Episode 101: Mike Eckman Man of Mystery

When it came time to decide what to follow up our 100th episode, the guys made a comment that we should interview a prominent podcaster and blogger in the vintage camera realm. With a long list of guests already, we thought hard about who we've missed, who is one person who has helped grow GAS as much as any one single person can? Anthony spoke up and said, "Hey, it should be Mike"! While I had my doubts about how interesting a whole episode about me could be, I thought that I do like to tell stories, why why not?!

Joining Anthony, Paul, Stephen, Theo, and Mike this, our 101st episode are returning callers A.J. Gentile, David Palumbo, Fernando Villava, Ira Cohen, Mark Faulkner, Pat Casey, Rob Lattimer, William Ponder, and Will Pinkham.

Over the course of the episode, I field a variety of questions from how I got started, what is my while whale camera, what cameras never clicked for me, what was an example of a camera that I felt overwhelmed trying to shoot. Paul gets me to revisit my 2023 trip to Los Angeles when I went through the collection of Kurt Ingham and what it was like going through such a large collection.

We get into camera accessories, especially how difficult it is to adapt Kilfitt lenses and that the "Rear Window" Kilfitt lens was never made specifically with an Exakta mount, we talk about what is a good first camera is, and we get into how I am resisting the urge to collect carbon filament light bulbs and Nixie Tubes.

Amazingly, we make it through the nearly 2 hour run time without repeating too much of what's been covered before, and while doing so managed to cover a whole lot of GAS!

As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don’t feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show. We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you’ve been doing it, so please don’t consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining!

The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you’d like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance.

We will be back shortly with our next episode, which is going to be two days before Christmas. We'll call this one our "holiday eggnog episode" where we recap the year and open up the call in lines for whatever you all want to talk about. Episode 102 will be recorded on Tuesday, December 23rd at 7pm Central Standard Time and 8pm Eastern Standard Time. Make sure you set your calendars and look out for the show announcement at the usual locations and be prepared to join us!

In This Episode

• Mike’s T-shirt Sorting Techniques / It was Anthony’s Idea to Interrogate Mike
• How did Mike get started? One night on eBay… He shares the cameras he used, and the ones that started his collection
• The origins of MikeEckman.com
• It all started with a Nikon EL2, then a Kodak No.1 Autographic Special, Model A
• An avalanche begins: Argus C3, FED-2, Konica Auto S2
• The Meeting of the Bloggers / White Whales Just Keep Coming
• ‘What the hell is this?” The Hasselblad XPan
• Mike Damaged a Pentacon Six TL That Was Loaned to Him
• Flying to LA: Kurt Ingham’s Collection
• Mike’s Camera room (Cave? Bunker? Subterranean lair?)
• Cameras that didn’t click for Mike / Konica AiBORG / Leia R8
• Continuation/knock-off/replica cameras… Kiev vs FED and Zorki, Minolta Auto Press vs Plaubel Makina, Contax vs Nikon Rangefinders
• Hidden histories Clarus MS-35, Vokar II, thousands of 6x6 TLRs, and the King Regula
• Fernando Villava asks Mike about His Favorite Film / Anthony shares his bulk film lucky find
• William Ponder wants to know if finding accessories leads to discovering cameras
• The Kilfitt Konundrum that Mike created for Paul / Mark Faulkner’s Rear Window Lens / Paul’s NASA Lens
• Will Pinkham wants to know what rarities are on Mike’s Wish List
• Rob Latimer wants to know Mike’s Favorite Cameras
• Vinyl Records, Carbon Filament Bulbs, and Nixie Tubes / Theo wants to know Mike’s other interests
• Cameras that can start a collection, and a good first rangefinder for the SLR shooter
• Is Mike a foodie? A coffee connoisseur? A traveler?
• The importance of keeping photography knowledge alive
• Could there be a Camerosity spin-off some day?

Links

The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, Stephen, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm.

If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server.

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The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast

Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/

Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/

Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/

Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/