Workhorse - The Konica Genba Kantoku HG28

 

Back in December, I received a box of goodies from a friend.  Inside, was this unusual-looking point and shoot that really caught me eye.  At first, it looked like an all-weather/partially waterproof camera.  But that Konica label had me thinking, "Where have I seen this before?"  Some sleuthing online brought me the information that I needed, and I now have a camera that is relatively rare in North America.   In the late 1980s to mid-90s, Konica produced a series of cameras designed to survive the rigors of industrial work sites.  Weather-sealed, with a glass cover over the lens, and using DX-coded 35mm film, the rugged Site Supervisor cameras are basically point and shoots that due to their construction, are larger and heavier than your typical single-focal length point and shoot.  This model has a 28mm f/3.5 lens with a normal and a cropped panorama setting.  The official name for these are "Genba Kantoku" cameras, for use on construction projects.  They are also known as the Foreman or Work Camera. 

Simple and effective layout.

 As  far as I know, the different models of Genba Kantoku cameras have one of two standards of shutter speeds, either the 1/5 - 1/500 sec, or 1/4 to 1/280 sec range.  I’m not sure what my version has.  They all have built-in flash, focus from .5m or .9m to infinity, and a mode button that cycles through options for flash/no flash/closeup/ far-away/self-timer, etc.  The film advance and rewind are automatic, and you must use film cassettes with DX coding, or else the camera will default to ISO 25.  A small LCD panel on the top provides you with frame number and the shooting option.  The camera uses a 2CR5 battery.  These cameras are made to withstand the abuse one might give them on a construction site - and I have to say that I am impressed with the solid construction.

Note the large recessed knob on the side to open the back

I put in a roll of Fujicolor 200 and shot it within a week or two.  I definitely was pleased to have a 28mm wide-angle with the panoramic mode.  The camera is very quiet, and focuses quickly.  I also like the somewhat cartoonish workman character on the top of the camera.  This is a camera you can take anywhere, and not worry about it being fragile.  I think that if you are riding a bicycle or a motorcycle, this would be the perfect camera that would resist the bumps along the way, and is also weather-sealed.  Probably also a good choice for canoe tips, too.  There are few controls to worry about, and they are weather-sealed switches on the top right.  The pano/normal switch is next to the eyepiece.  The camera weighs just under a pound, which is quite manageable.

The panorama/normal toggle is next to the eyepiece

I sent my film into the Reformed Film Lab in Florida, and I was pleased with my developed film.  This camera is really nice to use, and the scans below give you an idea of what to expect.  These were all scanned in my Epson V700 flatbed scanner.

pano mode

normal mode

There are other versions of this camera, some with a 35mm f/3.5 lens, one with a 28-56mm zoom, and in the 2000s, there were several digital versions that appear to be more complex to use than the film versions.  None of them appear to have been sold in the USA.  

If you search eBay, you’ll find Konica Genba Kantoku or Konica Work Site cameras from sellers in Japan.  Expect to pay between $50-$250 for one.  Certainly cheaper than a Konica Hexar, and probably more reliable.  What’s not to like about a weather-proof, shock-proof, dust-proof street camera that has a 28mm lens?   I think it’s well-suited to be one of those cameras that you can keep in your car for serendipitous moments, or just carry-around and shoot to your heart’s desire.  For me, though, the great thing about this camera is the panorama mode, a 13x36mm frame that looks gorgeous.    I look forward to shooting a lot more with it as this year progresses.  Thanks, Kim in Kansas, for sending it to me!

The Canon EOS 750 - a P&S SLR

One of the attractions of a 35mm Single Lens Reflex camera is the ability to change lenses, see through the lens via the prism of the camera and be able to compose and adjust your focus and settings  to what works for that image.  SLRs can be as feature-rich as say, a Nikon F5, or as simple as a Nikon EM, which is an aperture-priority SLR.  However, some engineer at Canon must have decided that even choosing an aperture was too much for some people, so they came out with the EOS 750 in 1988.  The EOS 750 operates in Program mode only, and you have to merely point the camera and press the shutter button, and the camera decides what settings are best for that exposure.  Sounds great, right?  

My friend Kim in Kansas  recently sent me a box of cameras, and inside was a Canon EOS 750.  Not a camera that I'd seen before, and  I had to read up on it before I decided to shoot with it.  I have shot with a bunch of different EOS cameras in the past 15 years, and my one beef with most of them is that the controls are rarely the same from model to model, unlike the Nikon ecosystem that I am used to.  Well, the EOS 750’s controls are so minimal, that you can laugh.  Basically, the top control dial is Lock, Program Mode, battery check, DEP (more on that later), and self-timer.  On the left is a switch for the pop-up flash to automatically pop-up or be disabled.  That’s it for controls.  The hotshoe has all of the electrical contacts needed for Canon’s auto flashes.  The film is wound out of the cassette and wound in as you take photos, which has become a standard for a lot of EOS models.  Frustratingly, there is no film rewind button.  The camera uses a 2CR5 lithium battery, and should last for quite a few rolls of film if you don’t use the pop-up flash. The cameras accepts all of the EF-mount lenses.

