% of your cameras that get a decent use each year?

rayonline_nz · Jan 25, 2018

We know that some people have a lot of gear. How much cameras passes the 5 rolls a year threshold?

For me I go thru some months of inactivity then I have a period of time when I shoot off some rolls esp with b/w because I don't want the chemistry to go off.

This is the film forum so mine are the Nikon Fm2n, F100 and a RB67 and Hassie 500CM. All 4 meets that threshold eventually.

Tim Stapp · Jan 25, 2018

I've shot more than that recently through my free re-sealed Ricoh XR5 (almost equaling my Speed Graphic). Thanks Jon Goodman and Gerry M!!!

NedL · Jan 25, 2018

I most often shoot one sheet at a time, so rolls of film isn't the best measure.
Most of my cameras got a good amount of use in 2017:

several homemade pinhole cameras got lots of use
5x7 and 7x11 view cameras both got used a lot
Zeiss ercona ii 6x9 folder got lots of use, dozens of rolls, which is a lot for me in any year
F3 got some use for 35mm, I don't think it reached 5 rolls.

Some but not much use:
FM2n and N2020 got used some, but not very much, although I just bought some more film for the N2020 and will be using it more soon.
a few other homemade pinhole cameras were only used on WPPD.

What didn't get used:
2 x Kodak 1a autographic jr.
Kodak 3a series ii
( I only use those 1-shot, and used other cameras that make bigger negatives last year )
2 6x9 folders that both need work... the ercona ii has sort of replaced them, but one of them is really light and small and I probably would have used it if I'd solved the light leak problem it has.

So 2017 was a good year for my cameras... most of them got used quite a bit.

MattKing · Jan 25, 2018

None of my cameras get any "indecent" uses.
But about 25% of them don't hit the threshold.
Some, like the "glove compartment" camera, are intended as emergency backup.
A couple are backup bodies, and it is hard to say whether they reach the threshold, because they are in some cases used interchangeably with the bodies that they are intended to serve as backup for.
At least one has tremendous sentimental value, and there is no current film made in the size it prefers.
And some should get passed on to others.

wyofilm · Jan 25, 2018

I have maybe 10 cameras excluding home made pinholes. About four of them get regular use, while a couple more still make your threshold. So ... 60-80% meet the decency threshold, or so is my guess. But a couple of my cameras are inoperable, do those count?

Theo Sulphate · Jan 25, 2018

Yeah... 87 cameras at the moment. I use about 24 of them every year (different ones), but no single camera gets five rolls per year.

They all get exercised and tested several times through the year, regardless.

MartinCrabtree · Jan 25, 2018

About half get regular use. Which ones change at my whim. Of the analogue the F5 seems to get the most followed by the FM2n.

Sirius Glass · Jan 25, 2018

None of my cameras have gotten decent use recently but the Hasselblads get the most use, 35mm next and 4"x5" come in at fourth place out of three.

DWThomas · Jan 26, 2018

I'd say three of mine pass that threshold, four if you count the square inches of my 8x10 pinhole! After all, each sheet of film represents a roll of 120 or 35mm.

LeftCoastKid · Jan 26, 2018

My Hasselblads easily cross the threshold (I shoot at least 60-70 rolls of 120/year, generally PanF+, FP4+, and E100G), as do my Leicas (around a 125 rolls/year of Tri-X/HP5+, E100G, or E100VS in total). As for my Nikons, it depends upon the body. My F5 and F6 are used on a regular basis (several rolls ((6-8, each?)) of E100G/VS per month, depending upon the weather, and the number of festivals and public events in the GVRD); my F2s are used fairly regularly (2-4 rolls each, a month); my F3HP and F3P are probably used the least (perhaps 1-3 rolls each per month).

RalphLambrecht · Jan 26, 2018

Hasselblad501c10%
Nikon FM10%
Nikon D800 80%

removed account4 · Jan 26, 2018

all but one got used ..**
the only one i didnt' put tilm into
i am currently trying to sell LOL

**few 35mm, + 1/2 frame, 120 roll backs
sheet film +box cameras .. i have a few oddball lenses
( LF ) i dont' use much though thinking of selling them

jim10219 · Jan 26, 2018

About 4 out of 30. Several of my cameras are mainly display pieces. They may see about one roll of film every year or two. They all work, but a good number of them I bought just to look at. Those aren't expensive though. The display cameras range from $5-30 a piece. My main shooting cameras tend to be several hundred dollars a piece.

Pentode · Jan 26, 2018

I came back to shooting early last year after several years away from it. Part of the process of getting back into the swing of things was to put film through all of the cameras and make sure they were all still healthy. I made it through most of them, but none made it past the five-roll mark other than my go-to Minolta XD-11 and, maybe, my Minolta SRT-202.

I have a terrible schedule, so I can’t shoot nearly as much as I’d like to. I also have a lot of cameras that I like to keep in rotation. The result for me usually ends up being a bunch of cameras that only shoot one or two rolls a year and a few that get used more. That, to me, is preferable to shooting tons of film through just a couple of cameras and having the others languish.

I’m also trying to make better use of what little free time I have so that, hopefully, all the cameras will have more chances to go out and play.

BayG75 · Jan 27, 2018

I shoot mostly 35mm, mostly with SLRs, mostly Nikon.

I have 25 Nikon SLRs, but over half of those are back-up/parts cameras, specifically acquired to keep me shooting my favorite models for another 30 years (Lord willing and the creeks don't rise). Of the 12 that I consider 'active' cameras, I use four most often - the FE2, FA, F2, and Nikkormat FT3. They all get well over five rolls a year, with the FE2 taking up about 50% of the total. The other eight Nikons get at least one roll a year run through them, in part for maintenance purposes and in part because I do enjoy using each one.

I have 11 other working film cameras - non-Nikon SLRs, 35mm rangefinders, medium format cameras, etc. - most of which I consider more as "collectibles" than active cameras (several were inherited from family members and have sentimental value, for instance.). Only two from that group meet the five-roll threshold - a Retina IIIc and an Ikonta 521/16.

Cholentpot · Jan 27, 2018

The 120's get a roll or maybe 2 a year.

F3, EOS A2/E get 5 or more rolls. The rest maybe not so many.

Ko.Fe. · Jan 27, 2018

Sorry, I ain't count in rolls, but in bulks. Three, four 30m bulks per year.

I have sentimental cameras. I use them then I get sentimental.
I have special use cameras.
And I have my cameras for regular use.

Most of the bulks are taken by couple of regular cameras. If both works it is something like 70/30.
Total count of cameras is under ten.

% of your cameras that get a decent use each year?

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