Classic camera montage from left to right row by row:
1/ Nikon F3T: Giorgetto Giugiaro design and ergonomics. Balance and engineering by Nikon, with mother nature giving it her best; key parts of the F3T are made of the sweetest of metals: Titanium.
2/ Canon A1: The first main stream SLR to incorporate a micro chip to control shutter speed and aperture, both, either or neither. This kicked off a frenzy of competitive innovation among the Japanese manufacturers that saw the centre of 35mm camera manufacture shift from Europe/West Germany to Japan.
3/ Hasselblad 500C: This image is a vector, an Ai file. The first of three such Ai's in this montage of 12 cameras. Is there a model on the planet who hasn't been photographed with a Hasselblad? Developed by Mr Hasselblad for the Swedish government with help from a captured German reconnaissance camera taken from a crashed spy plane. Acknowledged as the benchmark for studio or any still photography.
4/ Nikon F: The first readily available 35mm SLR. Tough does not properly describe things. Ultimately it had the widest range of lenses and just about every professional photographer had a least three of them.
5/ 'Blad 500EL: EL stands for Electric Lunar. This 3D digital model of the 500EL was built from images supplied to us by Hasselblad. This is one of the two 500ELs Hasselblad own that were used by the Apollo Astronauts for training. The ones they used on The Moon, new out of the box for each mission, were left behind on the Lunar surface to save weight on the return journey to Earth.
6/ Nikon FM3a: This image is also a vectored Ai file. Nikon's swan song Nikon F. Developed into the teeth of the digital revolution. Some say it is the best 35mm SLR ever made. Nikon likely knew it would be overtaken by events but in a we have started so we will finish mindset, saw it through anyway. As capable as 35mm SLRs get.
7/ Minox: What became the go to spy camera was developed in Riga in the 1920s. It was originally intended as an everyman portable image taker. Expensive to produce it became a luxury item loved by spies everywhere. The lens, which could focus from around 20cm to infinity was clever and extraordinary to the point of not needing a diaphragm. This type of lens has continued to be refined and is found in all smart phone cameras.
8/ Rollei 35: A 3D model of the world's smallest fully featured 35mm.
9/ Leica IIIf: Oskar Barnack gave the world hand held 35mm photography. The IIIf was almost his swan song (there was a IIIg). This image is the last of the three vectors in this 12 camera collection. In the 1950's through the '60s and most of the '70s you needed an import license to buy a Leica III or M3. The issue was post war anxiety about the UK's balance of payments. The body of these cameras cost something like the going rate for a small terraced house and the lens the same again. Two houses for the price of a camera! And a German camera at that. You were Cecil Beaton or you smuggled one in...
10/ The Rolleiflex TLR: The world's biggest selling medium format camera. Having twin lenses eradicated the need to flip a large mirror out of the way before firing the shutter and gave an uninterrupted view of the image being taken even while it was being taken.
11/ Leica M3: Many have the M3 as the very best 35mm camera; SLR or otherwise. Leica surely felt it had the measure of anything by Nikon. Nikon, hitherto a manufacturer only of light meters, had just launched a refined Leica III copy, the Nikon S. Leica likely remained sure of themselves even as Nikon launched the F a few years later. They were wrong in apparently being sanguine about their competition.
12/ The Nikon S: A 3D model of Nikon's first 35mm camera. It looked like a Leica III and worked like one at a fraction of the money. Leica apparently took little notice; they were about to launch the M3, a step change from the Leica III.
These vectors and Ai files by Yukio are the results of extraordinary skill and care; there are likely only a handful of people on the planet who could reproduce digital simulations of these artefacts to this degree of exactitude. Labour and skill x 12, all for the same price as any other of our shirts decorated with Yukio's work, make this shirt the world's best decorated t shirt value.
Our t-shirts are unique for being wholly made with CoolMax freshFX. CoolMax is a patented fibre designed to wick perspiration and accelerate moisture evaporation, keeping wearers cooler and drier. This wicking feature of the fabric is made possible by micro channels engineered into the profile of and surface of the fibre. These channels are cleverly dimensioned to exploit the surface tension and capillary action of water. Being physical properties of the fibre, these channels endure and do not significantly diminish with wear or washing.
Antimicrobial (freshFX) treatment stops the propagation of odour producing bacteria. This is achieved by embedding silver salt crystals into the structure of the fibre. FreshFX treatment like the wicking is permanent and does not leach out with everyday use. These characteristics ensure the shirts remain cool, dry and odour free regardless of what you might do in them. Performance of the fabric is guaranteed through a certified and monitored manufacturing process.
