Film Camera

ShooterJ · Jun 15, 2013

Hey guys and girls,

I'm about to pick up an old manual Pentax 35mm film camera and two lenses for it. I'm planning on some B&W film and I'll be wanting supplies to process it myself (already have a list of that stuff).

I'm going to try some wildlife shots as one lens is a 300mm. Any suggestions on the kind of film I might want to consider? I've played with film before and it was a blast but not something I did a lot of on a regular basis.

Thanks in advance!

limr · Jun 15, 2013

Kodak Tri-X 400 is a good standard B&W to start with. It's what many Photography 101 classes require. Good tones and contrast, and fairly forgiving if exposures are a bit under or over. If you're planning on shooting in bright sun, you might want to go down to a Tmax 100. Sharper, less grain, but also pickier about correct exposure. Ilford HP5 400 is another one you could try. Your old Pentax should have a light meter that you see in the viewfinder. That will need a battery. What model/year is it?

ShooterJ · Jun 16, 2013

limr said:
Kodak Tri-X 400 is a good standard B&W to start with. It's what many Photography 101 classes require. Good tones and contrast, and fairly forgiving if exposures are a bit under or over. If you're planning on shooting in bright sun, you might want to go down to a Tmax 100. Sharper, less grain, but also pickier about correct exposure. Ilford HP5 400 is another one you could try. Your old Pentax should have a light meter that you see in the viewfinder. That will need a battery. What model/year is it?

I'll need to look for the model/year. If it doesn't have a light meter, I've got one I can use hand held anyway. It'll do both reflected and incident metering. Thank you very much for the response, I think what I may do is pick up a roll of each and just go out and shoot them in some different conditions.. bright sunlight, diffuse, shade, etc... having a roll of each film and testing it would probably be the best way to get an idea of what I wanna shoot with under what conditions. But you've given me a great starting point, so thank you!

I still have to pick up the old Pentax on Tuesday, but when I do I'll add it to my list of gear on my profile, might even take some photos to upload (it's a nice looking Pentax with some lenses in very good shape). In the meantime I'll find about the model/year as far as considerations for the battery go.

Thanks again

timor · Jun 16, 2013

Get some tripod or at least monopod to use with that 300mm lens for wild life shooting. What Pentax model you are looking at ?

ShooterJ · Jun 16, 2013

timor said:
Get some tripod or at least monopod to use with that 300mm lens for wild life shooting. What Pentax model you are looking at ?

I've got a tripod that will thread into the base of it.. and I'll have to get another look at the camera. I actually just stopped in at the camera store on my way through, asked if they had any old 35mm film cameras and they brought several out for me to look at. The Pentax and the two lenses for it were what I set my eye on, but I had other places to be and got the man to hold onto it for me until Tuesday.. I'll have more time then to take a closer look at everything.

vintagesnaps · Jun 16, 2013

I love B&W film... I've usually used TMAX, or various Ilford films, and TriX is equally good. I generally use 100 speed outdoors and 400 indoors or in low light. Pentax made some good cameras and lenses that were popular, sounds like it will be a nice set. You might find FPP interesting and they have an online store with some unusual films at usually good prices - Film Photography Project | An Internet Radio Show & On-Line Resource for Film Shooters Worldwide .

ShooterJ · Jun 16, 2013

vintagesnaps said:
I love B&W film... I've usually used TMAX, or various Ilford films, and TriX is equally good. I generally use 100 speed outdoors and 400 indoors or in low light. Pentax made some good cameras and lenses that were popular, sounds like it will be a nice set. You might find FPP interesting and they have an online store with some unusual films at usually good prices - Film Photography Project | An Internet Radio Show & On-Line Resource for Film Shooters Worldwide .

Awesome, thank you! And yeah the body and lenses looked great. I did a quick inspection of everything .. shutter, apertures, damage/wear, etc... everything looked/worked good. I'll look more closely on Tuesday, but I don't anticipate problems.. the store has a good reputation.

I'll be sure to upload some photos of the set and model info if I buy it (which I intend to if it all works fine)

vintagesnaps · Jun 16, 2013

I'll be interested to find out what camera you get. Didn't know how familiar with Pentax you are; their earlier SLRs are screw mount (which was the standard at the time) then they started manufacturing their K mount which was the Pentax version of a bayonet mount.

It probably won't really make a difference if you're getting two lenses with it, it would just make a difference later on if you want to add lenses to your set (although there are a number of adapters made too).

ShooterJ · Jun 16, 2013

I'll post again on this thread when I get it with the model/year and photos. Any additional information I can get about it will be awesome.

limr · Jun 16, 2013

My Pentax K1000 is my first and enduring love, so I'm always excited when someone gets their hands on a solid old Pentax and starts shooting. Looking forward to seeing some images

ShooterJ · Jun 17, 2013

limr said:
My Pentax K1000 is my first and enduring love, so I'm always excited when someone gets their hands on a solid old Pentax and starts shooting. Looking forward to seeing some images

I'll definitely be posting images I get from it!

I actually need to start posting more images in general, and I will do so soon. This forum has been awesome so far and I've gotten a lot of helpful and objective advice from absolutely everyone who's contributed to a post of mine, so thanks to all for that.

Looking forward to posting more images (especially from the Pentax 35mm, my DSLR might get lonely for a few days. LOL)

bsinmich · Jun 18, 2013

That 300mm lens will require a lot of support for a good sharp picture. A general rule of thumb is that you use the focal length of the lens as a minimum shutter speed. That way a 300mm lens would require a shutter speed of 1/300 or faster. The reason is that a 300mm is a 6X telephoto and you are also magnifying any shaking by 6X. Since you don't have 1/300 sec on any Pentax I know of you would need 1/500 sec. I have a 400mm and a 2X extender that will give me an 800mm effective lens. That takes a tripod for all shutter speeds.