I Dream of Cameras

It’s P’s birthday, but she’s working, leaving Jeff languishing at home with nothing but his vapid glad-hand for company. Perfect time to summon up Gabe on the ol’ Zoom-o-Matic and pump out an episode! In this one, we speak of acquisitions both big (huge honkin’ Pentax zoom) and small (stealthy Casio wristcam). Also discussed: being mocked for your puny glass by a bird photographer with a 600mm, many upcoming LA photo meetups, and a deep dive into our Prodigious Mailbag™!
Gabe snapped up a big-ass Pentax 6x7 zoom lens
and had his beloved Leica M6 CLA’d by our trusty-dusty camera repair guy
shout-out to the Film Fridge app — it’s better than a spreadsheet!
Jeff speaks of his millennial obsession with the Casio WQV-3 watch camera, how he used it to surreptitiously photograph Will & Grace guest stars, and his late frustration with a recently acquired top-of-the-line WQV-10
also, he’s just returned from photographing sandhill cranes and prairie chickens in Kearney, Nebraska with the XPan, which was apparently the wrong camera to bring, because other large-lensed photographers mocked him
Wilber, Nebraska is the Czech Capital of the US!
Dave Grohl laments option paralysis, something we camera collectors know all too well
there are plenty of upcoming photo meetups in LA — check out LA Film Camera and Analog Con
Jo Geier of Mint and Rare is torturing us all on Instagram
ever heard of the Ricoh 500RF?
we rifle through an exceptionally Prodigious Mailbag™
and speaking of watches and photography, check out the crowdfunded wristwatch light meter from Increment Labs LTD

Three months without a new episode — you thought there’d be No More Rhyme? That Gabe and Jeff might go on shootin’ and chattin’ Without You? Ha! Out Of The Blue comes IDOC № 100, in which these two Electric Youth Shake Your Love to a Foolish Beat and get Lost In Your Eyes. They’re Staying Together! Anything Is Possible!

Leicaflex, Contarex, Rolleiflex, Magicflex, Omegaflex! Olivia Dean and Debbie Gibson! Seth Rogen’s gone pano and the Swiss Army’s gone XXL! It’s IDOC’s jam-packiest episode yet, ’cause unless Debbie sings our theme song, it could be the Olympus Pen-ultimate! Tune in for all the mayhem!
Birthday madness! Gabe got Jeff a Leicaflex SL at B&H Photo, whatta guy!
The SL’s PX625 battery presents some challenges
Chad GPT misled Jeff regarding the 50mm Summicron-R - turns out it takes a Series VI filter with a retaining ring
the new camera prompted the customary orgy of book-ordering; however, only Jeff wants a Leicaflex book signed by author Theo Kisselbach
please note: chromogenic Ilford XP2 Super scans much better than HP5 or Tri-X!
Gabe visited with Sissi Lu, who has a new podcast and showed off her Kodak Charmera
also, her googly-eyed lens cloth charm is back in stock at sissilu.com
Gabe went on a sudden mad hunt for a Contarex Bullseye and a 50mm lens
…and got a lens board for his Beseler 67C enlarger, thanks to Steve Pinter from pintercreative.com - honorable mention to Gabriel Butensky
check out the “24 things from the Leica archive” reels on Leica’s Instagram
Gabe met up with our pal Chris Smirnoff, who deluged him with photo books: Yul Brynner, Comedians, Salgado, a Sears photo catalog…
the two also chatted up Instagram shooters Connie and Stewart
in search of brighter focusing screens for his Rolleiflex TLRs, Gabe got some from Magicflex Camera and they’re incredible
Michael Herring (colorblindfish on IG) sent Gabe a gorgeous camera strap from Couch Guitar Straps
hey, the LA Camera Expo is bigger than ever! Gabe took a hard look at an Omegaflex and backed away
Jeff attended the Olivia Dean Soho Session and this time did NOT interact with Danny Clinch
P is on the cover of Numero Magazine, one of Gabe’s favorites
Seth Rogen is a Widelux and XPan aficionado - let’s get him on the show!
speaking of which: whither Debbie Gibson…?
it’s holiday gift time, check our merch page!
P got Jeff a Swiss Champ XXL Swiss Army Knife for his birthday because she’s wonderful
and finally, we dip a few toes into our Prodigious Mailbag™

How did these two mumbling malcontents pump out pods for five years and ninety-eight nattering episodes? In this one, the boys barely discuss that at all! Instead Jeff recaps his trip to London, to the shop where he bought both his Alpa and XPan, and Gabe recounts his acquisition of a legendary lens owned by an even-more-legendary photographer. A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest — tune in!
November 20 marks IDOC’s fifth anniversary, and the 21st marks Jeff’s birthday!
Jeff briefly recounts his trip to London, including a stop at Camera City, the shop where he got both his first Alpa and his first XPan
Gabe’s birthday bonanza included a Lab-Box and a Negative Supply scanning rig…
…he found a Beseler 67SC enlarger on FB Marketplace…
…and went to (basically) Spahn Ranch in the Hollywood Hills to secure a 80mm f4 Rodenstock Rodagon enlarger lens… which, it turns out, used to belong to Herb Ritts!
our continuing adventures with the maddeningly inconsistent Chad GPT: it misled Jeff about the fate of the final penny, and lied to Gabe about a mysterious TLR which turned out to be a rare Rolleiflex 2.8F white face
what do the boys think of the soon-come Widelux XX?
sad news: Freestyle Photo is closing their brick-and-mortar location
should Jeff buy an O.G. Alpa-Reflex on the ‘bay to complete his collection?
once again, we improbably empty the Prodigious Mailbag™
and now you must run to the L.A. Camera Expo in Burbank ‘cause it’s happening at this very moment!

More like L.A. De Da, because both hosts are together in the City of Angels: scoring sibling Olympi at a camera show, talking “new” Kodak film stocks with tasty typography, and shooting the works with a half-frame Swiss, a square-frame German and an American GOOSE. Tune in - it'll change your wife!

this episode is dedicated to the memory of the great photographer Diane Keaton
our second bad review has utterly vanished!
Jeff’s results with the half-cookie Alpa 10s were delightful...
shooting with the Polaroid GOOSE was a total kick...
and the square-frame Zeiss Ikon Taxona - two-thirds of a cookie! - is a fun alternative to the elusive Mamiya Sketch
at the wondrous L.A. Camera Expo, Gabe snapped up an Olympus 35RC, while Jeff went for big brother 35SPn, a rarer version of the 35SP with better typography
Chad GPT misled us again! he made Jeff buy a Kilfitt Makro-Kilar in Exakta mount, insisting it was Alpa
Kodacolor returns - or does it? once again, all we care about is good typography!
how embarrassing: Jeff’s nemesis has entered the world of fashion
we had a blast at the Bike Shed complex in DTLA’s Arts District
we actually empty the Prodigious Mailbag™ for a change
and finally, we urge you continue imploring Debbie Gibson to perform our theme song for the 100th episode