Not until 1998, my best companion was still the the Olympus mju zoom 80.  My career in photography started to pick up again when I found a real bargain in York, England. The deal was very tempting. That was a Nikon F2 Photomic camera with 50mm f1.2 in mint condition. The asking price was 350 pounds (about HK$4500). I took some pictures in the transport museum at York. It was the first time I owned a Nikon Lens and the results exceeded my expectation. I brought two more lenses, 35mm f2.0 and 24mm f2.8 when I stopped over in Malaysia.  

Nikon F2 Photomic

Nikkor 50mm f1.2

Nikkor 35mm f2.0

Nikkor 24mm f2.8

In 1999, I up-graded my gear to rangefinder cameras. The cameras and lenses that I owned between 1999-2002 included Nikon S2 with 3.5cm f2.5 and 13.5cm f3.5, Leica M6 TTL with 35mm f2.0 and 90mm f2.0, Voigtlander lenses for Leica 15mm f4.5 and 25mm f4.0 (screwmount). I also got a panoramic rangefinder Hasselblad XPAN with 45mm f4.0 and 90mm f4.0. The focus of these cameras requires good eyesight. But the image quality from rangefinder lenses is generally exceptionally good. It was very enjoyable to take pictures with these cameras because the viewfinders are big and bright. You need to spend sometime to compose your pictures. The colour of the Leica lenses were normally vivid and warm. The Hasselblad lenses were extremely sharp. Both were expensive stuff. I kept these gears for about two year and gained 15% when I sold them. The  Hasselblad X-pan was a great camera. It takes two frames at a time. The size of a film it takes is 65mm x 24mm. The lenses are of 6x7 format.

The Voigtlander lens group

Nikon rangefinder S2

Nikkor 3.5cm f2.5

Nikkor 13.5cm f3.5

Leica M6TTL

Leica 35mm f2.0

Leica 90mm f2.0

Hasselblad XPAN

Hasselblad 45mm f4.0

Hasselblad 90mm f4.0

In the mean time, I also owned a Hasselblad medium format camera - 500CM and some lenses : 50mm f4.0C T*, 80mm f2.8C T*, 150mm f4.0C T* and 250mm f5.6C T*. Using the Hasselbrad was a good fun. They were also expensive stuff and I sold all the Hasselbrad stuff in 2002, but I lost 20% this time, because there were too much supply in the market. It was  worthwhile to have such experience and the cost was not bad. I may lost 50% if I sell them now.

Hasselblad 500CM

Hasselblad 50mm f4.5

Hasselblad 80mm f2.8

Hasselblad 150mm f4.0

Hasselblad 250mm f5.6

I had a chance to meet the twin lens reflex medium format camera - the Mamiya twin lens camera before entering the era of digital photography. It was a C33 with 80mm f2.8. The lens was crystal clear with very good resolution. It was a low cost alternative for medium format cameras. I got a 55mm f4.5 wide angle lens and two telephoto lenses - the 105mm and250mm f5.6. The total cost cost was just under HK$ 10,000. But the re-sale price was no good. Not every second hand shop here seemed interested. Finally, I lost 70%! But it was a good fun playing with these classic cameras.

Mamiya C33

Mamiya 55mm f4.5

Mamiya 80mm f2.8

Mamiya 105mm f3.5

Mamiya 250mm f6.3