film cameras

[pocketshaver]

When looking at the current market, its basically Ansco point and shoot cameras, Diana/lomo stuff, and Nikon with a nice F10...

The Diana and lomography family is known for lack of quality in the plastic body and lens... So how can there be cameras in this family that are costing 3-500$?

 

[vintagesnaps]

They're more like $50-100 at most new, depending what you get (flash, accessories, etc.). Where are you seeing them priced so high?

 

[pocketshaver]

LomographyLC-A+ Compact Automat Camera Kit

LomographyLC-A 120 Medium Format Film Camera

this one here has me confused as to what it actually is....

LomographyBelair X 6-12 Jetsetter Medium Format Camera Kit with 35mm Back

 

[dxqcanada]

The Lomo LC-A is/was a Russian camera copy of the Cosina CX-2 ... production started in 1980's.

The Belair reminds me of old Kodak folders ... or the Plaubel Veriwide ... but in cheap plastic

 

[cgw]

Too polite to call these folders "sucker bait," but Lomo has often IMHO foisted off some semi-functional junk at silly prices. Friends have usually shelved(trashed) 'em after brief use due to serious QC problems. If shooting film means shooting it in relics, then get the real deal and spend the $$$ to properly refurb it.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

There are many Canon AE-1,Nikon FE,ect used 35MM cameras out there in good shape for reasonable money. Why buy plastic crap? Canon glass is cheap for what you get and so are the cameras. For the budget mentioned a Nikon F5 can be had in near mint and likely be the last film camera you ever need to buy. Spend some time looking and thinking before buying a false bargain.

Of course I'm a bit biased.

 

[pocketshaver]

im just trying to figure it out is all. they do look nice a few of them. but gah

 

[Derrel]

I had a Cosina CX-2 in 1985-86. Its design was cool! Some drunk woman at a college party dropped it, and broke the hotshoe off the top deck! I was upset. It was an "okay" camera, not super-good lens-wise, but not bad either. I put 10,12 rolls thru it. MY suggestion? Goodwill or eBay for a used decent P$S, like an Olympus Trip 35 for $4-$8 from Goodwill, or a used 35mm SLR from the late 1990's for $50-$200 from KEH.com

 

[vintagesnaps]

That's too bad Derrel, I like Cosina, to me a somewhat little known diamond in the rough.

I remember seeing the Belair when it came out but it's just a variation of vintage cameras I already have. I have fun with some of the plastic cameras, just as I do with the vintage, plastic, bakelite cameras that they resemble (ones with aperture settings of one stick person, a bunch of stick people, and mountains!! lol). I think the original Dianas started in the '60's? in Europe? and the Holgas in the '80's in Asia? I think... So Lomography (with Dr. Florian Karp who later did The Impossible Project and now peel apart film for Polaroids) started recreating those older cameras, and is based in Europe and seems to be more popular/well known in Europe/Asia.

But I couldn't see getting something like the LCA; if I want something with actual glass, and ya know, settings... then there are better vintage options. If you look at KEH or Adorama Used you'd probably find a decent used 35mm SLR etc. at a decent price. Of course I did get a Lubitel (an original not an imitation) that I found at a price I couldn't pass up.

Ask Leo about how to get good pictures with vintage bakelite, etc., she's way more experienced with using them than I am (yet anyway!). My favorite cheap plastic is the Pop 9.

 

[compur]

Lomo gear is for buyers who like to take film photos with chintzy, plastic cameras. The images produced are not supposed to be what is normally considered high photographic quality.

For "normal" film photography the best deals are on used, good quality cameras from major manufacturers. Just get a guaranty that it is working properly or can be returned if not. You can get a decent 35mm film camera for around $100 or less or even sometimes a medium format camera like a Yashica TLR, for example. Of course, you can also spend more.

 

[Derrel]

The first time I heard about the Diana a camera was around 1978 or so in an article that was released in Popular Photography magazine. The pictures were pretty good actually, and were a real departure with their low fidelity aesthetic, which was quite a departure from the normal work of the period.

I have seen only a couple of actual Diana cameras available in real life, but they are fairly common on eBay

The Lomo aesthetic has become synonymous with low fidelity lenses and weird color and crappy quality. It's like the Diana but worse by a factor of 10. A person could spend 20,000 words and write a short book about why the low fidelity aesthetic has an appeal to people. Even though I'm not a real big fan of the low fidelity aesthetic, I do understand that it is appealing sometimes.

This week I had the pleasure of seeing an old high school classmate who opened his own photography store in studio 36 years ago in our small town of Dallas Oregon. He named the store focal point photography, and over the years he has been involved With amateur semi professional and professional photographers, and this old old equipment and new. Focal Point has a Facebook page. You can check out a photo of Mike and one of his earliest customers, Earl Garren, t he father of my best friend throughout high school, in my 20s to my early 40s.

Being in the store this week took me back in time, as I saw many film cameras that I have not seen in decades.

There have been some really wonderful cameras made over the years, and if you want a good film camera, they are out there.

 

[vintagesnaps]

Oooh a real camera store!! Do I see film back there?? I miss stores like that, ones here are all gone (but I got a few goodies when they were going out of business). Not much consolation, I'd rather still have the stores.

 

[Derrel]

Focal Point is an unusual Store,in that they have ahuge collection of used equipment just sitting out on top of the counters.

For example the other day I saw 28 used Nikon digital single lens reflexs and two Nikon 1 cameras, a red one and White one. All just sitting out in a big arrangement on top of one of the glass cabinets They happened to have a Nikon 300/2.8 Vr, A 400 mm F2.8 manual focus, and the 500 mm F/4,all With the original Nikon trunk cases, as well as a Canon 600 mm f/4.

While browsing the much smaller medium format Area, I saw something that I had never seen before. It was a Rolleiflex 3.5. In its original box, complete with accessories in their original boxes, and inside of a leather everready case was a beautiful camera. The odd thing was that on the front of the case was a postage-style stamp that said " US customs 1962 ".

 

[Derrel]

A few years ago when I was inside of Focal Point photography, Mike Lowery went through a mental list that he had in his head, of all the photographic stores that used to exist in the Willamette Valley, which is a collection of approximately 20 (???) towns in the valley that is probably about 60 miles wide and 150 miles long . He rattled off a bunch of stores that I had never heard of before; they used to be his competition what these one by one had all gone out of business or been put out of business.However through remarkable perseverance,and incredible customer service and really striving to make people happy with their purchases,the store that he started 36 years ago lives on.

 

[IanG]

Derrel, I saw thousands of excellent 35mm and 120 film cameras today most at bargain prices, and there were some digital as well. Prices vary a lot the £20 Pentax SV with meter and lens for £20 I bought last time was as good as the £120 SV I saw today only difference was a case

We need to use the old (and many are near mint) before buying new. Should have said i was at a camera fair . . . . .

I bought well, as usual

Ian