personal | Shoot With Personality

{Nikon for Girls}

October 27, 2017 9:15 am ⋅ 2 Comments ⋅ Amanda Raney

I’m a few years late in writing a post dedicated to this camera…

I got a Nikon EM in 2012. It’s a Nikon “for girls.” Oh yes, you read that correctly. When the EM was released, it was supposed to be appealing to women photographers who were newly entering the world of SLR photography. It is a small, simple to use “budget” camera.

From the Nikon EM Wikipedia page:

Called internally “the Nikon for women”, the EM was designed to provide style (exterior contours sculpted by Italian automobile stylist Giorgetto Giugiaro), convenience (a system of dedicated accessories), ease of use (as much automation as possible in 1979), low cost (simplified manufacturing process) and the prestige of the Nikon name (prominently displayed on the pentaprism housing) for initiates to SLR-dom.

Spoiler: Nikon’s strategy to snag female buyers with the EM didn’t work. They bought nicer, more fully-featured cameras instead…

Decades after its release, I picked up my EM for about $25. Which actually might have been overpaying, since it didn’t have a lens! (I already had lenses to fit it since I have other Nikons…)

A little about the Nikon EM:

It’s a manual focus 35mm SLR camera
Exposure is aperture priority, meaning the user selects the aperture and the camera selects the appropriate shutter speed
Auto shutter speeds of 1 sec. to 1/1000 sec. Bulb mode available by turning the mode dial to “B”
Shutter speed is indicated with a needle in the viewfinder
Warning beeps if the shutter speed needed for proper exposure would be out of range (over 1/1000 sec.) or cause a risk of camera shake (under 1/30 sec.)
Manually selectable film speeds of 25 ASA – 1600 ASA
A battery is needed for the automatic exposure system to work, but there is a manual shutter speed of 1/90 sec. available if your battery dies OR if using a flash. Bulb mode also works without need for a battery.

B (bulb)/M90 (1/90s)/Auto dial
Shutter button and film advance lever
Battery check button and LED light

Here’s something: I have owned the Nikon EM for over five years, and I just noticed this little silver button on the front. I had to look it up in the camera manual! It’s an exposure compensation button! According to the manual, the button adds about two stops of exposure in situations with backlighting. I wish I’d known that sooner!

Exposure compensation button near the top front of camera

Now, as to how I never got ’round to blogging about this camera on Shoot with Personality before, I think it’s because most of the photos I have taken with it were in England. It earned a spot as my main camera during two of my trips to England (2012 and 2014,) so those were posted on my “Amanda Goes to England” blog. I chose the EM as my travel camera because it’s relatively small and quick to use due to its exposure system (I choose the aperture, the camera chooses the shutter speed.) So I guess the things I like about the EM are the features that Nikon though would appeal to women buying their first SLR? Except I was far from a beginner when I bought it 🙂

Why am I finally compiling Nikon EM photos here now? I recently dusted the camera off, tried to replace the faulty light seals in the camera, and ran a roll through it. After using a beautiful Nikon F3 most of 2017, (THANKS DAVID!!!) I had forgotten how teeny the EM is! It’s so small!

Nikon F3 size version Nikon EM size:
According to Wikipedia, the EM is 86 mm (3.4 in) high, 135 mm (5.3 in) wide, 54 mm (2.1 in) deep and weighs 460 grams (16 oz)
According to its manual, the Nikon F3HP is 101.5 mm (4 in.) high, 148.5 mm (5.8 in.) wide, 69.0 mm (2.7 in.) deep and weighs 760 grams (26.8 oz)

In using the EM again, it was nice to have just a little SLR to carry around with me anywhere and everywhere. I thought I’d finally discuss the camera and share some of the photos I’d taken with it through the years. I managed to find a few on my computer that I hadn’t posted elsewhere before now too!

Memphis Zoo. Summer 2012

Memphis Zoo. Summer 2012 (I didn’t remember this photo, but I really like it now that I’ve seen it for the first time in five years!)

Memphis Zoo. Summer 2012

Summer 2012

Summer 2012 (Never-before-seen)

Summer 2012

Summer 2012 (Never-before-seen)

Summer 2012

London. November 2012

Merstham, England. November 2012

Brighton, England. November 2012

London. November 2012

London. November 2012 (Never-before-seen)

London. November 2012

London. November 2012 (Never-before-seen)

Merstham, England. November 2012

Merstham, England. November 2012 (Never-before-seen)

London. November 2012

Memphis Zoo. November 2012. (Never-before-seen SO THIS WAS A TREAT FOR ME! A photo of my niece from when she was younger that I have no recollection of!)

Memphis Zoo. November 2012 (Never-before-seen)

Winter 2013

Winter 2013 (Never-before-seen)

Mississippi. Fall 2013

London. May 2014

London. May 2014 (Never-before-seen. I accidentally opened the back of the camera because I forgot there was film in it)

London. May 2014

York, England. May 2014

London. May 2014

So, as you can see, the Nikon EM can be a versatile little camera and a great way to use the Nikon system and its wonderful lenses. Paired with my 50mm f/1.8 Nikkor pancake lens, I have found the EM to be to be a great everyday shooter, at home and abroad 🙂

Posted in: camera equipment, film photography, personal ⋅ Tagged: camera equipment, camera review, film photography, nikon em, retrospective

{Birthday Week 2016} Revisited

June 21, 2017 12:26 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ Amanda Raney

These are some photos that I initially didn’t think would make a good blog post, maybe because they’re even more “personal” than my usual posts. I did post a few on Flickr, but after letting them sit since last year, I have now decided to share them.

My sister, my sister-in-law, and I have birthdays that fall within the same seven day period. I have been trying to be intentional about shooting film during specific times such as our birthday week, so I loaded my Fujica ST605N and kept it with me throughout the week.

