Old cameras...

greenpea

Just curious if any of the dgrinners out there ever put down the digital camera and try out old manual film cameras.

I just got a Ziess Ikon Contessa LKE range finder from my aunt (she got it from my grandparents, and they got it from some friends who brought it as a gift from Germany).

Its been quite a while since I last picked up a film camera with the intent to use it, but I have to say I'm pretty excited to go out and try this one! With manual everything, it should be interesting if I can even get a single decent photo. :rofl

Seymore

Dropped you an email Andrew. I do still shoot with my FMs. But regretfully I find that these cameras get less attention these days.

So, get some film and shoot away to your hearts content. And you may also be interested in getting a film scanner if you decide to give this some long term serious consideration. Well, if you don't already have one.


Enjoy man...

claudermilk

Yup. I recently picked up a Mamiya 645Pro rig. It's been a joy to use, a nice change from the DSLR. Oh, and the images it produces sure are nice.

greenpea

I had been wanting to buy a Nikon FM3a for quite some time, but these cameras have been impossible to find.

It will be a good exercize for me to shoot with a film camera that's fully manual. I often feel like I rely too much on everything my D70 does for me. I do appreciate the fact that I can rely on my dslr to handle many of the aspects of proper expose so that I can think about composition. However, I believe being forced to actively think about everything required to get a properly exposed image can only improve my photography.

Now Granted the Ziess Ikon Contessa is no FM3a, but it was free, and its a pretty cool little rangefinder camera (and quite a bit more manual than the FM3a acutally).

ziggy53

I have a couple of FED 5 cameras, with decent lenses, that I would compare very favorably to other rangefinder cameras, even some of the Leica series.

ziggy53

Jangie

Any recommendations on a sub-$300 scanner? I decided I wanted to try my hand at film before I went on to digital, and picked up a film SLR... and now I'm realizing that sharing photos is rather difficult without one.

I know that the more important features are DMax and hardware dust/scratch removal, but I'm having trouble finding one in the price range I'm willing to spend... I might just end up buying a low-quality one just to get by.

Seymore wrote:

Dropped you an email Andrew. I do still shoot with my FMs. But regretfully I find that these cameras get less attention these days.

So, get some film and shoot away to your hearts content. And you may also be interested in getting a film scanner if you decide to give this some long term serious consideration. Well, if you don't already have one.


Enjoy man...

Seymore

Jangie wrote:

Any recommendations on a sub-$300 scanner? I decided I wanted to try my hand at film before I went on to digital, and picked up a film SLR... and now I'm realizing that sharing photos is rather difficult without one.

I know that the more important features are DMax and hardware dust/scratch removal, but I'm having trouble finding one in the price range I'm willing to spend... I might just end up buying a low-quality one just to get by.

Well, you could check www.craigslist.org in your area or look on eBay. Another option is to put a WTB in the FS area here. I found my old (6+ years) Polaroid 35 scanner for <$100. But no dust scratch removal here.

gtc

old cameras
I put a roll of black and white through my pentax spotmatic sp every now and then ,but digital has replaced film,for me anyway.

A really good place for old cameras and lenses is keh.com and ritzcam.com-
Contax slrs seem to be coming down in price,which is tempting me...the RTS II is a great camera and an Olympus XA pocket rangefinder would be nice too...but it is questionable whether they would get the use to justify the purchase..? 'New' lenses however will get the use on my DSLR.