great idea for the wife!!! need help

reds_21

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im very dumb to the whole photography thing. i am writing this thread in hopes of getting some awesome advice for a present for my wife for her birthday.

i can get specifics tomorrow on the exact equipment she has BUT................years back i bought my wife a developer and the whole kitten-kaboodle to develop her own black and white pictures. once the supplies ran dry and we moved, it kind of got put on the back burner. i really feel bad, cause she doesn't have any hobbies and the one that she did have,,,,,,dissapeared with time.

now that i got this brainy idea to get her back up and running, i have a couple questions.

1) she has a 35mm camera but i cant recall the brand and model number. i can get that later but its wither a minolta or cannon. anyways, inthe past the camera would always screw up the film. dont remember the details but i do know that she got very frusterated with the camera. so my thoughts now are, i dont want to buy her a crappy 35mm camera that willbreak in a year or so......i want good quality that wont break the bank either. this is nothing more than for fun,,,its not a business nor is it a daily used thing. (catch my drift)? can anyone suggest a good 35mm camera that is very dependable??

2) the developer, i assume needs to be taken in and serviced but are these things cheaper to service or replace???? i remember spending around 100-200 for it. its small but did everything she asked. its been sitting on the shelf for a few years now. how do i know if its worth keeping and just cleaned up compared to having to start over? nothing is broke at all and withouth asking her the details about it,,,,,im flying solo.

sorry for being so long winded on this one,,,im just excited to get her back up and running!!!!

i will post details tonight or forst thing tomorrow of existing equipment that she does have!!!

any advice?? :confused:

 
Welcome to the forum.

There are plenty of good 35mm cameras. Her old camera may even be workable, maybe it just needs to be repaired? It might be advisable to get her the same model or something compatible, if she has more than one lens...because the lenses are not universal. Older 35mm film cameras are plentiful on the used market...but as with hers, they may need to be refurbished a bit. Of course, there are still 35mm cameras being made today, if you want to get her something new.

I don't know about the developer, chemicals and all that...but many people around here do.
 
Whooooo Boy!

First, welcome to the forum!

Next, are you sure that she wants to get back into photography? I ask because we guys are prone to getting things for our women that just don't always fit.

If you are sure then we'll need to know what your budget is and whether or not your wife would like to go digital. Digital is Much easier and cleaner than developing your own negatives!

If you are thinking that you would like to surprise her then I suggest that you take her to dinner and surprise her with a gift certificate to a camera store (or at least a check with the camera store's name on the Pay To line).

Letting her pick out her own camera may keep the camera out of the drawer where any other 'gifts that don't fit' are kept. ;)

Good luck!

mike
 
ok before i answer the feedbacks there are, here is the details of what my wife has.

1.) what i was calling a developer is actually a enlarger. it is a Beseler, Cadet II, model number 3502

2) the camera is a Minolta X-370s. she has a few zoom lenses as well. but not important for this discussion (i think)

hopefully this helps a bit.

i believe this is what she really wants. we have a nice digital camera but i find that she does not like to use it that much. she went to a vocational school and learned photography and she always said she loves developing her own pictures. so that was the reason i started the photography thing a while back. she did not wanna part with anything so i know theres still some what of a spark somewhere that hopefully i can bring ablaze!

as for the budget, im not looking to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars. i have till march of next year to come up with the money for everything. so i have plenty of time to save!!! (without her knowing!!)

like big mike was saying, the camera/enlarger may need nothing more than cleaned but i am just weighing my options with how old the existing equipment is compared to what i can get newer.

with the model number/enlarger i described, can anyone shed some light on this?

thanks for your help BIG MIKE and MIKE_E
 
OK, first find a camera tech in your area that also knows about darkroom equipment and then sneak all of the stuff over there and have it checked out.

Second, If she wants to stay with Minolta, there are used cameras and lenses in great condition dirt cheap around that will mesh with what she has.

If you look you should be able to fill out her darkroom at a nice price as most people are going away from that as well.

And last, if she wants to do film, give Strong consideration to Medium or Large format cameras. The difference in the quality of the photo is astounding if you haven't seen it before. You should be able to pick up a Graflex large format with 2 lenses for around $300 (4" X 5"). Or a Mamiya or Pentax or other medium format set up for under $500.

Check in the film section in this site for further (specific) info. (not that you won't get answered here, just that the film guys/gals tend to look there first ;))
 

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