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 MamiyaflexHe also brought five cameras to a shoot with Claire Hinkley:the rare and coveted Tele-Rolleiflex lent to him by the sainted John-Michael Mendizzathe old faithfuls: Rolleiflex 2.8E2 and Leica M4the mighty Nikon FM3aand a long-languishing Hasselblad 500CWhen 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 companionHe also went to Unique Photo and gaped at some rare Alpas, including the freakish 8b, which is both an SLR and a rangefinderWhich cameras did he use to cover his girlfriend’s son’s wedding?Canon EOS Rebel 2000 for pre-wedding prepOlympus XA4 with A11 flash for the rehearsal dinnerand of course the Hasselblad XPan for rooftop beauty shots of the betrothedYearning 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 ExaktaHe also handled a Pentax 17 and recoiled from its icky extruded bodyAnd 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 catchphraseAnd finally: a deep dive into our Prodigious Mailbag™