Going retro to go modern. Sometimes old-tech really helps with a new concept.

Now, I know that I’m not the first person to do this sort of work. I know this, because I was inspired by the works of other, better photographers that have done this already. But, I still think the effect is modern, fresh and can produce some really interesting imagery. At least according to those that tell me so, and I trust most of them to be brutally honest (as they have been in the past).

A great many years ago, I sold all my Canon A-1 and AE-1 bodies, lenses and accessories to move into the digital SLR age. The first camera I purchased was the 6.3 Mega-Pixel Canon Digital Rebel. At the time, it cost almost $1000. By today’s standards, it’s specifications are quite unimpressive:

Specs: Type Single-lens reflex Sensor 22.7 mm (0.9 in) ; 15.1 mm (0.6 in) CMOS Maximum resolution 3,072 × 2,048 (6.3 megapixels) Lens type Interchangeable (EF-S, EF) Shutter Focal-plane shutter, all speeds electronically controlled Focus areas 7 autofocus points Focus modes One-shot, AI Servo, AI Focus, Manual Continuous shooting 2.5 frame/s, up to 4 frames

It worked well enough for long enough. But more resolution and more f/s speed was required. It was not long after the release of the Digital Rebel, that the Canon 10D was released.

Following that was the Canon 20D, with a little larger sensor and a decent f/s speed (5.0 fps!). This was my next Canon digital camera purchase.

Specs: Type Single-lens reflex Sensor 22.5 mm × 15.0 mm CMOS Maximum resolution 3,520 × 2,344 (8.25 megapixels) Lens type Interchangeable (EF, EF-S) Shutter Vertical travel, focal-plane shutter, all speeds electronically controlled Shutter speed range 1/8,000 to 30 s, bulb Focus areas 9 autofocus points Focus modes One-shot, AI servo, AI Focus, Manual Continuous shooting 5.0 frame/s, up to 23 frames (9 in RAW)

Canon released the 30D seemingly a few months later, meaning the price of the 20D had dropped. During my annual trek to Laguna Seca, I purchased another 20D in Portland Oregon. This started my affair with multiple camera bodies. Having a pair of 20D cameras, each with a different type of lens, opened up a whole new world of shooting opportunity. Instead of having to expose sensors to dust every time I needed a new lens, I simply setup the cameras the night before, and headed on location. Switching from one shooting capability to the next, was as simple as grabbing another camera.

I worked with the 20D camera for many years, until this past month, then I added another body to the camera bag. With the release of the new Canon 7D, prices on the preceding models dropped. This also meant that a number of store demos could be picked up for significant savings. In the case of the Canon 50D, I picked up a demo model for almost $400 of the price of new. It was an opportunity that I could just not pass up.

The upgrade bumped me from 8.3 to 15.1 megapixels of resolution (almost double!). The biggest benefit though, is the new parallel Digic image processors. And of course the dramatic increase in frames per second speed (20% boost) and the big buffer, allowing extensive rapid-fire shooting before having to wait for card writes to finish. There is also the benefit of Ultra DMA support in the 50D, that I did not have in the 20D‘s I’ve been using for a long time.

Specs: Type Digital Single-lens reflex Sensor 22.3 x 14.9 mm CMOS Maximum resolution 4752 x 3168 (15.1 megapixels) Lens type Interchangeable (EF, EF-S) Shutter focal-plane Shutter speed range 30 s to 1/8000 s, bulb Focus areas 9 user points (cross type) Focus modes One-shot, AI Servo, AI-Focus, Manual Continuous shooting 3 or 6.3 frames/second

For a great many years I was very satisfied with my move to digital. I no longer had to pay for expensive film (I only used Pro transparency film which can be pricey), the processing, wait a week for the slides to be developed and mounted, dealing with dust, etc. etc. etc.

That was true until I started working on my Human Canvas Projects. Suddenly I needed slides. A wide variety of slides. The only slides I had available to me were 5-8 years old, and I didn’t have any way to create more.

Because of this I have been exploring a wide variety of slide creating methods. I even have two rolls of 120 slide film in case I stumble across a good deal on a 120 medium format camera kit (good luck with that, right?!). I checked all the Pawn shops across town, the Craig’s list postings, you name it. Now, I did find some 35mm camera bodies, but all of them were either non-Canon or non EF systems. The best I found was $100 for a very old and very basic Canon AE-1, circa 1980 something. I sold one of these bodies many years ago.

Yesterday, that problem was solved! I was at Glazer’s photo in Seattle to pick up some 60×60 (120 frame size) transparency mounts for the alternative slide creation method I came up with (I might write that up in the coming week). Turns out Glazer’s in-store price was 30% LOWER than the best on-line price I could find, then I had to pay for shipping too. I bought every full box they had.

After dropping the slide mounts off in my car, I wandered across the street to the Camera store (film and lighting is in one store, cameras in another across the street), and looked for any deals on a used 120 body. Nothing was in sight, but as I rounded the back of the store, where I found the 50D I bought from them, a month ago, I saw some new inventory. A nice Canon EOS-1 with auto-winder drive.

The Canon EOS-1, was the Professional body released for the new (at the time in 1989) EOS lens system. I was very excited about the find!

And, best of all, its was only $149 (plus Seattle/WA taxes…). It was already loaded with batteries, ready to go! A couple of other people were hovering around the case, looking over the EOS-1, so I had to decided quickly. Keep looking around, maybe find a good ‘deal’ on an EOS camera at a pawn shop, or pull the trigger on this baby, and head straight to the ferry and back home. So, that’s exactly what I did.

Here is the very camera body I purchased, with one of my Canon macro zoom lenses mounted:

Now, maybe it is, or maybe it isn’t obvious in this photo, but the camera is a beast! Here is a comparison shot of my three current camera bodies (photos taken with my backup 20D body and consumer 18-55 lens).

A shot of the rears of the Cameras. Digital cameras have the display screens turned on to illustrate one of the nice improvements in on-board display capabilities between the 20D and 50D cameras. It’s pretty easy to see how massive the Pro body EOS-1 is, compared to my consumer and prosumer Digital equipment.

I’m looking forward to seeing the quality of slides I can produce with the EOS-1. I’m used to manual focus film equipment, so the auto-focus capabilities of the EOS-1 are a nice thing to have. I’m not sure I fully understand how to use the new body, and the store was not able to locate a matching owner’s manual. I’ll be playing it by ear. The first roll should be going to the processing company tomorrow, weather and shooting opportunity permitting.