Shen Hao Professional Camera

Shen Hao Professional Camera is a small Shanghai company that makes large-format view cameras – old-school cameras which use larger film and contain many completely different mechanisms than a 35mm camera. They're much heavier and inconvenient than a normal camera, and really you don't see them around Shanghai at all, any more than in the US anyway.

As I haven't used their cameras, I can't provide much first hand information. Their only sales department is inside the Xin Guang Camera Mall, on the fourth story, room 419. There's several other camera stores in the mall dedicated to large-format cameras, as well. Shen Hao cameras are also sold online in foreign markets, with their 4x5 camera going for $645, and there's a company website with more details, although the website doesn't ever want to load. Additionally, Ken Rockwell, who's a little controversial with camera nerds, compiled a lot of excellent data on using and purchasing a large-format camera. He actually recommends the Tachihara, which is a very similar camera being produced in Japan. Finally, Ansel Adams wrote several interesting guides to photography, which often focus on the use of a view camera – his most famous shots were made with large-format cameras.

These large-format cameras have some advantages. There was a recent exhibition of photography in Shanghai, where pictures of Dongbei citizens standing in the snow were taken on 8x10 film. Even with the large prints, the fine details were both obvious and impressive, which is really the raison d'etre of large-format photography. One could say the resolution of 8x10 film is equivalent to 800 megapixels, although the actual number depends a lot on use and who you talk to – anyway, with the increase in film size comes a corresponding increase in detail, and the total resolution is around 50 times greater than that of 35mm film, or of a DSLR for that matter. There's also an ability to change the plane of shooting, where perspective can be altered, or the focus plane can be changed.

However, large format view cameras aren't quick to use, and at ten pounds or so for a complete setup, are heavy and bulky to carry. They're also expensive – even a minimal setup will cost upwards of a thousand dollars. Additionally, buying the film and having it developed costs several dollars per shot (Weima, on Wulumuqi Lu, services large-format photography). So it's not a camera for casual photographers, and is probably best used by a devoted landscape or nature photographer who wants to make poster-sized prints.

There's also a host of accessories that are needed: a lens board, a focusing screen, a film tray, and even a little cloth to hide behind, to see the focusing screen when there's light outside! Shen Hao sells many of these accessories, although they're interchangeable between brands. Really, the cameras Shen Hao sells are more of a chassis, to put all these accessories into – as long as the camera is a stable, light-tight platform, with a degree of movement, technical image quality boils down to the separately-purchased lens, and the film. Shen Hao does have a good international reputation as building a cheap but acceptably solid camera.

In addition to the most well-known film sizes, 4x5 and 8x10, they also offer cameras and film backs with wider perspectives such as 7x17, having ratios around 1:2.5, about twice as wide as a picture taken with a 35mm camera. Interestingly, they also offer view cameras in medium-format size, both 60mm x 170mm, and 60mm x 240mm. They'll take respectively four or three pictures on a normal roll of medium-format 120 film, which is much cheaper and easier to purchase and develop than large-format sheet film. They offer about the same total resolution as 4x5 film, although with much narrower perspectives.

Seagull Camera

Seagull Camera, based in Shanghai, is China's premier camera brand, which isn't saying much. Everybody in China gets Japanese cameras, same as in the US. The company has never even developed a digital model, and I don't really understand how it still survives – perhaps through generous government subsidies?

The Seagull headquarters is located near the Bund, on Huqiu lu near Suzhou River – it’s directly south of Zhapu Lu food street. I didn’t walk around, but I saw it contains a display room, where most of their products are for sale.


Those with an interest in taking pictures might find the brand worthwhile. Seagull exports their TLR cameras to a niche market throughout the world, they're one of only two companies still producing TLRs. These cameras use a film size that is four times larger than 35mm film, and hence contains four times as much detail – theoretically, image quality is much better than any 35mm or digital camera. In operation, they don’t really look anything like a normal camera. I’ve only seen somebody using one once, here’s a picture of it:



The Seagull model is an imitation of the premier TLR brand, Rolleiflex. Personally, I own a Japanese-made Yashica, which also imitates Rolleiflex, and can confirm that the picture quality is outstanding. While I’ve heard the Seagulls TLRs don’t have as good a lens, and that quality can be inconsistent, it’s possible to find them used for around $25 or less, say at the Xingguan Photo Mall. There’s also a 109 model that I suspect is actually an OK camera, and has a higher-quality lens. However, it’s a newer model, not available used, and sells at a higher cost than a used Yashica.



