Old film camera vs new film camera

CMoore · Aug 3, 2016

Poisson Du Jour said:
They're all the rage over in Hipsterville and its adjoining Snobsville in the Big Smoke upstream from me. And those guys in their skinny pink jeans and bright green pinaforte jackets clutching their rainbow-patterned-crema double-mocha lattés are trotting out their tacky "excellent" streetwork as "fine art". Fortunately only their cafés exhibit their work. Figures.

I think there is the beginning of a Coen Brothers Movie in this.....

John51 · Aug 4, 2016

Alan Gales said:
I know they are popular but I still can't understand why anyone would want one of those!

It seems to be an age related anti-digital thing.

I used to use an Adana letterpress. Back then, the type impressing the paper was the sign of a poorly skilled printer. Now that letterpress is back in vogue, the customers want to see the impression on the paper. Probably because digi printers can't do that.

Now, grain is in. As are camera light leaks, my son told me there is an app to give light leaks. Instead of working towards getting predictable results with film, not knowing how it'll turn out is part of the fun for some.

kobaltus · Aug 4, 2016

Not only a camera, camera bags have great impact on image quality. And good shoes even more..

darkroommike · Aug 4, 2016

FE vs. FM3a both have an aperture priority mode, the FM3a flash synchs at a faster 1/250th of a second better for synchro sunlight flash shots BUT the FE was one of the last from Nikon to have an AI "flipper" that you could move out of the way when shooting with non-AI lenses!

farmersteve · Aug 4, 2016

Poisson Du Jour said:
They're all the rage over in Hipsterville and its adjoining Snobsville in the Big Smoke upstream from me. And those guys in their skinny pink jeans and bright green pinaforte jackets clutching their rainbow-patterned-crema double-mocha lattés are trotting out their tacky "excellent" streetwork as "fine art". Fortunately only their cafés exhibit their work. Figures.

I think you guys are sooo behind the curve you can't even see hipsterville from there. Hipsters have moved on to real film cameras along with their reel to reel tape decks, and vinyl records.

Alan Gales · Aug 4, 2016

kobaltus said:
Not only a camera, camera bags have great impact on image quality. And good shoes even more..

An uncle of mine used to say that the best way to invest your money is in anything that comes between you and the ground like good shoes, good mattress, and good tires.

Sgore · Aug 4, 2016

Poisson Du Jour said:
They're all the rage over in Hipsterville and its adjoining Snobsville in the Big Smoke upstream from me. And those guys in their skinny pink jeans and bright green pinaforte jackets clutching their rainbow-patterned-crema double-mocha lattés are trotting out their tacky "excellent" streetwork as "fine art". Fortunately only their cafés exhibit their work. Figures.

I think we all owe a debt to the hipsters, who have been largely responsible for the resurgence of film photography. Pretty soon they'll run out of expired film to shoot, and either stop shooting, which would be a bad thing for all of us, or they will start buying more of the current production film and help keep it available for the rest of us.

Pioneer · Aug 4, 2016

Alan Gales said:
An uncle of mine used to say that the best way to invest your money is in anything that comes between you and the ground like good shoes, good mattress, and good tires.

Your uncle was right. Those are all really important, but often overlooked, necessities Alan.

All I can add to that is top notch socks and a really good hat to keep the sun off your head, out of your eyes and the rain off the back of your neck.

Poisson Du Jour · Aug 4, 2016

farmersteve said:
I think you guys are sooo behind the curve you can't even see hipsterville from there. Hipsters have moved on to real film cameras along with their reel to reel tape decks, and vinyl records.

