The Limbo Connection's photos with the keyword: Tenba

Nikon D2Xs with AF Nikkor 24mm f/2.8 lens.

No more heroes any more.

A test of the Nikkor 20mm f/3.5 AI-S lens on a Nikon D3s. ISO 7200; f/5.6; 1/125th.

For years the Nikkor-H 50mm f/2 lens was what you got with your new Nikon or Nikkormat camera. It was engineered to standards unimaginable today. Optically it is as good at f/2 as at any other aperture. It was pretty much unrivalled by any other standard prime lens during its period in production.

My goldfish has CORDURA® scales, which are so tough that it can be injurious to human skin to brush against the little fella. My goldfish is also unique in the aquatic world for its ability to live and thrive out of water. My goldfish never needs to be fed and is contented and undemanding. But you could not say that he is an affectionate pet. There again, is any goldfish affectionate? Photographed using a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI lens on a Nikon D2Xs.

I do not have a dog and so, when faced with an overwhelming urge to take a photograph during a spell of inclement weather, I use this as a subject instead. It's a kind of surrogate dog. I have noticed it is not as animated as a proper dog, but to its credit it does not bark or eat disgusting things found in undergrowth. Nikon D700 with a Tamron 35mm f/1.8 lens.

This is a good lens for clarity and contrast, plus being a 50mm makes it quite cheap to acquire. The light was dim when I took this photograph and thus ISO was pushed up to 3200, but it doesn't look too smudgy. Aperture was f/2.8, speed 1/125th.

Four years ago I won an eBay auction for a 2x teleconverter. The seller did not know it was a teleconverter and had advertised it as a 50mm Tokina lens. In fact the only Tokina thing about it was a lens cap and even that was difficult to discern in the awful photographs the seller had posted. It turned out to be a Teleplus NAS Macro MC7 from the pre-autofocus days, designed to appeal to photographers on a budget and wanting to extend the capability of their one and only lens with a close-up macro feature as well as a doubling of its focal length. I had hoped it might be a more up to date version with AF, but no. I haven’t used it much, but I think it was worth the £4.99 I bid. Here it is coupled with a Nikkor 28mm f/2 lens. Camera: Nikon D700.

Four years ago I won an eBay auction for a 2x teleconverter. The seller did not know it was a teleconverter and had advertised it as a 50mm Tokina lens. In fact the only Tokina thing about it was a lens cap and even that was difficult to discern in the awful photographs the seller had posted. It turned out to be a Teleplus NAS Macro MC7 from the pre-autofocus days, designed to appeal to photographers on a budget and wanting to extend the capability of their one and only lens with a close-up macro feature as well as a doubling of its focal length. I had hoped it might be a more up to date version with AF, but no. I haven’t used it much, but I think it was worth the £4.99 I bid. Here it is coupled with a Nikkor-P 105mm f/2.5 lens.

A camera bag with a bit of character from the 1980s. Ideal for the smaller SLR cameras and slim profile lenses of the period but the innovative internal dividers provide many options for configurations to suit today's equipment. The company stopped using the wonderful logo which read the same when the bag was turned upside down (though it is not advisable to verify this when the bag is full of kit). Many people thought the bag designation was 'Tenba Equa'; maybe that is why the logo was dropped. It's a good bag with stylish front pockets and unusual hardware. The cloth is called 'Cordura' and is a hard-wearing synthetic material which looks like cotton canvas but feels quite different. After complaints from users that the bag had worn a hole in their clothing, Tenba added a soft pad to the back to make it a fairer fight. The lid has a heavy-duty zip with two pulls all the way round and is designed to contain a big supply of film. Shooting Notes: Because of its design, texture, patina, and logo, I often use this bag as a model for testing combinations of cameras and lenses in varying light etc. The EXIF data indicates I used a Nikon D2Xs for this photo with a 50mm lens, but I think I forgot to tell the camera I had switched to a 35mm Nikkor-O.C Auto f/2 lens. Not that it matters much, but focussing this close suggests a wide angle lens was on the camera.

Tenba P-750 Pro Pak™ camera bag photographed by a Nikon D2Xs and a Nikkor-H Auto 85mm f/1.8 lens. The bag appears in the Tenba catalogue for 1980-81. The D2Xs was launched in 2006, although mine came well-used in 2011 and is much more well-used now. The 85mm lens dates from 1971, using its serial number as a guide to its age. The company stopped using the wonderful logo which read the same when the bag was turned upside down (though it is not advisable to verify this when the bag is full of kit). Many people thought the bag designation was 'Tenba Equa'; maybe that is why the logo was dropped. It's a good bag with stylish front pockets and unusual hardware. The cloth is called 'Cordura' and is a hard-wearing synthetic material which looks like cotton canvas but feels quite different. After complaints from users that the bag had worn a hole in their clothing, Tenba added a soft pad to the back to make it a fairer fight. It was claimed that the cloth was waterproof, but even if that was so, the design of the bag where the lid met the lower section was a weak point for horizontal rain to gain ingress. The lid has a heavy-duty zip with two pulls all the way round and is designed to contain a big supply of film.

