Shutterbugging dot Net – Personal ramblings on photography

Nikon F3

For a while I have been looking at which Nikon manual focus camera I should get, as I don’t own any Nikon. Turns out most filmfluencers that have one, have a Nikon F3. Here we go, I just got a Nikon F3. It feels like I got it for a good price, for what was one of the top Nikon 35mm SLR when it was released on 1979. It came with the period incorrect 2002 Nikkor AF 50mm 1.8 D which works fine with this camera. My specific camera was built in 1981.

The Nikkor AF 50mm f1.8 D that came with it is an autofocus lens with aperture ring and released in 2002 is an inexpensive but among the sharpest lenses. The nifty-fifty.

Now I need to understand what the various Nikon F lenses are. At least with Canon it’s simple. FL -> FD -> FDn. The latter two are interchangeable and FL is compatible with FD cameras using stopped down metering only (as FL doesn’t have aperture indexing), but not the other way around. The complexity of the Nikon lenses designation is also why that 2002 autofocus lens works great with the 1979 manual focus camera. Unlike Canons where EF lenses never were compatible with FD bodies (not even physically mounting).

I will talk more about it later after I shoot a roll of Kodak BW400CN that I pulled out of my freezer (bought in 2011 for U$5.25, it expired 03/2013) as it still is black & white July.

Black & White July

I have decided that this July I would shoot black & white. I consider myself a colour shooter, so I don’t black & white often. The goal is trying something different, challenge myself. With the Fujifilm, switching to black & white change also in the viewfinder so what you see is what you get, mostly. I have either shot black & white on film, or sometime “fixed” digital images that were not shot especially in black & white, but that just got converted post processing. This picture of the CN Tower that was taken on such a gray day in December 2010 that it was colour-less even in the optical viewfinder:

A black & white image.

A structure pointing up towards the top left. A donut shape interrupt the flow of the structure and the tip is partially blurred by the fog. It is the CN Tower. — The CN Tower on a cloudy overcast day of winter 2010.
Canon 5D Mark II, 24-105 f4 L IS USM — December 2010
Black & white post-processed.

So what makes shooting black & white different? First it’s about light, contrast and shapes. You can play with exposure to make the brights brighter. This will make me try something different.

On the Fujifilm X-E5 I shoot raw+JPEG with some Agfa Scala recipe, at least for now, I might change to something else. The goal is to try to use the files straight out of camera. With the Canon 5D Mark II, I’ll just post process as it doesn’t have the variety of Fujifilm film simulation. And with the Ricoh GR Digital 2, I can switch to black & white as it always have a JPEG when shooting raw.

Stay tuned.

Link: Making panoramic images

elengale wrote a long about their experience shooting panoramic: Wider horizons – making panoramic images

A great introduction to shooting panoramic on film. It’s not about stitching, it’s not about digital. It’s about 35mm film and various types of cameras. From the Fujifilm T-X1 / Hasselblad X-Pan, shooting natively 24x65mm, to the compact point and shoot Minolta P and Rioch R1, that crop inside a 24×36 frame, by way of the Horizon, Noblex and Widelux with their rotating lenses. What all these cameras have in common is that the image produced is panoramic, ie with an aspect ratio larger by 2:1, and that it is either covering the whole film, or masked ; you don’t crop in post processing.

The article goes on a complete comparison of field of view, aspect ratio, viewfinders, etc. This is all about what the writer has personally used, still favouring the Fujifilm.

June 2026 Links

Press Photographer Releases 30-Year Archive of Iconic Celebrity Images — a preview of The Big Shot: Photographs by Greg Brennan.

X-E5

Viltrox AF 75mm f1.8 EVO Review & Sample Photos — Reviewed on the Fujfilm X-E5.

Photographyblog has a triptich of reviews for the X-E5:

Fujifilm XF 23mm F2.8 R WR Review

Fujifilm X-E5 Review

Fujifilm X-E5 vs Fujifilm X-E4 – Which is Better?

Film

Film Friday: Kodak Portra 800 Is High-Speed, Color Perfection — One of the rare choices for ISO 800 film.

May 2026 Links

Photographer Spends Night on Freezing Mountain to Capture Rare Triple Galaxy Arch — Impressive images in a very unfriendly environment.

