Attention my photographer friends, help needed!

[Cam]

I'm taking an intro to photography course this semester. I am shocked an chagrined to hear that we will be using 35mm B&W film for the class. In addition, we will be developing our own stuff in the darkroom. That said, does anyone (hopefully someone in the US) have a working 35mm SLR with manual controls they would be willing to lend me until December? Alas, I need it by Sept. 4. I will reimburse courier costs, of course, and return it in the same condition or better than it arrived. It seems like a hassle to have to buy a used camera just for this one course, just to sell it again after. Film has been obsolete for a decade, in my opinion, but that's up for debate. ;)

[Rikadyn]

Film is not obsolete and you will learn to love it over the course of the class :|. If I wasn't leaving for Japan, i would have one for you, but shouldn't be more than 150 for a mid 90s SLR and lens.

[Freude am Fahren]

I think I still have an Olympus camera laying around. Possibly fully manual. I'll look around.

But, I wouldn't rule out buying a second hand one to have around when you get the urge :up:

[Rikadyn]

Yea if you could use a rangefinder...

http://fedka.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=21&osCsid=8fb473b02a2ffa9d9a9f6e7bbb330da7

those are all neat :P

[Cam]

Nevermind. Just bought a Nikon FG found on Craigslist. Came with 50mm lens, 35-70 zoom lens, two flashes (don't know if they work), a bunch of filters and a bag (maybe a dozen or so rolls) of colour film. Too bad I'm only working in B&W for the class. :lol: Bought it from an old soldier who bought it new in the 80s, or so he claims. It even has all the manuals, warranties and I think even receipts! :lol:

[Rikadyn]

I have an FG... btw, you can shoot the color film and process it as black and white. Will be utter crap for dark room printing but scanning it works wonders.

Kiev IIa Fuji Superia 800 processed b/w:

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8489/8197544141_b0bf12aa13_b.jpg

[Cam]

Yep, the original shipping receipt was in the box. :lol: Purchased in March, 1983 by mail-order. Original price of the body was $173.

[Rikadyn]

Neat. My intro class was fun, and won the professor over enough I skipped to independent study the next semester

[Cam]

It even came with promotional brochure.

774

[overpowered]

The FG will do the job. I used to have one. Decent camera for basic 35mm work. Small and light for a 35mm.

Film cameras have gotten cheap. You can get top of the line old film cameras surprisingly cheap these days.

If you wanted to blow your instructor away, this would be awesome. It was a top of the line pro camera at one time. 20 years ago, one of these would probably have gone for more like $1000 but film has strongly fallen out of favor.

https://www.keh.com/246458/nikon-f2a-photomic-chrome-35mm-camera-body

Or, if you wanted to go really nuts:

https://www.keh.com/247084/nikon-f5-35mm-camera-body

Avoid DX lenses with the FG. They don't have full frame coverage. They are designed for digital cameras with smaller than full frame sensors.
Avoid G lenses. You need an aperture ring with the FG.
Also avoid pre-ai lenses. You need AI or AIS lenses for the FG. You probably won't encounter these but you could if you spend much time on the used lens sites. Pre-ai lenses haven't been made since 1977.

It also won't work with invasive fish-eye's but I don't expect that you'll encounter any of those in a reasonable price range. They are expensive, rare and require a camera that supports mirror lockup, which the FG doesn't.

AF lenses will work, but won't AF since the FG doesn't do AF. AF lenses support AI/AIS so the FG will meter properly with them. Rockwell doesn't mention the FG. It's about the same as the EM in terms of compatibility and it's from the same generation. It was one step above the EM.

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm#cheap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikon_FG

Cannon's old camera situation is even worse. There is no compatibility between EOS and pre-EOS anything.

[Cam]

That is great info. Thank you. Honestly, I plan on selling it after the class is over to another student.

[Rikadyn]

The FG will do the job. I used to have one. Decent camera for basic 35mm work. Small and light for a 35mm.

