Is it just me or did old fully manual cameras and lenses not just look much cooler!!!

captures.in.time

captures.in.time

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Is this just me.... but dont you think older equipment... I guess it would now be called retro like the Leica, Olympus OM1 or a Pentax K1000 just looked cooler!

Even the nifty 50's all these cameras had looked much better than the modern equivalent... not as plasticy... and they had a proper focus distance ring on them making hyperfocal focusing much easier than it is now... and I think just well styled!

Maybe i'm just being nostalgic... but i'd love to see Canon introduce a modern digital SLR but a fully manual version with all the old top dials etc... I think it would be a great camera for serious beginers and amatures starting out... Everyone should learn in Manual!

I love my 5d but wish I had something cool!
 
having sold my old faithful Minolta XD5 a few years ago after ~25 years of service I've recently had a hankering to get 1 again.
& just this weekend an XD7 arrived at my door :)
Surprisingly small compared to my AF bodies, solid (full metal body), great viewfinder, will even work without batteries (shutter has a single mechanical backup speed)

"a modern digital SLR but a fully manual version with all the old top dials etc"
OK so it has plenty of auto as well but ever seen a KM Dynax 7D?
Probably the nearest that you'll get.
 
I started taking images with my dad's Kodak Brownie and my last film camera was the awesome EOS 1NRS*... I don't think you can find a cooler camera. (Nikon guys my differ)
Still... knowing just how much I spent over the years on film developer and paper with the "old way".... I would not change my current set up for the world.
I am a practical man and for this reason, my "yesteryear" stuff is collecting dust in my loft. They may look cool but, time has moved on.
* - That's not to say I don't take it out for a spin every now and then.;)
 
I have a Canon AV-1 with 50mm F1.8 in pristine condition & fully boxed, that was my Dad's from the early 80's.

I've never used it, but considering getting some ASA 200 or 400 film for it and giving it a go.
 
I totally agree , I've just returned from a holiday in Norfolk and while i was there i saw quite a few of the "older" generation using older gear and it looked way cooler
 
I always fancied a leica rangefinder camera but the bank does not let me!
 
If you wanthyper focal distance ring, more metal construction, you can still find it in modern gear, just spend more than your 50 1.8 :p
 
markelliot said:
Is this just me.... but dont you think older equipment... I guess it would now be called retro like the Leica, Olympus OM1 or a Pentax K1000 just looked cooler!

Even the nifty 50's all these cameras had looked much better than the modern equivalent... not as plasticy... and they had a proper focus distance ring on them making hyperfocal focusing much easier than it is now... and I think just well styled!

Maybe i'm just being nostalgic... but i'd love to see Canon introduce a modern digital SLR but a fully manual version with all the old top dials etc... I think it would be a great camera for serious beginers and amatures starting out... Everyone should learn in Manual!

I love my 5d but wish I had something cool!
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There is something in what you say.
I recall my old 35mm Nikons with the black paint worn off the edges to reveal a brass body below.
However, I think my current camera feels just as sturdy.
I certainly like the prime controls to be knobs or buttons on the body to avoid fiddling about with menus and I am almost totally happy with that aspect now.

I also agree about the hyperfocal distance markings.

I don't want to force folk to learn in Manual if they don't want to, but one thing strikes me. Learn in Manual and you don't need to learn all these damned scene modes and what the symbols mean.
I was relieved to get a camera that never used those. Just found them an irritation and an irrelevance.
 
I have 3 Leicaflex bodies that i'm learning the mixed joys of film with.
My best creative shots and macros are with my Leica R lenses on a cannon 40d in manual mode.

They are bullet proof and gorgeous to use, once you get the hang of stopping down and compensating for slightly dodgy metering ;)
They give amazing results, it's hard to describe the differences.


creamy blur, razor sharpness, vibrant colours all at the same time from the same lens (a Leica Elmarit R 35mm f2.8). grab a bargain

You can buy all manner of adaptors from ebay for very little cash, that open up a whole new and exciting world of slightly cheaper manual alternatives but do your research properly or there will be tears when your FD fit bargain destroys the mirror on your modern body.

The flip side is now i want a full frame digital to make the most of these wonderful old lenses.
 
If someone made a digital SLR with the looks, size and quality of an OM2 I would ditch my 30D tomorrow, sadly aesthetics don't seem to come into it for most cameras these days.
 
andrew748 said:
I have 3 Leicaflex bodies that i'm learning the mixed joys of film with.
My best creative shots and macros are with my Leica R lenses on a cannon 40d in manual mode.

They are bullet proof and gorgeous to use, once you get the hang of stopping down and compensating for slightly dodgy metering ;)
They give amazing results, it's hard to describe the differences......etc.


.
Click to expand...

I am waiting on an exposure meter to arrive. I intend to concentrate on using my camera on manual with incident light readings and also using the camera's own spot metering.

Something else I miss is the split image focussing aid on SLR focusing screens. You could see precisely what the lens was focussed on.
 
arclight said:
I am waiting on an exposure meter to arrive. I intend to concentrate on using my camera on manual with incident light readings and also using the camera's own spot metering.