The Enduring Mystery Behind Iconic American Photograph ‘Lunch on a Beam’ — About the making of the iconic photograph, and the book written.

Reviewing the Most Beautiful Digital Camera Ever Made 22 Years Later — The Epson R-D1. A first (and last). It was the digital rangefinder M mount before Leica.

Film

Custom Camera Builder Dora Goodman Is Closing its Doors — The website doesn’t have details (yet) on the closure.

Inside Harman’s Bet on the Future of Analog Photography — Harman has a very strong role to play in the world of colour film photography.

DIY

DIY Project Turns a Panasonic GF3 and Soviet Fed 5 Into a Digital Rangefinder — another DIY project of build cameras from other camera parts.

This Photographer Built a Camera That Shoots Wider Than Any Camera You Can Buy — wider than the Fujifilm T-X1 / Hasselblad X-Pan.

Panasonic Lumix L10

Today Panasonic announced a new advanced compact camera, the Lumix L10. Back in March, somewhat unexpectingly, Panasonic refreshed the ZS/TZ lineup with a viewfinder-less model. Now to celebrate 25 years of Lumix, the L10 represent the top of the line Lumix compact camera. With the insides of a GH7 (the same m4/3 sensor), and the form factor of a LX100, with a 24-75mm f/1.7-2.8 equivalent zoom, it positions itself as a compact all-in-one suited for photo and video, with all the recent developments found in the S series, including the LUTs, and a microphone port.

At US$1,499 (CA$2,099) in silver or black, it is not that budget friendly. A titanium gold special edition for the 25 year anniversary will cost US$1,599 and be available in limited quantities.

A bunch of influencers got flown to Osaka, Japan for the announcement. Here I just have the Press Release.

WideluxX pre-order

I mentioned the WideluxX a few times already. The WideluxX is a revival of the Widelux rotating lens panoramic camera, by SilverBridges, a venture between SilvergrainClassics and Jeff Bridges. Yes, that dude.

It is now available for pre-orders, and the price is CA$6020 (+ taxes) or €5200 (incl. VAT). At the time of this writing, there is only 60 left of the initial production run of 350.

For those who think it’s overpriced, I think I have to disagree. It is made in Germany. It is a complete redesign of the Japanese made Widelux with the aim of being of solid quality. A Leica M6 new cost more, without lens. It’s also a unique camera: while there were in the past a few different manufacturers of rotating lens panoramic cameras, but this is currently the only one making them.

April 2026 Links

Fujifilm

Is Fujifilm finally ready to upgrade the brand’s most iconic feature? — DPreview talked to Fujifilm at CP+ in Yokohama, Japan, about the X-Half, GFX100RF and more.

Film

Eastman Kodak is distributing all its films again. What happens next? — Stephen Dowling from Kosmofoto gives us a redux on the situation.

Photographers Are Testing the New WideluxX F10 Panoramic Camera Now — WideluxX posted some updates and Petapixel tells us. The previously revealed prototype are now being put into use.

Photographers

Rare Collection of Elliott Erwitt Color Photos Show He Didn’t Just Use Black and White — I’m always game for colour work from the black ans white era. This usually mean Kodachrome as the medium.

Artemis II

Flying to the Moon.

Artemis II: Nikon and GoPro Are Winning Where Canon And Sony Fail — What cameras are on board of Artemis II? Nikon is the de-facto choice, along with GoPro.

Artemis II Astronauts Will Bring 10-Year-Old DSLRs With Them to the Moon — Old doesn’t mean obsolete. This was in February after the delayed launch.

A Nikon Z9 Made it Aboard the Artemis II Moon Mission at the Last Minute — In addition to the D5, the crew insisted to bring also a Z9. These are already in use on the ISS. The Z9 is also the basis of the Handheld Universal Lunar Camera (HULC) that will be used on the Moon, like the Hasselblad 500EL were over 50 years ago. Note the article is incorrect on the mission. Unlike stated, the Moon landing mission will be Artemis IV, and not before 2028, as per the schedule change 27 February.

