Sometimes it is good to reflect on past photo equipment as it reminds me of where I was in my photographic journey as well as what the technology was like at the time. Several years ago I ran a website called Visionage and have just unearthed a long forgotten backup of the site. Similar to PhotoArk, it contained camera reviews of what we were using back then. I thought it would be fun to reproduce one of the old articles here as I am sure there will still be GR10 aficionado’s out there, or people who are interested in a little bit of camera nostalgia.

Our photo editing has long been taken care of by Apple products, the current machine being a Mac Mini plugged into a 27inch Thunderbolt display. This combination provides us with an incredibly fast image throughput with beautifully accurate colours. Recently we felt the need to add portable devices that retained this level of accuracy and speed, so began a long evaluation process of the myriad of tablet and laptop devices currently on the market.

Continuing my life long search for the perfect camera bag resulted in a great Christmas present this year. My ‘go-to’ bag for the last five years or so has been a Vanguard Arlen 59 (also reviewed on PhotoArk) backpack that has served me well but has a couple of niggles that, whilst not insurmountable, led me to search for something new. The Arlen is a beautifully made pack and has many years of service left in it, but I needed to address the following points;

Early last year I began the hunt for a new Digital SLR to replace my trusty Olympus E-510. I wanted something more up-to-date, more robust and essentially more professional. I looked at many manufacturers and found quite a few bodies I liked, but choosing ‘the one’ proved difficult; I did not wish to follow the Canikon herd, preferring something a little more individual…something that didn’t scream ‘me too’, be hobbled by poor reviews or offer a limited lens range that allowed little growth. After much research and a visit to the Focus on Imaging 2012 show I found my ideal camera… the Pentax K-5.

Transparency film production has been in free-fall for several years now, as more and more photographers gravitate to other emulsions or technology. With just a few slide films remaining on the market it was obvious that some projector manufacturers like Kodak and Leica would end their involvement with this historical medium, and discontinue machines that were once a photographic mainstay. I must admit that in 2013 I expected very few 35mm projectors being manufactured, but a trawl of the web revealed many models still in production from the likes of Reflecta, Braun, Kindermann and Simda.

Just before I went abroad this year I decided to purchase one of Pentax's super-wide primes to see how it performs compared to my 16-50mm zoom lens. I have been interested in this lens for quite a while prior to purchasing, mainly because it is so small and it is also the widest fixed focal length lens Pentax offer, except for a fish-eye. Given I am a wide-angle man rather than a telephoto the purchase of this lens was imminent, I just needed an excuse, so three weeks before going abroad I made the leap.