New to film...

Tyler138

Tyler138

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Alex Tyler
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Hello,


I have been thinking lately that it would be interesting to shoot some film, i have only shot digital.

Know i have no idea where to start and what type of camera to look at really. I would want one where i can do everything manual and have the option to develop it myself later on when i get the hang of it.

So... anyone recommend a camera..? Would be good to stay true to Canon as well (y) All i have heard of is the A1 really, worth looking at..?

Also if anyone has any links todo with shooting film would be great, like i have always wondered how do you expose properly on a film..? is there a light meter involved..?

Thanks,

Tyler
 
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You'll need something from the later range if you want to use your current Canon lenses, what do you have now?
 
SparkUK said:
You'll need something from the later range if you want to use your current Canon lenses, what do you have now?
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I have a 7D with 50mm 1.8 n a 70-200mm f4 soon.

But not to worried about being able to use them really, have looked on ebay and most seem to come with a 50mm.

Are the older lenses expensive and hard to come about..?
 
The stuff for the A1 won't be as expensive as they won't fit the newer DSLR's which is where most peoples interests lie. There's other stuff though if it's cheap you're looking for, some of the Pentax stuff is cheap. (as well as plenty of others)
 
The A1 and AE1 (the more basic consumer version) are very nice cameras, if you can find a good one.

The lenses for those will be slightly cheaper than the newer generation Canon lenses, as they aren't directly usable with D****l cameras. They regularly come up on a certain auction site, and as it was a classic system of the time, if you stumble across an old school camera shop, they'll usually have quite a selection in stock.

Both cameras have built in meters, which can control exposure for you or just be used as a guide and you manually set aperture/shutterspeeds.

The Canon rangefinders of that time have quite a reputation too (if you fancy taking a further step across), but they'll restrict you to the fixed lens.

Edit - SparkUK got there first, and had to sensor out one word!
 
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If you've got a few EF (note NOT EF-S!) lenses, then you'd not go far wrong picking up a EOS-3 body. It pretty much handles and works in the same way as the 7D - I know because I came at things from the opposite direction - I had a eos450d, bought a EOS-3 for film shooting, and pretty much stopped using the 450D unless I had to for work, because the EOS-3 made the digital feel like a fisher price toy.


The EF 24-105L is for Mugs by The Big Yin, on Flickr

The EOS-3 is pretty much bombproof, metering and AF is at least on a par with the 7D (so much for progress then!) and will alloy you to go fully manual, or any of the Av,Tv,P modes you're used to. Only problem is, it will NOT work with EF-S glass, so the kit lenses from the 7D aren't much use. If you've a nice big box of L glass though, it's more than happy to accomodate them. Expect to pay up to £140 for a decent one - they're pro-quality bodies, and hard to wear out, so if anything looks rough it WILL have had a hard life. I've a mate who used 2 of them to do the cruise ships - 10 rolls of 36 each body, 5 nights a week 48 weeks a year for over 2 years and didn't have one wrecked roll of film - approx 172,800 frames each body! And amazingly, they look pretty much like they came out of the showroom. Only telltale is the film guide backplate is a little shinier than it should be with all the miles of film that has whizzed by it :LOL: They still work nicely now, and on the occasions I borrow one, I put a tape on my camera body to ensure I don't inadvertently give the wrong one back :LOL:

If the EOS-3 is a bit out of range, but you'd still like to keep the EF lenses and modern handling, the EOS-30 is a good alternative, not as tough or massive, but a nice body, and it's metering and AF are the best of the Canon semi-pro film kit - it was one of the last decent film bodies Canon designed.


EOS-30 with Flash Up by The Big Yin, on Flickr

And, if you haven't got a bunch of EF glass, then to be honest, I'd get something like the A-1 and take advantage of the cheap FD lenses that are available. I did, mainly for sentimental reasons.


