Episode 53 • Can I Get a Witness

New York, London, Paris, Munich… there’s nowhere I Dream of Cameras won’t go in pursuit of our elusive dream camera. In Episode № 53, Jeff is off to London and the Photographica ’23 photo fair, while Gabe treks to Ventura, California in search of one of the last great camera shops. Also, one of us actually handles the rare and nose-bleedingly expensive Ilford Witness! Tune in for all the Pop Muzik!

* A week after returning from Paris, Jeff impulsively jetted off to London for the reunion of his friend Cathy's band Heavenly
* Brought a small Peak Design bag, the Everyday Sling 5L, a birthday gift from Gabe
* Did some concert photography with the XPan, using both Ilford Delta 3200 and Kodak TMax P3200, plus HP5 pushed to 1600
* Fortuitously this was the same weekend as Photographica 2023, an incredible camera show! Met Chroma Steve and Kosmo Stephen and Jimmy Hickford and Richard, saw an Alpa 9f, an XPan II... and an Ilford Witness!
* What'd Jeff buy? A really good gift: a Rollei 35 B plus some Kosmo Foto Agent Shadow 400. Listeners: what’s a good $100 camera for the 25-year-old son of a friend?
* Meanwhile, he failed to land his white whale, which nobody even bothered to guess at: an Alpa 10s
* More travel travails: Heathrow airport security refused to hand-check any film below ISO 400, and carped about the number of rolls
* Gabe ordered a new lens: the Canon 50mm f1.4 Leica screw-mount
* …and visited the mighty Dexter’s Camera in Ventura, California
* Jeff impulsively snagged two Mamiyas: the rare and desirable 2000 DTL and the plentiful and unloved 1000 DTL
* Gabe is fascinated by photographer Dominique Issermann
* Finally, a dip into our prodigious mailbag!