So as 2018 draws to a close, it’s interesting to delve into the 35hunter stats and see which posts you read and enjoyed most. Which often aren’t the ones I thought would be read and enjoyed most!
Top Five Posts With Most Views
Strangely, none of the five most read posts of this year were even published in 2018! If you’re a newer reader, maybe you’ve not read them yet – see what takes your fancy.
How I Shoot Film Simply Without A Light Meter (Jul 2016) – My simple guide to using film cameras without light meters has remained the most viewed post pretty much every month since I wrote it.
Lens Love #1 – Pentacon 50mm f/1.8 M42 (Mar 2017) – In praise of the very affordable, capable and deliciously close focusing Pentacon 50/1.8. But you might need patience to find one in good working order.
Preset Aperture Lenses – How They Work And Why You Need At Least One (Mar 2017) – If you’ve never tried a preset aperture lens, I suggest you do, perhaps starting with the excellent and charming Helios 44-2.
Joy In A Leather Jacket (Sep 2017) – My review of the lovely, beautifully designed little Olympus LT-1 film compact. Essentially a Mju-1 in a posh leather jacket, I would recommend this any day ahead of the ridiculous over hyped and over priced Mju-II.
The Thinking Man’s Compact (Jan 2016) – This post about the not quite so common Pentax Espio 160 for some reason continues to get steady attention. If you want a classy compact zoom film camera, this is a great option. Along with about a dozen other Espio models!
Top Five Posts With Most Views (Actually Published In 2018)
Whilst I try to figure out why the posts above from a year or two ago still get more views per month than any written far more recently, here are the most viewed posts actually written in 2018.
How The Internet Has Destroyed Our Grasp Of Great Photography – Why these days everyone’s both a photographer and a photography publisher, and how this has made it almost impossible for photography lovers to separate the wheat from the chaff. And wow is there an abundance of chaff.
Qutest Companion – Pentax Q First Thoughts – The Pentax Q remains a treasured little gem in my core stable of digital cameras in the 11 months I’ve owned it. Essentially it has the flexibility and image quality of a DSLR, in a tiny package. Here are some of the other reasons why I loved it right from the outset.
Irreversible Photography Gets Quter – Pentax Q 07 Shield Mount Lens – Seems you love reading about the petite Pentax, this time with a lens the size and weight of a body cap that gives dreamy lo-fi Holga-esque results and makes the Q even more compact. Tons of fun to use too.
Why I Buy (And Love) Classic Digital Cameras – Which explains why virtually my entire arsenal of cameras now are digital compacts over five years old, and how difficult it is to resist gathering even more.
How Would Your Photography Have Looked Born A Generation Earlier – Seems we all loved pondering this time travelling question – and the range of responses was fascinating too.
Top Five Posts I Wished More People Had Read
When you write a post, it’s difficult to gauge the response it might get. Here are five I really enjoyed writing, but received little love, so I wondered if you might give them a second chance now.
When I Release The Shutter I Feel… – I’ve steadily moved away from gear and review type posts into the more thoughtful and contemplative side of the photography experience, and this was a landmark post along the way. How do you feel when you release the shutter?
Obsessive Photographic Labelling – And How I’m Letting Go – When I shot mostly film, I felt my archived photos needed to be organised and labelled by camera, lens, film, plus any other experimental notes like if the film was expired, deliberately overexposed and so on. If I hadn’t have done this, I would never have figured out what I liked best. It’s been a relief to let go of this process though, and simply save my best images in one folder for each month of the year.
Shoot Photos Without Shame – A simple message, whichever camera, medium and format you wish to use… We’re all different!
The Difference Between Travelling And Just Getting There – One of those posts I thought would strike a chord with most readers, how sometimes it’s just about getting a final result, and sometimes the journey is most important. But for some reason you had nothing to say about this. Perhaps you will now.
How To Control The Compatibility And Cable Chaos Of Digital Cameras – With the Classical Digital Cameras post mentioned above being one of the most read this year, I thought this sister post about how I chose a core set of affordable cameras without drowning in dozens of different leads, batteries, chargers, and memory cards, would be very helpful. But it was far less well received. Maybe you dozed off before you reached the end of the title.
That’s it from me.
