Buying a film camera kit

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amandarya

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Rya
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Hello all,

I am new here. A friend recommended me to join Talk Photography after I was crying about two lost bids on ebay over the past two weeks.

I have been looking to buy a film camera kit and well, have been really unlucky loosing out by £2 every time! :shake: A kit I saw had a Zuiko f1.4 50mm and a fish eye that I was hoping to use to learn taking more artistic pictures on film.

Anyway, she said this would be a good place to start finding more about film photography, kits/lenses/accessories/bodies and prices. So far I am looking at the all-mechanical Olympus OM-1n and I settled for buying this over the Minolta SRT-101.

Looking at the stuff on ebay and around the net, it seems that Zuiko fish eyes don't come around often and cheap! I am really gutted the kit went. How much should I pay for the body with a standard Zuiko f1.8 50m? how much should I be looking to pay for a fish eye? Is there any where else I can get these older stuff besides ebay? (hate shopping on ebay :bang:). I looked at KEH but delivery is so expensive!

Many thanks guys!
 
staff edit: comment removed
 
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Welcome to TP,

You could try Rocky Cameras, they usually have good selection of cheap film cameras and lenses. Also the classifieds on here have a few good bargains but I haven't seen a fisheye come up for a while. Ffordes also have a lot of good 2nd hand gear but they are a bit more expensive.

Andy
 
:welcome:

I have bought from Rocky Cameras - stuff was in poor condition

FFordes is excellent - give Steve a phone and explain what you're planning - I deal with them often

have a look on eBay for a Nikon EM + 50mm lens

tip for eBay....open the item in one browser window - lets say you're willing to pay £25
open it AGAIN in a second browser window .. bid £25 [ but dont confirm yet] then minimize the window quite small to sit on top the original window
watch the price in the original window
about 5secs before the bid closes - hit the confirm button
this sometimes gets you in as the last BID before anyone else can update
- sometimes.:D:D
jon
ps ....dont put your email address up in an open forum...........(y)
 
Mifsuds will have a selection of Olympus OM gear. OMs with the 50mm f1.8 don't go for much, nut the f1.4 on it's own can reach over a £100 on it's own, depends which version it is.

There's this one going cheap, but you'd want an external light meter. (TBH I think I'd want one anyway with anuthing other than an OM2SP for peace of mind)

Or if you're quick this one
 
.
.
.
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.the first one is broken......so cheap.......:LOL:
 
Hello and welcome to the website.

Don't know where abouts in the country you are but on Sunday the Woverhampton Camera Fair is on. Costs a couple of quid to get in but you can pick some bargins up.

Rocky Cameras is cheap and he usually has a store there as well, I have bought a few things from him very cheap and can clean up ok.

Fisheye lens?

If your after a 16mm Zuiko one then it really will be a case of keeping an eye open for one. They were rare and expensive when new, last time I saw a very clean one on Ebay it went for nearly £1000.

Other than Zuiko you could look for Sigma did them as did the Russian Penlang(?) but again they are not common but way cheaper then the Zuiko ones.
 
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if you're bidding on an older film camera

ask the seller about the condition of the light seals around the back plate and the condition of the mirror buffer...........if no reply dont buy
 
Typical Olympus problem with the switch that switches on the metering circuit that's all, like I said, get a light meter and it's fine, don't particularly see the issue myself.
 
If you want a fisheye fairly cheap then look at this here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fish-Eye-MC-Zenitar-M-f-2-8-16mm-M42-NEW-FREE-SHIPPING-/160539924171?pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN&hash=item2560ecd6cb

A Zenitar 16mm f2.8 in M42 mount, easily adapted to Olympus OM mount. These lenses have actually quite a good reputation although for £151 you can't expect the best. They don't come in dedicated OM versions, ones you might see on the internet are just M42 mount ones with an adapter.

Heres a short review of it (although I don't normally agree with a lot of what Ken Rockwell says, its a fairly good review.)

http://www.kenrockwell.com/zenit/zenitar-16mm.htm
 
I think, like Nikon, Olympus M42 adaptors must contain an optical element for the lens to achieve infinity focus, I could be wrong because I know sod all about Olympus.
I only mention it because I think special care should be taken in choosing a quality adaptor if you are not to compromise the image quality of that nice M42 glass.

:)
 
joxby said:
I think, like Nikon, Olympus M42 adaptors must contain an optical element for the lens to achieve infinity focus, I could be wrong because I know sod all about Olympus.
I only mention it because I think special care should be taken in choosing a quality adaptor if you are not to compromise the image quality of that nice M42 glass.

:)
Click to expand...

I've never heard of or seen an OM-M42 adapter, though I guess you could make your own Blue peter fashion from an old OM lens and a lathe.
 
joxby said:
I think, like Nikon, Olympus M42 adaptors must contain an optical element for the lens to achieve infinity focus, I could be wrong because I know sod all about Olympus.
I only mention it because I think special care should be taken in choosing a quality adaptor if you are not to compromise the image quality of that nice M42 glass.