Film cameras have gotten cheap. You can get top of the line old film cameras surprisingly cheap these days.

If you wanted to blow your instructor away, this would be awesome. It was a top of the line pro camera at one time. 20 years ago, one of these would probably have gone for more like $1000 but film has strongly fallen out of favor.



I went into my intro class with an Nikon F4

[Cam]

I looked at the unopened film that came with the camera. They're all colour, with ISOs between 100 and 400, plus a few that are slide film. The best before dates are from the '90s. :lol: I'm assuming they are too old to practically use. However, I'm wondering if they still half-work. Who knows, I might get some interesting effects. Is 20 years simply too long for them to be used at all? I'm inclined to try them for laughs and develop them as B&W, like Rikadyn suggested. :scratchchin: Hmm...

[Rikadyn]

BW you usually shoot expired of 5+yrs as if it's 2 steps slower than what it is marked. not sure about color. People buy 40-50yr old films and shoot them all the time, there is a niche market for it. so no not too old to use.

If you do shoot the color and develop as B/w be warned your times on an enlarger are gonna be north of 90 seconds, it's kinda like having a 5 contrast filter (red) as default...

[Cam]

Unfortunately, I don't understand what that means at this point, as I've just started the class. I will know what that means by October or so. :)

Just looked at the old film a little more closely. It's all slide film (seven rolls) except for one roll (12 exposures) of 100 ISO Kodak Gold.

[Rikadyn]

Never toyed with slide film, was supposed to grab some for my Ikoflex but never did. So...shoot a roll, and see what happens :P

[Cam]

I just might. :D

[Cam]

A colleague of Lori's loaned me a 85-210mm lens. He has a Nikon F-301, interestingly enough with the exact same 50mm lens I have.

[Rikadyn]

Is it the little 50mm E lens? If so that's not surprising.

[Cam]

Yes, Nikon E-series 50mm 1.8.

[Rikadyn]

Yes, Nikon E-series 50mm 1.8.

i think it was the kit lens with the FG. I have one, also have the equivalent AF lens.

[overpowered]

I went into my intro class with an Nikon F4Sweet. What did the instructor say about it?

When I took photo classes, we had one kid show up with a Leica M4 that his dad had but didn't use anymore.

[Rikadyn]

Sweet. What did the instructor say about it?

When I took photo classes, we had one kid show up with a Leica M4 that his dad had but didn't use anymore.

Not much, I also showed up with my Kiev IIa and asked a question about push processing... Personally I loathed the F4, I did one project with it before ditching it and going out and buy an F100. That being said I did impress the Professor enough I went from Intro to Independant study the next semester

[overpowered]

i think it was the kit lens with the FG. I have one, also have the equivalent AF lens.Yeah. That was the cheapest lens ever made by Nikon. Oddly, it was actually a pretty good lens in terms of image quality; at least until it fell apart. While the optical quality was good, the build quality was not quite up to their normal standards. The E series lenses were cheaper and used more plastic and glue than metal and screws like their better lenses.

[overpowered]

Not much, I also showed up with my Kiev IIa and asked a question about push processing... Personally I loathed the F4, I did one project with it before ditching it and going out and buy an F100. That being said I did impress the Professor enough I went from Intro to Independant study the next semesterI liked the F4. A friend had one. It was kind of big and heavy. Was that it?

[Rikadyn]

I liked the F4. A friend had one. It was kind of big and heavy. Was that it?

Big, Heavy, the Autofocus was atrocious. My F4 was free, as my dad had picked up 3 of them, and I decided I'd rather spend money than use it anymore :P

[overpowered]

They were still kind of figuring out AF in the F4 days. It wasn't up to today's standards by any means and was even a bit behind Canon at the time.

Still, you had 5.7 frames/second which was fast back then. It also had mirror lockup which was good for macro stuff and you could use any lens ever made by Nikon at the time. It had the fastest shutter at the time with the highest speed flash sync (though the FM2n had the same shutter speed and flash sync).

