First of all I want to give a shout out an Ebay seller named certo6. His ebay camera auctions can be found here. I am not sure if it is his full time job or not, but he is committed to selling great cameras. He buys old cameras, repairs and restores them beautifully, and then lovingly describes their characteristics thoroughly in his Ebay listing. He has earned a great reputation for having wonderfully restored cameras and as a result his cameras receive a premium final bid. I have only purchased one camera from him, but he is the only seller that I follow religiously despite rarely making a bid.

If you can’t buy a camera from certo6, you are going to drop down a notch into the deep sea of the unknown. There are so many camera auctions going on that it can be overwhelming. Here are some tips that will help you get the camera you want.

1. Hold your horses! First, don’t expect to get the camera instantly. I think this is the biggest mistake people make. People get excited when they find something cool. They make a bid before doing any research. Next thing you know someone outbids you and it becomes a battle to win the auction rather than about getting the right camera.

2. Watch similar items. This is where patience is a virtue. Before you bid on a camera you should try to get an idea for what it is worth. If you have the time to watch similar items, and track what their final selling price is then this information will give you a general idea what you can expect to pay for the camera.

3. Learn about the camera If you are bidding on antique cameras or rare camera, information is your friend. Do a Google search for the exact model and look online for as much info as you can find. There is probably a Flickr group dedicated to that specific camera where there are threads talking about it. Look for common problems, and typical problems that your camera may have. If the camera you want has a tendency to have shutters that go bad you can ask the seller to address whether or not the shutter is working. This will save you from buying a camera that looks good but is actually broken.

4. Decide what you are willing to pay and stick to it. An interesting psychological thing happens with auctions. After someone makes a bid on something they have imagined themselves owning the item. This has the side effect of giving a feeling of ownership over something you don’t actually own. Now when someone bids on “your camera” it feels like a personal insult. So you counter bid and the camera ends up selling for more than it is worth. Decide the maximum you are willing to pay for the camera and when it goes above that price walk away. I mean it. Walk away. You can take consolation in knowing that some idiot just over payed for it! This helps reduce buyers remorse, too.

5. Keep your options open. Watch a variety of auctions for the camera you want. This will help you avoid getting emotionally connected to a single item. It is much easier to walk away from an auction if you are watching another similar item.

If you follow these camera auction tips eventually you will end up with a great camera at a fair price. If you have experience buying cameras on Ebay and have tips to add to my list, please leave a comment below. Finally, here are some of the camera deals on Ebay right now…

ANTIQUE VINTAGE FOLDING CAMERA ANSCO CLIPPER

US $89.99 End Date: Saturday Feb-04-2012 20:01:26 PST Buy It Now for only: US $89.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

antique camera lot (instamatic,starflash,isoflash,rediflex) must see!!!

US $10.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Saturday Feb-04-2012 22:35:55 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Vintage old antique Leica Camera Logo shirt T-Shirt Lens body Ad New model 10

US $18.99 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 0:28:41 PST Buy It Now for only: US $18.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Antique German Ansco MEMAR Still Camera, hard Case, flash arm, light meter ,more

US $9.99 (1 Bid) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 6:01:21 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Vintage '05 Antique ONeill KEWPIE Figure KODAK Folding BROWNIE CAMERA Reprint AD

US $9.95 End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 6:30:40 PST Buy It Now for only: US $9.95 Buy it now | Add to watch list

VINTAGE ANTIQUE ARGUS C3 35MM CAMERA,WITH FLASH...EARLY C3...

US $80.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 9:02:10 PST Buy It Now for only: US $100.00 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

Vintage Cinekon Camera, Antique

US $20.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 9:18:43 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras 2001-2002

US $40.00 (1 Bid) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 9:37:45 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

ESTATE FIND~ANTIQUE (1940's) Kodak Vigilant Six-20 Folding Camera w/case

US $13.03 (4 Bids) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 10:15:18 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Antique Eastman Kodax Red Box Camera

US $9.90 (1 Bid) End Date: Sunday Feb-05-2012 10:26:27 PST Bid now | Add to watch list

Also worth noting is a pinhole Lego Camera Spotted on Flickr.

That’s about all going on around here. I recently purchased a dry mount press on Craigslist and am going to start framing some prints one of these days.

Photographers on Twitter from Photocritic.org
Photocritic has a great list of photographers on Twitter that is constantly being updated. If you are a photographer on Twitter you can follow @twittogs to get your name added to the list. Right now they have 406 photo twitterers and counting.

80+ Photographers On Twitter
Virtual Photography Studio has a good list of 80 photographers on Twitter that you should be following.

17 Great Photographers on Twitter
Darkwegmo.com has a list of 17 photographers on Twitter that have very high quality photos.

Flickr Photographers on Twitter
Flickr has a group called “The Twittering Photographers Society” that is dedicated just to Flickr photographers on Twitter.

Wedding Photographers on Twitter
This isn’t actually a list of photographers on Twitter but rather a list of 40 Twitter resources for wedding photographers.

20 Photographers to follow on Twitter
The Photog Formula has a list of 20 more photographer’s on Twitter.

I hope you enjoyed these links to lists of photographers who twitter. If you come accross another good list of twitter photographers let me know and I will add it to the list. And don’t forget to follow me (ade3) while you are adding photo followers.

