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pocketshaver

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is there a better choice among 35mm cameras for shooting with black and white film?

Ive seen a few reviews that make it out as if a range finder is "best" as your looking above the lens and "wont have issues" with making the shot.
 
Totally subjective. Some people do not like range finders. I prefer a 100% viewfinder SLR for 135 film. I find them easier to focus but not everyone finds that. I think its due to wearing glasses. Typically, prime lenses will offer you better micro contrast in both systems. Pushing and developing can higher contrast imagery. Look for a reliable, cla'd camera body and a highly regarded prime lens for it. Then start shooting and developing. Study up on push, pull, developing. Look up filters ar well, they can enhance certain situations.
 
having shot everything from folding to advanced SLRs its as jcdeboever says.
its all subjective.

Any film camera will do and it depends on what YOU yourself want to do.
Any one is capable.
 
After years of SLRs I found a rangefinder took some getting used to. The framing is a little different, I usually frame a little looser so an image will work if it's slightly inside or outside the frame lines.

Remember to take off the lens cap.

You won't be looking thru the lens like you do with an SLR, you'll be able to see what you're going to photograph even with the lens cap on. You could shoot an entire roll and then realize the lens cap was on the whole time. Not that I ever did that! lol (I think I caught it before I got too many frames into the roll!) I learned to check that the cap was off, and I leave it off til I'm ready to put the camera away.

Remember to take off the lens cap.
 
I've done B&W photography with an SLR, a rangefinder, vintage cameras, plastic cameras, and Polaroids. To me it's more about thinking about the light and dark in a scene/subject and how it will look with color removed.


Take off the lens cap.
 
After years of SLRs I found a rangefinder took some getting used to. The framing is a little different, I usually frame a little looser so an image will work if it's slightly inside or outside the frame lines.

Remember to take off the lens cap.

You won't be looking thru the lens like you do with an SLR, you'll be able to see what you're going to photograph even with the lens cap on. You could shoot an entire roll and then realize the lens cap was on the whole time. Not that I ever did that! lol (I think I caught it before I got too many frames into the roll!) I learned to check that the cap was off, and I leave it off til I'm ready to put the camera away.

Remember to take off the lens cap.

The Nikon L35AF 35mm P&S had a panel attached to the cap which covered the viewfinder. So if you could not see anything, you left the cap on. And it worked :oops:
 
is there a better choice among 35mm cameras for shooting with black and white film?

Ive seen a few reviews that make it out as if a range finder is "best" as your looking above the lens and "wont have issues" with making the shot.

That is probably a statement from a RF shooter, not an SLR shooter.

Today, the "best" camera is whatever is in good condition and works.
Old cameras may/likely needs a CLA (Clean Lubricate and Adjust) and repairs; 30+ year old foam seal are likely turning to dust, 30+ year old lube is probably dried out, . . .
 
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Ive been going through vintage options, THINKING a Canon FTB QL would be a rather good one with electronics for me.
 
Pentax K 1000 nice solid only electric part was the needle light meter
I used to use Ilford FP4 asa125 pulled to 100 but this was early 80s
Compeared to my canon 600d, & canon pixma ix6550 printer the Pentax with fp4 home darkroom gave me much better b&w photos. All my digital b&w pics have a colour cast. I think is caused by me but not sure how or why
 
It is going to come down to personal preference. Think about the features that you do and don't want.

Do you want auto focus?
Does the camera need to have auto, shutter propriety and/or aperture priority?
Fully manual?
Do you need interchangeable lenses?

Keep in mind your price range. The popular cameras cost significantly more than the competition from other manufactures.

For instance a Ricoh or Fujica is going to be 1/3 or 1/4 the price of a Pentax K-1000 or Canon AE-1.
 
is there a better choice among 35mm cameras for shooting with black and white film?

Ive seen a few reviews that make it out as if a range finder is "best" as your looking above the lens and "wont have issues" with making the shot.

The Nikon F100 was 95% of the F5, but used prices are relatively good these days.

The higher-end Nikons from the the last year of the 1990's are now 20 years old...

Reliability...newer and higher-grade is better, IMO. The Nikon F4s ( big and ugly, IMO) and F5 ( heavy with all those AA batteries and it built-in motor and vertical grip)(autofocus) were pretty rugged cameras.


In manual focus, the Nikon F3 with the HP finder was a nice camera..I still have one I bought USED in 1985..still works..still meters... MD-4 motor drive still works...half-height or with the AA cell-power MD-4 added, the HP finder is GREAT for eyeglass wearers.
 
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My favorite BW film shooter is my Pentax MX. Another one is the Nikon F2. I don't believe that a range finder camera is "better" than a SLR, sounds like urban legend stuff to me. It can just boil down to how the film is processed.
 
Rangefinders are really good with 35mm and 50mm lenses...and have a few 75mm offerings; 90mm was about the longest semi-common rfdr. focal length historically. Due to the viewfinder issues, and short rfdr. base lengths, lenses like 135mm and longer were seldom seen, but there were a few long lenses, often designed for use on the Leica-made "Visoflex", which turned a Leica into in effect, a reflex camera,and the lenses used part of the reflex housing as part of the flange-focal distance, and are not especially common compared to other M-mount lenses. Sometime called "short mount" Leica lenses, they have become less and less commonly seen on the used market over the past 40 years.

For telephoto lenses,and close-up and macro work,and photomicrography, the 35mm single lens reflex is the most-natural , easiest-to-use choice. since one looks directly through the "taking" lens. There are no zooms for rangefinders, although Leica did make the "Tri-Elmar, a three-focal-length lens, which many are unaware, can shoot between the marked focal lengths.

Rangefinders have a few strengths, which are not shared by 35mm SLR camera. Lighter, simpler, more-rugged, few parts, in the case of Leica and Contax, incredible lenses.

See www.cameraquest.com for some good background articles on rfdr 35mm cameras of the past 90 years.
 
I have a Canon with QL but not sure which one... it's OK but the shutter release is recessed so is a hindrance in being quick to release the shutter, and the focus assist that I thought might be helpful isn't all that much...

Any SLR you like or any rangefinder would be fine shooting B&W. I've done both, either works fine. It is harder to find longer lenses for rangefinders so that's either an advantage or disadvantage depending on what you're doing and how you like to shoot. I use them in different ways, and want an SLR if I want to be quick about it or use a short telephoto. For me a rangefinder takes a little more thought about framing a shot.
 
right now my camera is a canon ftb with canon50mm 1:1.8 S.C. lens and a vivitar 62mm 75-205mm 1:3.8 MC micro focusing zoom


Id like to have a camera just dedicated to black and white film. that hopefully has the ability to use a macro lens.
 

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