NZPhotographer Issue 2, Dec 2017

A friend had a fairly new Canon T-70 for sale, as
he wanted to upgrade to the T-90. So in 1987 I
purchased said camera, supplemented with an 80 –
200 Vivitar zoom. I had not read any reviews of the
camera, other than basic specs (oh, it incorporated
a motor drive for continuous shooting) but I was
never really enamoured of the camera, and due
to personal circumstances sold my gear on.
Four years were to pass before I bought a second
hand Yashica F-4. Aperture priority again, handling
similar to the KR-10 but, for me, lacking the precision
and quality of the Ricoh. It served me well until I
stumbled across a camera I had lusted after for
many years!
A well used Nikon F2 appeared at a local car boot
sale in 1996 at a bargain price which INCLUDED a
Tamron 80-210mm lens, I was in! The F-2 came with
the Nikkor f1.4 50mm lens, which in practice proved
absolutely superb in function and picture quality.
The camera, although well used, still performed up
to its almost legendary status. You may consider this
a retrograde step in functionality, as it was a purely
manual camera, but in quality of photographs, it is
without doubt, the best film SLR I ever owned. It did
mean re-acquainting myself with my Weston 5 light
meter, but that was no chore. The following year
saw the acquisition of the Photomic head which
gave me TTL metering though aperture and shutter
speed still had to be set manually.
I did, whilst owning the Nikon, take my first step
into digital cameras, with a Ricoh RDC-6000. At
2.1 mp, it was fairly well specified but gave poor
performance.
With failing eyesight, I bought a Nikon F65, with 28-
100 and 70-300 zoom in 2002. A capable camera,
the autofocus being a boon for me, but the
camera, sadly not awe inspiring.
Finally, my 60th birthday present last year, a
beautiful Nikon D70, in great condition, and a very
nice camera indeed. With the G type zooms from
the F-65, and the stunning 18-70mm lens that came
with the camera, I am now coming of age with the
digital era.
28 NZPhotographer
December 2017
29