10 Years of The Fogdog Blog

When I began dabbling in analog photography again in 2010, I started writing my thoughts about the old cameras I was trying in a paper journal. A few years after that, I launched a Flickr account and began sharing pictures of my old cameras and the photographs I made with them. Other Flickr members commented on my gear or complimented my photos and that felt good. I enjoyed the connection with other photographers. About the same time I launched my Flickr account, I came across Jim Grey’s Down The Road blog. As I browsed through his posts, I found we were on similar paths, navigating life after the end of difficult marriages and discovering the joys of old cameras. Jim’s blog became an inspiration for me to start one of my own.

I began the blog over on WordPress in 2014. I lived in Bodega Bay, CA then. Bodega Bay is often foggy. Sometimes the sun would break through the fog in interesting ways. These bright or clear spots in breaking fog are known as fogdogs. Photography has been, in one way or another, always a part of my life. During some very dark and difficult times, it was my way of coping, giving me a bright and clear path forward. I decided to call my online place The Fogdog Blog.

For a reason I cannot even remember now, I became frustrated with WordPress, had a tantrum and moved my blog over to Squarespace in 2015 where it lives today.

I do admit, there have been times when I have considered turning the thing off, but then someone will comment on a post or send me a nice note through email telling me that they Googled a certain old camera and found the site and how helpful my information was to them. Or that they enjoyed one of my photographs. And even though I’ve never really worked at building an audience, it is gratifying to see some of my camera reviews show high up in the search rankings.

Honestly, the best part of all of this are the friends I’ve made here. Kind, thoughtful, curious, generous people who all share a love of analog photography. Thank you, all.

No connection to the blog but Joseph Phelps Vineyards in Freestone, CA used to make a wonderful Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir called Fogdog which l loved so much, I bought the hat.

Mods

I’ve been on a bit of a Nikkormat kick recently and picked up a very nice, nearly new in appearance FTn body for cheap. The FTn, like many of the vintage cameras I have used over the years, has a micro prism focusing screen that is not interchangeable by the photographer. My aging eyes prefer a split image screen so I’ve managed to have several of my old cameras modified from micro prism to split image. Eric Hendrickson modified my Pentax Spotmatic SP and K2 bodies during a CLA which greatly improved the user experience for me.

I am currently running a test roll of Kodak Tri-X through the Nikkormat. I’ll post a full review once I’ve finished and developed the roll, but I will say that this is quite an enjoyable camera to use. I think these Nikkormats are often overlooked for sexier cameras and that’s a shame. Although it’s a heavy camera, there’s really nothing not to love about a Nikkormat.

To make this camera a true keeper, I do want to invest in some modifications. First, the FTn uses banned 1.35v 625 Mercury batteries. For my test roll, I’m using a 1.5v 625 alkaline cell. Many FTn users say there’s really no difference with forgiving print film, but I’ll want to have this camera’s meter modified to use the 1.5v battery nonetheless.

In addition to the battery mod, I would really love to have a split image focusing screen installed. This is definitely a job for a skilled tech, so I’ve reached out to Jim Holman at ICT to do a CLA, the battery mod and the focus screen swap. In order to do that, I needed to find a donor camera with a split image screen.

There are always quite a few Nikkormat FTn bodies for sale on eBay, but it’s difficult to find one that has a split image screen. The screens from the later FT2 and FT3, which are split image, will work in the FTn but those bodies are more expensive…more than I wanted to invest just to harvest the focus screen. I discovered during my “research” that the later FTn bodies with a plastic tip film advance and self-timer levers from the F2, often came with the split image screen, also called the “K” screen. Since most of the listings did not mention what type of screen was installed and none of them had pictures that included a clear shot of the screen, I had to contact the buyers and ask.

After several weeks of browsing, I came across a “parts only” FTn that came with its original box and sticker on the rewind lever that identified this camera as having the Nikon K screen. I offered the seller $20 for the camera and the offer was accepted.

Nikkormat FTn box with K screen identifier

Faded but still readable K screen label on the film advance lever

I really prefer the plastic tip advance lever over the plain metal one, so I am going to ask Jim to swap those out as well. When I make these requests, Jim always says “I’ll see what I can do” and then delivers results that exceed my expectations.

I am excited to see the results from my test roll. My FTn looks hardly used so it will be interesting to see how the camera will perform pre-CLA. After that, she gets packed up and, along with the donor camera, it’s mod time at ICT.