The Tenba P750 appears in the Tenba catalogue for 1980-81. The heavy-duty zip fastener in the lid provides access to spare film. I don't know what the two pods at the front are for but they look cool. I guess the pair of straps on crocodile clips are for carrying your tripod. The fabric is Cordura, a textile so tough that it was known for wearing holes in photographers' trousers. Later versions in the Pro Pak line had a soft pad stuck on the back where the bag would meet the trousers. Nikon D300s and Nikkor 28mm f/2 AI lens. This lens, according to Bjørn Rørslett, is one of a small number of best performing Nikkor lenses. See www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html

A Tenba camera bag manufactured in the early 1980s, photographed with a Tamron SP 35mm f/1.8 Di VC USD lens on a Nikon D2Xs camera. F/1.9 at 1/15th. The image stabilisation enables low ISO values to be used, in this case 100, where the D2Xs performs well.

For the photographer there are specific-purpose bags: rainy day bags; anti-pickpocket bags; bags which do not look like camera bags for use in tough neighbourhoods; slim-profile bags for carrying in crowded areas; bags to inspire confidence at an important event you've been hired to shoot; bags so impossibly large you use them as a supply depot where your other bags call to make changes to their contents; bags which are devoted to specialist items like flashguns or filters; medium-format bags; 35mm film camera bags; digital camera-with-lens-fixed-always bags; soiled bags that you don't mind using in dirty conditions ... the list is endless. The more camera bags I try - all sourced from eBay, the world's greatest lending library, where sometimes it's even possible to turn a modest profit on short-term acquisitions - the more I realise that what we're talking about is a sack. A sack with compartments, a sack with different dimensions to the previous sack, a sack made from different materials, but nevertheless a sack. This particular bag is the Tenba P-750 Pro Pak™ from the early 1980s, with its super-cool logo which reads the same upside down (but best not to verify this when the bag is full of kit). You often see them referred to as the ‘Tenba Equa’ because the logo suggests that is the name. It was available in rust, black, and grey, as well as the more traditional tan colour you see here. It is constructed of ‘Cordura’, a waterproof and rugged nylon. ‘Cordura’ will always win in a friction squabble with your coat or trousers. Tenba put a less aggressive pad of material on later Pro Pak™ bags where the ‘Cordura’ met the owner’s clothing. The P-750 is an unusual design with a fairly deep compartment within the lid to store 30 to 40 rolls of film, and a stout zip fastener to keep the contents secure. On the other side of the top ‘half’- i.e. on the inside of the bag’s main compartment - is a modest zipped compartment which might be for tickets and passport-type documents. There are four ‘D’ rings, for a back-harness or tripod straps, and unusual side straps which can be deployed to limit the travel of the lid or to transport a monopod. The main compartment lacks the extreme weather-proofing measures you find on a Billingham bag, like zips and secondary flaps. That is perhaps a weakness if near water or sand. It rather negates the value of ‘Cordura’ as a waterproof fabric. The coups de foudre are the two external pouches which, in combination with the hip logo, make this bag unusually distinctive in a market place stuffed with boring oblong boxes with straps. Photographed at Avebury stone circle using a Nikon D90 and an AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D lens.

Nikon D700 + Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 AI lens.

A detail of the Tenba P-750 Pro Pak™ camera bag from the early 1980s, with its super-cool logo which reads the same upside down (but best not to verify this when the bag is full of kit). You often see them referred to as the ‘Tenba Equa’ because the logo suggests that is the name. The bag is constructed of ‘Cordura’, a waterproof and rugged nylon. ‘Cordura’ will always win in a friction squabble with your coat or trousers. Nikon 75-150mm f/3.5 Series E lens on a Nikon D700.

A detail of the Tenba P-500 Pro Pak™ camera bag from the early 1980s, with its super-cool logo which reads the same upside down (but best not to verify this when the bag is full of kit). You often see them referred to as the ‘Tenba Equa’ because the logo suggests that is the name. The bag is constructed of ‘Cordura’, a waterproof and rugged nylon. ‘Cordura’ will always win in a friction squabble with your coat or trousers.