Your Cameras

Film SLRs, as Stet says upthread, are basically just light-tight boxes (with some clever electronics if yr lucky). You're really entirely at the mercy of your lenses (and the film type/processing).

Meaningless comparison of Pentax and Olympus by me...

(Oly OM-20 aka OM-G, Zuiko 50/1.8, ISO 200 colour neg)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3554/3812478734_383d1e95dd.jpg

(Pentax K-1000, SMC 50/2.0, ISO 200 colour neg)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3015/2779648338_4a63c01040.jpg

Conclusion: Olympus makes your hair longer.

A Pentax Super Program (early 80's SLR with a lot of auto functions) has been my main film camera (inherited) for quite awhile. I'm pretty happy with it. We'll see how happy I am with the Minolta after a few rolls I guess, but it's sure fun to hold.
I wouldn't have gone buying multiple new cameras in a couple of weeks, except that the "off brand" rangefinders can be kind of cheap. It's kind of dangerous now. I could see myself buying another.
Up until recently I've been mostly using a Canon Digital Rebel, so the film phase is the revival of an old expensive habit. I owned and used the Pentax back in high school and college (late 90's/early 2000's).

film just gets so many things right doesn't it MJ? lovely

Most fun I've ever had was when I got past my first couple of photography classes and gained access to my school's color print processing machine. Nothing I've shot has looked better than Kodak NC printed on Fuji Crystal Archive.

digital:
Nikon D700
Pentax k20d (about to sell
Canon 5d (need to send off for cleaning, then sell)

film:
Canon EOS Elan 7e - my first real camera, amazing how dark the viewfinder is compared to the above dSLRs
Leica M7 - purchased with gambling winnings, need to sell
Bessa R2A - will probably keep when I sell the Leica, at least I'll have a film rangefinder left
Canonet G17 - picked up at a flea market, needs new seals
Bronica SQ - my medium format tank, has sat unused since I haven't had access to a decent scanner or darkroom. Should sell, but it has sentimental value (shooting square has always been remarkably comfortable for me) and it's worth a pittance
ShenHao 4x5 - Chinese field camera
Crown Graphic (mid-50s, built in rangefinder) - loved shooting Polaroids with it.

toy:
coupla Holgas, some Alfa toys from the '50s

useless:
Polaroid SX-70 converted to expose correctly with Polaroid pack film... which got discontinued shortly after

Bronica SQ - my medium format tank, has sat unused since I haven't had access to a decent scanner or darkroom.

I was so discouraged by my usual* mail-order E6/120 lab failing to provide the scans that I'd paid for early last year (and so many frustrating attempts to capture the girls on 120 in less than wonderful light) that our SQ-A is also gathering dust. It has Astia 100 in it at the mo'. Perhaps I can finish it off in the spring.

(* - hark at me; like I even knew what a medium format camera was three years ago)

Hilarious attempt at scanning 120 with a the 35mm film scan option on a Canon 4400F (this is the Ekta E200 the lab failed to scan):

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2703/4323839266_d2aa733a1f.jpg

Pam's Blackbird Fly remains in its case - yet to run its way through the Delta 400...

(Ed - enough Lulu already)

Digital: A Canon SD300 that I really need to upgrade to one of their newer pocketcams with image stabilization and HD video.

Film: Nikon 35Ti, whose wonderful illuminated analog gauge cluster I wish I could transplant to my next digital camera. Likewise its bulletproof titanium housing and grippy, retro textured leather trim and SLR-quality lens and metering.

Phone: LG VX8360, whose mediocre camera I use way too often because I always have it with me.

Also, the 640x480/30fps video from my iPod Nano 5th gen.

Nikon 35Ti:

http://corsopolaris.net/supercameras/35mmwide/NIKON_35Ts.jpg

whoa that nikon looks trippy and a joy to shoot with!

