Modern body or old school- what do you use and why?

[Alan W]

These days I like AE lock,I don't have to have autofocus.I do like Aperture priority.I love auto wind-the next shot can happen fast.I have a good few fd lenses and the Canon T90 is a favourite.I suppose I'm lucky that Canon made this one before changing lens mount.The most modern camera I have is probably the Pentax 645n.I really like it when I feel like carrying the extra weight.I have plenty of old cameras too though.

 

[mshchem]

One thing that I think of when I hear friends talking about their New Mega Mega digital camera and super lenses. I think of the old school Press photographers, pre focus a 127mm Ektar to say 8 feet, put in a flash bulb the size of a 60 W bulb, @ f 16 Tri-X pack film, focal plane shutter 125th/s get 1 shot for sure, maybe a couple. They would shoot wide and crop those enormous (by today's standards) negatives.
Todays DSLRs press guys use are more of a high resolution movie camera, just hammer away at 11 fps. Still I often see them pre-focusing on an object and planning ahead.

 

[Eric Rose]

Oh for a second there when I read the title I thought it was about our wives.

 

[Cholentpot]

One thing that I think of when I hear friends talking about their New Mega Mega digital camera and super lenses. I think of the old school Press photographers, pre focus a 127mm Ektar to say 8 feet, put in a flash bulb the size of a 60 W bulb, @ f 16 Tri-X pack film, focal plane shutter 125th/s get 1 shot for sure, maybe a couple. They would shoot wide and crop those enormous (by today's standards) negatives.
Todays DSLRs press guys use are more of a high resolution movie camera, just hammer away at 11 fps. Still I often see them pre-focusing on an object and planning ahead.

11 hahaha! Try 30fps! Machine gunning gets the job done for the press. They don't care if they were shooting with toilet paper. They got a job to do and photos to bring to print.

 

[Chan Tran]

11 hahaha! Try 30fps! Machine gunning gets the job done for the press. They don't care if they were shooting with toilet paper. They got a job to do and photos to bring to print.

I hope they will make a 10,000fps camera with decent image quality. I am using one now but the image quality is very bad.

 

[guangong]

My only PhD camera is my Contax t3. PhD=push here dummy. Otherwise, I still shoot with what I grew up on: manual Leicas, Nikon F (and my "new" F2),Rollei tlr. Never felt need for autofocus and after recent eye surgery even less so. But whatever works for somebody is the best. It always seemed to me that auto everything cameras are just too bulky. Also difficult for me to remember to take extra batteries...and while some camera batteries may last for years they always die at the wrong time.

 

[Patrick Robert James]

I use manual cameras, Contax SLRs and Leica/Konica RFs. Of course the 4x5 is manual. After organizing images in Lightroom about 8 years ago I started to notice that the images I liked the most were shot on manual cameras. I had a full Canon setup with several bodies of both film and digital and all the L lenses... Just wasn't very satisfying using them. I found that the more engaged I was in the decision making, the better my photographs were. They were also more consistent. So I went back to Contax, but I mostly shoot with the RFs or the 4x5. A lot of pinhole in the last few years too.

 

[nyoung]

Generally pack around an F5. Generally use it in manual mode b/c spent active photo career shooting manual cameras. I do switch into aperture priority exposure and mount an auto focus lens for moving targets - wildlife and/or the grandchildren. Too lazy to learn all the "features" on the camera despite having owned it since 2000.

 

[Fin]

I like gadgets, clever electronics and all that, just not in my camera. Which is probably why I've never gelled with d*g*tal cameras. My Fs and F2 get the most use, and I am currently running a second roll of 120 TriX through a 50's Weltar folding camera.

I also have a very low use OM10 that was given to me. It's a comfortable, lightweight camera compared to the Nikons, and pretty nice to use, but it is very electronic and also a pain in the hole to try to use in manual mode. I loaded it with FP4 earlier to persuade me to go use it!

 

[pthornto]

Lots of great points from everybody! Thanks. It's probably not surprising that many prefer mechanical cameras. There is something very satisfying about getting off the shot at just the right moment (and no AF half press lag!) . A manual focus camera with some auto exposure and a motor drive would be a good middle ground.

 

[LeftCoastKid]

No real adamant "old tech" vs "new tech" type here. The choice, for me, rests on what I happen to be photographing. If I'm out shooting nature or "fine art" subject matter, I'm probably looking through the viewfinder of a tripod-mounted 500 c/m, with manual focus Zeiss glass. If I'm out "street shooting," then its a Leica (M4, M4P, M6) with Zeiss manual lenses. For pretty much anything else it could be a Nikon F2, F3, F5, F6, with either manual focus AIs Nikkor glass, or one of the small number of AF(S) Nikkors I own: 17-35mm ED, 28-70mm ED, 50mm F1.4D, 80-200 ED, or 300 F4. I switch up the Nikons constantly; as a rule (?), I generally use the AF lenses with either the F5, F6 or my D800.

 

[blockend]

The old boy photographers I knew in my teens had little time for in body metering, which had become the norm at that time. Automatic exposure that was getting everyone excited, they treated as silly. I thought they were being fuddy-duddy, why were the magazines full of glossy advertisements for AE metering if it was irrelevant to good photography?

What they understood and I didn't, is the contents of the frame and the subject I wanted to emphasise may or may not be the same thing. Experience told them the correct exposure, and a Weston confirmed any doubts. They were continually tweaking the exposure dials a click one way or the other as light changed, as I find myself doing now. In other words they were always on when carrying a camera. Not everyone is. Some people see a shot and have little sense of what setting the camera was previously left at, and for such people automation is a real aid. The old school photographers have mostly gone, and a new generation have grown up expecting the camera to do the thinking for them. Most of the time it does, but to assume it will always get things right is a mistake.