The Incredible Photos and Videos From NASA’s Artemis II Rocket Launch — The historic launch on April 1st photographed from multiples cameras. Stunning images.

Space program

Kodak’s BIMAT System — From the wayback machine since the blog has disappeared. A summary of the BIMAT Kodak film processing system that was used in the Lunar Orbiter Program in 1996 and 1967 to take pictures and develop them in space. The system was classified until the 2000s as it was also used for spying. The program was designed to identify landing site for the Apollo mission and its landings.

Lunar Orbiter — A more detailed article on the orbiter program.

DIY

IDENTIDEM.design Cameras — Not exactly DIY but not industrially produced but 3d printed medium format cameras, with a LIDAR, using Mamiya Press lenses. CA$1612 bring your own lens.

This New Medium Format Film Camera Can Change its Frame Size on the Fly — maybe more than DIY this medium format camera looks very interesting.

The first digital camera

Back in December 2025, BBC featured A ‘toaster with a lens’: The story behind the first handheld digital camera:

In 1975, a young engineer in the company that made Kodak film took the first picture on a handheld digital camera. Photography would never be the same again.

In a short summary, the first digital camera was invented at Kodak by Steve Sasson. Not because Sasson was asked to do it, but because, as a new hire, his first assignment was to checkout these new CCD chips. The bulky black and white camera took 100×100 pixels picture stored onto a cassette tape, to view the tape was read back for the image to be displayed on a TV. And business people always so this as a shift in the business if it every took. But in 1975 this was definitely not ready for anything, It needed hundred times more pixel to match even Instamatic 110 — which was the smallest format, before Kodak Disc.

Kodak had the future in their hands, but didn’t know what to do. It’s not that they did nothing, but what advance they had, they lost it as the competition caught up. After producing the first DSLRs with Nikon and Canon, making a good number of point and shoot cameras, and creating with Olympus the Four-Third format, they lost to the market and filed for bankruptcy in 2012, at which point they sold of a lot of business divisions, including the sensors.

After having emerged from bankruptcy over a decade ago, Kodak remains one of the few film manufacturers left in the world, while a lot of Kodak branded products are just that: branded. Fortunately Kodak seems to want continuing making film in a market that has completely shrunk, and for which its main competitor, Fujifilm, mostly withdrew.

March 2026 Links

Canon

Will it Finally Happen? A New Macro Lens Longer Than 100mm With Variable Magnification — A little refresher on Canon Macro lenses, with the legendary MP-E 65mm f2.8 5:1 magnification and the more recent EF 180 f3.5L USM. The MP-E 65mm was really a unique lens and has been discontinued for a while.

Fujfilm

Fujifilm X-E5 Review: Their Best Camera So Far — A review of the Fujifilm X-E5 by Alik Griffin. Still writing mine.

Panasonic

Panasonic sees the compact camera renaissance as an opportunity for Lumix — An interview by DPReview of Panasonic executives in wish they say that the compact camera market is growing again, that they are still committed to m4/3, and of course the full frame Lumix L. This is before they announced the ZS300/TZ300.

Instax

TTArtisan Wants You to Pay $400 to Beta Test Its Folding Instant Camera — I mentioned the TTArtisan Instax camera last year. There were conflicting report that it might have been cancelled, blocked by Fujfilm. No. It’s just taking time to develop and this update show it might be happening. Albeit this announcement show an unusual (to say the least) practice of selling a “beta” version for US$400. How much will the final product be?

Film

The Darkroom of Death: 10 Forgotten Hazards of Early Photography — Film processing is full of chemicals, some more toxic than other. It’s one of the reasons contributing to some films being discontinued in the 21st century: Kodachrome, Velvia, or process upgraded. Most of these processes have been replaced by less toxic ones.

Photographers

Doriyan Coleman Sees Poetry on the Streets of Cleveland, and He Has the Exhibition to Prove It — An interview with Doriyan Coleman.

The 10 Incredible Women Photographers to Follow Today (NSFW) — Always good to discover new artists.

DIY

Camera Geekery: Kodak Aerochrome cameras — On Japan Camera Hunter, a story of building a medium format camera.

This gorgeous DIY camera looks straight out of Severance — DPReview tested that DIY Saturnix digital camera.