Layout so simple, a caveman can do it.

The 2CR5 battery is inside the grip.

So, after all that, why would anyone want to use the EOS  750?  It would be a great choice for anyone that wants to use a good zoom lens and take photos without fiddling around with controls.  Also a good camera for a child, though it is somewhat weighty.  But, if you pop on the 40mm AF EOS lens, it could be a great camera for walking around and taking street photos.    

Things the EOS 750 lacks 

• no exposure compensation
• no ISO setting, so film cassettes must be DX-coded.  Non-DX cassettes will be exposed at ISO 25.
• no film rewind button
• no mode except Program Mode

The DEP setting is basically a metering mode that allows you to choose to have the camera determine the best focus distance, and it stops the the aperture down enough to have the subjects in focus.  That’s the only thing that I did not try with the camera.

In use, the EOS 750 is just that  - a point and shoot.  The autofocus has a central AF point, and it seemed to have little problem finding focus.  I used a Sigma 50mm/2.8 macro lens on the EOS 750 and shot a roll of film walking around the neighborhood.  You see, we have a LOT of tree debris still around, over 3 months since hurricane Helene.  I put in a roll of Rollei Retro 400S and shot away.  I was also walking my dog at the time, so having the P&S was actually a good idea.  It’s not a light camera, and without a lens weighs 1.5 pounds.

Results

I developed the roll of Rollei Retro 400S in D76 1:1.  In sunlight, this is a contrasty film, and it worked well for most of my subjects, some of which are featured above.  Overall, the shots came out fine, and considering low level of control that I had, the camera definitely outdid my expectations.

The funny thing about the EOS 750 is that it’s heavier than any EOS Rebel, which has far more controls and features.  There is also an EOS 850 - but it lacks a pop-up flash.  Not sure why they thought that was a good idea, considering whatever they thought the target audience might be.  Anyways, the late 1980s to early 90s was a period of rapid transition to autofocus SLR cameras, and Nikon, Canon, Minolta and Pentax definitely came out with a lot of models, and most had a lot of features that were enabled by the switch to a fully electronic system.  Of these, the chunky EOS 750 might just be the one that’s going to stand out as an oddity.  The funny thing is that after I was finished with the roll of film, I tried firing the shutter without a roll of film, and the camera died.  So, that’s the end of the story!

With so many models of 35mm EOS cameras available, I’d suggest any other model than the EOS 750/850.  

Keeping a Photography Notebook

2024 Photo Journals

If there was ever one lament that I have, it’s about not always keeping a journal.  When we are young, we sometimes keep journals to record our thoughts, thinking that they are important - and they may certainly be so.  If if were not for diaries, much of what happened to ordinary people on a daily basis long ago would not have been recorded.  But I’m not discussing diaries or daily journals, but those notes that are kept to record what I do photographically.  I wish that I’d kept travel/photo journals 50 years ago, and even 20 years ago.  All I do have are all the photographic results from those outings, and in some cases, I did keep notes, but I was never fastidious about it.  I have some small notebooks where I have started with a few entries, and the rest is blank.  Some notebooks are the pocket style, and may contain only a single photo trip, with notes that were jotted down along the way.  I changed that in 2017, when I started to keep a journal of all my photographic activities, not just those taken on trips.  I’ve never kept notes on every roll of film that I have shot, as that’s just not as important as what I saw, where I was,  and what else was happening.  On a long trip, I will number my rolls, so that I can just enter the information later as to the camera and film stock that I used, and the date.  That works out well for me.  You can purchase photographic record notebooks that are essentially just a list of rolls with exposure information, if you are the sort of person that likes to keep that information, and I’m not.

From my 2022 Takumar Trek notebook - a list of films shot, 
all added after the trip was over.

Small photos, printed by the Kodak mini-printer

My preferred journals. 

I also decided rather recently, to stick to a certain style of notebook that is generally about 5.5  x 8 inches, and found that I can buy them in bulk from Amazon. These have brown covers, lined pages, and have 60 pages. (Image).  They cost about a buck each.  While for some people, 60 pages may be too little, I find that they are perfect for a long trip, or 2 to 3 months of activities.  I don’t want a whole year in one journal, because losing one would be bad enough, but to lose a many months or a year at once would be awful.  In addition, the smaller size takes up much less space in a bag.  So far, I have been happy with them.  Another journal that I like is the one issued under the Magnum Photos imprint (Thames and Hudson), which are just a bit wider, and with thicker paper, and 48 pages. They are also more expensive. Moleskine notebooks are nice, too, but a far cry from being $1 each!

These cheap notebooks are utilitarian, for sure.  But they do the job, and that’s what I want.  One thing that I often do is to include shots from my iPhone, when it’s appropriate, and for printing those I use a Kodak C300R camera/printer that does a great job with small dye-sublimation prints.  A good thing to carry on any trip.  The photos really help augment the journal entries.

June 2024, when I was working on the Kudzol developer

Now that I have been diligent/consistent about keeping notes, these journals have been very useful when I need to write about photographs that I have taken.  I find myself referring to them whenever I am working on a project.  I counted 160 rolls of film shot in 2024, and I used 6 journals.  There is no way that I can keep all that in my brain.  I may not know where the hell I’m going, but I do know where I have been!

