The Cameras of 2023 and Things To Come

In the spirit of last year’s collaboration article on Three Other Cameras of 2022, a look back at some of the more popular articles, other cameras I shot with, and what’s to come will now be an end of December tradition. Compared to the following year, I wrote eight articles in 2023, a few less than the previous. I’ve always enjoyed long form content, so I’ve been leaning into creating longer articles which has led to a better quality I feel. The site has grown around 30 percent in pageviews, along with a significant milestone. In early 2024, the site will be 5 years old!

THe Five Year Anniversary of Aperture Preview

On January 5th 2019 I posted the first article on the Olympus Pen EE, after working on building the site for a few months before that. It strangely stands as one of the top three articles I’ve written, and garners a fair amount of views pretty consistently. It’s in line for a full rewrite at some point, definitely showing its age and my lack of writing practice at the time. Reminiscing a bit and a peek behind the curtain, I was extraordinarily unhappy with the first version of the article to go live. The digital pictures I took of the Pen EE were frankly awful, and I had never really done product photography before. I studied some other photographers ‘close up’ work, quickly redid the images of the Pen EE on film instead, and never looked back.

Without a doubt, I’ve mentioned this before, but every picture on the site is taken on film, adding to the analog but clean/organized aesthetic I try to design for the site. I’m somewhat proud of this completely absurd thing I do, and it surprisingly has had its benefits. But I digress, 5 years in and it feels like I could write about a million things… and I’m consistently excited to do so. I won’t lie to you, it can be a lot of work at times, but I feel it helps challenge me creatively in so many ways. There is no end in sight, and I look forward to many more years of writing, shooting film, and creating art.

The Top Three articles

I always find it interesting when other sites post their top ranking articles for the year. Sometimes it’s an expected result of a cult camera, and other times the strangest things take hold. Search engine trends are a weird one, along with what influential people gravitate toward. These, SEO, and a fair amount of luck can determine an article’s fate. This year for me had three very clear winners, all of which were written a few years ago.

The Minolta Hi-Matic F was a very early article I wrote for the site, and another one in desperate need of a rewrite. I still like some of the pictures taken with the camera, but feel a few more tests are in order. Comparisons of other Hi-Matic cameras along with a section of history would add nicely and fit more into the style of recent work. A manual focusing automatic rangefinder is an uncommon sight, and something that I imagine has a specific niche of people that would seek it out. It really is an excellent camera, in such a compact and lightweight package. I’m looking forward to trying this camera out again, possibly in the coming year.

The Pentax Zoom 105-R article was one of the first times I really dove deeply into a camera. Testing out the multitude of modes, how it handled in different lighting conditions, and really getting a sense of how it felt to use for a decent slice of time. This made for an article I’m still happy with today. One key thing I remember about shooting this camera, was foolishly taking it out in the peak of winter. The weather was well into the negatives and walking around for a few hours slowly freezing, the camera didn’t skip a beat. However, this is not the only impressive thing about the 105-R. A camera that handles extreme weather is great, but the glass really sets it apart. For a zoom point and shoot it really ranks high in how well the lens can render scenes and how spot on the meter was. I’m still impressed by this oddly shaped brick of 90s Pentax design and at this very moment, it sits on a counter next to my computer waiting for the next roll.

The Konica C35 AF is a camera that gave me a lot of trouble initially. Autofocus problems can be difficult to diagnose, and repairing it was a new journey entirely. I quite liked the original AF model, and some of the pictures I came away with I still really enjoy. A thing I remember in researching the article, was the C35 AF was so popular that a lot of other manufacturers used similar technology and took more than a few notes on the design. From an updated Fujica Flash to the almost exact soviet Elikon copy, there are dozens of examples. In the future, I plan to talk about and compare some of these other strange versions.

The Standout Article of 2023

The article I enjoyed the most from the past year was the recent one on the Acro Model R. One of two or possibly three cameras made by a small company in Chicago with a convoluted and somewhat obscure history. This was an insurmountable amount of work; contacting a dozen other people to help confirm information, dig through personal archives, and search national libraries. Working with different time zones, volunteer schedules, and back and forth emailing, led to a relatively long process. I had a great time doing something a little out of my comfort zone, and I would say it was well worth it. There was an incredible reaction from the community and I’m extremely proud of what I was able to uncover.

The Other Cameras I Used This Year

Besides the cameras you see in articles, those only account for a small amount of the cameras I normally shoot in a year. With dozens of others I repair and test. The total number of cameras I shot this year was over 40! Most get around two rolls initially, and other favorites were well past 20. For personal work, I still use a decent amount of the classics or cameras I’ve previously written about. For example, one of the cameras I have been enjoying on and off for most of the year was a Nikonos III. A camera I absolutely adore, but one that I would have to acquire more lenses for to even attempt an article about.

The New Year

So what’s to come in 2024? I can give you a rough outline, but sometimes it’s whatever grabs me in the moment. I want to have another go at diving into a specific film stock, ideally something out of the ordinary but still available to purchase today. A lens article has been in the works for what feels like an eternity, but that is something where I need to get some of the tests and terminology correct before posting. I’ve also toyed with working on an article about using roll film in the smaller Graflex cameras, talking about my favorite developers, and lens side by side comparisons. Those ideas are very much a ‘maybe’ at this moment, but I do want to try at least one new type of article this coming year. I would also like to add a links section to other sites I enjoy and update the way cameras are sorted into categories, including by company and film format. There are plenty of other things I could ramble on about, but I’ll hold off for now. I have to have some surprises.

Thank you all who enjoy reading articles on the site and have been here for one part or the whole journey. I look forward to another year of shooting film and sharing my experiences with you. Take care and happy 2024!

-Eric