Wish me luck

squishy

squishy

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Adam
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So about a week ago I was rummaging through some of the clutter in my room when I came across my dads old pentax MX (the lenses from which I've borrowed to use on my 40D) and I was suddenly struck by a desire to do some photography with film. I've had a play around with it before with no film in and love the massive split prism viewfinder combined with the smooth manual focussing.

Being 17 my only experience with film was disposable cameras as a child, never used it "properly". So here a week later and I have a few rolls of superia 200 and am only waiting on the little batteries for the meter. I'm not hoping to get stunning results or replace my digital kit (out of the question for wildlife and macro which are my main interests and I love my 40D for this), but there's just something about capturing and image in an analogue medium that appeals to me for some reason, and I find the cameras themselves fascinating mechanically.
Shame developing the photos myself is pretty much out of the question, because that would be a whole new experience as well.

Lets hope it doesn't just turn into a surprisingly expensive mistake :bonk:

pentaxMX.jpg
 
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Enjoy, Don't think about the money!

Expensive? Only if you get G.A.S.for film stuff
Mistake? How can anything that engages your creativity ever be a mistake :)
 
What can I say... the MX was Pentax's semi professional cameras, full mechanical speeds and that massive viewfinder (reputed to be one of the largest in any 35mm camera). Going from that to a camera like the 40D must be like looking down a dark tunnel in comparison.

Rugged compact build and glass that performs, and coloured LEDs to indicate exposure.
 
Batteries are here, so I'll be out shooting at the first opportunity :D
 
I really must get another MX. I loved it's simplicity but hated the meter display in the viewfinder! Much prefer the ME LED display.
 
I have an MX, it's lovely. The shutter speed dial on mine was a little grubby, give it a couple of twists to make sure the contacts inside are clean, if you find it's not making any difference with the little exposure lights inside. I love the little mirror preview of what aperture you're at, great idea!
 
That is one thing though - the shutter speed dial is incredibly stiff compared to a lot of other cameras. Index finger does build in strength! Like Charlotte, I too love the low-tech way that they give you shutter and aperture selections, no CPU contacts or any of that stuff!
 
The shutter speed dial seems to be working fine, the meter responds when I alter it. It is stiff but I don't have a problem moving it (being a bass player and avid gamer I have well trained fingers :D).

Looking forward to shooting with it now, I'll be posting (probably mediocre) shots as soon as I get any back.
 
what's the "tech" difference between the MX and the ME-Super ?

I have the later , should I be getting the former ? :D
 
Tricky69 said:
what's the "tech" difference between the MX and the ME-Super ?

I have the later , should I be getting the former ? :D
Click to expand...

Whilst they are part of the same family of M-series cameras and lenses, they are actually vastly different cameras. The MX is primarily an all-manual mechanical camera, semi-professional, whereas the ME Super is an electronically controlled camera which was aimed below semi-pro.

Their shutters actually go in different directions as well - MX is horizontal (and cloth), ME Super is vertical (and metal, and electronic). The MX can be shot without batteries with full range of speeds from 1s-1/1000s, but the ME Super has one mechanical speed only - but a greater range of shutter speeds when batteries are installed. The viewfinder of the MX is also bigger and displays more of the image frame.

Nothing detracts from the fact that both are very well regarded cameras for very good reasons, and are a steal on the used market (even with the recently inflated prices).
 
The MX is one of my all-time favourite film cameras. There's no reason at all why you shouldn't see great results with it provided it's still working OK. I had two MX bodies years ago and loved 'em - everything you really need in a simple package. Build quality is good too - although it wasn't really aimed at pro users, many pros used them and gave them a severe beating.
 
Taken my first couple of shots with it now, the viewfinder is lovely to use.
As nice the pentax is, I actually like having the smaller viewfinder on my 40D for wildlife, it makes the edges of the frame very obvious so positioning things where I want them in the frame quickly is easier (though it's aesthetically not as nice to look through) whereas with the massive viewfinder on the pentax I'm finding it all to easy to forget the frame has edges at all :D.

I'm certainly enjoying it so far, if I can get any nice results out of it that'll be a bonus :)
 
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squishy said:
Shame developing the photos myself is pretty much out of the question, because that would be a whole new experience as well.
Click to expand...

May I ask, why is home development out of the question?

I once thought I wouldn't be able to do it as everything in the darkroom during college was prepared for us by the lecturers, but after reading about it for a week or so, I had my head around it & everything has pretty much arrived ready for my first film dev! Just waiting on my changing bag & cassette opener to get here. It's not for everyone but as you said, it's a shame as it's an amazing experience. I'm nineteen, so not much older than yourself & I managed to track down some decent value equipment & didn't spend too much £. Best wishes Adam, & have fun experimenting with film!
 
Cost and time I'm afraid. I know the kit can be picked up quite cheap (especially compared to mailed processing in the long run), but right now I'm about to run out of hard drive space (and the price of portable hard drives is high right now), I've just started driving lessons and unless I bought a scanner as well I'd still need to send the negatives away for scanning afterwards.

Still, when I've got a bit more time and less things high on my financial priorities list it's something I'd be very interested to try.
 
Fair enough, I waited until I was working full time & could afford to bulk buy everything {saving on delivery costs for the chemicals} before I began developing at home but I've decided to self-process purely because I can't afford to send individual rolls off over the next few weeks! hahaha. Best wishes! You'll have to post some of your photographs on here once you've had your negatives printed.
 
Seriously regretting leaving my ( my dads but he accepted the change of ownership... Eventually) Pentax in London when I came to Sydney when i read this, may have to search fleabag for a cheap one :p
 
Finally got the results of the first roll on their way back from photo express (after the rather embarrassing "disaster" fiasco :bonk:). I'll be posting in
"Show us yer film shots then!" pretty soon (for better or worse :nuts:) :D.
 
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Welcome! Careful, this film gubbins is addictive. Have to agree with the point above about the viewfinder. After I have been using an SLR for any period of time I can barely even see down the finder in the D3100!

Make sure to post some shots up when you get the first ones back :D
 
Posted some images in the thread now. I'm happy that I've got some images I like out of it, I've enjoyed shooting with the MX a lot and it's nice to see some pleasing results from it all.

I'm now contemplating adding a cheapish fixed lens rangefinder (something like a yashica electro) to my collection to see how I find that. Also got a hankering to try black and white film, though that would start costing a fair bit more (and yes, I am considering home development as well :))

Definitely enjoying my venture into film.
 
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