There appears to be quite a number of keen photographers on here, and going by the forum demographic, probably quite a number who might still remember film (yes kids; that stuff where you only got 24/36 pictures on a roll, and had to wait for it to be developed, and before instagram made it possible to turn shit pictures into something that looked ‘cool’ 😉 ), so I thought it might be fun to have a thread celebrating old cameras. What were your favourites? 35mm? SLR? Rangefinder? Medium Format? TLR? any Large format masochists about? Anyone got a collection of useless old junk lovely old equipment?

I’ll start off with one I used to lust after, but never got around to owning (must get one one of these days, they’re as cheap as chips now); the Nikon F4:

Then

Now

It got nicked, I was completely gutted

Now with my media/photography studies student nephew who has to do a module on film. He has my russian portable briefcase enlarger too.

The World’s Fastest SLR – Minolta Maxxum 9ti by Utchat, on Flickr

Bob – I have one of those (AE-1), passed on to me by my now deceased great uncle. Keep meaning to get some film and have a play with it.

I had a Practika (sp?) as a kid, cost me a fortune in pocket money for film and processing. Took it to South Africa with me when I was 10 and again to New York when I was 15. No idea what happened to it.

Now I have a Nikon D300 which is great, but something seems to be lacking (motivation, knowledge, belief, I dunno) as I don’t get the same feeling I did with my old film camera of 20 years ago.

Went ‘missing’.

Fuji F20.

Replaced by an F60 (pah) and a Canon S90 (not quite so pah, but still a little pah).

Miss you little man. 😥

Canon AE-1 for me too… still have mine!

My current one – the Sony A77 – best camera I have ever used and as a consequence have taken the most photos with it. Just love it.

After that my 5MP Canon Ixus 500 (the old school one). Took lovely photos – jpeg engines whilst not so good in low light in the earlier days of digital photography were nowhere near as aggressive as they are now and the images in good light were pin sharp and had a beautiful colour cast to them.

Cheers

Danny B

I love my old OM1. Sadly don’t use it much at all these days;

Always been a Nikon man, but the Canon T90 was revolutionary, and defined the styling of most of Canon’s SLR range since:

Big camera buff here. I love the older film type cameras. Some of the modern rangefinder styles are quite nice too.

I’m from the digital era, so my first camera was a Minolta E323. 3mp, 3x optical zoom. The freedom that it gave me was such a revelation.

Classic Hasselblad 500cm; beautifully made (very very expensive) modular system. Body machined from a block of aluminium. Exquisite quality cameras and lenses. Produced pin-sharp images. Owned one for 1 roll of film, but couldn’t justify keeping it. 😥

To the OP – I got an F4s last year £150 with a 24-50 Nikkor on it
in mint condition – do it – just look for the newest best condition one you can get there is a lot of choice – (serial number 24x onwards if you can) It has possibly the best viewfinder I have ever used – apart from LF 😉

What were your favourites? – Zenit E – when I could only afford 1 roll of Kodachrome for 3 weeks as a kid
35mm?
SLR? Nikon F4
Rangefinder? – Leica M4P
Medium Format? Mamiya RB67 – Mamiya Super 23 (MF rangefinder)Fuji Gs645W
TLR? – Rolleiflex
any Large format masochists about? – 4×5″ MMP Micro Technical mk7 and mk 8 + MPP monorail + Durst Laborator L100 enlarger to match.

Anyone got a collection of useless old junk lovely old equipment?
Yes all of the above some in the loft some in the lockup..

To me, the best camera isn’t the nicest one, or the most expensive, or the coolest or whatever.

It’s the one you’ve got with you when you need to take that picture…. the one you’re never without.

So these days, my favourite this:

Anyone got a collection of useless old junk lovely old equipment?

Check this out – http://mrcad.co.uk/

A real Aladdin’s Cave of old stuff.

Yeah – I have one of those in my pocket – but its not one of my favourites

Another I’ve always promised myself; had a remarkably good lens for such a tiny and relatively cheap camera:

To me, the best camera isn’t the nicest one, or the most expensive, or the coolest or whatever.

It’s the one you’ve got with you when you need to take that picture…. the one you’re never without.

That tired cliché aside, this is about the appreciation of mechanical devices, rather than what they can or cannot do. A bit like admiring classic cars (which may be crap in performance relative to a modern generic Ford/Vauxhaul/Honda etc), or old watches, etc.

Had a Canon AE-1 as a kid (My Dad’s) then moved to Nikon. Always wanted an F1, but had to make do with an F40 and a D1h.

Happy days…

That tired cliché aside

Truth though, innit? 🙂

“I took an technically crap pic” or “I didn’t have a camera”

You choose. 🙂

Truth though, innit?

“I took an technically crap pic” or “I didn’t have a camera”

You choose.

