Guilty pleasure cameras

[darkosaric]

Fisheye Lomo 2 .

 

[cooltouch]

I'm happy for you. All my good glass is MF, and my best cameras are all old and indestructible.

 

[Down Under]

My Voigtlander Perkeo 1, circa 1953. It has a Color Skopar lens and a synchro-compur shutter with speeds from 1 to 1/500 second, and consistently produces lovely small 6x6 engraving-like images full of rich tones and creamy half tones, even on the 12 year old Fuji 160 film I have 20+ rolls in our freezer at home. I've been playing with 6x6 folders since about 1990-1991 and I tried various Agfa, Ansco, Zeiss various obscure brand English, German and even Japanese brands (all now sold or given away) before I finally lucked into this little gem of a camera on Ebay in 2013, for a very good price, from its original owner.

I keep it in an old Sony Walkman and have matched it with an original Voigtlander lens hood ($10 on Ebay), a yellow-green filter (a gift), and a Weston Master II (also given to me).

Its downsides are relatively minor - zone focusing (luckily, I'm good at guessing distances) and having to manually wind the film after each shot, which means I average about one shot every 90 seconds if I'm really running it hot to trot. But then I'm nearing 70 and slow photography, like slow food and slow savoring of good wines with said food and now and then luxurious liqueurs in small quantities when the budget can stretch to it, is the way for me.

Yes, cooltouch (#24), film is expensive now, 120 rolls are almost luxury items for many of us. I stocked up and froze over two decades and am now using up what I've harvested, after the 2005 Fujis are gone I have some frozen 2006 Fuji 400 which by now may be toast, then 17 rolls of circa 2007 Portra 160, so I'm set for a while. The home darkroom makes it all affordable for us. When I've used up the films (I still have more frozen 35mm cans than I care to count), my time will have come to decide whether to hang up the cameras or sell the lot. But not for a while yet.

I've always liked quirky cameras. For years I lusted after a Hasselblad SWC but my earnings as an architect didn't quite stretch to buying one after office and staff expenses were paid, so I shot almost all my architecture-related project work with a Rolleiflex TLR and a Rollei pano head. Never let it be said I took the easy way out! Later work was done with a Nikkormat and ultimately using THAT medium we are forbidden to proselytise in this holy pages lest the pixel plague striketh us down. That SWC never did come my way but shooting with the Voigtlander takes me back to the basics and induces wonderful feelings of almost monastic minimalistic bliss. The great religious philosopher Thomas Merton shot all his life with an borrowed Alpa and one lens and created several exhibitions of beautiful prints and also a book, I saw the former some years ago in the USA and I briefly owned the book in the '80s but stupidly loaned it out and it was never returned, I've looked and looked but it's now as rare as hens' teeth or the proverbials on bulls.

BMbikerider's comments (#25) are especially meaningful to me as like many of us I've had to work for the things I own, in my life I've done many varied and always enjoyable things (photographer, journalist, media promotion writer, publisher, media marketing consultant, and until my retirement in 2012 interior design architecture) but I've never earned a fortune and when I've wanted a new camera kit, I always had to sell either my camera gear or other things (similarly I managed to upgrade my shooting gear and darkroom after selling two properties and acquired the rest piece by piece). Again like many of us, I appreciate what I've owned and if anything this has just heightened the joy of shooting with my Nikkormats, Rolleiflexes and Voigtlander. Ditto old cars, period furnishings, art, books, music and stereo gear, and travels to places that interest and stimulate me. Others feel free to add to the life's-list, as we all have our own uniquely individual choices.

Old gear and old(er) photographers fit together naturally. Let the younger set have the auto-everything plastic gewgaws.

Gee golly gosh, I do go on, don't I? As my grandmother once said, as a baby I was accidentally vaccinated with a gramophone needle...

 

[Agulliver]

I think my guilty pleasure camera is either of my two Halina 35X.

Are they good cameras? Not particularly. Nor are they toys. Small enough to pocket, but so heavy that you don't want to. A bit fiddly to use and a triplet lens that barely passes muster...but I like the things. And somehow when handled well they are capable of doing better than expected.

I think the other might be the Polaroid 104 that I was gifted about a year ago. Pack film is of course pretty much gone...expensive and environmentally unfriendly...the camera is unwieldy and quite ugly...yet....I like it. I still have three packs of film too.

