How often do you shoot your Canon? (No not the one that takes a projectile :)

[waynecrider]

Is your Canon(s) your primary film camera(s), or even primary camera? If not, what is? Is it your travel camera or car camera. Do you use it for all your family occasions or just some? Is it your travel camera? How often do you actually pick it up and use it? Do you dedicate a particular film in it? Has it become a drawer dweller?

I have to admit that for most of my photography involving my family occasions my Canon, (and all other film cameras) are always left behind in loo of my digital. In fact I'd say that 99.9 percent of all my family photo's are digital and thinking about it now, it just seems wrong. I've also been lured away from Canon because of my recurring bouts with GAS. The last being my, heaven forgive me, acquisition of a Nikkormat and 2 lenses. The last time I even put a roll thru it in fact was just over a year ago and that was only to finish a roll off that had been sitting in it.

I bring up this topic cause I'm feeling a little sad about such a good camera just sitting there. In fact I even tried to sell it on a couple of occasions, thinking I would get out of the brand, which didn't happen tho either because of wrong timing, or just that nobody wants it. The forgotten child.

Yesterday while perusing different photo forums I ran across a thread on my model the A1. There was not alot of love expressed in that thread at the beginning, but some stood up for it later on, and I was inclined to post my own thoughts on the subject reminding me that the camera far exceeded my abilities. Overall it's a very polarizing body. Some rail against it as fiddly and others have shot it without problem and to good effect for years. I wonder how often tho?

So I pulled the body out of the camera storage case, a LowePro backpack that rarely ever gets taken out, stuck on the my razor sharp 50mm F1.4 SSC, and rounded up my filters and lens hood. I have the 199a flash for it which works. I'm putting a roll of Ektar in it today. I also have a macro rail for it so will do some macro flower stuff as well. The 29th of this month is my B-day and I turn 61. I wish that number was reversed. I'll get someone to take my picture with it. For the rest of this year this will be my primary carry camera. I'm going to shoot Provia, TriX, and some more Ektar. I look forward to posting pictures of my endeavor in this Group.

 

[DWThomas]

I shoot my A-1 maybe once or twice a year, and similar to yourself, feel a little guilty about letting it sit unused. I need to pick up some film I can get in 24 exposure rolls; 36 often feels like creating too large a project! I shot a roll of Acros at a nearby fiddle festival back in September that I was fairly pleased with.

I do indeed use "alternate technology" for much of my documentation and travel and most situations where I want color. But most of my more deliberate "fine art" photography is using B&W film, albeit with medium format.

I also have an F-1 (original) body that I bought used from a friend which works, but I've not done much with it, preferring the handling of my A-1. I have my dad's Canon AE-1 which I need to do a little clean-up on, but again, prefer the A-1. As far as Canon, my bit zappers are all from the big C -- some degree of loyalty! I have occasional GAS attack thoughts of getting an EOS film body that could share lenses from the DSLR, but try to be realistic that it may not see enough use to justify expending the $$$$.

My last few camera purchases include a Canon G15, a Yashica 124G, an Ercona II and a Perkeo II -- I'm either eclectic -- or just plain scatter-brained!

 

[benjiboy]

My canon FD cameras are my primary film cameras for 35mm photography together with two Mamiya C330Fs for my medium format work, however I do have a Samsung digital compact camera I use rarely.

 

[geoff-canon]

My F-1 new and my A-1's are my primary cameras. My daughter uses my old AE-1
and my other daughter uses my uncle's old AE-1. My wife has a T-90. I got
them each setup with camera so that we could all shoot a roll of kodachrome
before it was gone.

The A-1's and the F-1 are my travel cameras and use them nearly exclusively
unless I am in a small boat over water.

I use one of the cameras for most family occasions but sometimes we use
my wife's digital for that.

I use my camera on average of about once a month. I shoot it in spurts though;
I use a lot more on trips and will go through several rolls.

I shoot a lot of different things but more slide film than any other kind. I
used to shoot kodachrome now it is mostly velvia and astia. I still have velvia
and astia 35mm slide in my freezer. I also used some black and white starting
two years ago for the first time in a while (tmax/tri-x/plus-x/ilford-infrared).
I shoot fuji 1600 superia for when I go and do meteor showers.

My daughter, 11 likes tmax 100 and asked for some for christmas. She still
needs to finish the first roll though.

I am planning to go up to northwest territories soon and go try to catch the
aurora. I was going to bring a couple cameras and run fuji 1600 superia in
one and provia 400X in another one. I will probably have another camera or
two with some velvia and/or astia for other daytime shots.

