Photography

I used to shoot a fair amount of black & white and color reversal (slide) for a hobbyist, but when I left the Army in 1993, I lost my access to a dark room and gave up for a while. Of course, I still shot color negative and later digital, but really just travel and family photos. I'm just getting back to it and hoping to shortly start shooting medium format color reversal and B&W. I just picked up an old Argus Argoflex E on eBay and I'm shopping for Yashica Yashicaflex D or 635 or a Yashicamat 12, 124, or 124G. I'm also hoping to get a decent old 35mm rangefinder (RF) camera, such as a Yashica Electro 35GSN, or maybe just dig out my old Chinon 35EE with which I shot all my Fujichrome in Korea in 1989-1990 and most of my color negative before that.

I've done quite a bit of research lately, so for now, here are some links that I've found particularly useful:

Useful Stores

• Amazon
• eBay
• KEH Used Cameras

Information sites

Lots of great info on these sites (many of these people are artists too but the links here are more for knowledge than inspiration):

• Camerapedia - an open wikia wiki regarding cameras
• Ken Rockwell - a pro who posts lots of information on cameras, photography, and using ebay
  • This is particularly interesting on what he scans his slides with
  • Composition
  • Exposure
    • The Zone System explained
    • Light Meters
    • Using a Digital Camera as a Light Meter
  • White Balance
  • Sharpness
  • Camera Adjustments - General discussion
  • Photographic Philosophy
  • Basics of getting better
    • More on this
  • Medium Format
  • Ken's Method
  • How to Win at eBay - some really good information and hints
  • Why your camera doesn't matter
  • Why Film
  • Film vs. Digital
  • though he apparently didn't know that this was meant as humor!
  • He recommends Adorama but I find they don't carry substantially any film SLRs or RFs.
• Karen Nakamura's Photoethnography.com - lot's of great info on classic cameras
  • Classic Camera Buying Guide
  • Equipment Recommendations
  • Collecting and Using Classic Cameras - An index of Karen's complete collection
• Matt Denton Photography
  • Matt Denton's Classic Camera Collection - lot's of valuable information on classic cameras and some tips on buying and on repair, as well as great links of his own.
    • TLR and Box Cameras
    • Rangefinders
• The Luminous Landscape
  • [1]
    • but Rockwell doesn't like his science [
  • [2]
• ClarkVision.com
• [3]
  • Silver Gelatin Dry Plate Process
• Antique & Classic Cameras - lots of information on appraisal, purchase, etc.

Miscellaneous

• [4] table of Argoflex models

Blogs and Fora

• The Online Photographer
• Photo.net
  • Interesting Galleries:
    • Wilson Tsoi
    • Top Photographers
  • Equipment Guide - kinda high-end digital
  • Techniques
    • Photographing Architecture
  • MF Beginner
    • Getting started in MF
    • MF for Architecture
    • TLR recommendations
    • Ideal 6x6
  • Digital Workflow - Art
• Analog Photography Users Group (APUG)
• Digital Photography Review
• Adobe Forums - useful info even though I use the Gimp
  • Gimp vs Photoshop - speaking of the Gimp
• [5] - not sure where to put this so putting it here - nice e-bay preview, I need to figure out how to do that

Artists on the Web

• Ansel Adams
• Henri Cartier-Bresson
• David LaChapelle
• Dykinga Photography
• Ian Porteous
• Chase Jarvis - Master of the iPhone
  • 5 tips for making great iphone photos
• Arizona Highways

Software

• Aperture

Online Critics

• DeleteMe proving their worth - an unwitting critique of master showing the pointlessness of technical criticism, particularly by amateurs who don't even know art history.
• Great Photographers on the Internet - a satire on internet photo criticism.