 

[Cholentpot]

Yeah, but even if the film is nothing that you much care about, getting it processed is quite expensive -- unless you do what I've recently started doing, which is developing it myself. Then it can be much cheaper, but still there's a considerable amount of time involved in the processing and handling of the negatives afterward. So it's a bit of a let-down if the roll turns out to be junk.

I home process everything. Maybe if a roll of 120 took a year to shoot I'll splurge but that's about it. After I go through about 16-20 rolls in the C-41 kit I move onto stand development. For expired film it makes no difference to me. Scanning a roll of film and processing does take time but I just view it as my Lightroom time. I'm at about $1.00 a roll processing if even that. Big ol bottle of HC-110 should last many a'film the only constant replacement is fixer and that's cheap enough.

 

[Cholentpot]

I think my guilty pleasure camera is either of my two Halina 35X.

Are they good cameras? Not particularly. Nor are they toys. Small enough to pocket, but so heavy that you don't want to. A bit fiddly to use and a triplet lens that barely passes muster...but I like the things. And somehow when handled well they are capable of doing better than expected.

I think the other might be the Polaroid 104 that I was gifted about a year ago. Pack film is of course pretty much gone...expensive and environmentally unfriendly...the camera is unwieldy and quite ugly...yet....I like it. I still have three packs of film too.

I got hold of a Land 104, I don't even remember how come to think of it. I modified the batteries and glued an active hotshoe to the top. The camera did a good job and then they stopped making peel apart! Right when I was zoning in on nailing every shot!

 

[OptiKen]

I think my guilty pleasure camera is my Olympus Pen FT. For me it's an absolute pleasure to use and very quick. Plus I can almost shoot it like a digital - just fire away - because it's half frame, it gives me 48 - 72 shots per roll.

There is just enough 'manual' to it to make it fun and interesting to use while not so much as to get in the way of getting a quick shot off.

My only regret is that it doesn't produce 6x6 negatives

 

[choiliefan]

Guilty pleasure camera is probably my 2X3 Century graphic. It has grey and black dappled leatherette, red bellows and bright chrome trim. Lens is an impressively large 80mm 2.8 Xenotar. Factory hand grip has a yellow cable release. This camera is an attention magnet and screams to be used.

 

[brazile]

Ansco Pix Panorama 35. Ridiculous plastic camera that masks a 35mm frame to pano proportions. One shutter speed, one aperture. Completely silly, still amusing to shoot outdoors on a nice day.

 

[Cholentpot]

Ansco Pix Panorama 35. Ridiculous plastic camera that masks a 35mm frame to pano proportions. One shutter speed, one aperture. Completely silly, still amusing to shoot outdoors on a nice day.

I took one of these kind of cameras to Niagara Falls a little while back! I lived close by so I would take my oddball cameras there for a test.

Fun to use. The mask fits into an Argus C3 by the way, a bit of masking take makes it nice and snug. I just need a bit of a wider lens for my C3 and I have what I call the Panargus!

 

[brazile]

Ha, "Panargus" -- that seems entirely appropriate.

I'm not really much of a Holga, Diana, or Lomo type of shooter, but using the thing helps me understand why people are.


APP-030 by Robert Brazile, on Flickr


APP-020 by Robert Brazile, on Flickr

 

[Cholentpot]

Ha, "Panargus" -- that seems entirely appropriate.

I'm not really much of a Holga, Diana, or Lomo type of shooter, but using the thing helps me understand why people are.


APP-030 by Robert Brazile, on Flickr


APP-020 by Robert Brazile, on Flickr

I'd use it more but it's a pain to tote around. Have not found a comfy way to carry a C3.

 

[RichardJack]

Mine film pleasure camera is my Nikon FA (I usually grab a DSLR these days). My FA is light, compact and IMO probably the best Nikon MF film camera made. It has P,S,A,M options and a choice of center-weight or matrix metering, a very bright viewfinder with interchangeable screens, a motor drive if needed, 1/250 flash synch and shutter speed to 1/4000. When I picked mine up I put down my F3. I usually keep a 28mm f2 AIS and a 85mm f1.4 AIS with it. It's my favorite 35mm SLR.