I've been having intense gear lust over the zeiss ikon:

http://flor27.free.fr/forums/rangefinders/Zeiss_Ikon/case/content/bin/images/large/05.jpg

apparently just about better at everything a leica does except being a leica. it's also about $1300 new, $1000 used - lol at spending $1000 on a film camera in 2010. : |

uhh

http://flor27.free.fr/forums/rangefinders/Zeiss_Ikon/case/content/bin/images/large/05.jpg

sigh :(

"Even" cheaper than the Zeiss Ikon, as I'm sure you know, is the Voigtlander Bessa range. Better viewfinders too. Leaving more money for the lenses...

Gbx - still without camera?

yeah

it's summer! I wanna take pictures! I mean I guess technically I could get another one but yeesh

My friend owns a Zeiss Ikon. Looking through its 1:1 viewfinder is awesome. He also just got a Zeiss Ikon SuperWide which lacks a viewfinder/rangefinder - it's a scalefocus body for use with wide angle lenses.

http://www.bythom.com/Images/D80%20w18-135mm.jpg

http://i.testfreaks.co.uk/images/products/600x400/164/olympus-fe-190.727716.jpg

http://richardshear.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/sx70.jpg

Ah, the SX-70! I forgot all about Polaroids....

I also forgot about the first camera I bought when I was a kid, which I still have. Kodak Pocket Instamatic 50. That was one of their two higher-end 110 cartridge cameras (yes, there was such a thing!). I saved up months of allowance money to buy it. You had to manually focus every shot and guess the distance, because I cheaped out and didn't buy the top-of-the-line model 60 which added a rangefinder. And for years afterward, I missed shot after shot as I had to futz with the focus slider on top before almost every shot. Taught me to buy what I really want in the first place thereafter.

So I could just about trade my D700 straight up for a 5D II...

1080p video and the megapixel advantage is very, very tempting.

Didn't you already go Canon -> Nikon, Milo? Selling some glass to fund the switch? 5D2 is v nice though - I suspect it's an inferior stills camera in some respects vs the D700, but obviously there's the video...

I've always been quite impressed with Nikon sticking steadfastly to 12MP in every camera but the D3X. Ducking out of the race.

I got a 5D 2 a month or so ago, and it's kicking my ass. I'd forgotten what actual depth of field was, so am having to stop down more than usual. It also makes my lenses look much softer, including the Ls, wide-open.

some of the things it does in low light are absolutely astounding, though.

I kind of switched but not really - the benefits of not buying more than a couple of lenses, I guess. I still have my 50/1.4 and 35L (and a 5D body that's about to be sent off for a recall repair and cleaning - if I stick with Nikon I'll sell it all, if I switch back to Canon I'll keep it). I'd eventually have to get a flash, but I really only use that for Ebay photos.

And in Nikon, I only have a 50/1.4D and the 24-70/2.8. Which is a lovely lens, but one of my planned projects is to carry a camera with me all the time for six months or year, and it would be body plus either a 50/1.4 or a wide-angle prime - I basically use zooms at the extreme wide end or somewhere around 50 and it's not worth the weight and inconvenience.

replacement gf1 to arrive today :D

one of these:

http://www.olympus-global.com/en/corc/history/camera/popup/image/pop26_om10.jpg

Currently these are selling for $430 in roughly like-new condition (at KEH, rated EXC). If they drop below $300 I'm going to have to get one just to please inner 18-year old me.

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/NikonF5/images/NikonF5front80mm.JPG

It also makes my lenses look much softer, including the Ls, wide-open.

resolution issue?

Yup, just the sheer megapixelage of the thing, as they only look soft at full-size 4000-odd pixels wide. By the time you reduce the images down to something more standard you can't tell. It makes a mockery of the cheaper lenses though. 50mm f1.4 was always a bit soft at 1.4, but is basically vaseline'd on this.

Watching some 5DII videos and I'm really getting tempted now. I'm sure the next D700x will have video capability, but God only knows when that will come out and it'll probably be $3k to start with.

so uh I sold all my digital stuff (well nearly all of it, keeping the 20mm f/1.7 til they make a m43 body I can be down with) and bought two leicas. dead broke atm but having a lot of fun shooting film!!