Oh, one more thing. If you happen to be a photographer and a web designer like me, you might be interested in my list of web designers on Twitter. Cheers!

As I continue to explore solargraphy, I wanted to show you my latest experiment. After about two months sitting in front of my house, I finally couldn’t wait any longer to see if my extra long exposure would turn out. The photo above is a solargraph taken with a pinhole camera using photo paper as the “negative.” The streaks in the sky are the sun as it passes through the air. If you missed my first post explaining what a solargraph is, you can read it here.

If you would like to see a bigger version of this photo you can see it on Flickr by clicking here.

For my test I used color slide film and it worked just fine. The pictures were taken with my trusty medium format Lego camera. I wasn’t sure what I would get, but the results were black and white negatives (as opposed to color positives). Interesting. Here is a photo from the roll:

Click here to view my solargraph experiments on Flickr.

There is amazingly little information online about solargraphy or how to make a solargraph. Trial and error being the best teacher I decided to do some experiments and teach myself how to create these images. The following is my attempt to document my experiments and hopefully give you some details that will help if you want to tackle the world of the solargraph.

So what is a solargraph? A solargraph is a photograph that was made by making an exposure long enough to track the movement of the son in the sky. Exposure time can be anywhere from a couple hours to six months.

How do you make a solargraph? A solargraph is typically made using black and white photo paper instead of traditional film. The reason for using photo paper is that it is less sensitive than film. Photo paper is 20-200 times less sensitive than film. This allows the paper to survive unthinkably long exposure times without getting over exposed.

What kind of a camera do you use? Solargraphs are typically made with a pinhole camera because the extremely small aperture (the hole that lets light in). However, I have had success making solargraphs using lens cameras. Simply load the camera with photo paper where the film usually goes. Then rig your camera so that the aperture can stay open indefinitely. Since a typical camera lets more light in than a pinhole camera your exposure time will be significantly shorter. By using a lens you can make a half-day to week long exposure. A pinhole camera is ideal for longer exposures of a week to several months.

How do you process the photo paper? Unlike a print made in a darkroom, the photo paper you use to make a solargraph is never ran through photo chemicals. This may come as a surprise to anyone with darkroom experience. Because the exposure time is so long the image actually appears on the paper without processing! If you were to run the paper through developer it would turn instantly black.

How do you preserve the image if you can’t use chemicals? After the photo has been taken you need to immediately scan the paper. Scanning itself will damage the paper because it is till light sensitive. You get one good scan before the paper starts getting dark and destroying your image. I have not come up with a reliable way to preserve the photo paper. Fixer seems to destroy the image, although not completely. If someone has a solution to this dilemma please share it.

Does a solargraph result in a black and white or color image? This is perhaps the most amazing thing about solargraphy. The image is made using black and white photo paper. The image that is created is in color! I can’t really explain how this happens, but it does. I suppose that since the paper is never ran through the the typical chemicals it is able to preserve some color.

I will try to update this page as I learn more about how to make solargraphs. If you know of resources or can correct any of my mistakes please let me know.

You might remember that I had a copy of Tom Ang’s Fundamentals of Photography to give away. Thank you to everyone who left a comment and entered there name in the drawing. My son pulled the winning name out of a hat and the lucky winner is Amod Rahatkar. Congratulations Amod!

A few notes about the redesign, I made a switch from a Movable Type powered blog to WordPress. I have been using WordPress almost exclusively as a content management system for over a year now and it has won me over so much that I can’t imagine going back to Movable Type. 

A big part of the redesign has to do with Flickr. I have always been hesitant to embrace Flickr completely because I didn’t want to compete with myself on this site. I don’t want to post every photo twice and I don’t want to confuse my visitors. The solution to my dilemma came from researching WordPress plugins that interact with Flickr. I hit the jackpot when I discovered Flickr Photo Album which is probably the best WordPress plugin I have ever used. It allows me to host all my photos on Flickr and it automatically mirrors the information here on my blog. Flickr Photo Album works with custom templates and I plan on making my WordPress Theme available for free some time in the future. 

I should warn you that I am launching this site probably a tad prematurely. Much of the finishing touches of a redesign are easier to test and fix “live,” so I apologize if anything is funky. I am still cleaning things up in my code, so I appreciate your patience and should have everything working smoothly real soon.

I have a birthday and Christmas coming up so I have been saving my pennies to purchase a new camera. Believe it or not, I actually have my eye on a digital camera, not an antique. My old Nikon just doesn’t do the trick anymore. I have enough giant SLR’s in my collection so I want a small point-and-shoot that also has gives me plenty of manual control. I have narrowed it down to the new Canon Powershot G10 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3. If you have a recommendation or preference between those two please add your thoughts in the comments.

You may have noticed a slow down in the postings here over the last year or so. I have been putting the time that used to go into camera experiments into creating a book of my photography as well as an assortment of other projects. If I am lucky, the book will be available in January, but I can’t promise anything. The tentative name of it is going to be “Isolation and Repetition,” but that may change.

The other reason for this post is to announce a redesign of this site. I am in the beginning stages of rebuilding this site from the ground up. As a result, the site will probably go down for some time while I am working on it. In the meantime, keep track of me on Flickr or my personal blog. Watch for the new Found Photography along with the book launch early next year.