In your bag No: 1291, Edward Lakeman
Edward has some stunning gear, and he is based in Tokyo too, so he is my neighbour (kind of). This kind of bag definitely looks familiar to me, with the Suica card and the Bufferin. But careful with that huge and clearly dangerous blade.

My name`s Edward Lakeman, a Tokyo-based freelance photographer originally from the UK. I first started dabbling with a Pentax ME and 50mm f1.7, HP5, Paterson tanks and reels and Ilford Multigrade when I was about 14. Aside from a brief hiatus, I havent`t really stopped since and I shoulder a full blown camera addiction that needs regular feeding. Japan is the best (worst?) place for this, with the only sign of restraint being that I very rarely buy anything new. I`ve acquired, used and sometimes traded all sorts, both film and digital – Olympus XA, various Ricoh GRs, Nikon F3HPs, F4s, D200, D700, Contax G2 (infuriating auto focus but simply gorgeous, gorgeous Zeiss lenses), Leica M6 (with which I could never manage to `bond` for some reason), Mamiya C330, Mamiya 6 (regret selling that one – major mistake), Pentax MX (compact, beautifully simple, wonderful finder), Pentax K2 (just the right size, smooth, again a lovely finder but mind-bendingly irritating film speed setting dial around the lens mount throat – what were they thinking?), Panasonic GF1, Fuji X Pro-1 and X100s……..

Having enjoyed Japan Camera Hunter for a while I thought it about time I offered something back. So, here`s a version of my `off-duty` bag:

Nikon F3 (non-HP finder)

Bought over a decade ago for peanuts ($50 if I remember) from KEH looking cosmetically very sorry for itself, but working fine. Sent off to Nikon for a flat-rate fee full overhaul more or less as soon as I got the camera and it`s been working beautifully ever since.

Nikon F2AS

Picked up in Tokyo for a very reasonable price and virtually pristine.I suspect this had spent its life sitting in someone`s cabinet.

Nikon Coolpix A

Another secondhand find (who`d pay what Nikon are asking new?!). Fits in my back pocket; wonderfully sharp lens. Toss up between this and the Ricoh GR.

Voigtlander 28mm finder

Clear, very solid metal (brass?) and glass construction. Priced rather more reasonably than the crazily over-priced Nikon version

Manfrotto 709B

Small, solid (all-metal), simple and very handy.

Lenses – Nikkor Ai/AiS:

Nikkor 85mm f1.8

Great for portraits of course; works well on the D700 too.

Nikkor 35mm f2

Great build quaility like all Ai/AiS lenses. Lovely smooth focus. Not the sharpest, but gives nice smooth renditions

Nikkor 20mm f3.5

Compact, sharp. Not particularly fast – but doesn`t need to be.

Nikkor 50mm f1.8

Pancake. Nice build, very sharp. Perfect. Use it all the time.

The bag is a (ladies`!) shoulder bag from Muji. Cheap, light, waterproof, ideal size, with internal pocket and pouch at the back. Added a 3 partition generic insert and bingo, perfect day bag for not much money.

Add some essential odds and ends – lens cleaning cloth; cable release; SUICA travel card to get around Tokyo; Swiss Army penknife and some painkillers – and I`m almost set for a day out shooting (er, just need to add some film).

If anyone`s interested you can see some of my work here: www.edwardlakeman.com And for anyone living in Japan, if you`ve seen `The Rake`, `Men`s Precious`, `Men`s Ex` or some of the JAL and ANA magazines you may have seen some of my pictures (often shot with the cheapest and oldest of lenses / cameras – but shhhh……..don`t tell the editors or publishers……).

Thanks for sharing your bag with us, Edward. Lovely to see those classic Nikons getting used.
Keep them coming folks, we need more submissions, so get your bag on Japancamerahunter.com.

Send me a hi resolution image of the bag. Optimum size is 1500 across. Please ensure there is a bag in the shot, unless you don’t use one. The more you can write about yourself the better, make it appealing and tell us a story.

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Cheers
Japancamerahunter