Looking at these used Seagull Cameras gives a quick look at the wacky economy of post-Liberation China. The brand-name “Seagull” itself was shared among various companies, who separately made the same product at different factories. Additionally, the design was shared with a number of regional camera companies, which have since dissolved, but the cameras can still be found used.

Seagull’s other main product is the Seagull DF series. They’re a line of film SLR cameras. Interestingly, they’re fully compatible with Minolta’s old manual-focus lenses (and vice-versa). These cameras are cheap new, and practically free used. It’s a very easy way to get into SLR photography – used, a camera plus a 50mm F1.4 lens goes for about $50. On the other hand, getting a used Minolta XG or X-700 off ebay won't be much more expensive, and they're probably better cameras. Anyway, here's some information on Seagull's SLR line, for those with an interest in giving them a try. I'd guess the zoom lenses aren't very good, but I'm sure the prime lenses are fine. And at $30 for a new 50mm lens, and $60 for a 24mm, it's not a huge investment.



It will blow away the results from any non-DSLR digital camera, especially in lower light. As an example, here’s a band-picture of Muscle Snog, taken on ISO800 film, actually with a slightly dimmer F1.8 lens. Fuji also makes an ISO1600 film, although good luck finding it in Shanghai.



And here’s a picture of a band taken on a small digital camera. While it’s not a scientific A-B comparison, please believe that I’ve taken a lot of band pictures, and both results are pretty typical:



The display room also (strangely enough) sells Olympus's Stylus Epics, a line of smallish point-and-shoot film camera. They're still new, and there's a number of varieties. I have a couple and love them. The fixed-lens is the one to get for indoors, but the variations with zooms are also very good as an outdoor camera.

Seagull also re-brands generic cameras and cheap digital cameras. I ended up getting a 25mm toy camera. It’s fun, even if it sucks:

Holgas and Toy Cameras in Shanghai

A very small update here, following up on my earlier post about Buying Photographic Equipment in Shanghai. One thing I didn't mention is Holgas - they're a toy plastic camera that were originally produced for the Chinese market, but really didn't do very well over here. Instead they caught on amongst hipsters in foreign markets.

They use the somewhat uncommon 120 size film, which is twelve shots per roll if shooting square pictures, with the film being three or four times larger than conventional film. Also, the lens is really basic, it makes the outside of the picture look blurry and dark. There's no way to choose aperture or shutter speed, the only control is the ISO of the film. So they only work on bright sunny days, or when used together with a flash.

I always thought the cameras were silly, however they're very cheap and I was impressed with the artsy black and white shots my friend took. I got one which I mostly use to take street scenes, when I'm walking around town. It's fun, I like the square format, the light weight, the way they draw attention to the center of the frame, and just that they're very casual and easy to use. With my glass-lensed version, plus Fuji Superia 100 film, I get really crazy colors:



I haven't seen any Holgas for sale around Shanghai, even in the camera markets - I purchased mine off taobao. However, looking around taobao the other day, I came across the Snaps Shop, which sells Holgas, in all the different variations and colors. It also sells Diana+s, the various Lomo cameras, and a few other interesting film cameras. I was interested in purchasing the new 35mm version of the Holga, the Holga 135BC. But it goes for about $60, more than twice what I got my Holga GN for, so I skipped it. Anyway, the shop is located at 497 Huaihai Road, Room 1, a couple blocks west of Huangpi Nan Lu Station, a very central location. However, there's no storefront, there's a buzzer at the front gate and they'll let in customers to their second-story shop. The place is open from 1pm-8pm.

