I’ve been thinking of getting back into 35mm film photography for some time now. To say I’m not an impulse buyer would be an understatement and I certainly don’t want to spend a hell of a lot of money . I had my heart set on a Pentax (rugged) K1000. However a friend of mine has her late father’s Canon AE-1 which she is considering selling. I think this would suit my purposes admirably as it’s a bit of a workhorse although not as solid perhaps as the K1000.
Incidentally I’ve just seen the price of Cokin filters these days!
Since I’d be shooting a fair bit of black and white film I’d need one in yellow, green and red. The last time I used them was about forty years ago so I shouldn’t be too surprised by the price increase.
I was wondering if anyone else still shoots 35mm film on the forum, digital photography doesn’t have the same appeal to me, living in the dark ages I know
I still have a voightlander Vito cl I had new when getting to 21years old . Plus fan reflector and electronic flashgun.
Even the clockwork delays timer still works
I think I can understand the attraction, but no, I like digital too much/enough, so long as it’s not anything automatic. I love to be able to select aperture, speed & iso for that perfect exposure. I would like to load a roll of film, wind it on, etc , take a real exposure, but just the once. I’m happy gunning a hundred frames, selecting one, deleting the rest, and it’s not costing me anything.
Yep I take your point.
A poor comparison perhaps but in a way but I think of music. Film photography being vinyl and digital photography like listening to downloads.
my Voighlander vito CL. With built in light meter still works. I had this 59 years ago as a 21 birthday present from my parents. Not just kept the camera "fully working) but also kept in its original leather case. still have original instruction book
as well as original box.
also a Rollei E19BC flash gun for it.
I don’t think there are that many out there still owned by the original owner or in show show room condition as this one .Needless to say I am not selling it
This was not my first camera. Tthat was a box brownie 127which was very popular back in the 1950/60s era . I save my 6D (old money ) weekly pocket money for months until I saved enough. Strange what one remembers , Must have been the excitement of eventually having enough.
So off I went with my parents to a camera shop in Sutton Surrey ,just past the railway station, and placed all the saved 6d’s on the counter. They had just sent out for more loose change for the till. and I had my hands on the Kodak cost £1-5-6D (pounds - shillings and pence) as it was back then
Film definitely has a different look than digital. I gave my Pentax SLR camera to my brother-in-law about 20 years ago since I wasn’t using it. He used it quite a bit for a while but finally went digital.
Do you have a dark room set up? B&W film is easy to develop at home.
I wonder why? I have several film cameras from my early teens. which was fine but then there was always need to get the film developed and that was always a cost. Now I use my digital camera at no cost and mostly the setting is automatic, This was recently - no auto:
I still have a lot of the gear left over except an enlarger (though I do have its baseboard) but digital is just so much easier. This is some of it though missing things like filters, slide duplicator and changing bag etc (just not enough room). Mislaid my main flash gun but note the flash bulbs!
Made a modest living out of photography back in the 1970s selling photos of bands and making portfolios for up and coming artistes and strippers.
Have albums of negatives but have lost the indexing and contact sheets so they are useless but as a hoarder I can’t bear to throw them away.
These days just a very happy snapper with my cheap digital cameras but in my day I was quite good.
I don’t Idlewild, that would probably involve more commitment and cost than I can handle at this point in time. Also I simply don’t have a spare room, interesting thought though
Bruce, I noticed that you’ve used those sticky blue label strips on your flash gun. I can’t remember what the brand name of those rotary label making gadgets was but they were certainly very, very 70s!
Well, you’ve stirred up some great memories @Chilliboot!
I’m one for 80s vintage - cameras, videos, vinyl, etc. Digital will never reach that quality!
You can’t beat a good quality HIFI stereo system!
I still have my husband’s traditional Canon cameras, video cameras, they look similar to the photos you’ve posted, and there are also some digital ones which just don’t work anymore! I will always keep them all, for sentimental value, all our family albums are full of photos taken with those cameras.Recently I had some old video cassettes ( the “mini” ones) digitalised onto a USB pen, so I can finally see them on my TV. Otherwise, they would have been lost forever, those particular cameras have stopped functioning.
That looks very crude compared to one I bought for the 2024 family secret Santa. It used a tape, had a keyboard and from memory cost $45. My prospective daughter in law ended up with it.
I will always keep them all, for sentimental value, all our family albums are full of photos taken with those cameras.Recently I had some old video cassettes ( the “mini” ones) digitalised onto a USB pen, so I can finally see them on my TV. Otherwise, they would have been lost forever, those particular cameras have stopped functioning.
