Looking for a digital path to film

Photo Engineer · Apr 24, 2011

I have found that all of my analog Nikon lenses will work on current Nikon digital cameras, but no Nikon lens for their digital cameras will work on the analog cameras. The reason is the smaller sensor size in the digital cameras. So, with analog lenses on digital cameras you get a bit larger image, but otherwise, things are just fine.

I'm using my old 2020 lenses on a D70 with no problem. I have a Micro Nikor that works just fine either way.

PE

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Apr 24, 2011

Ron ,

Do you like what your digital nikon give ? I saw some latest ones from LCD and they were terrible especially with a zoom or tele. May be wideangle compensates some quality.

Umut

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Apr 24, 2011

I think moving live image and the colors of LCD makes people wants to shoot instantly and without thinking , composing. This is the last training a teenager would take.

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Apr 24, 2011

http://theskateboardmag.com/articles/fresh-crops-phil-blair/

j-dogg · Apr 24, 2011

Mustafa Umut Sarac said:
Yes , Avedon , Cecil Beaton printed on paper would be impressed him.

^^^What this guy said.

Some Edward Weston wouldn't hurt either, especially some of his solarized nudes, which IIRC was a process that originated in the darkroom. You want to keep his attention, that's a great way to do it lol.

Seriously, some Margaret Bourke White, her and Ansel Adams got me into black and white.

fstop · Apr 25, 2011

Photo Engineer said:
I have found that all of my analog Nikon lenses will work on current Nikon digital cameras, but no Nikon lens for their digital cameras will work on the analog cameras. The reason is the smaller sensor size in the digital cameras. So, with analog lenses on digital cameras you get a bit larger image, but otherwise, things are just fine.

I'm using my old 2020 lenses on a D70 with no problem. I have a Micro Nikor that works just fine either way.

PE

I'm using a Tamron from my D100 on my FA with no problem.:confused:

Diapositivo · Apr 25, 2011

Just tell the kid that he's too young for darkroom work, and that he can have a digital instead

removed account4 · Apr 25, 2011

if your son wants instant ...
well, you have to have a darkroom right there ..
get a box camera, not a 35mm for him
and have him shoot paper negatives.
you can have him put a sheet of paper in the back
expose it ( rate the paper at around 10 or 6 ) and
he can process the photographs as soon as they are exposed.
teaching with a digital camera is a waste of time, unless of course
you want him to stay using a digital camera ...
using film is never instant, but paper negatives and its
grandfather the wet plate .. are as instant as traditional photography can get.

good luck

tkamiya · Apr 25, 2011

This is like asking which Mercedes-Benz to buy on BMW forum....

I find using manual focusing lens on digital body frustrating at best. No split prism and "focusing aid" consists of either a green dot or a green dot with two arrows at left bottom corner. Hard to see when paying attention to the image for correct focusing.

My suggestion is to get him a digital camera with a lens designed for it. Buying a body that *can* take/use manual lens and meter correctly will cost you more than buying an entry level digital body with a kit lens. If someone is just starting photography, I would not press my preference "film and B&W" onto that person. It's not about the gear, method, or medium.... it's about a vision for image that counts.

jp498 · Apr 25, 2011

I can see where he might want autofocus too. I like autofocus in 35mm. Something that takes Nikon D AF lenses and newer would be ideal for film and digital in that case. Nikon D50, d70, d100 would be my order of preference for lower end digital cameras that can take non-afs lenses. There's something to be said for fully depreciated digital cameras; lots of bang for the buck like film. D2h would be another value camera and lots of fun (I had one for a year bought and sold used for about the same price, then d80, d200, .... For a change over to film, something like an f100, n90/n90s, f4s, n8008, etc.. would all take a good variety of Nikon lenses. People have to develop a taste for older fully mechanical cameras unless you were brought up with them. High school students don't have fully developed taste for antique camera gear.

removed account4 · Apr 25, 2011

the only "digital path to film" might be making "digital negatives" to contact print in the sun as a cyanotype ... or something else ...
the folks on DPUG will have oodles of ways to help, but buying a digital camera body thinking that vintage glass
is going to do anything putting him is kind of strange ...

bblhed · Apr 25, 2011

If you are shooting with a Nikon and want a D body that will use your lenses so that you can swap back and forth and you don't want to break the bank, get a D70. Prices are low, they work with all the old and new glass, the down side is that you have to meter externally if you want to use a fully manual lens. The up side is that if you forget your meter you can shoot several shots and view them until you get the right settings. Yes, there are other Nikon bodies that will meter with manual lenses, but they get pricey. If you want to step up from the D70 a bit, get a D200, again I am recommending based on price and ability to use lenses.

Avoid Nikon cameras like the D40 that have no motor drive in the body, they might meter for you, but they will not focus with older lenses.

Also if your looking at new glass avoid Nikon "G" lenses as they don't work on older Nikon bodies, and be careful with "silent wave" lenses as some of those are sized for APS size sensors.

Remember that the Digital camera should be used as a training tool. Try a photo or lighting situation as many times as it takes to figure it out with the digital camera, once you have confidence shoot it on film.

Photo Engineer · Apr 25, 2011

fstop said:
I'm using a Tamron from my D100 on my FA with no problem.:confused:

Digital lenses on Analog cameras will be slightly wide angle and have a tendency to vignette the image, as the analog image size in 35mm is slightly larger than most digital sensors.

If a digital sensor is as big as a 35mm frame, as in some recent digital cameras, there is no problem.

By the same token, APS camera lenses have problems on standard analog 35mm cameras because the APS frame size was selected to be the same size as digital sensors of that time.

PE

Thomas Bertilsson · Apr 25, 2011

jovo said:
It was magical to me, and I'm sure it may also be to him. When patience is rewarded with magic, it's a lot more tempting to be patient.

