These non-technical reviews are based on my use of the cameras, on the go, at different locations, in all weathers, whilst earning repro fees for the images made with them... not once did I attach a camera to a tripod and point it at a test-chart for evaluation!

My work has never been extreme, nor were the cameras put under any real pressure from me, so for reviews based on how many frames a second a camera fires at or how many lines per millimetre a certain lens can resolve, there are other web sites catering for people seeking that type of information... the cameras reviewed on these pages simply did the job I asked of them. I have to admit that most cameras would have coped extremely well from what I asked of them - the limiting factor being my demands... so perhaps look at the cameras reviewed here rather as amongst my favourites from 40 years of active photography.

Hasselblad SWC In 1954, six years after the launch of the world's first 6x6cm square SLR with interchangeable lenses and film magazines... and three years before the same Swedish company brought out the 500C, Hasselblad created a different legend... the "Supreme Wide Angle.". Hasselblad XPan The Hasselblad XPan was launched just over a decade ago at the same time as a flurry of new lenses were introduced by independent Japanese manufacturers for the venerable Leica screw-mount camera... Holga... Camera or Toy? Buy a new Hasselblad with a 32 megapixel digital back and you're talking $25K... buy a new Holga and you're out of pocket $25 plus mailing. The latter is very serious fun... the former just ever so serious. Surprisingly the Holga has rapidly grown in popularity with certain photographers and aficionados... Mamiya 7 Rangefinder The first thing I felt when looking through the 6x7cm Mamiya 7 viewfinder was that 35mm Leica M users would love it. Only the Leica M7 is still in production, but there are enough Mamiya 7 cameras and lenses on the second-hand market to excite a growing number of photographers... Mamiya C330 TLR All TLRs have the advantages of uninterrupted viewing combined with quiet operation, due to the fixed reflex-mirror, but share the disadvantages and problems of parallax viewing error at close focusing distances. Only the Mamiya TLR...

All reviews have been written by Ed Buziak who took up amateur photography in the mid-1960s and became a professional by the mid-1970s. These non-technical "hands-on" reviews are based on his use of the cameras on the go, at many locations, in all weathers, earning repro fees for the images made with them... rather than being attached to a tripod pointing at a static test-chart.