What have been your favourite posts this year (on 35hunter, or any other blog your read)?
Join the conversation in the comments below (and don’t forget to tick the “Notify me of new comments via email” box to follow the conversation).
Thanks for looking. Please share this post with others you feel will enjoy it too. If you’re interested, this is what I’m into right now.
35hunter 
“How the Internet has destroyed…” is a rare and remarkable essay.
It spoke plainly and simply of the trivialization of that which your respondents have worked long, hard, and alone to practice well, and gave voice to their resentment over its devaluation.
It required courage to publish. On the Internet, we speak to everyone in the world, all at once. Remarks are tempered and our positions are watered-down; posters dissemble a bit, for fear of giving offense or fear of being taken for a crank. Or that a held belief may damage the revenue stream.
This carefully-wrought and balanced piece is sober; its author is reflective and respectful. and does not come across as Alex Jones. You did not say, as I might have, that digital photography, and ts algorithms and processors makes perfect exposure appallingly easy, and that this automated perfection of light capture is widely confused with real art.
William, thank you for your kind comments.
I’m not sure it was all that courageous, I was just commenting on what I’ve observed and how difficult it can be to find inspiring photography.
I do happen to agree about the execution part of digital photography. Yes, most people with a half decent phone or compact digital camera can make perfectly exposed and focused images. But yes, crucially, this doesn’t mean they can make an interesting photograph.
I much prefer a few defects and ragged edges myself, hence why even some of my, by modern standards, rather old digital compacts from 5-10 years ago still make images that are technically too “good”, so require a bit of tweaking on my part.
“Why I buy (And Love) Classic Digital Cameras…”
I loved it.
A license, a gold-mine of enablement, and my sad troth is stamped with an official ribboned gilt seal. Addiction, already fully present, achieves, is rewarded with independent validation.
By Jove, I do indeed *need* two Canon S95s, an S100, a Lumix LX 5 or maybe a 7, a GF 1, a …
Value and thrift; no arguing with that.
Thanks William. This is the area I struggle with most now – previously it was 35mm film SLRs.
But those digital compacts on that cusp between the early, too slow and primitive pioneers, and today’s generally too sterile and efficient and unnecessarily over complex models remain very alluring.
It’s almost an ocean without bottom too.
At least with 35mm SLR there were only really a handful of brands, and perhaps two or three models worth really seeking out from each. With digital, if you take a brand like Sony or Canon or Olympus or Panasonic, they must have made hundreds of models of digital compacts between them in the last 15 years. As the advertising treadmill approaches ever closer to light speed in all aspects of life, not least of all electronic gadgets, so of course did the number of different models available from each brand…
A part of me would love to try a project like a new (old) digital compact every month for a year and use it exclusively before moving on to the next. But another part of me says no, you already have more than you will ever need.
The constant struggle!
Oh, do it, do it! One 8-10 mp model a month! That’s genius! I’ll hold your coat!
And that’ll stop me doing it myself. Maybe. Probably not; probably just fuel the fire.
And think, Man, of the wonderful posts, the following! It’ll definitely “trend” – to coin a verb – the inevitable explosion in prices and ensuing drought – why, there won’t be an LX5 or 7, an S95, left in the Commonwealth!
Ha ha, William a post is in draft as we speak, certainly with strict limitations on MP and ££, perhaps 10MP and £20… Not that I would get an LX5 or LX7 for that, but I have no doubt plenty of other digital compacts are in reach.
You know, we’re facing another inevitability here: a 12-Step group, with bad coffee. stale donuts, pamphlets, a Chaplain, recidivism, despair…
Everything in moderation my friend…
[…] reading Dan James’ blog about his posts of 2018, I thought I would look at my own stats. I don’t really do musings as […]
Looks like it was a great year for your blog, Dan. Wishing you continued creativity in 2019!
Thanks Julie! Looking forward to reading more enchanting yarns on your site too…
[…] My recent round up of the most read posts on 35hunter in 2018 revealed that none of the top five were even written in 2018. […]
Dan, always a thoughtful tips and ideas, have a wonderful holiday season.
Thank you! You know you’re a year behind though, the 2019 version is here – https://35hunter.blog/2019/12/30/the-best-of-2019/