I had the F20 before a phone with a semi-decent camera.

But that’s why it’s my (former) favourite when compared with the DSLR.

Almost bought one of these, many years ago, before coming to my senses!

Little more than jewellery really, but absolutely gorgeous.

No idea where my inherited ae-1 is, need to dig it out.

Fake retro but I really like Nikon’s new DF, shame about the unaffordable price:

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/11/nikon-df/#slideid-242021

Truth though, innit?

“I took an technically crap pic” or “I didn’t have a camera”

You choose.

You’re completely missing the point of this thread. 🙄

I’ll start off with one I used to lust after, but never got around to owning (must get one one of these days, they’re as cheap as chips now); the Nikon F4:

I got one of the F4’s for work when they first came out. As good as it was I ended up using an FM2 far more. In fact I liked it so much I bought one for myself.

I still have 2 OM1’s and an XA – the XA really was a brilliant compact. The Hasselblads are also very nice, I got to use them without having to buy them myself which was nice.

I’d love that Fuji that bob posted.

Fake retro but I really like Nikon’s new DF, shame about the unaffordable price:

Yep, it’s not priced as a big seller. Will probably come down 20% in the first year, once the early adopters have all paid full price.

4×5″ MMP Micro Technical mk7

On ebay just now MPP Mono rail


(links to auction fail)

You’re completely missing the point of this thread.

I have a Canon 650D too…. Does that count?

I kept an eye on the DF rumors. I turned out too big for me, and too expensive for what it is. I’m busy accumulating lenses for one of these (once DXO support appears):

I can’t say I have any fond recollections of film cameras. They were a complete pain in the arse.

To the OP – I got an F4s last year £150 with a 24-50 Nikkor on it
in mint condition – do it – just look for the newest best condition one you can get there is a lot of choice – (serial number 24x onwards if you can) It has possibly the best viewfinder I have ever used – apart from LF

Thanks; I’ll revisit the idea of buying one after the festive season I think. Not sure whether to get the standard version, or an S or E. I have a criminally undersused F5 somewhere; always regret buying it over an F100, as the F5 is so big and heavy, I ended up not taking it out much. 🙁 Amazing camera though.

Mind you, compared to an RB67, it’s a veritable ‘compact’! 😮

Fake retro but I really like Nikon’s new DF, shame about the unaffordable price:

From what I gather, it’s a D600 in a metal body, without the video facility. For almost twice as much! Nice, but a bit expensive. Like the nod to the FM though.

Speaking of which:

How d’you make a brilliant camera even better? Make it out of titanium! 😀

I can’t say I have any fond recollections of film cameras. They were a complete pain in the arse.

See, I can’t get excited about the new digital stuff. 😐

See, I can’t get excited about the new digital stuff.

Do you have other masochistic tendencies? 😉

I can’t say I have any fond recollections of film cameras.

Likewise, I enjoy photography way more with DSLRs.

thinking about what you’re doing rather than firing off 100 shots because you can and one of them’s bound to be good.
watching the pictures appear by the magic of chemistry in a darkroom.

2 of my favourites. Shame I don’t have the 1.4 lens for the Super A! The Oly was my first “pocket” camera before they started sticking them in phones.

Likewise, I enjoy photography way more with DSLRs.

My DSLR pees over any film camera I’ve owned, for capability, flexibility and ultimate image quality, but again, that’s not the point! My cheap digital watch is far more accurate than my (reasonably) expensive Seiko. I prefer wearing the inaccurate overpriced bauble though. 🙂

What I miss most of all, is winding the film on after each shot. That act of conclusion and progression, all in one flick of the thumb. ‘That one’s done; move onto the next one’.

I did love film.

😥

What I miss most of all, is winding the film on after each shot.

Yeah, hated that. 😆
Really hated loading film too. I went aps as soon as possible.

Yep that the MPP Monorail like mine – the Micro Technicals look like Linhoff Technica – all much less portable than an iphone!

We went with our daughter to a 6th form open evening the other day and walking in to the photography department I was hit by the wonderful smell of fixer. You don’t get that with digital.

Thanks; I’ll revisit the idea of buying one after the festive season I think. Not sure whether to get the standard version, or an S or E. I have a criminally undersused F5 somewhere; always regret buying it over an F100, as the F5 is so big and heavy, I ended up not taking it out much. Amazing camera though.

Avoid E it has silly nicad batteries – S can be converted to std with the MB20 see http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf4/powersource/

If your F5 was too massive then an MB20 equipped F4 will be nice – its a fair beast with the S grip – E is worse. Unfortunately the MB20 is fairly rare but does show up now and again.
Overall its a lovely machine for manual stuff – autofocus is slow – but the viewfinder amd feel of the controls makes it all worth it.