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Emegra

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Hi Guys

I haven't posted in a while
Recently I've been feeling my photography has gone a little stale, but a few days ago while rummaging in the attic I came across an old antique 35mm film camera of mid 1950's vintage and decide to clean it up load some film and see what I can get out of it, this camera has no exposure meter, no auto focus and a rangefinder I suspect is well out of sync, it has a 1/25 to 1/200 sec shutter + bulb and a 43mm f3.5 mm fixed lens, this would have been a decent camera in it's day and it's a joy to hold in the hand, and I'm having the best fun using it and lets face if photography cant be fun what's the point, so the point of this post is if you're feeling you need a new challenge or your photography's gone a bit stale like I was, get out that old camera you've forgotten about years ago, load up some film and get back to basics not only will you have great fun, you'll learn a whole lot in the process.


Graeme
 
I have an old Minolta from the 80's that I been meaning to get its exposure meter fixed but haven't yet. It is a great challenge to shoot by eyeing the exposure and it's something I have not done since my student days...thanks for reminding me of this practice! I think I'll go out with the Minolta and have some fun eyeballing exposure.
 
Try going out with a single lens (not a zoom) and look for things to photograph things appropriate to the lens. As an example, I enjoy going out with super wide angle or even a full frame fisheye and getting really close to my subjects. It's fun and you may come home with some great images.
 
Yesterday I shot a mf film camera introduced in 1974. It is fully mechanical, think, no battery. No exposure meter. Cocking the huge mirror and advancing film then removing the dark slide on the film back. Meter with a hand held meter. Adjust aperture and shutter speed, max 1/400 on the lens. When you press the shutter button you hear a huge clunk. That is fun. But it's not over. You have to wait till the roll is complete, mail it and wait a week for the digital scans to arrive. Just like I did for 40 years! The colors of portra film or the grain of ilford 3200 (in a 645 back) are gorgeous. I carry the same 2 film stocks in 2 35 mm cameras. There I get to multi task my manual focus zeiss glass I use on my nikon digital camera. Oh and the cost of a 35 mm pristine nikon film camera, $100. Can't even buy the nikon battery charger for the d850 for that. 2 film cameras for less than a grip and battery for it.
 
I started with film in the 60's, had a nice darkroom set up and really enjoyed it. Then came a long spell where my career path changed and photography wasn't a part of it. I've only been back active for the last 5 yrs or so. Many times I wain nostalgic, to the point that a couple years ago I ordered several rolls of Illford, cleaned up a EF Canon and a Pentax ZX-M I had in a drawer, and loaded them with fresh batteries and film. Sadly the film is still loaded and the extra rolls are in the refrigerator.

Shooting film is like camping in the old days, I could make do with nothing but a sleeping bag and tarp if it rained. Now my "camping" is in a 40' 5th wheel with a king size bed, times change. I may long for the old days, but the realities quickly get in the way.
 
Smoke, I hear ya. I was last in a dark room in 1961. With the lock down, I have found I have my to do list just about complete and no wife to give me more. So instead of portraiture, I have been photoing museums, architecture and seascapes. No people. Kinda like I did before I cured my gout and got forced into the studio where I found my real passion. But shooting film requires patience, precision and taking few shot since every MF click is $2.80. The 35 mm is only 80 cents a click but I still am deliberate and rarely bracket. After 45 years shooting film, exposure with a meter is just something to ge tout of the way then really concentrate on composition. You might want to look at the portra 400 and ilford 3200 flickr page and take a look at skin tones and grain transitions in portra and the gorgeous huge grain in 3200. It's no some funky green or blue noise spot spread evenly across the entire frame, it is colorless and has beautiful transitions of grain size between highlight and shadow. No plug in does that. And it sure is nice not having to charge batteries before a shoot. And the wait for process and scan just adds back the anticipation we used to have with film but gives the huge control of photoshop.
 
You might want to look at the portra 400 and ilford 3200

I love the look and feel of Portra and Ilford, so much so that I have several presets and profiles which simulate the look fairly well.

Interestingly during the pandemic I've been working on digitizing old prints/negatives/slides. One thing disappointing is that just about everything developed prior to the early 80's has survived in much better condition then the ones after. I'm assuming that coincides with the change in chemicals used?
 
Yes, the plug ins are close, but for me, no cigar. If they really nailed it, I would save $2.80 a shot. But I still find it fun shooting film. Shooting digital is just shooting digital. During the lock down here, there are some places to shoot so have been getting out of my usual portrait box and doing that. Portraits are my work, so the other stuff has just been fun with no pressure to hit home runs.
 
Hi Guys

I haven't posted in a while
Recently I've been feeling my photography has gone a little stale, but a few days ago while rummaging in the attic I came across an old antique 35mm film camera of mid 1950's vintage and decide to clean it up load some film and see what I can get out of it, this camera has no exposure meter, no auto focus and a rangefinder I suspect is well out of sync, it has a 1/25 to 1/200 sec shutter + bulb and a 43mm f3.5 mm fixed lens, this would have been a decent camera in it's day and it's a joy to hold in the hand, and I'm having the best fun using it and lets face if photography cant be fun what's the point, so the point of this post is if you're feeling you need a new challenge or your photography's gone a bit stale like I was, get out that old camera you've forgotten about years ago, load up some film and get back to basics not only will you have great fun, you'll learn a whole lot in the process.


Graeme


I've an old Olympus OM30 from the 80's up in the loft with a few lenses I've often thought of breaking out. However, the winder is knackered and I dunno if it's worth getting fixed of even if it's fixable. Shame really as it was a good camera in it's day.
 
Yup, a few months back I got my 127 format twin lens reflex out. Cut some 120 film to the proper width and re-spooled it onto a 127 spool. Only 12 shots, manual set shutter and aperture dials and an attached light meter to get the readings for setting up your exposure. It brought back a lot of memories and it was fun "Shooting from the hip"
 
I have both digital and 35mm film cameras and sometimes I carry both(I kayak a lot). The digital's for instant gratification and the film is for the pleasure of it all.
 
The camera I'm using is a Wirgin Edixa built sometime around the 1950s it could be as long as 50 years since it last fired the shutter, I run a roll of film last week and was really pleased with the results although I'm sure the rangefinder is out, I tried again last weekend and the shutter jammed half way through 24 exposures I managed to release the shutter and get the roll wound back so I'll be able to save some of the images, I've since sorted the shutter, so I'll keep plugging away, I've also just took delivery of a Yashica Mat 124G I bought off Ebay in pristine condition (even the light meter works), so I'm eager to give that a spin as well
 
Since I do not own a digital SLR or have a camera in my phone I carry a film camera where ever I go. The more I think about it if this forum had no film section I would not be here.
 
Here's a photo I took with the Wirgin, I think it's not too bad for 70ish year old camera with a dodgy rangefinder shooting 10 year old film I found lying about in a drawer
 

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The other day went out on a shoot with a fully manual, think no battery in a camera, rb67 but the battery in my hand held meter was dead. After a few choice words, I realized, no big deal as Clint said adapt, improvise, over come. It was sunny cloudless day. For 30 years I tossed out that little flyer in the film box that described the sunny 16 rule. Max shutter speed on the camera is 400 and was shooting portra 400. Was taking city scapes so set the aperture to f/16 per the sunny 16 rule but over exposed about a stop and change at 1/125 as I like portra up to 2 stops over exposed. That was satisfying. I don't have them back yet, but know they are dead on. But ordinarily, at $2.80 a click, I am going to incident meter or even even spot meter and use the zone system. Using a film camera can bring back fun to shooting that may have been lost with digital.
 

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