That’s a great memory Mark.

The Camera Snobs like the guy you met are actually quite annoying. There has been a resurgence in film photography over the past five years, and digital photographers have discovered the outstanding optical qualities of older lenses made by German and Japanese companies during the first three quarters of the 20th century. Some of these people though — you’ll find thousands of them on the Facebook Groups — buy and hoard lenses and cameras and rarely ever use them.

I own two film cameras and a handful of lenses commensurate with my modest station — and these have been an absolute delight to shoot with. However, when I mention my Praktica L made in East Germany I often get scornful comments such as “that’s not even a real camera” or “I stopped reading at Praktica”. My other film camera — a Porst CTL — is also regarded with scorn. It was made in Japan and sold by a German mail-order house in the 1970s. Both these cameras are in outstanding condition, and were obviously very well cared for by their owners before circumstances they ended up with me.

Film is making a solid comeback — perhaps you should consider dusting off that beautiful camera and running some film through it!