My first camera was a fujica pcoket 200 I got from my parents, which they bought for me in Singapore. It used 100 roll film, and the photos where not great. This was in 1977.



Then I got a Canon Pellix Ql from my father, his old camera. This was my first SLR. IT was special because it has a pellix mirror, which does not flip up if you take a picture. But it had a dark viewfinder, and a not so great 28mm lens from panagor. The camera is from 1966, I got it somewhere around 1986.




In around 1990, as a gift for my highschool exam I got a Canon A1 from my aunt and uncle from Indonesia. I remember seeing this camera in the books, and I fell in love with the design. It was a great camera, it felt nice in my hands, even without a winder, was very advanced for it’s time (camera is from 1978) with M, A, P and S modes.



In 2006 I bought a Nikon FE2 (camera from 1984). I really wanted a Nikon camera, because of the legendary name, and because I was influenced by friends like Ivo and Bert who all use Nikon. At first I wanted a Nikon FA, because it was similar to the A1, but after doing some research I decided to get a FE2 which was in retrorespect a good choice, the FE2 is a superior camera. I bought it very cheap from marktplaats including a 35-105 macro nikkor lens and a md-12 motordrive. Made some of my best pictures with this camera, using Ilford XP2super film.



in 2007 I got a Nikon D1 (1989) from my friend Ivo. Ivo has been a great influence on my photography. He persuaded me to do the photography course from Frank Diemel at the cultural centre of the Delft University of Technology where I was studying, which turned out to be very good. After that, when I was studying industrial design engineering, I also took a photography class at the faculty of architecture, which was also very good. Anyway, Ivo uses a Nikon d2x, fuji s2 pro and a hasselblad with digital back. He had a D1 spare so I could have it. It was my first dslr, and my first really pro camera. And it shows. It is a big, heavy camera, extremely sturdy, very big viewfinder, and I could use my MF lenses on it. Made some nice pics with it, but unfortunately, there where some problems with the electronics, which sometimes triggered DOF preview without taking a picture. It also was very noisy at iso > 400. Still, when there is enough light, this is a very very good camera. You do feel the difference between this camera and a prosumer camera.



My next camera was a Nikon D200. I got it from Bert (unlimited lending) because Bert (one of the people who influenced me to go Nikon) switched to.. Canon! (EOS 5D). The D200 is a very nice camera, this one has the catz eyes focusing screen and is quite reasonable with iso 800-1600. Makes quite nice pictures, the colours are great, and I can use my MF lenses. It is a good camera, but still, it does not completely move me away from analog. I still make my best picture analog.




So, hence my newest camera. A Leica CL which I bought from marktplaats. When I was a kid, I was looking up to brands like Nikon, because the pros used Nikon. Great sturdy cameras, great lenses. But there where brands which where even better, and much more expensive. Those where brands like Hasselblad and Leica. Maybe some day I want to get a hasselblad, but after doing some research I really wanted to get a Leica rangefinder. The brand used by legends like Cartier Bresson, Eisenstaedt, Riefenstahl, Lagerfeld.. Unfortunately, the M series are still quite expensive, but then I found this Leica CL on marktplaats. I never spent to much on one camera, but it was still a bargain. The Leica CL (1971) was actually build by Minolta, but designed by Leica. It is the most compact Leica M mount RF camera, and I got two lenses with it (real Leica) a summicron 40/2.0 and a 90/4 elmar. I love this new camera, it will be my standard camera for most of the time and I already took some nice pics with it.




At the end of the day, it is about the photos we make. Here are some examples of photos taken with the Leica CL.