Older pocket notebooks, some contain just a few pertinent notes, others are entire trips.

from a 2018 trip to Ontario

An entry for 2009. Marc Akemann and I did some night shooting.

How photographers keep notes and  organize their work is a very personal thing.  What works for me may not be what works for you.  But if you have a system, and you like it, stick with it, because you’ll be better off than just throwing your negatives in a shoebox.  I do know that having all of my negatives in polypropylene negative sheets and stored in 3-ring binders has served me well.  I can go into any year and find what I need.  It’s the notebooks about that particular roll of film that I lack, and I wish I’d been doing that since I started. I now have 25 years worth of binders, and I find myself going through them when I am working on a project. I used to make negative contact sheets, and lately I have started going through the years 2000 to 2010 to scan in the negatives.  I can do so much more now with the scans than I did with the darkroom then.  I have a lot of old work that I can use in upcoming zines, and it’s been fun to pore over those older negatives and find that I did get some pretty good results.

But what about if you just want to keep a log of exposures?  There used to be some very specialized notebooks for photographers, especially into the 1980s.  Perfect for large-format photogrpaphers, where every exposure can be unique, unlike the person shooting 4 frames per second.   For a while, those notebooks seemed out of print, but with the resurgence of film photography, various types of photo memo-style notebooks are now available.  Possibly the more useful one is from Mike Padua's Shoot Film Co.. as shown below.

In addition, a quick search also shows another one, but I've not examined it personally:

Of course, you can just use any blank ruled notebook to do the same, but having an organized layout fopr doing those records may be the better way to go, if you go that way.  These notebooks make a great deal of sense for large-format practitioners, since you can develop each sheet of film according to how you exposed it.  

As far as photography-related notebooks, there are many sizes and styles available online.  Etsy sellers are one source, as I have seen some nice-looking notebooks there.  I'm not a fan of spiral or wire-bound notebooks, as they can have pages rip out or the bindings get messed up over time.  Lay-flat notebooks are preferable to hard-bound notebooks, because they are easier to write in (at least to me).  In any case, make time to record your photo adventures, so that in the future, you won't be wishing that you'd done it (like me).

Candido 200 = Kodak Vision 200T

 Well, it's my first post for 2025, and it's about film - imagine that!  In the fall I picked up a roll of Candido 200 C-41 film from my local camera store, Ball Photo.  I hadn't read anything about it previously, and finally gave it a try in mid-November.  Before I delve into what I shot, and my comments about the film, let's see who "Candido" is.

Candido is a Portugal-based seller of  repackaged  ECN-2 films.  Their aim is to offer lower-cost color negative film, which is a noble thing, but perhaps the cost is only lower in Portugal.  They have attractive, simple designs for their packaging, and offer three films - 200, 400, and 800 ISO.  All are Kodak Vision 3 films with the remjet removed, ala Cinestill.  I've see older Reddit posts about the Candido 200 in 24 exp. cassettes, which may have kept the cost per roll down, but by the time you add in processing, it's actually more expensive per frame.  The packaging states that it's "designed in London, packaged in China."  Film is of course, from the USA.  So, I'm not sure how the Portugal/London/China/USA thing came about, but I do know that some Chinese companies have figured out how to remove the remjet from the ECN-2 films, and perhaps that's the crucial part of all of this.  

If you have been using Cinestill -branded color  films, you have been using ECN-2 films that are typically rated at a 2/3 stop higher than the native ISO of the particular Vision 3 film with remjet.  Now, I don't agree that removing the remjet makes the film more sensitive - that's Cinestill's claim, for what it's worth.

The Candido 200 color film is Eastman 5213 -Vision 3 200T ECN-2 film with the remjet removed.  Now, it's strange that they don't suggest a warming filter with this film, since it needs one for the proper color balance.  However, I just shot it as if it were a normal color fil, like most of the people would  that buy this film. Note that it is in a metal cassette, which is nice to see.

I loaded my Nikon N80 with the roll of Candido 200, and shot the entire roll while on an afternoon meetup with the Asheville Camera Club in downtown Asheville on November 17.  I eventually dropped it off at Ball Photo in Asheville to get it developed.  Here is the sheet of negatives:

Here are some examples from the roll... no adjustments or corrections.

The images look pretty good, and I did not see residual remjet spots in the scans, which is a good thing.  If you are selling this as a C-41 film, then that has to be done well.  The Vision 3 200T film is one that I have shot quite a bit of, and it's fine-grained.  Colors look good, and I can make them warmer post-scan, if necessary.  You can see halation in the images with bright lights. 

I paid more for this roll of film than I have for Ektar 100, so for me, it's not really a cheaper alternative to say, Gold 200 or Fuji 200, which are good every-day films. Is this film worth it?  I suppose it depends on where you live, and what access you have to color film stocks.  As a re-packaged film, there are other brands out there for less money, so do your research.  

Anyhow, 2025 is here, so get out there and shoot some film.