damn stuck shutter problem, I need to get that repaired, I want to use it more.

Same question here, also what kind of lighting and background.

There must be a big softbox or umbrella involved here, correct? 🙂

Nope, no flash, no soft box, no umbrellas or anything like that.

I used two large pieces of spent photographic paper and put them down on my chemical table in my darkroom, then the light was a simple long tube halogen that is aimed straight up at the white ceiling rather then down at the floor, diffused light. Then on my gf's crappy point and shoot digital I set it to overexpose by a stop. I mounted her camera on my tripod then raised it as high as it would go and shot down.

Not wishing to start a flame war, but I couldn't agree more. I wish I took such interesting photos.

Thanks 🙂

i also agree - he have great photos - he deserve to have not this much but hundreds of cameras and lenses. keep up the great work colin!!

Thanks a lot 🙂 but I dont think I can afford hundreds 😛 Either way I wish ti thin out what I have here a little, or just have a working set and the others are all for just play when im not working, which is basically what the Hasselblad, 20D and 5D are for.

Don't worry Paul. It's just consumerist willy waving.

I would not doubt anyone's right to own so much gear, but what's the point to showing it off. It's like the long lists of gear that some members use as a signature, I don't understand it.😕

Nothing to understand, dont think so far into it, I did it because this is a gear oriented site and somethings people get a small thrill to see such things, I am a rather open fellow so I dont mind doing these things and maybe someone will get a kick out of it : )

ps. its a consumerist world, welcome ; )

eh, i'll look when i get home.

anyhoo, today i scored a free 8ft countertop for my soon to be darkroom.

Wow, what type of counter top? I have been just using plywood for my chemical table, actually its a collapsible bed in the second bedroom with a wooden frame and cable mesh net (its really bloody hot here in the summer, they say possibly 50 C this summer) that had a pad on it that I took off then put this plywood on then yeah, that has been my wet table. Simple yes, cheap yes, but it works : )

Not really. It's an expression of someone's love for something that gives them a lot of pleasure and is a means for creative expression. And these aren't shelf queens - these are, for the most part, tools that get out there and are used by Colin.

Plus, the total value of everything pictured is a small fraction of the cost a car, something with far more negative implications for the greater good.

Indeed that is true, and I guaranty you, everything that you see in these photos except the modern canon stuff, I got as serious discount. I am a deal hunter, like that 300 dollars R2A or the 90 dollar Leica Elmar, or the free X700, the 20 dollar bellows for ef mount, or the 11 dollars Yashica GSN. the free Hasselblad, and so on. I have spent very little money indeed on the toys, and kept the money where I can make money, the digital and such.

Thanks for noticing I use the stuff too, more then once it seems I have fired a question to you about something I was interested in : )

Haha... I think you have reached a plateau... now you probably should start narrowing back your focus again.. I have basically decided to shoot only with Zeiss lenses, or lenses that are at least as good - admittedly, apart from some rare exception, like the Schneider Variogon 140/280/5,6 for the Hassy or the Nikkor 45/2.8P for the 35mm, or, partly, the Nokton 35/1.2, I have not yet found a lens that I truly admire, beyond Zeiss... So I have simplified my gear: Zeiss lenses for the rangefinders, Zeiss lenses for the(D)SLR, Zeiss lenses for MF. Sometimes I am in a fit to buy a Rolleiflex F with the 75/3.5 Planar, but so far I have resisted on the grounds of not using my Hassy gear enough... And when I get a fit to buy a Linhof with some Rodenstock glass, I tell myself to better grab one of my cameras and get out shooting... Narrow your focus, and just use what you like best , and give away or sell the rest... Take care.

Lalalalalalalalalalalala, I dont hear the word Zeiss, I dont see anything, lalalalalalalalala, I will not change all my canon gear for a d300 and zeiss lenses, lalalalalala...and sell the leica and such for that....lalalalalala :bang:

Oh pes,, you don't know what you are missing.. :drool:

Mean, just mean! 😀

It seems a rather a modest collection. I'd be embarrassed to put up all the stuff I've aquired from Ebay over the last few years.

Since discovering rangefinders I've vowed to sell most of the 35mm SLR gear and 10 went this weekend. I'd love to get down to one camera one lens but it'll never happen I love different formats and different cameras thats the great thing about photography its all good the technical, the artistic and that bubbling noise in the dark room.

It really is a modest collection, just little trinkets here and there that somehow have fallen into my dry box. My darkroom doesnt bubble though, no running water in my second bedroom.

And I thank you for sharing this.
I've just started to simplify my kit and planning trips today by chance and after reading this I feel I'm on the good way.

Btw. Colin, really nice collection.

I know the feeling and your welcome, I am getting ready for some major trips here soon. Let just say I dont publicly announce everything I am doing here on this board (mostly because I cannot) but the words National and Geographic should give a hint to some people.

Nh3, looking at your 'join up date' you're at a disadvantage. If you had been here for a year and a half you would know that Colin is an American from the west coast who has chosen to live in China. That's more than the holiday that you are suggesting he take.

Hope this helps.

Eh, I dont expect everyone to know my history, bound to get some of this, assumptions and such, but then we cant all know everything about everyone, but thanks for filling him in for me. By the way, I have almost been here in China for 5 years now, the changes are incredible, this is not the same city I came to when I was 19.

I am second to this question. Let me guess: Zorki 4?

Nope, no russian cameras in this batch, but my enlarger is russian, so are my two vega enlarging lenses.

Let me guess. The Epson RD-1 did not show up in the photo. Could it be the culprit? Now which lens was used? I haven't compared the photo with the list carefully enough to figure that out.