Holgas (and Dianas), use medium-format 120 film, just a quick word on that. The film is available at the camera stores on Wulumuqi Lu (near Yan'an) and at the camera malls. However, recently I haven't seen any speed available except for ISO 100 - which on a Holga really requires a bright sunny day to be useful (they're about F13, and 1/100th of a second). So faster film might require ordering off of taobao.

The film can be developed for 5 kuai/roll, cheap, same as 35mm film. However, prints are 5 kuai for a print at Frontier, or 2.5 kuai for a tiny print at Weima. The film is too large to work with my lower-end scanner, and quality scanners are expensive and hard to find in China. Also, the black and white developing and printing is substantially more expensive than color.

There's some Chinese B&W 120 films available, even though they cost about 50 cents / roll maybe they're not great for toy camera. They tend to require very exact exposures, which is difficult to achieve on a toy camera.

Update 3/26/2009 - These places still work, but let me provide a few more.

Really the cheapest way to get a Holga is to buy one off US EBay. Most of the sellers are from Hong Kong, and will ship the camera to the PRC. Hong Kong's currency is vaguely pegged to the dollar, so the US's recent exchange rate problems make it cheaper.

As said the in replies, Lomography has a store on Jinxian Lu, next to Chun - it's a quite a bit more expensive for a Holga, but actually for the Diana or the 35mm Holga, it's not so bad. There's also a second Snaps Shop, near Duolun Lu.

In the Xing Guan Camera mall (near Luban Lu), there's a Yi Qian Camera store, which sells some Lomo type cameras. It's also a decent place to scan film, I'll probably have an update before too long about that topic. It's on the third floor, straight ahead but to the right of where the escalator gets off. The shop to the left is my favorite place to get film in Shanghai.

And near any tourist attraction in Shanghai, there's cheesy toy cameras.

Buying Photographic Equipment in Shanghai

I love taking photographs, but I'm too much of a nerd about it: I also like window-shopping the cool camera systems that I can't quite rationalize purchasing, and if I go on a trip I'll pack two or even three cameras along. It's so pathetic!

While I like looking at cameras, Shanghai is not the best place to buy a camera - I think that title would go to the US or Hong Kong. It's too expensive, and some things are just not at all available. However, there are definitely fun places to look around, and there's unique products that can't easily be found elsewhere.

I'd like to go from easiest to hardest, but I'll get this out of the way first: taobao.com should be a buyer's reference. It's a Chinese EBay, with a few slight differences - it's almost entirely e-shops with set prices, and the money is held in escrow until the buyer is satisfied. It also requires a Chinese bank account that has been set up for e-purchases, and the site's language is all in Chinese. However, generally it offers the best possible price for items, and shows what's available in China, so it's a useful starting point. Also, entering the English names of equipment into the search box usually is fine, and will give about as many results as using Chinese. I've used taobao a couple times with no problems.

So with that out of the way, I'll say the places for getting cameras:

1) Xujiahui - Best Buy opened a branch in Xujiahui district, it's part of a larger plan of expansion into the Chinese market. The environment is about the same and I generally think it's dependable, although the return policy is less generous than in the US. Many of the workers there speak English, and the selection is pretty good, if entirely digital and not excellent - they only have Nikon and Sony DSLRs - they'll sometimes stock Canon but they don't carry Canon's lenses or equipment. It's easy to hold onto and test out the equipment. The prices are generally up to 25% more than it would cost in US, however, and that was true even before the dollar's recent travails. A year ago I managed to get a camera there for much cheaper than the US price, so maybe there's some luck involved. Even if it's cheaper elsewhere, I'd be tempted just to go there as it's the least hassle.

There's also a lot of shops selling digital cameras in the electronic malls immediately nearby, really it's a bazaar of little stalls. The prices as listed are very very high. I haven't tried bargaining with them, I'm sure you'd have to bargain pretty hard and a foreigner wouldn't get a break. I doubt it's worth it.

2) Huan Long Zhao Cun Shi Chang - a photo mall directly across from the North Train Station, at 360 MeiYuan Street. It had been closed for re-building until recently, and is still in the process of being set up, so there's obviously many more stores to open. Hopefully that re-building process will involve a sign - right now there's only a non-distinct, Chinese sign. It's on the 2nd and 3rd story of the mall across the street from Subway Line #1's Exit #4, and there's a Burger King around the corner, to the left of the entrance. The 1st floor is a normal department store.