The Canon A-1 Family Snapshot by The Big Yin, on Flickr
 
As a cheap introduction, you can pickup small 35mm rangefinders or folding 120 medium format cameras in very usable condition for under £20.

With something like the A1 you're looking at a like-for-like with the DSLR you've got. Same size, bulk and degree of portability. With something cheap and small, and a different set-up to a DSLR you'ld be expanding into an area you're not already covering. Something you're more likely to pop into a jacket pocket on a walk or going around town.
 
There's some great 120 cameras about as Alistair says but as a toe in the water 35mm might be a bit easier as getting it developed etc will be less hassle.
 
The rangefinders seem good but like some said already they are fixed lenses and i think i would like the choice in the future to be able to get more.

The EOS 30 seems pretty nice and would be able to use my nifty fifty. But then the A1 has cheap lenses n i would like to be able to get used to manual lenses and i know i would be to tempted to flick on AF on it.
 
SparkUK said:
There's some great 120 cameras about as Alastair* says but as a toe in the water 35mm might be a bit easier as getting it developed etc will be less hassle.

* typo corrected - A
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Getting C41 medium format films developed is no more hassle than getting C41 35mm films developed. Jessops can do it on their one hour machines, as can many other chains and independents.

Just offering an alternative, even on a moderate resolution scan a 6x6-6x9 negative offers a lot of detail from a very portable set-up.
 
Tyler138 said:
Also whats the difference between the A1 and AE1..?
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If you're interested in these camera's then I'd suggest getting the manuals fgor each of them from here and comparing them. FWIW, my take on it is that the A1 was pretty much the 50D of it's day, intended as enthusiast camera but taken up by lots of pro's as well, whereas the AE1-P was more of a 450D - a entry level, but really rather good camera. For the £20 difference in price that they go for, I'd take the A-1 any day - though I like black cameras - if you want a black AE-1P then you'll probably end up paying more than the cost of a A1 :LOL:
 
The A1 was a real landmark camera for Canon and the one which probably made Canon a serious competitor to Nikon. As BY says it was never targetted at pros, but it was one of the very first multi mode cameras and pros were quick to see the flexibility of it and they quickly snapped them up often using them alongside their Nikon F3 systems. It's also one of the best looking cameras ever made which is no bad thing either.
 
How far into Wales are you and do you get to Manchester very often? If you can then visit Real Cameras (very near to Picadilly Gardens) they have an unbelievable amount of film cameras and lenses of every shape, model and film type. And they are not expensive, also you get to hold the cameras before buying which I think helps.

Andy
 
I'll echo TBY here, I bought an EOS-3 to share lenses with my 20D and yes it makes the 20D feel like a toy. A couple of people have picked it up, looked at the back and commented 'oh I thought it was a 1d!' as mine is gripped making it a big heavy but very nice IMHO camera.

If you want something manual and don't care about using your canon lenses I would suggest a Pentax spotmatic F, they handle very nicely IMHO and use the very readily available M42 lenses, the 'F' allows open aperture metering with the appropriate SMC lenses so you dont need to stop the aperture down to meter correctly. Some of the prime lenses are absolute crackers too, my 50mm f1.4 is a better lens than the canon 50mm 1.8 IMHO and they go for about £60-80ish, you won't find (m)any nice M42 zoom lenses though so you must be prepared to shoot with primes.
 
puggie said:
Some of the prime lenses are absolute crackers too, my 50mm f1.4 is a better lens than the canon 50mm 1.8 IMHO
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true - but remember the FD and FDn 1.8's were pretty much the kit lenses of the day. A fairer comparison would be with the FD 50mm 1.4 SSC's or the FDn 50mm 1.4 which is an absoloute corker!

The EOS-3 is a big old beast with the PB-E2 fitted isn't it... To be honest, I've only bothered using it a couple of times - I don't often shoot things that need 7fps on film anymore, but it's nice to have "just in case" :LOL:
 
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I'm thinking the EF 50mm f1.8 as a comparison to the SMC 50mm f1.5, as a) the OP has one so has a reference to what I'm yabbering about and b) they go for about the same money. Never used any FD stuff so havn't a clue about it.

Bought my EOS-3 with the PB-E2 grip fitted, I don't have the std hand grip piece. yes its a beast but I don't notice any mirror slap (apart from the noise :)) and should I ever get mugged I could beat someone to death with it.

anyway, my old Spotmatic F
Pen%20Spot%202.JPG


And current Pentax ESII, basically a Spotmatic F with Av mode:
IMG_6036.JPG


I have recently aquired an olympus OM2, nice and compact but not as nice to use as the Pentax IMHO.
 
That ES II does look pretty nice - as I said ^^^ up there - I'm a bit of a sucker for black cameras though. I think the Practika MTL3 put me off "Panda finish" jobs - it's a wonder it didn't put me off photography altogether :LOL:
 
****I would want one where i can do everything manual****

A cheap more modern plasticy version of an older "tank" manual camera would be something like a Centon K100 which takes Pentax bayonet lenses...nothing to boast about but does the job.
I'd skip the Canon "A" model cameras and go for the Canon "T" models, and out of my 13 film cameras use a T70 the most, it's ideal for a novice and more serious photographer...it has a feature that has saved me a ruined shot in the past and is called "safety shift". If you get your settings incorrect e.g. dull light and the shutter speed is selected @ 1/500 sec it will, if SS is selected, adjust to the correct shutter speed.
This camera goes cheap maybe because it's a bit ugly, but hey see what you think:-
http://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/fd/t70.htm

This site was down last night but now ok if anyone wants more info on the T70
http://www.mir.SPAM/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/SLRs/t70/index.htm
 
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the Canon A1 is ''my'' favorite but I'm biased as it traveled the world with me - a rugged pro-level Canon

the FD lens have 2 styles
the [old] breech-mount FD
and the [newer] FDn bayonet mount

both are very cheap on eBay.....I recently got a mint 35mm FD S.C. for £13

one thing to watch for buying an older camera
the buffer that the mirror hits and the light-seals may/will have perished
and the Canon A1 is infamous for its ''cough'' - a wheeze sound of the shutter mechanism
both the above can be serviced for about £40
mine is presently with Miles at
Email: MWcamerarepairs@aol.com
www.MWcamerarepairs.co.uk

whatever you buy - it's addictive and I only have 4 cameras......so far...:LOL:
 
I've gone off the Canon "A" models as my AV1 has now decided to be 4 stops out, banging the camera or pointing the camera into the sun sometimes cures it for a while, but leave it and it returns to the same fault......well anyone reading this will say "my camera is working perfectly and you are unlucky", yes but about a year ago I bought a collection of cameras and amongst then was a mint black AV1 and that was 4 stops out....erm seems this particular model has a time limit for self destruct :(
Also... either on this forum or another, someone posted the light sensors on the A models can get coated with something, I'll have to track this down and if found will post.
 
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With the Pentax ES and ESII you have to be ultra careful when buying that they certainly work as the circuit board in the bottom is very prone to damage and is extremely difficult to get repaired as most repairers won't touch ES's and ESII's because their nortorious for being very difficult to repair.

The one that I brought unfortunately doesn't work electronically and theres a whole load of other (repairable) problems (well it was listed as not knowing if it worked!) but what I actually really wanted was the lens on the front, a Pentax SMC Takumar 28mm f3.5 in near perfect condition. Not bad for £34 with the camera!
 
excalibur2 said:
Also... either on this forum or another, someone posted the light sensors on the A models can get coated with something, I'll have to track this down and if found will post.
Click to expand...

erm reading about long tungsten wires and build up of chemical it's a wonder the A models are still working...anyone interested in meter problems in the A series here are some good links also leading to links to strip down manual:-
http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/forum/messages/2/19577.html

http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/forum/messages/2/19545.html?1282020992
 
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