 

[GarageBoy]

I don't care: I don't have a strong opinion either way, and I don't mind learning and remembering what a few buttons do

 

[ozphoto]

Prior to 2000, I was an FD kid - large kit from a 17mm 3.5 to a 300 2.8. Then d*****l arrived onto the pro scene, and I had to adapt. I ended up trading the entire FD kit for a smaller EF kit - back then film gear was cheap and nobody really wanted it.

I just had to buy a new EOS film body this week - my beloved (original) EOS1 died. So I shoot EF with my new (old) EOS1n SLR and old school with my 120 (GS1 & Agfa Clack), 620 (Kodak Junior folder) and 35mm P&S (Olympus Trip and Rollei 35 LED).

I do miss my old FD kit though - the old F1 and A1 were great cameras, but such is progress - running 2 kits for the sake of nostalgia would be crazy.

 

[Peltigera]

Easy! It depends which model of the old body you have. With many you would have to put some dollar bills in but for some you can actually get some money back.

Not sure he was talking about a camera body there.

 

[TheRook]

I do miss my old FD kit though - the old F1 and A1 were great cameras, but such is progress - running 2 kits for the sake of nostalgia would be crazy.

Honestly, I don't think having two different kits at one's disposal is all that crazy - as long as one keeps them organized such that one doesn't accidentally mount a lens onto the wrong camera. I actually enjoy having a choice between different systems (as well as film formats!) available to me. Every system has its strengths and weaknesses, and its own unique character and feel. Perhaps some of the nostalgia you are experiencing is due to not only how well that first kit worked and the positive experiences you had with it, but also what the other kit seems to be lacking in comparison. A camera is more than just a spec sheet and features list.

 

[Chan Tran]

Not sure he was talking about a camera body there.

His body???? then it's probably worth nothing.

 

[removed account4]

i like manual slr's and RF's ..
its nice to have to think about stuff

but auto everything, or ap priority is helpful
especially when i don't want to do more than push the button.
i have larger than 35mm cameras that are even more manual ( box cameras ) and i like them the best
i just point and shoot

 

[Cholentpot]

The old boy photographers I knew in my teens had little time for in body metering, which had become the norm at that time. Automatic exposure that was getting everyone excited, they treated as silly. I thought they were being fuddy-duddy, why were the magazines full of glossy advertisements for AE metering if it was irrelevant to good photography?

What they understood and I didn't, is the contents of the frame and the subject I wanted to emphasise may or may not be the same thing. Experience told them the correct exposure, and a Weston confirmed any doubts. They were continually tweaking the exposure dials a click one way or the other as light changed, as I find myself doing now. In other words they were always on when carrying a camera. Not everyone is. Some people see a shot and have little sense of what setting the camera was previously left at, and for such people automation is a real aid. The old school photographers have mostly gone, and a new generation have grown up expecting the camera to do the thinking for them. Most of the time it does, but to assume it will always get things right is a mistake.

Honestly though, I hand my EOS 500n over to whoever is with me, put the knob on green and tell them to shoot and 9 time out of ten if they have a good eye they'll capture a good to decent photo.

For myself I shoot manual 99% of the time. I don't trust the meter more than getting me halfway there. Even moreso for digital. The meter is a bucket of lies I tell ya! Lies!

 

[Chan Tran]

Honestly though, I hand my EOS 500n over to whoever is with me, put the knob on green and tell them to shoot and 9 time out of ten if they have a good eye they'll capture a good to decent photo.

For myself I shoot manual 99% of the time. I don't trust the meter more than getting me halfway there. Even moreso for digital. The meter is a bucket of lies I tell ya! Lies!

The only meter that lies is Nikon matrix meter. Other meters do not lie but perhaps you don't understand them.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The only meter that lies is Nikon matrix meter. Other meters do not lie but perhaps you don't understand them.

I do not have any problems with the Nikon matrix meter. I strongly suspect you are experiencing Operator Assisted Failure [OAF], as in the OAF did this or the OAF did that. You might want to go back an read the manual.

 

[rrusso]

I do not have any problems with the Nikon matrix meter. I strongly suspect you are experiencing Operator Assisted Failure [OAF], as in the OAF did this or the OAF did that. You might want to go back an read the manual.

Never had issues with it either, but then again I only use it for snapshots; most of the time I'm using spot.

 

[Cholentpot]

The only meter that lies is Nikon matrix meter. Other meters do not lie but perhaps you don't understand them.

I've run across a technical and my humor has been lost! Quick to the explanation cave! *wham*...DUN DUN DUN!

The meter is a starting point for me. I use it as a baseline to expose my shot. I meter a scene a few times and then using my built in meter inside my head I decide what settings to use. Generally outdoors sunny or not, my guess is spot on. I'm no expert and have only been doing this for a few years but I do trust my vision and brain more than I trust the built in meter.

Wonder Boy Robin! Can you Sunny 16?

Holy HC-110 Batthing! Gosh I can do it in a snap!

 

[Huss]

I do not have any problems with the Nikon matrix meter.

Agreed. It works great on an evenly lit scene. For back lit subjects that throw it off I switch to center weighted or spot metering patterns with my F100 or F6.

 

[Sirius Glass]

There is a back lit setting for the N75 and F100.