Dont blame me for starting a new thread blame it on bladerunner and arrpeegee :lol: they suggested it
Also is everyone happy with the spelling of the thread ? TOO MANY CAPS ? not enough ? Is it spelt wreight ? :lol:
Oh and is it spelt cameras or camera's ? lol
I'll start by saying, i've been considering getting a film camera for a while, there's a shop in the city centre here that sells nothing but film camera's they sell 35mm SLR's from the most recent to going back to the 70's and no doubt older than that.
They also sell lots of rangefinder camera's, does anyone have any knowledge or experience of either 35mm or rangefinder camera's ?
What do you want to know? If you are after a 35mm SLR i would heartily recommend on Olympus OM-1. They are completely manual, mechanical cameras and are VERY well made as they were the top of the range in the early 70's. They are significanly smaller than other SLRs of the same period and because they are relatively unknown to people who want anything with Canon or Nikon written on it, they are quite cheap (~£100 for a VERY nice one). The OM-2 is also worth a punt, essentially the same camera but with an electronic shutter and auto exposure modes (i.e. needs batteries!).
If you want a cheapo 35mm SLR, you can't go far wrong with a Zenit E / EM / TTL / 12XP etc. These are very heavy large manual cameras from the former USSR. Massively well built, if a little agricultural compared to the beautiful OM series. These take the M42 Pentax screw mount lenses, which can be had for almost nothing. Pay no more than about £20 for a Zenit.
In terms of 35mm rangfinders, again if you want really cheap, go Russian. The FED 1/2/3/4 are more or less direct copies of the German Leica 1/2/3/4's which are painfully expensive (£500 minimum). Of course, these won't be quite as lovely as a Leica, but are very cheap if you want the Cartier Besson look an the cheap! These FED cameras take the M39 thread mount lenses. As an aside, these FEDs have Lanthanum glass lenses which are slightly radioactive, cool huh? You may see similar rangefinders labelled Kiev or Zorki, these are much the same in terms of quality.
If you want a better rangfinder, you can't go to far wrong hunting down a 1970's Olympus. The 35 SP is the one to have (~£100), this is completely manual, but has lots of automatic features. It is also the only rangefinder ever made that has spot metering as an option. Olympus made plenty of different ones EC/ED/ECR etc. some have manual options, some do not. These don't have interchangable lenses. The Minolta Himatic, Yashica Electro 35 and various Canon Canonets are also worth looking into.
If you want to step into the wonderful world of medium format (120 rollfilm), you have many many options. Lets start with SLRs. Most medium format SLRs have a ground glass viewfinder in the top and are held at waist level, however some are more akin to 35mm SLR systems.
Ground glass SLRs to look at include
-Hasselblad 500c, etc. -- HUGELY expensive (£1000 and beyond)
-Fuji GX680 -- Massive studio only camera, VERY expensive.
-Rollei 6003 / 6008 -- Again, very expensive, also rather unreliable as these are getting quite old now.
-Mamiya RB67 / RZ67. -- RB 67 is the camera i reeaally want! (£300-£1000)
-Kowa Super 6 / Super 66, etc. -- Very hard to find as production discontued over 30 years ago. (£300-£500)
-Bronica SQA / SQAi / SQB -- Good cameras, but i have heard of some reliability and build quality issues. (£200-£700)
-Bronica ETRS / ETRSi -- Takes smaller images that SQ series (4.5cm x 6cm rather than 6cm x 6cm) (£200-£500)
-Mamiya 645 series -- takes smaller images than RZ/RB series (£200-£1000)
-Kiev 88 -- The cheap Soviet option
Viewfinder SLRs include:
-Pentax 67
-Pentacon 6
-Kiev 6
These are very unwieldy to hold!
There are also medium format rangefinder but are almost all vastly expensive. Such as the Mamiya 6 and 7.
It is however very easy to get medium format on the cheap. Pre-war folding cameras are generally quite good, watch out for the condition of the bellows though. These can be had for around £10. Zeiss Ikon, Agfa, and Ensign are names to look for.
Yet another, and probably the best, option are TLRs (twin lens reflex). These generally give very good results. The obvious ones here are Rollei's (Rolleicords are cheaper the Rolleiflexes). Any of the Yashicas (135G being the newest) and Minolta Autocords. I would rsommend the Mamiya C series however, i've got a C220 and it's awesome (£150). These are the only TLRs ever made with interchangeble lenses and close focussing bellows, so are probably the pinnacle of TLR design.
If you want to be down with the kids however, get a Holga. Gives very distorted and abstract looking images, kinda cool! Don't get on from Lomography.com though, they overprice everything hugely.
In terms of instant photography, get a Fuji Instax. The film is readily available and is cheaper than Polaroid ever was. Of course, don't get a Polaroid, as they have abandoned their film production so it will only get harder and harder to find.
Oh and DEFINITELY get a negative scanner!!
Please don't ask me about digital cameras, i have no idea!
I hope this has been of some help, if a little long winded...