(also I only planned to get 1 leica but I found another one at a 'killer' price so now I have the good problem of having two leicas and no money.)

lol at spending $1000 on a film camera in 2010. : |

― Face Book (dyao), Friday, May 28, 2010 10:29 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark

lol at me loling at myself two months ago lolin at spending $$$ on a film camera in 2010

Apparently the 35 'lux ASPH I bought used for $1000 in 2003ish is going to net me like $2500 thanks to Leica raising their prices monstrously. Wooooooo.

Scared of selling anything that valuable on the Internets, though.

What did you get? M6 and an M3? My Leica lust was always for the M4-P, it seemed like the least stylish and most workmanlike Leica.

M3 and a M4-2 - M4-2 is the same exact thing as the M4-P except with 4 framelines instead of 6.

for lenses, have a 35/2 biogon and awaiting a 50/2 summitar in the mail. also have a 50/1.8 canon LTM I picked up from KEH last year

sold my e-p1, assorted new cosina-voigtlander lenses (lost like 400 on the e-p1 due to olympus releasing the e-p2/e-pl1 so quickly after the e-p1, ugh, digital rot.)

hopefully if I ever decide to sell these leicas the only thing I'll lose is the cost of film...

re: selling on the internet, I've bought and sold a lot from: getdpi.com, rangefinderforum.com

use common sense (always ship insured w/ tracking #, look @ feedback, list truthfully) etc. and there shouldn't be too many problems. you could even do fredmiranda

yeah i spent €300 on a shitty digital camera a couple years ago that takes ugly photos and i never use it, and i bought an old praktica for tenner last summer and lately i've started trying to learn how to use it and even though I shoot a lot of blurry shadows the ones that come out look great and also its so much more fun having to wait to see ur photos.

yr leicas show me them

the ones that come out look great and also its so much more fun having to wait to see ur photos.

otm! I saw some from that thread on the church your photos look great!

gbx I have been meaning to take a picture I will soon

thanks man! i srsly dont understand why anybody shoots w/ digital anymore unless they've got a crazy expensive camera.

http://www.hennek-homepage.de/video/leica-mini-zoom.gif
http://digitalphotographyhints.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/yashica-t4-super.jpg
http://a0.vox.com/6a00c225240649549d00e398c426700005-500pi
http://canon.digital-camera-near.com/images/Canon-Sure-Shot-WP-1-Weatherproof-35mm-Camera-B00000K02C-L.jpg
http://photophun.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/nimslo_3d.jpg
http://www.thecamerasite.net/02_Rangefinders/Images/Yashica-electro-35-gs.jpg
http://www.wishspecialevents.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/holga120s1.jpg
http://www.kenrockwell.com/olympus/images/xa2/xa2-DSC_5196.jpg

i god i HATE waiting for pictures to be developed. and paying for it. and inevitably getting the exposure just wrong enough that it looks kinda shitty.

lol gr8080 I have the bottom one (olympus xa2) just replaced the light seals too

like i were a PRO and bought film in ridiculous bulk and had the time/inclination/facilities to develop my own film and/or scan it into my computer, i'd absolutely love to have a voigtlander or leica

as it is, even going through recent digital photos is tough to fit into my day (i've got like a 100 pics from the wedding that need attn)

that's true gbx, I'm probably gonna be banging my head against the wall in a few months tbh

tbh i just started taking photos bc i realised that since my baby photos i only had holiday and drunk photos. just wanted to have some photographs of ppl how i remember them. Like if you need actual results tho i'd be screwed.

i god i HATE waiting for pictures to be developed. and paying for it. and inevitably getting the exposure just wrong enough that it looks kinda shitty.