I could never have said it better myself.

Yet, when I tried to teach my 'ex step-son' (if there is such a thing, he's still my kid emotionally) the dark arts of the darkroom, his comment after a couple of days in the darkroom was: "How can you stand the stink in there?" LOL
Oh well. I hope the OP has better luck than I did. A 15yo is more ready than a 12yo. Good luck!

- Thomas

R Shaffer · Apr 25, 2011

Here is what my 18-70mm 1:3.5-4.5G DX lens did on my Nikon N90s. Shot this last year screwing around on the ski lift @ Kirkwood.

It's all fun.

wblynch · Apr 25, 2011

Make a home made dinner. All fresh ingredients. Make it smell really good and look delicious.

Then when he shows up, toss a frozen entre into the microwave and tell him, there's your instant gratification.

Okay... I admit that was kind of mean.

Photo Engineer · Apr 25, 2011

A major digital device died today. The last typewriter plant in the world closed!

PE

Mustafa Umut Sarac · Apr 25, 2011

I really love typewriters and their noise. When I was at University at Ankara , I visited a major antique shop filled with 50 or more more antique typewriters. One day , if I find oppurtunity , I will buy Remington No 5 which Agatha Christie used. And I love Mont Blanc Agatha Christie fill pen very much but first goes from 500 and second for thousands.

Worker 11811 · Apr 25, 2011

Thomas Bertilsson said:
I could never have said it better myself.

Yet, when I tried to teach my 'ex step-son' (if there is such a thing, he's still my kid emotionally) the dark arts of the darkroom, his comment after a couple of days in the darkroom was: "How can you stand the stink in there?" LOL
Oh well. I hope the OP has better luck than I did. A 15yo is more ready than a 12yo. Good luck!

- Thomas

Tell him that you can get stoned if you stay in there long enough. He'll never leave!

Moopheus · Apr 25, 2011

semi-ambivalent said:
Hello,

My son is 15 and is starting to become interested in photography but he, as he himself says, "wants instant gratification".

A Polaroid pack camera and a bunch of Fuji packs?

semi-ambivalent · May 31, 2011

That's how you settle that

I thought I'd append a bit to my original post by saying I've decided to cut out the middleman and just drop a film camera into my son's hands. I bought a nice little F3 off the 'bay from some really great people, a 24mm f/2.8 from the equally nice people at KEH, and he gets the 50mm that I just never seem to use anymore. Just about any other glass he'll need he can borrow from me. I'm giving him my old domke bag, which is pretty ragged but less ragged than the one I use. (I was informed that "ragged" looked really cool. Not surprising, coming from the son of a guy who never wanted to wear new shoes home from the store...) And a handful of Tri-X. He doesn't yet know this is going to happen. The family is taking a little road trip to New Mexico and he's going to find out just as we pull away from the curb.

Some of the reason for this shortcut is that I've been reading the posts here on APUG and they have reminded me that seeing and taking pictures is as much fun, and as fulfilling, as the image itself, that instant gratification can be ultimately empty. I see this as a golden opportunity to alter his nascent approach to image making. To slow him down and teach him to really see things, not just bang away when the light's green and then chimp it. To help him realize he has 36 chances to get it "right", not a thousand, and that the "wrong" one's are sometimes what he was really after if only he knew it at the time.

I had it backwards. It's not digital-to-analog, but analog-to-digital that I needed. Next year in high school photo class I imagine there will be a need for digital; I don't know if they have a darkroom, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Worse case is he'll abandon film for digital and I'll inherit that F3. Poor me. Thanks for all the responses, they really helped.

sa

Roger Cole · May 31, 2011

wblynch said:
Make a home made dinner. All fresh ingredients. Make it smell really good and look delicious.

Then when he shows up, toss a frozen entre into the microwave and tell him, there's your instant gratification.

Okay... I admit that was kind of mean.

This might not work. I NEVER cooked until my girlfriend moved in and now only if I make something for her. I like good food fine but if I have to cook it myself fergittaboutit! I see it as literally far more trouble than it's worth and will opt for the frozen entre, sandwich or canned soup or the like every time. Some people have always found this weird but I just shrug. Obviously I don't feel this way about photography. I suspect the best cooks enjoy the process of cooking (which I consider drudgery) as much as I enjoy the process of film and darkroom photography.

Someone above said it's about the results not the process. I disagree. For me it is mainly about the process.

semi-ambivalent · Jun 8, 2011

I think he's hooked

The F3 was a total hit. I told him to just take pictures and every now and then I battered him with technical information and such history as I knew. I think he was a little overwhelmed at the sheer mass of stuff you can know about photography if you want to. He's convinced that most of his shots are going to be terrible but is undismayed. I told him that's how people accumulated a hundred plus years of knowledge about photography. The images are the icing. He also loves the "pah-chick" of the shutter and mirror; says it's really satisfying to hear. He even likes the weight.

As an aside, he got a lot of obviously envious glances from adults toting high end digitals with big zooms. Film rules.

Chan Tran · Jun 8, 2011

Since you have the F and the F3 so some of your lenses may be pre AI. Buy him the low end Nikon DSLR (D3100, D40 etc..) these cameras since has no coupling for the AI lenses may accept the pre AI lenses without damaging the camera. No meter, No automode, No AF but that is perfect for a newbie. He is young and should have no problem manual focus the camera with a smaller, darker viewfinder than the F3. Besides it's digital he has instant gratifition as well as instant failure so he would learn fast.

ArtTwisted · Jun 8, 2011

If someone bought me an F3 I would love them for all time. An amazing camera to learn photography on, with a gorgeous viewfinder. Much better then the pidly little cheap DSLR's most parents get for there photography inclined children.

Looking for a digital path to film

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