:)
Click to expand...

Nikon and Olympus are :thumbsdown: for M42 adapters........other than a M42 camera my vote goes to Canon and Minolta (y)...but top prize for Canon as the advanced metering system can be used with the M42 lens stopped down.
 
Alan Clogwyn said:
I've never heard of or seen an OM-M42 adapter, though I guess you could make your own Blue peter fashion from an old OM lens and a lathe.
Click to expand...


http://shop.ebay.co.uk/?

clearly there are 2 types, a ring with no glass in it and no infinity focus @ £4 and one that does infinity focus with a correction element in it @ £20, I'd expect a decent one to be 30 or 40 quid...
 
Andysnap said:
You could try Rocky Cameras, they usually have good selection of cheap film cameras and lenses.
Click to expand...
Don't touch Rocky Cameras with a barge pole. Run the name through Google for reviews and reported problems. Once bitten, twice shy.
 
I'm actually in the same boat as I want to get a basic film setup just a body and 50mm lens. I've noticed a few in the sub £100 mark;

Canon AE-1 Program
Nikon FE or FM I think
Minolta X-700
Minolta SRT -102

There's a couple of others but it's too early in the day to remember :LOL:
 
mastertrinity said:
I'm actually in the same boat as I want to get a basic film setup just a body and 50mm lens. I've noticed a few in the sub £100 mark;

Canon AE-1 Program
Nikon FE or FM I think
Minolta X-700
Minolta SRT -102

There's a couple of others but it's too early in the day to remember :LOL:
Click to expand...

Don't rush and just think what you want a camera and lens for, and what do you want to do.......if you want to do nearly everything then you would get a Camera Like a Canon T90, but if you just want the camera do the work (and have manual control) and concentrate on taking pictures then a Minolta X-300 is VG...night shots of the moving stars a hobby? Then just a Minolta SRT 101 would do and so on.
 
excalibur2 said:
Don't rush and just think what you want a camera and lens for, and what do you want to do.......if you want to do nearly everything then you would get a Camera Like a Canon T90, but if you just want the camera do the work (and have manual control) and concentrate on taking pictures then a Minolta X-300 is VG...night shots of the moving stars a hobby? Then just a Minolta SRT 101 would do and so on.
Click to expand...

Errm it's hard to explain what my subject is unless you check my flickr, All I can describe is that I have time to sit there and think and compose etc.

I suppose you could say I shoot urban landscapes, stuff like parks at night where it is very dark, mysterious and cinematic :)
 
mastertrinity said:
Errm it's hard to explain what my subject is unless you check my flickr, All I can describe is that I have time to sit there and think and compose etc.

I suppose you could say I shoot urban landscapes, stuff like parks at night where it is very dark, mysterious and cinematic :)
Click to expand...

Then a Minolta SRT or similar would be ok...you wont need a meter in low light (well it would be useless anyway in dim light).
 
excalibur2 said:
Then a Minolta SRT or similar would be ok...you wont need a meter in low light (well it would be useless anyway in dim light).
Click to expand...

yeah I agree about the meter thing, I only ever seem to shoot using ISO 400, f11, 30" sec and alot of times I'll take my compact or DSLR along just as a digital meter and I can have a digital copy to play with and a film copy for archival and fun :)
 
wow hi guys.. i couldn't find my thread/post after posting but finally figured this out now! fortunately for me the bidder who won gave up the kit as delivery overseas was too expensive. it isn't a proper fish eye I got but an adaptor. that's okay too, i guess. could save buying a fish eye for the dslr instead.

anyway, got round to testing the camera today with film loaded. everything seemed to be working fine until i loaded the film (which wasn't very elegantly!).. at first the shutter wasn't releasing until I gave it a bit of a shake. its set to 1/125 but acts more like 1/6 or something.. i moved it to 1/1000, changed ASA, played with timer bla bla bla but it is still slow!!

I guess i will need to find a repair tech to get it fully serviced :(
 
this looks pretty interesting!! thxx :)

s162216 said:
If you want a fisheye fairly cheap then look at this here:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fish-Eye-MC-Zenitar-M-f-2-8-16mm-M42-NEW-FREE-SHIPPING-/160539924171?pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_CameraLensesFilters_JN&hash=item2560ecd6cb

A Zenitar 16mm f2.8 in M42 mount, easily adapted to Olympus OM mount. These lenses have actually quite a good reputation although for £151 you can't expect the best. They don't come in dedicated OM versions, ones you might see on the internet are just M42 mount ones with an adapter.

Heres a short review of it (although I don't normally agree with a lot of what Ken Rockwell says, its a fairly good review.)

http://www.kenrockwell.com/zenit/zenitar-16mm.htm
Click to expand...
 
Thanks John! I was looking at that shop and thought of making a trip but seeing that it's along the M1... fat hopes of going today!
 
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