Episode 80 • So Good

Our blockbuster eightieth episode includes talk of wedding shoots and model shoots, German Rolleis and Swiss Alpas, plastic Pentaxes and Pano Portrait Snobs. Tune in for all the badinage!

* Eighty episodes — even the hosts can’t remember the highlights! So which three episodes would you recommend to the uninitiated?
* Gabe went to a Cameras & Coffee meetup at the Culver Steps…
* …where he drooled over an Olympus OM-4Ti and a Mamiyaflex
* He also brought five cameras to a shoot with Claire Hinkley:
* the rare and coveted Tele-Rolleiflex lent to him by the sainted John-Michael Mendizza
* the old faithfuls: Rolleiflex 2.8E2 and Leica M4
* the mighty Nikon FM3a
* and a long-languishing Hasselblad 500C
* When Jeff and his siblings met up in Philadelphia for their yearly Fourphans™ Weekend, the Canon EOS Rebel 2000 with 40mm lens was his faithful plastic companion
* He also went to Unique Photo and gaped at some rare Alpas, including the freakish 8b, which is both an SLR and a rangefinder
* Which cameras did he use to cover his girlfriend’s son’s wedding?
* Canon EOS Rebel 2000 for pre-wedding prep
* Olympus XA4 with A11 flash for the rehearsal dinner
* and of course the Hasselblad XPan for rooftop beauty shots of the betrothed
* Yearning to get some new gear, Jeff grabbed an 24mm Angenieux lens for the Alpa at KEH… only to return it because it was not Alpa mount, but Exakta
* He also handled a Pentax 17 and recoiled from its icky extruded body
* And despite his devotion to the XPan, he bombed at the Epson Pano Awards — could he be a victim of the pano portrait snobs?
* As requested by faithful listener Gaetan Cormier, may we present the “So good” t-shirt, a loving tribute to Gabe’s catchphrase
* And finally: a deep dive into our Prodigious Mailbag™