Yay! - another what camera thread

[dcw@pr]

yes, the title is true, but hopefully this is one with a small difference.

*****WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS REFERENCES TO THE "F" WORD*****

I'm in the process of considering a trip to central america at the end of the year. i am pretty set on not taking my camea with me, and would like a bit more of a challenge. using fancy gear makes getting decent pictures too easy IMO - great for earning money, but i get a bit bored of it after a while.

so what I want to do is buy an old film (remeber that?) camera. i haven't quite decided yet how far i want to take this line of thought yet though. Apparently on old nikons, there is a spot light meter, with a needle that swings around as you adjust settings until you get it in the middle when it is correctly exposed for that spot. this sounds like fun to me, but it is essential that I can shoot in aperture priority - a friend has a canon AE1 Program, and he can only shoot in P or S mode, which is lame. Obviously it will be manual focus, that's half the fun. Does anyone have any suggestions?

the second question is regards to film, and what I do with it. much as i would love to run some velvia through there, I can't help but think my exposure control will not be good enough to get away with slide film. But do I then go for colour or B/W? Perhaps more relevantly, will I scan in the pictures afterwards? I would like to think not, but then I may just be frustrated by not being able to adjust the contrast. Should I learn to develop B/W and do it myself? this option is appealing as I have always thought it would be interesting, but where can I learn? so many questions!!!!!!

is this a stupid idea? will I just be disappointed with the results?

hmmmmmm

P.S. lenses - 28mm then something between 50 amd 100mm. nice and simple (and no zooms!!!!)

[Simpo Two]

Interesting, you're going through the same re-baptism of photographic purity as Bacardi.

I take it you'll be rowing across the Atlantic then?

[Captain Beaky]

Take a Canon A1 and some Velvia. I had two A1s and was never disappointed. They're pretty robust, I took mine to the South Pole without any problem, and no doubt you can pick them up for peanuts with good lenses. I liked the 50mm f1.4 on mine.

I shot mostly slides, often Velvia. It takes a bit of thought (or luck, in my case) to get the exposures right for transparencies. It could be a long time until you find out if you've got it right so a few practice rolls before you go might be wise.

Good luck, it sounds like an interesting plan.


Of course if you don't digitise them we'll never know how you got on. The scanner calls

[fergusd]

. . . monochrome film . . . a refreshing break from thinking about colour . . . as for DIY processing - monochrome is very do-able and cheap, colour is more of a ballache w.r.t temperatures, colour balance, etc . . . get some multigrade paper and you can control the contrast of the paper very simply all from one box of paper. Take a couple of film speeds and if you want others just push or pull process them, very simple with mono processing again . . . and get used to smelling of chemicals ;-)

Even today I still hanker to do mono stuff myself but don't have the space for a darkroom . . .

I'd use a rangefinder with fixed lens and a seperate meter . . .

Fd

>> Edited by fergusd on Tuesday 14th March 21:20

[touchingcloth]

For even more fun, how about:

[Simpo Two]

Nah:



NB This is what a 90mm f1.0 looks like

[Andy M]

touchingcloth said:

For even more fun, how about:

Bingo. Exactly what I was going to recommend, though, a bit expensive

[tinman0]

dcw@pr said:

Does anyone have any suggestions?

www.butkus.org/chinon/praktica_bx20/praktica_bx20.htm

praktica BX20

[Andy M]

Or, how about a Holga 120?:



www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000069114/103-6554272-3745448?v=glance&n=502394

[hugh_]

OM2-Spot Program, apparently was the dogs doo-dars of yonder year!

[Simpo Two]

Oh all right:

[dcw@pr]

Captain Beaky said:

Take a Canon A1 and some Velvia. I had two A1s and was never disappointed. They're pretty robust, I took mine to the South Pole without any problem, and no doubt you can pick them up for peanuts with good lenses. I liked the 50mm f1.4 on mine. I shot mostly slides, often Velvia. It takes a bit of thought (or luck, in my case) to get the exposures right for transparencies. It could be a long time until you find out if you've got it right so a few practice rolls before you go might be wise. Good luck, it sounds like an interesting plan. Of course if you don't digitise them we'll never know how you got on. The scanner calls

thanks, that's good. on the A1, can you shootin an aperture priority mode?

