film questions

[goodoneian]

i'm thinking about getting a flim body and lens before too long. reason being that i don't have too much experience in using film, and am interested in getting into it. i would use my dad's old minolta x-700 and lenses, but they're all in pretty bad condition, plus i'd rather just buy my own.

what would you guys reccomend to me? i really like wide angles and would like to shoot landscapes with this camera. i'd prefer to use nikon since that's what i know i guess, and you could say i'm a bit of a fanboy, but i'll look into whatever is reccomdned to me regardless of brand.

 

[Garbz]

No need to go too fancy if you're shooting landscapes and have the time to control the shot. I'd suggest looking into the Nikon FE, FE2, FM and other film bodies around that era. They will accpet any lenses except G lenses (accept any lenses with an aperture ring) so if you shoot a digital Nikon that may be the way to go. Regarding lenses some nicer 28ish mm on the wide lenses can be found on ebay too. This would produce roughly a shot as wide as the standard kit lenses on most modern Nikons (18mm).

Some suitable lenese:
Zoom-Nikkor 25-50mm f/4
Zoom-Nikkor 28-50mm f/3.5
Or a Zoom-Nikkor 28-85mm f/3.5-4.5 http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/zoomsMF/2885mm.htm

If money is of no concern look at a Nikkor AF-S D 28-70mm f/2.8 You'll be using this one a lot if you ever get a D700 or D3.

Someone else can recommend other brands, I have no knowledge of older canon minolta etc gear.

 

[Alpha]

The FE's are ****. Impossible to read meter in difficult light and no aperture priority. Go with a Pentax ME/ME Super/K-1000 or a Canon AE-1. Pentax has the cheaper glass.

 

[goodoneian]

well, i'd like to keep things relatively cheap i guess, since this would be purly hobby. i'll look up all those lenses garbz, thanks

in regards to one of the nikons not having aperture priority mode, that doesn't really effect me since i rarely even use that on my d300

edit: another reason i would prefer to stick with nikon is because i already have an sb-600 which i would assume (i could be wrong) would work on nikons film bodies

 

[Alpha]

Your SB will work on any body from any manufacturer.

And I'm guessing you're either shooting in shutter priority or full manual or full auto if not ap priority?

 

[goodoneian]

Your SB will work on any body from any manufacturer.

And I'm guessing you're either shooting in shutter priority or full manual or full auto if not ap priority?

that's good to know then

i shoot in full manual just about all the time, unless i'm just goofing around and then i use program

 

[Alpha]

Jesus. Guess I've been goofing around all these years.

 

[Battou]

The FE's are ****. Impossible to read meter in difficult light and no aperture priority. Go with a Pentax ME/ME Super/K-1000 or a Canon AE-1. Pentax has the cheaper glass.

+1

I shoot the Canon FD mount bodies including (but not limited to) the AE-1, Solid peices of equipment.

 

[Alpha]

The FE's are just such wonky cameras. Especially with those ridiculous looking prisms. I think someone at Nikon in the 70's thought they looked cool.

 

[goodoneian]

Jesus. Guess I've been goofing around all these years.

i'm not trying to knock program or aperture and shutter priority, i just prefer manual

 

[marcuspeddle]

If you are interested in landscapes, I would like to suggest medium format. You can get some cheap cameras these days and, depending on the manufacturer, some cheap lenses. I know a person who has a Pentax medium format system and the lenses are good and inexpensive. I use the Contax 645 system myself, which is great because it's great for both hand-held photography and fine art or landscape photography. The Carl-Zeiss lenses are extremely expensive, though . . . .

 

[Mike_E]

You could look into an N8008s or an N90s(w/grip). If you have the money then an F100 or an F5.

 

[goodoneian]

If you are interested in landscapes, I would like to suggest medium format. You can get some cheap cameras these days and, depending on the manufacturer, some cheap lenses. I know a person who has a Pentax medium format system and the lenses are good and inexpensive. I use the Contax 645 system myself, which is great because it's great for both hand-held photography and fine art or landscape photography. The Carl-Zeiss lenses are extremely expensive, though . . . .

hmm i've hadn't thought of medium format, but you've caught my attention with this. how much do you think i could get a relatively decent medium format camera plus lens for?

 

[Bifurcator]

Good SLR film bodies that I own(ed) like(d), and that I think can be had on the cheap, are:

• Olympus
  OM4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_OM-4 (spot meter, computerized spot sample averaging, off the film metering, etc.)
• Canon
  A-1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_A-1
• Nikon
  F3~F5 Are all great bodies! There's an F6 too but I dunno it (never had one). I don't like any other Nikon film cameras.
  F3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_F3
  F4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_F4
  F5: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_F5
• Contax
  AX: http://www.cdegroot.com/photo-contax-ax/
  ST: http://www.cdegroot.com/photo-contax-st/
  RTS III: http://www.cdegroot.com/photo-contax-rtsiii/

There are other too of course but if I was just getting into film right now I would get one of these most likely. Probably the AX or the F5.

 

[Bifurcator]

BTW, you can get into MF in a pretty nice way for about $200 or so.