 

[benjiboy]

I use my Canon's almost every day, and it's great that's what I was working for and dreamed about for years before I retired, and now I'm my own boss I can please myself, whoopee

 

[Ralph Javins]

Boy, it is nice to hear from Wayne Crider, Dave Thomas, and BenjiBoy.

Guys, you are doing much better than I am in using your Canons. But then I have probably let my addictive tendancies run amok much more than you. In addition to the Canons, there are also the Minolta, Nikon, Pentax, Sears, Vivitar, Kiev (16mm, 35mm, and 120), FED, Zorki, Shinano-koki Pigeon 35, Sanei Samoca 35, argus C3, Ihagee EXA and Exakta, Koni-Omega Rapid-M, Graflex Speed Graphic, Sinar F and F1, and a few really obscure other brands. If I were to shoot one roll in each body per day, it would take about a year to go through all of them. Hey, what can I say? I was deprived for many years, and I admit that I sort of "overcompensated" when I discovered that I had the ability to buy cameras again, and no one was watching over me.

Having an unfettered addiction is such a joy.

So, no, my Canon cameras (Canonet-17, Canonet-19, B&H-Canonet-28, Canon Pellix-QL, F-1, FTb, and a couple of others) are not my primary cameras. And, when I go out to take photographs of things for other people, yes, I usually do use the DSLR cameras. They like the quick delivery of useable images ready for their news letters or web sites. If they can give me some time to spend with Adobe PhotoShop, usually I can provide them with things that I am happy that they put out there for people to see.

The only real complaint I have is that Kodak is no longer making almost all of the films that I really enjoyed using.

Still, when I want to do something for myself, I go back to film. Yes, I still like the way that my Minolta X-700 cameras with the MD-1 Motor Drive fit my hands. I like the way that the Nikon F2 with the DW-2 Magnifier works on the back of the telescope for astrophotography. I got into the Canon cameras sort of sideways when looking for a replacement for the F-1 system that Gary had back in the late 1970s. The only thing I really need to find for him now is an FD 55mm f:1.2 II normal lens.

It is funny to have just about everything that I ever wanted to have for my cameras back in the 1970s. Now I feel satiated in that respect. There are a couple of accessories that it might be nice to have, but now I am enjoying just using the cameras. While there are things such as bellows units, focusing rails, dual cable releases, and macro lenses for macro photography, I also appreciate the simplicity and ease of using just a close-up lens screwed onto the front of the lens. It is so nice to just experiment and try out different ways to take a photograph and see how it does. What is now amusing is the discovery that many of the cheap ways to do it will also produce nice prints that can be just as satisfying as the ones done with the full blown "proper equipment" setup. Only if you actually have a pair of prints sitting side by side taken with the two methods can you really see that there can be a difference that is detectable, but it is not really obvious.

Well, there is one thing now that I need to find that was not needed back in the 1970s. Now I am transferring the +3 diopter viewfinder optical correction lenses from one camera body to the next camera body. I could use a few more of those.

Now I am having more fun with my cameras and seeing what comes out of them and onto a print. Life really has become pretty good, but I will admit that it took a long time to get here. And now there is also the challenge of getting the Nikon CoolScan LS-9000ED film scanner to work properly with my computer so that I can take my negatives and transform them into something that can be transmitted over the Internet and others can see them also.

It does seem a little strange that for a group who has a liking for a now archaic technology, we must use the most modern techniques to convert those photographs into a digital image that can be transmitted to APUG for others to view.

Enjoy;

Ralph
Latte Land, Washington

 

[pentaxpete]

I am in a similar position to Ralph above -- I now have lots of different camera systems as I have been given a lot lately and try to use them in 'rotation' -- my Canons get use but not so often -- the all-manual FTBn's are No Problems as they are not 'electronic' but the A-1 and AE-1 have problems due to not having an 'electric current' run through them often enough. I have checked all the seals and renewed foams.

 

[benjiboy]

I used to have a collection of disparate of cameras and lenses that made no sense as a photographic system but about 25 years ago sold or part exchanged everything except my Canon FD equipment and have stuck to that, it's made my photography much more simple when all my lenses fit and work correctly on all my cameras.

 

[cooltouch]

This topic is more than a little appropriate for me these days. Back in the 80s, all I shot was Canon FD -- although I did have a couple of FL lenses I used regularly as well, but with my FD cameras. These days, I have eight different camera systems, both 35mm and medium format, and a few more excellent cameras that have fixed lenses that also demand my attention.