[dcw@pr]

fergusd said:

. . . monochrome film . . . a refreshing break from thinking about colour . . . as for DIY processing - monochrome is very do-able and cheap, colour is more of a ballache w.r.t temperatures, colour balance, etc . . . get some multigrade paper and you can control the contrast of the paper very simply all from one box of paper. Take a couple of film speeds and if you want others just push or pull process them, very simple with mono processing again . . . and get used to smelling of chemicals ;-) Even today I still hanker to do mono stuff myself but don't have the space for a darkroom . . . I'd use a rangefinder with fixed lens and a seperate meter . . . Fd >> Edited by fergusd on Tuesday 14th March 21:20

seperate meter - NO WAY!!!! i'm a point and shoot man myself

also would not consider developing colour, i know what a pain it is. not sure i can set up a dark room here, suppose i could do it at my parents house in cambridge if i really wanted to. or alternatively maybe i could convince my old uni that i still live closeish to, to let me int theirs, and possibly teach me to use it as well. would love to be able to do the dodging and burning for real. I bet I would think "O" though everytime i wanted to do it.

[dcw@pr]

touchingcloth said:

For even more fun, how about:

looking to spend sub £100 probably!

[dcw@pr]

Simpo Two said:

NB This is what a 90mm f1.0 looks like

jeepers, that is some lens

[dcw@pr]

Andy M said:

Or, how about a Holga 120?: www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000069114/103-6554272-3745448?v=glance&n=502394

my friend who has the AE1 Program has one of these too. not sure it's quite what i'm looking for...

[Andy M]

dcw@pr said:

would love to be able to do the dogging and burning for real. I bet I would think "O" though everytime i wanted to do it.

Eh?!

Apologies...

[Simpo Two]

dcw@pr said:

thanks, that's good. on the A1, can you shootin an aperture priority mode?

A student housemate of mine came back with the top-of-the-range A1 in 1984! IIRC it does everything: M, A, S and P.

[dcw@pr]

i think i had better head down to a camera shop and check them all out. luckily i know there is a good one near me that stocks these kind of antiques

[Bacardi]

Simpo Two said:

Interesting, you're going through the same re-baptism of photographic purity as Bacardi.

Me? Are you referring to the fact that I shot four rolls of film last year?

dcw@pr said:

is this a stupid idea? will I just be disappointed with the results?

No and No, IMHO. Did you enjoy taking your pinhole shots? Getting back to basics is strangely satisfying and although potentially more difficult with no instant feed back, can be very rewarding when you nail it.

Regarding what camera . What are you shooting?

I would consider a Nikon F2 or canon F1 (maybe also consider older Olympus Pentax and Yashica) excellent manual cameras no batteries to worry about (apart from little ones for the meter which last for about a year), they have aperture priority, you set the aperture you want then adjust the shutter speed for the correct exposure . Why is aperture priority so essential?

Film? B&W is fun to process and print, but tricky to turn into colour. In the past I always shot chrome. I susppect you would end up scanning just because of the extra control you will have over darkroom stuff, and of course you can easily make colour into B&W. Exposure should not be a problem once you know your meter, but may take a little practice. Exposure for B&W is just as important as transparency, as Ansel Adams would have told you if he were alive and a Pistonheader.



Modern DSLRs are to complicated for their own good IMHO. It's good to simplify things, worry less about focus modes, meter modes, do I need to switch on the IS, which custom functions should I use/switch on/off.... yada yada

Focus the image, select aperture/ shutter, press the button... quite simple really.

For more of a challenge why not take just one lens?

All this talk of film, SLR, aperture priority is still to easy and modern. If you want a real challenge you should try Tin Types. 4 sec exposures, wooden cameras and lethal chemicals... much more fun .