― pies. (gbx), Friday, August 6, 2010 8:27 AM (43 minutes ago) Bookmark

i LOVE this part. except for the paying for it part. actually i kind of like that part too.

dyao- i haven't messed w/ my XA2 much-- the shutter button is really weird! its like... not a button? any tips?

yeah it is kind of weird, it's like conductive or something. my only tip (besides getting the light seals replaced if yer getting light leaks, it's like a $10 kit off ebay) is to use silver oxide SR44s instead of alkaline batteries - they are much more reliable

http://www.appuntidigitali.it/site/wp-content/uploads/h16rex3_1.jpg

OMs and most camears from that era were designed to be used with 1.35V mercury batteries - nowadays you can only find 1.5V batteries, mostly, which work, but cause the meters to overexpose a tad. you can adjust the iso setting appropriately, or get the light meter set for 1.5V batteries by a tech xp

Great, thanks for that. Oddly i've never felt it was an issue, or at least noticable, with my OM-10.

yeah it shouldn't be *that* noticeable, maybe half a stop at most? could be you have a sticky shutter or your shutter speeds are off

Ok, I went a bit mad with some 0% credit and finally went full-frame...

Canon EOS 6D + 24-105L lens. The shop threw in a 430 EX II, spare battery, flash diffuser and a cleaning kit for nothing. Oh, and the camera is bundled with Lightroom 5 and Premier Elements 11 too (not that I have a computer I can run them on).

It is a bit of a marvel. I've installed a trial of LR 4.3 on my Vista laptop just so I can edit 6D RAWs (LR 5 only works on Win 7/8) but I've barely had a chance to do any real work with it yet. Worrying about ISO is a thing of the past - I set the auto range to 100-6400 and forget about it. 12800 isn't bad either. It goes to 102400, but that's just silly. Focuses in low light like you wouldn't believe.

BUT, wifi is pain in the arse. I've only got it to work twice successfully, and both times I was on a train/Tube away from 3G/wifi signals, so my iPhone paired with it immediately. So either my iPhone (4S, 7.0.3) is having a problem finding the thing or I've got a duff chipset in the 6D which is especially weak. It's almost a deal-breaker, as I might have gone for a secondhand 5D2 without the temptation of the 6D's added extras (not had any luck with GPS yet either!). But the 6D sensor is extraordinary.

not 100% sure the above post describes a camera

Ha!

Went FF too a couple of months back (Nikon D600), wasn't sure of the difference at first but happy with it now. Took a while to get used to the difference in my 50mm prime, have since added 85mm and 28mm primes.

I did end up upgrading my RAM from 4GB to 12GB to help out Lightroom 5, which helped a good bit. The Raw files are a fair size.

Anyone on here using medium format? I'm tempted to try and pick up a Mamiya 645 or a Bronica ETRS but struggling to pick one and was wondering if anyone had any experience with either?

I've had a Bronica SQ-A for ~10 years, though it hasn't shot a roll in 3-4. Always worked perfectly and the images looked amazing when printed.

Stopped shooting with it when I no longer had darkroom access, tried again several times over the years but paying to develop the film and then scanning it on a flatbed took all the fun out for me.
Maybe if dedicated MF film scanners hadn't gone the way of the dodo but I really hated the process of scanning film with an Epson flatbed. The results were never what I wanted, exactly, and when printed didn't justify the expense of MF over good digital.

Part of me would still love the Fuji/Voigtlander 6x6/6x7 rangefinder, I love the square.

I pulled the trigger on the Mamiya. I'm expecting to mostly shoot B+W as I can develop it at home, don't think there's anywhere local that can do colour 120.

Our Bronica is similarly underused - haven't developed a roll in a couple of years.

just realized I've had the Bronica for 12 years. lol old

I bought an Olympus RC on ebay for a tenner. Just took it out for the first time today, having never used a rangefinder in my life. The shutter is so quiet!

that was always a selling point for rangefinders - no mirrors to move around as part of the shutter-release sequence

http://i.imgur.com/Exy2N4D.jpg

I need this camera!

Olympus RC has a leaf shutter, so it can flash sync all the way to 1/500. Only a stop slower than the Fuji X100s.

Very, very cool for flash fill in daylight portraiture.