 

[Saganich]

#1. Reversed lens Hawkeye Brownie (pre flash). The shadowy distorted late afternoon light reminds me of Lovecraft stories (another guilty pleasure). #2. My pre-ASPH 50 Lux. I have no business owning such an extravagant lens and when I use it I am always guilty and pleased.

 

[Alan Gales]

My Stereo Realist is my guilty pleasure camera. Some may consider it a toy but it is so fun to look at stereo images. It reminds me of being a kid and looking at my View Master only better because now the images are my own.

 

[cooltouch]

Big ol bottle of HC-110 should last many a'film the only constant replacement is fixer and that's cheap enough.

I'm still using regular ol' D76 for my developing work. My current mix is about a year old now, so I'm gonna replace it, even though I've probably only developed maybe a half-dozen rolls in the gallon I mixed up. Better safe than sorry, I guess. But I've always thought it was the fixer you could keep longer. Just fix for longer periods, I suppose, since it shouldn't hurt if you over-do it?

I'm not an expert at B&W developing, even though I've been doing it since about 1984. I just sorta stick with whatever the inside of the box tells ya, and failing the box, I'll find a Kodak publication on the 'net to print out. But those always have to do with developing times. Not fixing times.

 

[Cholentpot]

I'm still using regular ol' D76 for my developing work. My current mix is about a year old now, so I'm gonna replace it, even though I've probably only developed maybe a half-dozen rolls in the gallon I mixed up. Better safe than sorry, I guess. But I've always thought it was the fixer you could keep longer. Just fix for longer periods, I suppose, since it shouldn't hurt if you over-do it?

I'm not an expert at B&W developing, even though I've been doing it since about 1984. I just sorta stick with whatever the inside of the box tells ya, and failing the box, I'll find a Kodak publication on the 'net to print out. But those always have to do with developing times. Not fixing times.

Someone's gonna jump all over you about false economy!

I've used D-76 and will keep using it when I get more. I've not yet found a developer that works quite like it. However, HC-110 is more convenient for me. Although that's changed. I used to only go through a roll every once in a while, now it's about a roll a week. Thanks APUG for cheap expired film!

 

[Fin]

Dunno if it could be classed as a guilty pleasure or not, but I have an early LC-A that gets a fair bit of use...

I also have a recently acquired Sureshot Z135. Waiting for new batteries on that one!

 

[hollowman]

Guilty pleasure camera is probably my 2X3 Century graphic. It has grey and black dappled leatherette, red bellows and bright chrome trim. Lens is an impressively large 80mm 2.8 Xenotar. Factory hand grip has a yellow cable release. This camera is an attention magnet and screams to be used.

pics please? Sounds like a great camera

 

[bvy]

Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim. Very cheap plastic yet unexpectedly reliable. Exactly one control (the shutter button). Loaded with film, it doubles the weight of the camera. I've gotten some beautiful prints from it.

 

[Cholentpot]

Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim. Very cheap plastic yet unexpectedly reliable. Exactly one control (the shutter button). Loaded with film, it doubles the weight of the camera. I've gotten some beautiful prints from it.

View attachment 180817

I keep seeing this one come up again and again. If I run across one I'm defiantly picking it up.

Edit: I'm leaving this as defiant. I will defiantly pick up a camera!

 

[MrBrowning]

For me it's my one of my Kiev 60s. I equally love and hate the cameras. One has constant film spacing issues but even know this I keep shooting it. By the end of the roll I have a little over 1cm of space between frames. I used to get 13 frames on it and now I get 10 whole shots plus half a shot. Still it stays in my bag loaded with fomapan 200 as a backup to the other Kiev.

 

[filmamigo]

I agree with Alan Gale. I love shooting with any of my 3D/stereo cameras. It's always a bit of a guilty pleasure because I know the negatives are smaller than I could be shooting, the lenses are of a lesser quality, and one of my stereo cameras is d***t*l ! But I love the experience of making my own Holmes cards and looking at the scene months later, feeling as though I could step straight into the memory.

 

[bvy]

I keep seeing this one come up again and again. If I run across one I'm defiantly picking it up.

Edit: I'm leaving this as defiant. I will defiantly pick up a camera!

I had to read that twice myself. I thought maybe that's what you meant!

 

[Cholentpot]

I had to read that twice myself. I thought maybe that's what you meant!

For Film!