Now why'd I go and do that...?!

So, in my bit of spare time between quarters, I decided to grab some film (2ea Fuji Velvia 50, 2ea Ilford SFX 200, 1ea Fuji Velvia 100) to shoot mainly because I have never shot slide or infrared film. My dad handed me his old Pentax ME with 50mm f/1.7 and off-brand 135mm f/2.8.

I spent about the last 2 weeks using only this camera, and then tonight there was one of those sunsets that gave the entire world a sort of purple-ish color cast. Naturally, I grabbed for the Pentax since I just switched out to the roll of Velvia 100. However, since I love wide-angle, and the widest I have for the ME is 50mm, I grabbed for my 40D and 10-22.

To my shock and horror, as I lifted my camera up to my eye, it was like looking through a tunnel to frame the shot!

I've always looked through and marveled at the viewfinders of the FF cameras customers bring in for a cleaning. However, I have not used a film camera for a long time, and this is just bad. Now I'm wanting to upgrade to a 5D mk II or 7D just for the VF!

Ay carumba!

Yeah I hate that too, I'd rather shoot film 35 mm and have the full field of view than crop

I feel your pain buddy!

If only there'd be a digital Olympus OM-2...my life would be complete!

RaZe42 wrote in post #11009247
I feel your pain buddy!

If only there'd be a digital Olympus OM-2...my life would be complete!

Amen to that. My OM-2 is truly a joy to shoot street with. Small, relatively discrete and built like a tank.

Since I'm between dSLRs right now I've been using my Elan 7e to avoid missing moments. I really enjoy shooting with it. Cringing at thought of having to go get film processed

Ephur wrote in post #11011264
Since I'm between dSLRs right now I've been using my Elan 7e to avoid missing moments. I really enjoy shooting with it. Cringing at thought of having to go get film processed

That's my thought, too! lol I just sent in the first roll I finished (one of the infrared rolls); I was going to wait and get all 5 rolls developed at once, but I figured spacing them out would be a bit better on my mental state since the bills will be a bit less.

Heh! I empathize with the viewfinder difference, but let's see -- somewhere I have cartridges of undeveloped film from, what, 7-10 years ago...

I know what you mean, Ben. Go get a 5D Mark II

bsaber wrote in post #11012958
I know what you mean, Ben. Go get a 5D Mark II

Bad, bad monkey!

Or, better yet, a Leica R and a DMR digital back

It's a Leica. Digital. SLR!

You see how bad digital SLR viewfinders are, when you look at charts like this one that I prepared and keep up to date...

bjyoder wrote in post #11013628
Bad, bad monkey!

Oh come on, you know you want it. Plus if you have a broken Canon camera or just one you don't want anymore, you can get the 5D Mark II at a much reduced price through the Loyalty Program!

:p

I really hope that camera manufacturers would start focusing on the "camera part" of cameras instead of the electronics part. Things like ergonomics, viewfinder size and magnification, viewfinder blackout time and so on.

Cameras are becoming more like computers(read: too complex and automated) and less like the mechanical wonders they used to be.

And hey, this isn't nostalgia, I was born in the digital age.

Wilt wrote in post #11015149
You see how bad digital SLR viewfinders are, when you look at charts like this one that I prepared and keep up to date...

Digital cameras have not even caught up with the Olympus OM-4, which is tiny compared to the OM-1 vewfinder ! And they aren't even up to the standards of the Canon AE-1 bargain film SLR.

That's the most wonderfully useless chart I've seen in a while! And the best part is that it proves my point perfectly!!

Nice to notice that F/F2/F3 viewfinder isn't THAT small.. only slightly smaller than OM-4 :P