I get funny looks when I am out with my kowa six, or ae-1p. People are so surprised to see a 14-year old lugging around film gear. I even get asked by some if I can still get film for them, especially when loading reloaded old 35mm rolls!
19 years ago on holiday in Vancouver over the New Year period, for me it was both goretex jacket with hood and toque, (for warmth)
Got quite cool while riding BC ferries all over the place. Stayed a couple of nights with friends on Saturna Island and the wind was howling!!
Tomorrow I'm off to the UK. Crazy niece of mine has booked her wedding for early December. Looks like it's gonna be quite chilly
so I'm taking my 19 yo Canadian toque with me. It still looks like new as it has never been worn in Oz. I still have the goretex shell jacket
made by, I think, the Mountain Equipment Company. A really well made garment.
+1. MEC clothing is de rigueur for us Left Coast snappers! Keeps us (and our equipment) dry when the skies open up in November (and continues with the wet stuff until...).
Well, I'm just getting into film so I'm not sure how folks in my area would react to an older slr, although my t3i sure gets some looks when I have the 70-200 f4L on it, especially with the hood attached lol. I mostly take it to drag races or autoX, so people usually aren't suspicious.
Using my 35mm gear I rarely get a second glance (even when setting up on a tripod). However, with my Minolta Autocord TLR I usually get a bevy of second glances. When using my RB67 the floodgate opens!
When I used to carry a 35mm SLR with me everywhere, it seemed that it was totally invisible to most people....but, I never had any 35mm gear that looked even remotely "professional".
I used to have a black Yashica FX-3 Super 2000 . With a boring Yashica ML 50mm f/2 lens mounted, it really seemed invisible - until I tripped the shutter which was unexpectedly loud.
Any film camera puts you "on the radar" these days. People often see me shooting and ask something like, "can you still get film for those?" It's not really a stupid question as APS, 126, 110, Disc, etc, are all gone. A few months ago, an older gentleman tried to buy my Minolta HiMatic 7S as I was using it. Apparently he once owned one and missed it.
When I'm using my 35mm, people assume it's digital and ask how many megapixels it is. When they learn it is a film camera they usually don't ask if I can still get film because they don't assume I'm an idiot who runs around pretending to take pictures.
I think SLRs attract more negative attention, whereas TLRs attract more positive attention, when people notice them at all. I've seen the hostile stare directed at SLR users far more often, and have had people actively duck out of the way of what they think is what I'm photographing. Shooting with my Rollei, I've never had a negative reaction, just lots of smiles and enthusiastic comments. Out shooting with the large/ultra large format stuff, that really draws a lot of attention and I often spend as much if not more time explaining about the camera and doing demos as I do taking photos.
I agree with this sentiment. It is hard not to get noticed when taking a photo; even with an iphone or a Ricoh GR of some variant.
Using a SLR, especially if it looks like (heaven forbid) a DSLR like the N90, seems to attract negative attention. Like you're some rich old guy, or worse yet, potential pedophile or some political activist. People tend to be critical of people using cameras that look like the black modern DSLRs.
When using any one of my other more interesting cameras, the look is more of curosity or nostaligia.