Currently I have my New F-1 and T90 loaded with film. The T90 I've just been using for whatever looks interesting, but the F-1 is being used as part of a test. See, I have two 17mm lenses -- one is a Tokina-made Vivitar f/3.5 and one is a Tamron f/3.5. Because of its FD mount, I have the Vivitar mounted to the Canon and I have the Tamron mounted to my Nikon F4. I tried to test the two lenses with my NEX 7, but I finally determined that it is not capable of handling the way these old analog 17s bend light. So I'm conduction the test on film with 35mm cameras instead. I will probably keep the Tamron and sell the Vivitar, but I wanted to see for myself how well the Vivitar stands up to the Tamron. If it holds its own very well, I might just keep it.

In addition to the T90 and F-1N, I own two F-1n's, a couple of FTbs (one black, one chrome), an A-1 and an AE-1 Program (also black). I have a motor drive mounted on my F-1n and Winder F's for both of my old F-1s. My A-1 is mounted to a Motor Drive MA and my AE-1P is mounted to a Winder A. Obviously the FTbs don't take winders or else I'd probably have them motorized too.

As some of you have mentioned, I too have a digital camera -- actually I have four -- two P&S, a 10.1mp EOS XS, and a Sony NEX 7. They get used for different reasons. I've had the NEX for about six months now, and it's been getting the lion's share of attention. But most of the time, I'm shooting manual focus lenses with the NEX. I have a large collection of FD glass, a somewhat smaller collection of Nikon glass and minimal numbers of lenses with the rest of my outfits. Oh, and I own about a dozen Tamron lenses, most of which are the SP versions. I like my Tamrons a lot. Several of them fill holes I have in my Canon and Nikon outfits, so they do serve their purposes.

I'm planning on taking an extended road trip on my motorcycle later this year and I've been giving some thought to the camera gear I'll be taking with me. Yes, I'll be taking a digital, most likely my NEX, but I also plan to take a decent 35mm outfit. Currently one of the old F-1s is on the short list. Now, I just need to pare down the number of lenses that will also be coming along. It's not as easy as it might seem to be.

 

[tokam]

Unless I have a special need for features from one FD body such as TTL flash or spot metering on the T90, I tend to use my cameras in rotation with my EF, T90 and F1-N getting preference over an A1 and AE-1.

Yesterday I loaded up my F1-N with some Foma 200 and decided to mount an FDn 35-105 F3.5 on it for a walkabout outfit for the next week or so. I was quite surprised at the weight of it. No motor drive or AE finder yet it still felt very heavy on the strap. My to go outfit years ago was my T90 with an FDn 35-70 SSC f2.8-3.5 which seemed comfortable and well balanced. Just out of interest I loaded up the T90 with batteries and fitted the 35-70 and went into the kitchen to to a weight comparison. The F1-N / 35-105 combination was only 10g heavier than the T90 / 35-70 combo, 1.515 Kg v's 1.505Kg. More exercise needed!!

I'm working my way through a pile of bulk film that I bought from another APUG member in Sydney late last year. It's and eclectic mix - TMax 400, Foma 200, Pan-F and Rollei Retro 80. Along with my stocks of more 'regular' films I have enought to keep me busy for several years. Luckily, most of my bulk stock is still in date at this point so I'm not worried about going over a year or so on the slower emulsions. All in the fridge.

At the moment I'm sc*nning the negs but earlier this year I aquired a Leitz Focomat V35 with issues. I have sorted out the major problem of blown transformer. Just have to source some correct bulbs or best alternatives before I can use it.

 

[srs121799]

I own 11 FD Canon SLR cameras. All of mine are 70's to 80's vintage but they are my favorite for 35mm. I use mine for B&W almost exclusively and so far this year I have managed to burn up fifty plus rolls of T-Maxx 400. I also have a collection of FD lenses. Generally I leave a lens on the camera and carry more than one camera with me with different lenses. I use both prime, zoom and telephoto lenses. My photos are usually waterfowl but i also like to shoot old churches, courthouses, schools even bridges as long as it is old. An occasional rusty car might be captured as well. I use a Canon 620 or 650 to do color or if I want family shots. I also have one of these 620 set up just for IR use. They work great for that. I develop my own B&W film and just recently started using Sprint chemistry which I an much happier with. I have a Beseler 67,23c, and 45 enlargers but use the 67 the most. I also shoot some medium format. I have a Pentax 67 and a Fugi 690. When I have the time to travel for photography I also use a Sinar F in 4x5. Like most people I also have digital too also Canon 60d and a 5d mkll . I usually have the 60d and a A1 laying in the seat with me when I am out driving.
I started out on FD Canons in 1975 and have been hooked ever since. No matter what other camera system lures me away I never seem to stop using these Canon SLR cameras. Nothing else fits my hand as well. My only complaint with these cameras is that the light meters seem to quit before the rest of the body. While a light meter is not all that critical in some cases other times nothing else will do. I wish there were parts to repair these.