Links

This page has been created as a place for links to photography related information, vendors and sources that have caught my interest.  In looking at this in April 2024, many of these links are now dead, I will need to see about updating things.

My various Photo Pages

Find Zane’s Photography on Facebook!
My Flickr Photostream
My Gallery at Leica Fotografie International

Camera Makers

  • Hasselblad (US) — The top manufacturer of Medium Format cameras
  • Horseman — Makers of Large Format camera’s and other specialty cameras.
  • Leica (US) — Probably best described as the “Apple” of the camera world. The primary choice for 35mm Rangefinders, and currently the only real choice for digital rangefinders. Their lenses are highly sought after for use via adapters on Micro-4/3rd’s cameras.
  • Nikon (US) — The best choice for D-SLR’s, they made many excellent 35mm SLR’s throughout the years as well as LTM rangefinders in their early days.
  • Zeiss — While they do offer their own series of Cameras, they are best known for their extremely high quality lenses. Sadly the bulk of thier M-Mount lenses are made by Cosina.

Camera Bags

  • Artisan&Artist — Targeted at Leica and Hasselblad users.
  • Newswear — They have some interesting looking solutions.
  • Epiphanie — A line of camera bags for women.
  • jill-e — Really nice camera bags for women, they now have a new line of bags under the “jack” brand-name targeted at men.
  • Domke — One of the true classic’s in camera bags, and American Made!
  • Photobackpacker — For all your Large Format needs!

Sources

  • Adorama — I periodically send an order their way
  • B&H Photo — There used gear looks to be a bit high, but definitely a good outfit to do business with
  • Collectible Cameras — I’ve not purchased from them, but they appear to be quite interesting
  • KEH — One of the primary sources for used gear
  • Dale Photo & Video — Another legit source of Leica gear that I’ve not had any dealings with. They have a very limited used selection. They carry Artist & Artisan bags for the Leica.
  • Igor’s Camera Exchange — Interesting looking source of used gear I’ve heard about from a couple sources.
  • Four Corner Store — Here is an odd one for you. All kinds of toy camera goodies, and some interesting looking film.
  • Specialty Bottle — I ran across this thanks to a blog entry of someone talking about storing photographic chemicals in amber glass bottles. Glass doesn’t allow air in like the plastic bottles will, and as a result the chemicals will last longer.
  • Pardee’s Camera — A couple years ago I had the honor to visit the store in person for an hour or so, and was fortunate enough to be able to spend some time talking with the owner Manfred Kallweit. Anyone interested in traditional photography is likely to be in awe of the store, as it’s not simply a store, but also something of a museum. While there I was able to get a wonderful Leica Summar 50mm f/2 lens from 1935.
  • Photo Warehouse — They have some film that looks interesting, especially the specialty films.

Useful Links

  • Mac Performance Guide — Anything you might want to know about increasing the performance of Photoshop on your Mac.
  • Leica M Lens Codes — The 6-bit codes for various lenses. While the M9 or newer’s firmware allows the lens type to be set manually, the M8 and M8.2 require 6-bit encoded lenses.

Recommended Applications

  • Adobe — The makers of Photoshop, Lightroom, Photoshop Elements, and many other fine products.
  • VueScan — Highly recommended 3rd party scanning software. This is especially true if you’re using old scanners like I do. It supports most scanners out there, and with the new Version 9, it integrates with Adobe Photoshop. Very easy to use, and quite powerful.
  • Silverfast — Probably the best scanner software on the market. I’ve yet to pick up a copy, as you need to buy it specifically for your scanner model, and I want to get it for a better scanner than I currently have.

Photoshop Plugins

  • Nik Software — Honestly these people produce the single most useful plugin Suite on the market. I’d be hard pressed to do half the digital work I do without their tools, and I’ve even been known to use a couple plugins on film scans.  They are now owned by Google.
  • onOne Software — They have their own plugin suite that is very useful as well.  With the release of Perfect B&W, they’ve definitely increased the usefulness of their suite.
  • Imagenomic — Makers of the excellent Noiseware Pro plugin as well as others
  • Alien Skin Software — Definitely one of my favorite plugin makers.  Their Exposure plugin is one of my “Must Haves”.
  • Topaz Labs — Very highly thought of, and inexpensive. I’ve not tried their products due to overlap with the tools I do use.
  • Photomatix — Another favorite of mine. While intended to be used in creating HDR images, I like using it to aid in replicating various historical photographic processes digitally.

Specialty Sites

  • The Rangefinder Forum is an excellent source of information on Rangefinder camera’s.
  • The Large Format Photography Forum is dedicated to Large Format Camera’s such as 4×5″ or 8×10″.
  • APUG — Analog Photographers User Group deals with Film Photography as a whole.

Alternative Process Photography

How to determine the age of your gear

Camera and Photography Magazines

If you go to your local newsagents, or bookseller and peruse the selection of available photography magazines you are likely to feel more than a little overwhelmed. What follows are some of the magazines currently available that I’ve found to either have useful information, or to be a good source of inspiration.

  • B&W and Color Magazines — Targeted at collectors of photography, these magazines can be a good source of inspiration. My preference is to flip through them at the newstand, and decide if I want to buy them. I skip many issues (most of Color).
  • Black+White Photography — This magazine out of the UK is one of my favorite photography magazines. While it is definitely not cheap, it tends to have excellent articles on a variety of subjects related to B&W Photography. It is guilty of getting me interested in Alternative Process Photography with an article on how to do Salt Prints they did a few years ago.
  • LensWork — Simply amazing, if you’re into B&W photography this is a great source of inspiration. An expensive digest size magazine, it is almost strictly a showcase of B&W Photographers work. Their new iPad “bundles” of back issues are the primary reason I want an iPad at this time.
  • Leica Fotographie International (LFI) — Another expensive magazine, it has very high production values and usually a couple excellent portfolio’s each issue.
  • photo technique — An interesting magazine, I’m still not sure what to make of it. When I first started reading it, it was pretty good. About a year ago, they “reinvented” it, and it was horrible. I was getting ready to stop picking it up, when it changed again. The last few issues have been fairly good.
  • Shutterbug — This the one “Mainstream” camera magazine that I read on a fairly regular basis. Roger Hicks and his wife Frances Schultz are frequent contributers.
  • View Camera — When I started buying it, it still had articles on the technical aspects of using View Camera’s and working with film. Now it is mainly a showcase for various Large Format photographers work.

Photographic Blogs of Interest

Rumors Sites

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *