ATTN All Film Shooters

I'm an old film guy that never thought I would not be working in a darkroom almost daily. There weren't to many days that I wasn't processing the film I shot that day and then printing. Allot of Medium and large format and some 35mm. I had Hassy's too, Stu and still have the old F-1s but haven't shot a roll of film in over 2 years. Sold the Blads years ago (wish I would have kept one of my 500C/Ms) but now I spend my time shooting and in the digital darkroom. But I do miss getting the smell of fixer in the morning .

I really really mis shooting with the AE-1. I forgot all about it until I read this thread. I think I'm going to go purchase one. They're like $150 now right? lol (drool).

I still shoot both, but film less so because I have less time to spend in the darkroom these days.

I understand and sympathize Perry . My darkroom went away soon after I was married.

I think the exact quote was: "Dear, this is a kitchen and not a chemistry lab." Well, so I went on hiatus until migrating to my "digital darkroom;" certainly not the same thing, but I am actually far more productive in my shooting and experimentation now than I was back then. Funny how things work out.....

perryge wrote in post #5039638
I still shoot both, but film less so because I have less time to spend in the darkroom these days.

BionicBovine wrote in post #5039529
I really really mis shooting with the AE-1. I forgot all about it until I read this thread. I think I'm going to go purchase one. They're like $150 now right? lol (drool).

I got my A-1 from my local shop for about $150, and it came with their 'no questions asked' return policy for 30 days. I personally think that the A-1 is vastly superior to the AE-1, as you can shoot Av, Tv, Program, or Manual. I love to use it, but I have a couple rolls of film I need to get developed when I have some spare $$.

braduardo wrote in post #5046683
I got my A-1 from my local shop for about $150, and it came with their 'no questions asked' return policy for 30 days. I personally think that the A-1 is vastly superior to the AE-1, as you can shoot Av, Tv, Program, or Manual. I love to use it, but I have a couple rolls of film I need to get developed when I have some spare $$.

Funny.

I got the A-1 and never thought that having Av and Tv was an advantage.

I'm looking for a leica right now. When I shoot film, it's awesome, but I've had a couple of bodies die on me. Partially because of lack of batteries, partially because they're old.

I want to buy something small, reliable and mechanical which should outlast me. 35 RC is my leica for normal shooting.

For wide angle rangefinder, I was going to get a Bessa, but they're quite expensive and I hear the RF knocks out of alighnment quite easily. So I'm thinking whether I should shoot with a FED or splurge out a grand for an M3 or M4.

I still shoot both, but am slowly selling my film gear. I almost hate to say it, but the convenience of digital finally won me over entirely. Like others have said, though, I know I'll still think back fondly to my film equipment.

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #5049577
Funny.

I got the A-1 and never thought that having Av and Tv was an advantage.

I'm looking for a leica right now. When I shoot film, it's awesome, but I've had a couple of bodies die on me. Partially because of lack of batteries, partially because they're old.

I want to buy something small, reliable and mechanical which should outlast me. 35 RC is my leica for normal shooting.

For wide angle rangefinder, I was going to get a Bessa, but they're quite expensive and I hear the RF knocks out of alighnment quite easily. So I'm thinking whether I should shoot with a FED or splurge out a grand for an M3 or M4.

I've got an A-1, Av-1, At-1, and F-1 (sold my AE-1... Want a black-bodied one) and I have found that I just prefer to shoot with the A-1 over any of them. I'm sure that it's just a matter of personal preference, but that's how it sits for me. I shoot Av 90% of the time that I'm not using flash, so that probably makes a difference. I also have a couple old rangefinders, but I don't even know if they work. I need to get the proper bateries, and some cheap film to test the shutter, then pay to develop the film to make sure everything is working right. Too much work for me at this time.

I do toy with the idea of doing some medium-format before too long though...

Doc, have you considered a Contax G2? A nice relatively compact rangefinder with Zeiss lenses. It's bigger than a Rollei 35, but if I remember correctly from my brief Leica usage 37 years ago it's a little smaller than those bodies.

I picked up one used in 2003 in LN condition with the 28mm, 45mm & 90mm and the little TTL Contax flash. I needed something small and light but it's been sitting in a cabinet now for a couple of years. But it's still a very nice little compact camera that produces razor sharp images. - Stu

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #5049577
Funny.

.....I'm looking for a leica right now. When I shoot film, it's awesome, but I've had a couple of bodies die on me. Partially because of lack of batteries, partially because they're old.

I want to buy something small, reliable and mechanical which should outlast me. 35 RC is my leica for normal shooting......

I'd love to have a Contax G2. I do have a couple of Leica rangefinders (IIIG screwmount and an M3) though they haven't seen action lately - I am mostly digital now.

Film (like records) is analog and therefore contains every bit of information in the curve.

Digital pics (like CD music) has gaps in the same curve. That is simply the nature of digital tech. Sampling and oversampling helps to minimize these gaps.


Both the eye and the ear can note the difference.

.

sapearl wrote in post #5050413
Doc, have you considered a Contax G2? A nice relatively compact rangefinder with Zeiss lenses. It's bigger than a Rollei 35, but if I remember correctly from my brief Leica usage 37 years ago it's a little smaller than those bodies.

I picked up one used in 2003 in LN condition with the 28mm, 45mm & 90mm and the little TTL Contax flash. I needed something small and light but it's been sitting in a cabinet now for a couple of years. But it's still a very nice little compact camera that produces razor sharp images. - Stu

Are you thinking about selling your set?

The thing that turns me off contax is that the lenses are pretty slow and way too expensive for my budget. I don't mind spending money to get quality optics, but I don't need a 50mm f/2 planar with a G2 for 1500 bucks. It's not that big enough of an upgrade from some other rangefinder that is 100x less the price.

I'm thinking about going rangefinder not so much for the normal range, it's for the cool fast wides it offers.
Ultron 28/1.9
Nokton 35/1.2
and 15 and 12mm heliars
Maybe the leica 28/2, but that's a big chunk of money

Those are the main reasons for me to shoot a rangefinder. Since I'm shooting BW film, the contrast doesn't matter too much because I'm not using the whole information in the negative anyways. I like high contrast and print so that there are pretty big parts of the image with no detail at all. It's either all black or all white.

That's not to say that I'll turn down a good piece of equipment if the price is right.

DocFrankenstein wrote in post #5049577
I'm looking for a leica right now. When I shoot film, it's awesome, but I've had a couple of bodies die on me. Partially because of lack of batteries, partially because they're old.

Doc, did you see that insane guy who was selling an M4 that he inherited here in TO for 200 bucks on craigslist? The guy had no idea how much it was worth. I emailed him within an hour and he said somebody had already drove up and picked it up.

Had a 90mm 2.8 Summicron to go with it for an extra 120 too...

BottomBracket wrote in post #5050568
I'd love to have a Contax G2. I do have a couple of Leica rangefinders (IIIG screwmount and an M3) though they haven't seen action lately - I am mostly digital now.

Leica are a whole other story. I am not so sure which lenses I will actually like and use with that system.

M3 has a viewfinder with too high a magnification for wides, but it has the bayonet mount.

M2 has an OK 28mm viewfinder, but it's a screwmount. I won't be able to use the 35/1.2 with it. It's silly.

perryge wrote in post #5050859
Doc, did you see that insane guy who was selling an M4 that he inherited here in TO for 200 bucks on craigslist? The guy had no idea how much it was worth. I emailed him within an hour and he said somebody had already drove up and picked it up.

Had a 90mm 2.8 Summicron to go with it for an extra 120 too...

Yeah, I saw that one. I was working and saw it in the evening. The condition was pretty good too.

I also saw a nikon Fe with 50/1.2 for 50 bucks 2 days ago.

I emailed, the price went up to 75. They probably had too many offers.

Then they said someone picked it up.