While I've only bought a single roll of film there, it's a bunch of clean, brightly lit stores, with long hallways where it's easy to get lost. It centers around digital cameras, with some shops selling used but excellent-condition cameras, at a premium cost. I saw the Nikon D3 there, which is supposedly really hard to find even in the US. Prices seemed to start high but I'm sure there's room to bargain. There's a few places selling film, and a few places selling books about photography, and other stores selling general photographic equipment.

Some of the places will speak English, some won't. Most (all?) places will charge slightly more if you want the receipt than if you don't. It's so they can avoid taxes.

3) Xing Guan Photographic Mall - I really like this camera mall, although the feel is only a step or two above a large flea market. It's six floors, on the corner of Luban and Xietu Lu - not very far from Luban Lu Station, on line 4. The first floor is digital, the upper floors are used equipment, flash equipment, camera repair places, and other general equipment that would be useful to a professional photographer.

I especially like the used equipment shops, mostly on the fourth and sixth floor. A lot of it is very old school, cameras that look like they saw better days in the 50s. To my surprise, there's not as many Chinese cameras as I expected, and very little Russian. Much of the vintage equipment is German. It's more expensive than EBay, but not terrible. I get the idea there's little room for bargaining at most of these stores, which I'm fine with.

For me, I'm somewhat interested in getting an old Medium-Format Chinese camera. Both the Seagull TLR and the Hongmei HM-1 folding-bellows camera are to be found, for around $30 before bargaining. There were pretty good prices on Mamiya systems and the like, which is probably a better idea.

Similarly to Huan Long, some of the places speak English, some don't, and they give you a small break if you help them cheat with their taxes.

It's definitely the best place to get film - there's a number of stores with a good selection, and the prices for non-professional film are good. One little oddity is, it's impossible to get 1600 film in Shanghai, and I've only once seen 800 film! 800 is available at every drugstore in the US, but even on taobao.com is only available as a Hong Kong import - I find it very mysterious and annoying. In the meanwhile I've become a big fan of Fuji Superia ISO 100 film. I think the crazy red and yellow saturated colors work very well in China, where people often like to have bright red and yellow decorations. It's available as 120-size film, I believe that's not true in the US. It goes for $1.50/roll.

There's also local brands of film, which really aren't very popular, the most common being Lucky, which is easiest to find in ISO 100 B&W. There's other brands like Shanghai B&W or color films, I haven't tried them but I hear they're not as good as Lucky. Lucky film is kind of eerie looking and I hear quality is inconsistent and really it's ISO 50 (which doesn't help on overcast Shanghai days), but a roll of 120 film goes for $.75, so...

4) Wei Ma Professional Photo / Frontier - two film photo stores which are right at the entrance to neighboring alleys, with Wei Ma focusing on Kodak, and Frontier on Fuji. On 457 & 459 Wulumuqi Lu, South of Yan'an Lu, on the East side of the street.

Shooting film is cheap in Shanghai. Getting a roll of Fuji developed at Frontier only costs 5 kuai, about seventy cents. It's twice as much in Wei Ma labs, though. They both charge a lot more to develop B&W. Development at Frontier usually is ready several hours later or the next day, Wei Ma takes a couple days. I normally use Frontier. Wei Ma does have English speakers, though, and it makes medium-format prints for 2.5 kuai/picture, not 5, it also stocks chemicals for B&W developing. They also have a stockpile of expired Feb. 2006 ISO 100 Kodak Portra 120 film, marked at 15 kuai/role. It's been stored OK so I'm guessing it should be fine.

35mm prints are a little expensive at 1 kuai/print, but I just scan the film up at home. They'll scan a roll for $5, I tried it at Frontier once but wasn't happy with the results.

There's also a million Kodak stores & stalls all around Shanghai, they're fine for making prints off a digital memory card, developing a roll of film, and small things like that.

Update 4/15/2008 - I also have a word to say about Buying Holgas and Toy Cameras in Shanghai.