The F100 was much later and more advanced as a result. It was also smaller and lighter.

[Rikadyn]

They were still kind of figuring out AF in the F4 days. It wasn't up to today's standards by any means and was even a bit behind Canon at the time.

Still, you had 5.7 frames/second which was fast back then. It also had mirror lockup which was good for macro stuff and you could use any lens ever made by Nikon at the time. It had the fastest shutter at the time with the highest speed flash sync (though the FM2n had the same shutter speed and flash sync).

The F100 was much later and more advanced as a result. It was also smaller and lighter.

I know it was a good camera for it's time, but comparatively it's not very useful for the current day.

[Jason]

Man this thread is way more comprehensive...

I just told the guy to get any old manual camera :lol:

[Rikadyn]

Like a Leica M3 Singlestroke?

[Cam]

There's a woman in my class who brought in a Leica. She borrowed it from her dad, who inherited it from his dad.

[overpowered]

Like a Leica M3 Singlestroke?I wonder if you got a double stroke if you could still get it upgraded to single?

[Rikadyn]

I wonder if you got a double stroke if you could still get it upgraded to single?

I have my doubts but you never know

[Cam]

Developed my first rolls of film. We learn to print on Monday.

[Rikadyn]

Developing is easy eh mate? Wait till you start printing... I was spending any free time I had on campus in the dark room, something like 16hrs a week working in there. It's part of the reason the professor so easily allowed me to jump to Independant Study after just intro class

[overpowered]

The dark room does become a massive time suck.

I've seen an Ansel Adams show where they showed some of his most famous images printed straight vs. the prints he published. It's truly mind boggling how much of his best work was mostly massive amounts of hard work in the dark room -- before the existence of Photoshop.

[overpowered]

I have my doubts but you never knowI'm almost half tempted to email Leica and ask. KEH has a bunch of double stroke M3's.

Still even used M lenses will break the bank.

[Rikadyn]

The dark room does become a massive time suck.

I've seen an Ansel Adams show where they showed some of his most famous images printed straight vs. the prints he published. It's truly mind boggling how much of his best work was mostly massive amounts of hard work in the dark room -- before the existence of Photoshop.

I spent 8hrs working on one picture, went through almost half a box of paper to end up saying fuck it an went and reshot it.

[Cam]

I don't plan on getting that fancy. If my prints look adequate, that's good enough for me.

[Cam]

I have not learned to like film, despite getting an A for a final grade. Prof really liked my final project. I'll be more than happy to shoot digital from here on in. Going to sell the FG soon. I didn't like working in the darkroom, but that had more to do with my fellow students than the actual work I was doing. I'm glad the semester is over.

[harper]

I feel like you'll like working with digital more. I think the big deal for me (since I wound up getting a used Canon EOS film body for about $30 and have shot one roll total) is with digital, you can go take 100 or even 1,000 shots in a day and see exactly where you made mistakes or where you can improve, whereas doing that with film gets expensive...quickly. If you take the basics from the film class (juggling the three factors, composing shots) and apply them to using a digital body in full manual mode, you'll make strides really easily.

I'm sure your artistic skills in other forms helped out with the photography class too. It's only partially a mechanical activity, the rest is really learning how to take what you see and make it appear as an image. I'm sure a lot of the rules of composition come much more naturally than to me ;)

[Cam]

Just in case you didn't know, I have been a hobby photographer for almost ten years. I've only used digital until this class. :)

Let me know if you want to waste several days looking at photos and I'll link to some albums. :p

[harper]

D'oh! I forgot about that :/

[Cam]

Taking another photo class right now where the assignment is to document a small town. I picked a town called Cameron, population: 427.

[Kchrpm]

I bet it's a loud, powerful town :up:

[SportWagon]

I don't suppose it's where the brewers of Cameron Porter are located...

No they're in Oakville.

[Cam]

:lol:

:random:

http://www.cameronsbrewing.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/ObsidianImage250.jpg

[Kchrpm]

You should have a case on hand at all times :up: