EP296: Shopping for Gear — Cosina AF-35 38mm f2.7 with Kodak Vision3 200T/5213

Roll 296

Film: Kodak Vision3 200T/5213
Developed & scanned: DEP Lab 2025/9/26
Camera: Cosina AF-35 38mm f2.7

I've recently steeled myself and started planning a Sigma BF purchase. I know it's not the most practical camera, but as the person writing this site, I figure I should have some genuinely personal impressions to offer.

Of the Sigma BF's silver lens lineup, the three that interest me are:

Sigma Contemporary 45mm F2.8 DG (220g, 24cm minimum focus, 1:4 magnification)
Sigma Contemporary 50mm F2 DG (350g, 45cm minimum focus, 1:6.9 magnification)
Sigma Contemporary 90mm F2.8 DG (295g, 50cm minimum focus, 1:5 magnification)

The 45mm f2.8 and 50mm f2 seem to be the more popular choices — used copies turn up regularly. The 90mm f2.8, by contrast, is almost impossible to find used. When something rarely appears on the used market, it usually means one of two things: the item is so good that owners refuse to part with it, or so unpopular that almost nobody bought it in the first place. Both lead to the same result: low transaction volume.

High transaction volume, on the other hand, means either a lot of people own it so supply is naturally high, or it's not very good and people are offloading it. The clearest example of a high-transaction camera in my mind is the Contax T2 38mm f2.8. If you have the money, you can always find one — the market is constantly flooded with either overpriced listings or faulty units. A large volume of faulty units in circulation is a bad sign. It could mean the camera is difficult to repair, or has a high failure rate, or that repair costs are prohibitive. Any way you look at it, buying a Contax T2 carries real risk if you don't know what you're doing.

By comparison, I think the Ricoh GR1 / GR1s 28mm f2.8 ecosystem is healthier. Faulty units aren't as common, and the typical issues — like a dying top LCD — are easy to fix.

I don't personally like the Contax T2 very much, largely because of lens placement. The lens is positioned toward the right side of the body, which means you almost need two hands to hold it steadily. The Ricoh GR1 / GR1s and Leica Minilux, by contrast, place the lens toward the left, leaving more room for the right hand's grip — stable enough for one-handed shooting.

The Sigma BF's most infamous characteristic is probably its grip — or lack of one. That actually interests me. I'm someone who uses his phone without a case and without a screen protector. If I bought a Sigma BF, I'd probably resist adding a grip attachment too — which makes me genuinely curious whether the BF would be the thing that finally changes my mind.

The camera for this roll is the Cosina AF-35 38mm f2.7. My good impression of Cosina cameras comes from the CX-2 35mm f2.8, but I keep forgetting that the CX-2 came out in 1981 while the AF-35 predates it by two years, releasing in 1979. The AF-35 doesn't feel as solid in the hand as the CX-2, but both share a certain cleverness in their design. The CX-2 uses a rotating lens cover; the AF-35 uses a periscope-style viewfinder that pops up when you press it. On my copy, the viewfinder frame lines are a bit blurry, which made it hard to frame accurately.

Maybe that's its own kind of surprise — a bewildering one.

#1
Driving into the city to run some errands.

#2
A parent-teacher meeting at my son's school. I had my film camera with me and kept wanting to photograph things, but felt awkward about it — so I settled for one shot of the ceiling fan, which I genuinely felt something about. Looking at it, I could almost remember my own hot school summers.

#3
Today's classroom looks different from what I sat in thirty-plus years ago. A sign of educational progress.

#4
Shot by my son. One morning I was sleeping in and apparently my sleeping position was a bit unusual.

#5
A poorly framed viewfinder shot, as the name implies.

#6
Sometimes on my run I take that zigzag staircase up to the bridge.

#7
Lunch one day.

#8
Autofocus cameras from this era tend to struggle in low light — the Olympus C-AF 38mm f2.8 being a notable exception, thanks to its AF assist lamp. I've bought quite a few C-AFs over the years, but I've never been able to decide whether I prefer the silver or the black body.

#9
The Cosina AF-35 38mm f2.7 has a distinctive kind of sharpness. This one was shot with manual infinity focus — the autofocus version came out blurry, luckily I took two frames.