In Your Bag: 1717 – Andrew Smith

I am Andrew Smith, living in Austin Texas, I had my previously posted my “bag” #1098 in 2015 this new one takes a totally different approach to photography. 

Speaking of my last bag post, I was a big fan of the Fuji X100s and swore I would never part with it.  That was until it suddenly died.  Since that day I have focused on shooting film and have used my Nikon rangefinders far more than any other camera I own.  This is a rather minimal set up I carry on a near daily basis, sometimes both cameras sometimes just one, usually with black and white film.  I am always amazed by the quality of Nikon rangefinders and am often surprised they are not more popular.

I am a pretty casual shooter. I have attempted to create several large projects in the past, with little progress or success.  Now I just shoot what I like with no real goal other than making a few nice images to remember.  I mainly shoot Ultrafine Extreme 100 and sometimes 400 or Arista EDU 400.  I develop the film at home and scan, I hope to have an enlarger someday.

  • Nikon S, I had to send the shutter off for replacement as the years had not been kind to it. An early 35mm f3.5 lens, I bought it because it was marked “Made in Occupied Japan” but was very impressed by its image quality, and the 35mm viewfinder to round out the set.
  • Nikon SP, a very early model to boot, with a 35mm f2.8 Sankyo Koki (Komura), a very obscure lens that renders great images.  Topped off with a cheap Chinese made V-201X light meter.  I have heard mixed reviews of them but found it to be very accurate.
  • JHC film case that has seen a lot of use.
  • ONA small camera bag, I usually just keep the S and the film holder in the bag and keep the SP over shoulder with the old leather “hippy strap” and at the ready.

Some might wonder why I shoot 2 35mm lenses at the same time.  Both have different characteristics that I like, but I also find 35mm to be the ideal focal length for general use. The SP is very easy to shoot with and the S, though slower, works about as well with the exception of the slower max shutter speed and less intuitive film winding knob.

I have a YouTube channel that gives overviews on many of the Nikon rangefinder cameras and lenses along with other photography related rantings:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClXrAlbnU3gvdRrJ5gAR4mw

I have also maintained a blog for a while, though I have slacked off recently.  It hosts a selection of sample photos from both cameras/lenses above:

https://arsmithphoto.wordpress.com/

Keep them coming folks, we need more submissions, so get your bag on Japancamerahunter.com

Send me a high resolution image of the bag. Optimum size is 1500px 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. Snapshots of your gear with a camera phone and no words will not be featured.
Oh and don’t forget your contact details (twitter, flickr, tumbler et al). Send the bag shots here. Not all make the cut, so make sure yours is funny/interesting/quirky. And please make sure the shot is of good quality, you are a photographer after all. 

Cheers
JCH