Yefei

I ended up not getting and epson, I discussed it with my teachers and such and they said it is kind of an evolutionary dead end, best to just use what I got then wait, I have my 20D if digital is called for anyway.

It didn't even occurred to me that I needed to know a brief biography of every member before I address them. And also just because the OT is a visitor in where ever he is it does not mean he cannot visit places close-by.

At least I did not call his display of gear collection "willy waving", which is the funniest thing I have read in this forum so far. 😀

Dont worry about it, my situation is rather complex, Jan is a friend and we have talked a lot before. Willy waving is a rather interesting term though isnt it? I like that idea, willy waving, if people think that is what I am doing, then so be it *unzip*

If you check his photo stream you will see he is travelling also.... have a nice day.

Traveling a lot, in the last 5 years I think I have used...oh....my, at least the price of a cheap new car in airplane tickets alone. Most of my money goes into the proliferation of my passion for taking photos. Then there are trains, buses, hotels......wow, I need to make some more money! My Flickr and deviant art dont show 1% of what I do, a lot of which I cannot simply stick up anywhere due to job or whatever restrictions.

I don't see a problem 😀

Nice collection.

Is it just me, or is there a bit of flare just right of center?

There is, I noticed that to, the camera I used, this Panasonic FX9 thing...its horrid. The light source is behind the camera and actually the entire bottom center of the photo flared, notice the GRD's seeming lack of blackness.

Impressive collection ! 😀 Now I am just curious, how do you decide which camera to use ? Depending on situation or mood ? 😕

Well the Canon 20D and 5D are for serious projects where digital is necessary and turn around and costs have to be low. The rest....well like the Kodak 3A from 1907, I use that when I fell like slowing down and being more creative and working more for the single shot. The GSN is just for banging around. The Canon AE1 was my first camera, so I use it sometimes for nostalgia. Hasselbad is great for in the studio and such, and so on. Most of the time I have the bessa and GRD on me, with my recent purchase of the M6, it has replaced the bessa as my carry around, but I miss a lot of the things on the bessa. I may not keep the M6.

 

[Austerby]

Can I nominate Avotius as the candidate for the best forum member - he is a fine, knowledgeable photographer, generous with his knowledge and keen to learn from the expertise of others; his postings are unfailingly courteous (unlike so many...); he takes wonderful photographs that he displays for the comments of strangers; his contributions to this forum are always appreciated by others: in short, a model to the rest of us.

 

[anoldsock]

I would tend to agree with Austerby, not only is he knowledgeable but he has a willingness to share it with everyone on the forum and is a major contributor.

 

[jan normandale]

....and he's in China which makes me envious; but he doesn't 'rub it in'! Class is the word.

 

[nzeeman]

By the way, I have almost been here in China for 5 years now, the changes are incredible, this is not the same city I came to when I was 19.

i suppose you have photographed all the changes in those 5 years - it would be nice, when you have some free time, to set some small retrospective of the changing city and it would be also interesting to see your development as a photographer also. i dont mean some big topic with dozens of photos , i mean just 1,2 photos for each year... i think everybody will enjoy them. also if you have some fsu gear it would be nice to join our fsu contest(which will start in a few weeks i think) it would be an honor to have a photographer like that in contest.

 

[Avotius]

Can I nominate Avotius as the candidate for the best forum member - he is a fine, knowledgeable photographer, generous with his knowledge and keen to learn from the expertise of others; his postings are unfailingly courteous (unlike so many...); he takes wonderful photographs that he displays for the comments of strangers; his contributions to this forum are always appreciated by others: in short, a model to the rest of us.

hahah thanks, unfailingly courteous may be stretching it a bit, I think once or twice I might have said a slightly unkind word somewhere 😉

But its nice that someone noticed the pictures, and its true for all of us, it takes our time and money and great amounts of our attention to bring images online for other people to see, even if its for a small glance.

I would tend to agree with Austerby, not only is he knowledgeable but he has a willingness to share it with everyone on the forum and is a major contributor.

Just doing what I think many of us here are doing, selflessly sharing information without any expectation for compensation besides to occasionally have our own question answered as well.

....and he's in China which makes me envious; but he doesn't 'rub it in'! Class is the word.

Hey hey, I got a spare room, come visit, I will take you to the best BBQ goat place in the world (rubbing it in) that goes for the rest of you too, it wouldnt be the first time someone from the board visited my house here. The last time, Kevin Bjork was here from that photopermit.org place and we spent a day wandering around all sorts of areas around Chongqing taking pictures. Why not?

i suppose you have photographed all the changes in those 5 years - it would be nice, when you have some free time, to set some small retrospective of the changing city and it would be also interesting to see your development as a photographer also. i dont mean some big topic with dozens of photos , i mean just 1,2 photos for each year... i think everybody will enjoy them. also if you have some fsu gear it would be nice to join our fsu contest(which will start in a few weeks i think) it would be an honor to have a photographer like that in contest.

I would like to very much actually, I have a lot of film that is not scanned and my scanner blows and it would cost a lot to get all my negatives scanned and i dont got money or time at the moment to buy a scanner or deal with it but it will happen, hopefully sooner rather then later. I have taken a good 100,000 pictures, mostly of the city here, the last 5 years so im sure there must be something of interest in there.

As for FSU camera, sorry, I dont have one (yet) I would like to get one of those contax copy things but they are hard to come by in good condition here. I am looking though, not really sure which lens is the one to have (the one with the fewest problems "out of box") but figure most any 50 will do.

By the way, the honor is that you think it would be an honor for a person like me to participate.