When asked to review the HARMAN EZ35 Camera I expected the quirky results similar to a Lomo or Holga camera with associated strong vignetting and an overall lack of snap… NOT SO!
This camera is truly a marvellous image maker! These photos are worth a thousand words and speak to excellence this little camera is capable of. I should add it was very different shooting to concentrate only on the shot, free of any technical distractions… Oh, yes, I fits nicely in your pocket.
The nuts and bolts:
It’s plastic which does not usually instill confidence especially with it’s low price of CAD$99.99 – on sale now for $CAD$79.99.
The kit includes the camera of course with a wrist strap, a 36 exposure roll of HP5 Plus and battery. It’s reusable with motorized load, film advance and rewind and has built in flash. Holy cow, the spacing between frames was perfectly spaced equalling my pin register Nikon F2.
I did all these shots on a heavily overcast low light day knowing the film would be underexposed and very flat. Using the same developer found the Ilford Freedom Starter film processing kit, I increased the processing time by 50% with agitation every 30 seconds. This push processing along with the wide latitude of HP5 Plus gave me near perfect negatives. Processing your film at home is very rewarding allowing into the alchemy of specialized processing. More about this in future articles.
This EZ35 is capable of pro level image making. For my B&W film essay on ‘street people’ I’ll have in my pocket for those times when I’m out without my camera bag and be able to capture shots I’d otherwise miss.
I hope winter is treating everyone well…no excuses – get out shooting a give this marvellous camera a workout.
Best!
Item discussed
About the Author – Crombie McNeill
PHOTONews Flash is honoured to see our contributing editor Crombie McNeill featured in CTV News Ottawa. Tune in to hear Crombie’s story and his mission to help those experiencing homelessness.
Crombie McNeill is a unique artist. He’s a world travelled photographer with numerous awards and has been recognized as one of the best editorial photographers in North America. His credits include Time, Newsweek, ELLE, Life, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Chatelaine, Paris Match, McLean’s, En Route to name but a few.
His Odyssey lead him from the Arctic to high fashion magazine shoots to Olympic Games, World Cup events, the depths of the Great Barrier Reef to the altitude with the Snow Birds, interwoven with civil war in Africa, Royalty, presidents to paupers world wide. Not to mention frozen toes at the North Pole.
His photography has been exhibited in galleries across Canada, the United States and Europe and has three books to his credit.
Not one to leave behind the uniqueness of traditional film he’s evolved a blending of photography with both hand applied and computer processing to produce truly unique images.
“The art of photography for me” says Crombie “is to convey a timeless essence with a hint of mystery”.
The National Archives predicts he will be credited as one of Canada’s most significant photographers and is on the list for The Order of Canada. The National Art Gallery of Canada has some of his fine art B&W prints included in their permanent collection.
Crombie is now happily retired, in that he no longer accepts editorial or commercial assignments He now lives in Aylmer, with his wife Sue. “This retirement”, he’s delighted to says, “allows me the freedom to search for those magical B&W images, and to determine the ideal technique by which it should be captured and presented.
Crombie often returns to the peaceful amber glow of his wet darkroom as a respite from his extensive digital lab and art board.
Please enjoy!
Thank you for the promo on the Harmon EZ-35.
Got my feet wet and educated my sons with the Pentax SLR and a home developing kit for ektrachrome (spelling).
We would go through the process in the laundry sink, the boys would hang to dry, and cut the frames, placing them in the slide shells.
Mom made the popcorn. Needless to say you brought back some great memories from the 70’s
Having lost my entire SLR package to thieves, I now rely on the phone! Time to dust off the Canon Rebel an order an EZ-35 eh.
Roland
Hi Roland,
It’s great you’re reinspired to shoot b&w film and I promise you’ll like the EZ-35. I was honestly surprised and it’s now part of my dress code. lol
Best shooting!
Cheers,
Crombie
Thank you for your Review on the Harmon EZ-35 i have one and have taken some good photos on it one of the photos i took on it is in a frame on my wall.
its better than a single use Camera.
This Camera is good for someone who would like to try film for the first time or if you have a SLR and would like something small and light you can have in your pocket for those days you just want to snap a quick photo and not have to worry about the settings.
this Camera would make a good birthday or Christmas present.
for best results use 400 ISO film.
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