Something else I miss is the split image focussing aid on SLR focusing screens. You could see precisely what the lens was focussed on.
Click to expand...

you can get different focussing screens for Canons i'm not sure about pentaxes, google will be your friend on that one.

i found some focus confirm adaptors which work great
 
Old cameras are definately cooler. Most of my friends have at least one and not because they are studying photography and have to, but because they want to. Most of us have a Zenit and a Praktica. We are all in our early twenties.
 
photon said:
Katz Eye split prism focusing screen for Pentax K20D: http://www.katzeyeoptics.com/item--Pentax-K10D-K20D-Focusing-Screen--prod_K10D.html

Note that the in-camera metering will be affected by use of this brighter screen.
Click to expand...

Well done there, mate.

That looks just the job.

Reading the metering info the effects are very minimal and only on Spot metering.
I never knew my camera had a user changeable focussing screen. The split screen comes with a tool to do the job.

Thanks for that.
 
stellarbeam said:
Old cameras are definately cooler. Most of my friends have at least one and not because they are studying photography and have to, but because they want to. Most of us have a Zenit and a Praktica. We are all in our early twenties.
Click to expand...

My first camera was a Practica that had no metering.
F2 Zeiss lens gave super pics.
 
I think the all time coolest camera was the Olympus Trip 35 put the thing on A and of ya go, there plenty on ebay going for next to nothing, i might pick one up hmmmm
 
This was my Grandad's camera and he swapped it, before I got into photography, for 2 praktica's. I belive it is an MC2 with self timer from 1958 and it is a really cool looking camera, much better looking than modern cameras imo.

Leica.jpg


Andy
 
I completely agree. I think old cameras and lenses look great! Real feats of engineering.
 
Yes, I agree!
That's why I just use classic manual focus lenses in my dSLR's. :)
The best ones are at least as good as L primes and they are built like tanks.

About the cameras, today I received the one that is - in my opinion - the best looking digital camera ever made, the Epson RD-1. It came with a hand-made Luigi leather half-case (dark brown), which is very expensive, but makes it look gorgeous and even more vintage.
The RD-1 really feels and looks like a classic rangefinder film camera. You can also use it without caring about the LCD.

In handling and feeling, it surpasses the Leica M8.

It looks like this one, with the same case:

AgedR-D1flapTwoFrontDiag.jpg
 
Now that is a bit lush.....

Andy
 
lol

if we are doing old camera pr0n, can i play :D

rose5083.jpg


get one and then tell me how to load the frigging film :blush:
 
See the "Judas Window" for keeping an eye on your aperture setting. Also has mirror lockup.
pentaxkx450x350.jpg
 
Less than £5K from Gray's . . .
NSP2005%20Case%202.jpg
 
photon said:
Less than £5K from Gray's . . .
NSP2005%20Case%202.jpg
Click to expand...

lol

you can get lots of old "good" film cameras from your local charity shops for not a lot of cash.

disclaimer: other outlets are available :naughty:

my local Jessops have been massively helpful in getting me started on film, they have several photography students on the team and have won developer of the year (whatever that means) :bonk:
 
Complete with lens and "Russian" hat, $399 (new) from the Ukraine . . .
P1010015.jpg
 
STOPIT NOW!

I have just sold all my old Nikon kit to go digital.
Do I regret it?
Course I do.:bang:
 
Leslie Charleston and a Meopta Flexaret VII. (C) Edgar Keats.
1474_799_bff139f210_p.jpg
 
I'm really looking forward to getting my bronica SQA next week although not as sleek as the stuff seen on here, more like a door gunner from 'nam
 
The beauty of these older cameras was that they were completely manual. You had to set the aperture and shutter speed yourself. You soon learned all about exposure, especially if you were shooting Kodachrome. ( expensive to get it wrong)
 
Another from Edgar Keats . . .

413206140_b59b5092b9_o.jpg


You can see a Pentacon in action near the start of Playtime by Jacques Tati.

It's what the camera in #30 is based on and was the Pro's camera in the former DDR.
 
Another girl, another Flexaret. (C) bokehprone on FlickR.

flexaretbybokehproneonf.jpg
 
I'vr still got my ME Super from when I was 16 ...... 27 years ago! From tie to time I get it out and it reminds me why it isn't made any more. My last "serious" 35mm was an EOS3 which I chopped in for a D30. Bad move, at that stage I should have waited until I embraced the new technology but I was eager to get into the "immediate" world of digital. I upped to a D60, then to a 10D. In place of the lush results I got from my film I got 1.3mp, dodgy post process and crap colours from an early HP photo printer. it wasn't until the Canon 900 came out that things started to look up from home prints.

I still hanker after the colours and vibrancy of Velvia. I have a Braun Super paxette that get taken out about once a year. The lens has it's own way of recording colours that is unique to camera's of that era.

I do like the look of that Epson Rangefinder though.
 
I also prefer the old manual cameras, just like the feel of them, the fact that they can last for ages and will not be outdated in two years (as long as there is film produced). I have bought a couple 35mm cameras recently but being a complete beginer in film I intend to start with MF and maybe then use the smaller format.
 
I've just been looking at some old slides that never get looked at. The colours, the vibrancy .... I may have to get the 'Blad out!
 
Some of the pics of cameras make me yearn for the days when cameras came with a real leather case.

A retired pro photographer neighbour said to me the other day "Never part with kit". On this thread I can see the sense in that.
 
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