Vintage film cameras
- Thread starter mhardy6647
- Start date
trikster
Well-Known Member
Beautiful Brownie! Would love to have that one in my collection.
AstroZon
Well-Known Member
Thanks - It was given to me as a Christmas present by my coworkers.
DavidStank
New Member
My Canon collection includes the AE-1 (black body), F-1, FTb, AE-1 Program, and the A-1 (anyone here remember "hexaphotocybernetic"?). I also have an EOS-1n and LOVED that camera, having bought it when I was sure damned digital was still years away from replacing 35mm film at the time and I'd just discovered Fuji Velvia. No prizes for guessing how wrong I was there.
Two years ago I found a Zip-Loc bag full of exposed film I'd shot at races and airshows years before. The local camera shop charged a ridiculous premium for developing each of these rolls. According to them there was only one lab left still processing 35mm color film these days. Not sure if that's true. Hoping it's not. Digital is quicker, cheaper, more convenient . . . but there was still something about real film....
Two years ago I found a Zip-Loc bag full of exposed film I'd shot at races and airshows years before. The local camera shop charged a ridiculous premium for developing each of these rolls. According to them there was only one lab left still processing 35mm color film these days. Not sure if that's true. Hoping it's not. Digital is quicker, cheaper, more convenient . . . but there was still something about real film....
Old Ears too
Super Member
That's interesting. My local camera shop actually does color processing right there on the premises. It's B&W that they have to send out.
I can get 36 exp color developed and scanned on disc for about $10.
I can get 36 exp color developed and scanned on disc for about $10.
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
I agree....started collecting nice film cameras around 30 years ago, with the intentions of them eventually becoming part of my retirement fund when it came time to sell them off (yeah, RIGHT). I have a cabinet full of film cameras (and a freezer full of film) that aren`t worth anywhere near what I had hoped for....sad, ain`t it ? But, on the flip side, it`s still nice to take a couple out and fondle them once in a while....they function so silky smooth, and feel exquisitely-built.
I have also shot a fair amount of Velvia, mostly in 645 and 6x7 format....it makes colors pop like nothing else, eh ?
illinoisteve
Super Member
I have a Rapid-M -- great camera!
Here's my newest acquisition, an original Spottie:
Here's my newest acquisition, an original Spottie:
Bob T
Active Member
Very nice....Here is my Vito B. It belonged to my Dad, and I have 100s and 100s of slides he took in the late 50s, early 60s.
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If it was Kodachrome, then the store would have been right up to several years ago. But now even the one place that still processed has stopped.
All it takes is looking at Kodachromes from the 50s and before to realize what a loss this is. No color medium is as archival, and very few, if any, were as natural in their color balance and contrast.
All it takes is looking at Kodachromes from the 50s and before to realize what a loss this is. No color medium is as archival, and very few, if any, were as natural in their color balance and contrast.
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
Pentax 645 w/35mm lens
I haven't tried their services, but Dwayne's (no affiliation, BTW) prices seemed pretty reasonable last time I checked.
I agree - there is something about film. With digital, there is pretty much zero cost per exposure, so I find the tendency is to shoot more, and select after teh fact. With film, I look and think more and shoot less.....
MaxxVolume
Lunatic Member
Yep,
IMHO, the T3 can take The Pepsi Challenge against any of the other SLRs of that period....it`s a fine piece of kit, for sure. I had mine (along with my Koni-Omegas and Auto S3) gone through by the Konica Guru himself, Greg Weber. He did a CLA and battery conversion on it, it functions smooth as silk. I also have a few lenses for it, the ones made by Kiron, and the Vivitar Series 1 lenses are top-quality glass !
I also have a fondness for early-70s Japanese rangefinders, managed to accumulate a few of them as well. Possibly the best of all of them is the Konica Auto S3, it has a unique "light blending" compensation that yields the most natural-looking flash photos you`ve ever seen....
If you like Konica and rangefinders, check out the IIIA and IIIM. One of the best viewfinders ever made - like the Leica M3, it's lifesize, very bright and contrasty, but , in addition to parallax correction, the finder frame changes size as you focus closer. They are fixed lens cameras, so no multiple frames like the Leica, but the lens is outstanding, sharp and contrasty. The film advance, though may not lease everyone - its a lever sticking out of the lens barrel and you advance the film and cock the shutter by pushing down on it twice.
They are durable cameras also, though the enormous meter on the IIIM may have problems.
They are durable cameras also, though the enormous meter on the IIIM may have problems.
DSD-13
Active Member
Gorgeous! Made in Japan, 1980. US voltage model. Everything tested except for the MC Phono Input (I don't have a moving coil cartridge.) The MM Phono input works perfectly and sounds great. Speakers channels A &B tested for one week each side with no issues whatsoever. The Balance control has a little scratchiness, but nothing bad (I never use it, and I doubt the previous owner did either.) Volume, tone controls, and all switches are perfectly quiet. Some nice features of this amp are: Huge toroidal transformer. Separate output transistor sets for speaker channels A & B (8 total output transistors.) Separate Moving Magnet (MM) and Moving Coil (MC) phono preamps. Tone control bypass. Balanced power and output stage wiring. Some cosmetic issues: Case cover has a few shallow indentations and feet marks from something stacked on top. This is a great integrated amp for those desiring to get back into vinyl records. Good for CDs and Cassettes too. Only one Aux input, but you can use Tape 1 and Tape 2 for addition line-level inputs if you need more. Its silver face is very cool looking. And oh yea, it's heavy. That big transformer and solid chassis add up. Sorry, but shipping isn't going to be cheap.)
illinoisteve
Super Member
Here's a picture taken with my early-1950s Samoca 35 III, a rather tiny but heavy for its size camera from the time post-WWII when Japanese camera makers were just starting to try to compete with European makers. The original was taken with some expired Fujicolor 200, and I'm not sure if the magenta color shift I got was from the film or perhaps lens coatings that were better for black-and-white than for color film. I converted several of the scans to monochrome, which looked better. Here's our donkey, Oscar, grazing in the pasture:
