Way OT - film camera recommendations

caffeinator · 7967

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Offline DoS

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Reply #30 on: March 02, 2013, 09:54:35 AM
I'd recommend a few different ones. For class you want manual capability.

Nikon FE. Amazing camera that also has auto exposure. It is light, and the lenses are good. You can buy cheaper E series lenses that are very good, for very little. The batteries do very well in these (not true of FE2). This is one of the best cameras ever made for easy use.

Olympus OM2n. Feels amazing, the size is awesome, the viewfinder out classes the size of Nikons and most things, operation is solid. The lenses are very good too. The 50mm 1.8 MIJ (says "made in japan" on front) are like $20-40 and excellent quality. Many other lenses available. Few SLR's feel as good as these do. It also has auto exposure (I love having it, often)

If you want to buy an old tank that weighs a ton, Nikkormats are fine, F and F2's are alright but the meters are not great, and the bodies are not cheap for F's. Most people don't like the metered viewfinder on the F's because it makes it weigh as much as an FE. They feel nice but... If I'm faced with wanting an older Tank I'm more interested in a Pentax Spotmatic F because they are dirt cheap, and the old lenses for them have a look that I think serves black and white way better than other brands.

If you want to be a real nut... I also have a Minolta XE-7 that Leica ended up buying the guts for, for their R3 camera. It is the smoothest winding camera ever. I only like a few of the lenses. Personally I only use it for the 58mm 1.4 because it is a portrait lens (soft in beautiful ways), but a little low contrast. I have an M42 adapter that I like to use Pentax lenses on and some Russian. (35mm f3.5 is very good looking)

I switched to a Leica M2, with a really old Canon 50mm 1.8 lens (actually better than old summicrons). I need to get a top mount meter (VCII from Voigtlander). I traded a lens and some money for it, and got a smokin deal on the Canon. Otherwise it'd be too spendy.

Nikon FE
50mm 1.8 E
100mm 2.8 E

Pentax Spotmatic
35mm f3.5
55mm 1.8

Could go on forever....