Before going to the tattoo shop for my mom, we stopped at Pei Wei and I had a tofu, veggies, and rice bowl at Pei Wei

Tattoo #3 for mom

Little notebook I bought to use in England the next month

A mug my sister got me for my birthday

Union Jack sneakers my sister also got me for my birthday

On my sister-in-law’s birthday, my mom took my brother this hat and made me photograph him in it (like he was a mountain man 🙂 )

My mom and sister-in-law on her birthday (my sister-in-law’s, that is!)

Flower my sister-in-law gave me on her birthday

Using the vintage Pyrex bowl my sister gave me to store icing tips

Mom’s new tattoo, about a week into its healing process

Birthday pressies from New York

The many Instax photos I took during birthday week

The most of the Instax mini photos that week went onto my daily photo project blog, but I’ll share them here too:

The Fujica which shot the other photos in this post

First time at Bass Pro in the Pyramid in Memphis

Another photo from mom’s tattoo session

My actual birthday: lunch at Pyro’s Pizza

Birthday selfie, taken the evening of my birthday

A beautiful vintage Pyrex bowl my sister gave me that week <3

The mini vegan chocolate cake I made my sister-in-law for her birthday
(click here to see a better photo of it, as well as a photo of her eating it 🙂 )

We ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant for my sister’s birthday. There was still a Christmas wreath over the door, even though it was August!

Oh and fe bonus photos taken with a different camera, my Ricoh FF-1 😀 :

More from my first time at Bass Pro in the Pyramid

Huddle House with mom, in Batesville, Mississippi

Photos taken with a Fujica ST605N and Agfa Vista 200, Fuji Instax Mini 90 and Fuji Instax Mini film, and Ricoh FF-1 and expired Fuji Superia 400

Posted in: film photography, personal ⋅ Tagged: birthday week, family, film photography, fuji instax mini 90, Fujica ST605N, instax mini, personal, ricoh ff-1

{Oh Smoky Mountains}

June 10, 2017 12:14 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ Amanda Raney

Here’s a story for you:

My family and I had a little vacation in Gatlinburg, Tennessee/The Smoky Mountains in September 2016. I took only film with me, waited awhile before I sent it away to be developed, and got a surprise once the film arrived at the photo lab: the package had been damaged in transit, and two rolls of film had gone missing. I was gutted. I knew at least one of those rolls was the primary roll I’d shot while we were in the Smokies. There would be nothing I could do to recover those photos. Thankfully, once I got my film scans back, I found that my secondary roll of film hadn’t been lost after all. Basically the first couple of days of our trip were on the film that was lost (as well as photos from the rest of the vacation,) but at least I also have some Instax Mini photos to share from those first two days!

Fannie Farkles Family Fun Parlor, downtown Gatlinburg

We can never get enough No Way Jose’s Mexican food while in G’burg!

In the Village Shops in Gatlinburg – was surprised to see a British red phone box here, as I’d just been photographing them in London a few weeks earlier 😉

We went to The Apple Barn sooooo many times on this trip!

There was some sort of Harley Davidson meet-up at our motel that weekend

“Homemade Wine,” downtown Gatlinburg

Ripley’s Believe it or Not Odditorium and the Gatlinburg Space Needle

Gatlinburg Space Needle and Arcade

This is a cannibal pumpkin at Dollywood.

50s-themed area in Dollywood called Jukebox Junction

EPIC eagle sculpture near the Wild Eagle rollercoaster

Red’s Diner

Inside Red’s Diner

I LOVE THIS SO MUCH – Rockin’ Roadway, Jukebox Junction

Metal sunflower sculpture

Rides in the County Fair section at Dollywood

Smoky Mountain Cat House

Our drive through Smoky Mountains National Park, on our way to Cherokee, North Carolina

On our way back from Cherokee, we stopped at Mountain Farm Museum in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I made my brother-in-law pose for this photo

Pinhole photo at the Farm Museum

Chicken at the Farm Museum

Crazy overexposed photo of the chicken

Delicious ice cream shop in downtown Gatlinburg

Light fixture made of spoon’s at Maypops

Caramelcorn, downtown Gatlinburg

Ripley’s Believe it or Not Odditorium

Ah, good ole Fisherman Cove (the area of our hotel in Gatlinburg where our room was located)

Bear sculpture in the parking lot of our motel

One last pit stop at the Apple Barn before driving back to Mississippi

Truck stop on our way back to Mississippi

These photos came to mean even more to me because, a couple of months after we were in the Smokies, there were devastating fires which reeked havoc on the area. I don’t yet how the landscape will have changed since I was last there, but I am so thankful for our time in that beautiful part of our country. We also found out that the motel we’d stayed in for our 2015 and 2016 Gatlinburg vacations had torn down so they could build a resort hotel there, so things will definitely be different for us next time we visit the area!

Photos taken with my Pentax Espio Mini, Fuji Instax Mini 90, and Lomography Diana F+

Posted in: film photography, personal ⋅ Tagged: diana f+, fuji instax mini 90, fuji provia 400x, fuji sensia 200, Gatlinburg, Kodak Tri-X, Lomography DIana F+, Pentax espio mini, Pigeon Forge, Smoky Mountains, travel photography, vacaction

Scenes from the Day Spike Came Home

March 11, 2017 10:24 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅ Amanda Raney

A photo shoot with my niece the day her family’s dog, Spike, returned after he’d been missing a few days last summer.

One day last summer when my sister and her family were away from their house for a few hours, one of their dogs, Spike, escaped. It was a harrowing few days until Spike showed up on their doorstep early that Sunday morning. My niece and I decided to do a photo shoot to commemorate Spike’s return. Of course, I managed to get a few of my niece on her own too 😉