Yeah, but the poor darlings haven't quite cottoned-on to the danger of riding over tram-tracks on their fixies and suddenly there is a bottleneck of cars, trams, pedestrians, skateboarders, streakers, bong-sellers, pot-pedellers... all akimbo waiting for a skinny hipster to extricate himself and his treadlie out of the tramline. Most of us big boys on MTBs don't have such dramas with tramlines; it is confined to Hipsterville. They need to pay a lot more attention to the dangers of the road environment while scooting from one latte stop to the next. And while they're doing that, perhaps trim the ivy that is growing from a flat-pack attached to the rear rack and engulfing their bike. I'm going back to Hipsterville next week (it is, after all, one of the few places remaining where I can get loads of film!!) and ought to strive for a photographic essay of sorts: "Three Hours in Hipsterville". We'll see.

Alan Gales · Aug 4, 2016

Pioneer said:
Your uncle was right. Those are all really important, but often overlooked, necessities Alan.

All I can add to that is top notch socks and a really good hat to keep the sun off your head, out of your eyes and the rain off the back of your neck.

When I first started in construction I did architectural sheet metal which is outside work. That first winter my feet kept getting cold. Someone recommended to me wool socks. Wool is warm but also allows your feet to breath so the sweat is wicked away. I had no more problems after that. I didn't even need insulated work boots.

We couldn't really work much in the rain so a ball cap was plenty good. Of course I tailored the brim to my liking. On white roofs I wore sunglasses too. There is nothing like being snow blinded in the summertime!

fstop · Aug 4, 2016

farmersteve said:
I think you guys are sooo behind the curve you can't even see hipsterville from there. Hipsters have moved on to real film cameras along with their reel to reel tape decks, and vinyl records.

Woo hoo I can't wait for them to bring back 8 track tapes , shag carpet, safe sex oh an of course AMC Pacers.

barzune · Aug 5, 2016

Paul Howell said:
The FE and FM3 are both very capable cameras, the FM is all manual while the FE has an auto exposure mode,

DALI wrote: "Unless you have something specific in mind, I don't see any real advantage to buy a Fm3a vs a FE."

Something to consider, that I didn't see mentioned, is that while the FM3a has all the advantages of the FE2 (i.e. a fully electronic system), it is also possible to use it full-capacity without batteries (i.e., a co-existing fully-mechanical system).
This advantage, plus the fact that it is a far later production model, accounts for a somewhat higher value.

mweintraub · Aug 5, 2016

fstop said:
... oh an of course AMC Pacers.

Volvo C30.

mweintraub · Aug 5, 2016

barzune said:
DALI wrote: "Unless you have something specific in mind, I don't see any real advantage to buy a Fm3a vs a FE."

Something to consider, that I didn't see mentioned, is that while the FM3a has all the advantages of the FE2 (i.e. a fully electronic system), it is also possible to use it full-capacity without batteries (i.e., a co-existing fully-mechanical system).
This advantage, plus the fact that it is a far later production model, accounts for a somewhat higher value.

I thought the FM3a was battery dependent.

jimjm · Aug 5, 2016

Just needs batteries for the meter, and auto mode. Full range of mechanical speeds, so it's sort of a combination of the best of the FE/FM series.

Now, if they had just added a spot meter, it would have been a perfect camera!

Diapositivo · Aug 5, 2016

barzune said:
DALI wrote: "Unless you have something specific in mind, I don't see any real advantage to buy a Fm3a vs a FE."

Something to consider, that I didn't see mentioned, is that while the FM3a has all the advantages of the FE2 (i.e. a fully electronic system), it is also possible to use it full-capacity without batteries (i.e., a co-existing fully-mechanical system).
This advantage, plus the fact that it is a far later production model, accounts for a somewhat higher value.

The basic difference between the two cameras is that every FE has an automatic exposure mode while each FM hasn't any. So if you need automatic exposure FE has a clear advantage.

The fact that automatic exposure is, in general, much less needed than what people is led to believe by marketing departments is the subject of another thread.

frank · Aug 5, 2016

The FM3a is a hybrid of the FM and the FE.

Theo Sulphate · Aug 5, 2016

The FM3a is closer to an FE2 / FM2 hybrid, specifically in not allowing pre-AI lenses, top speed, sync speed, and a few other things:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/fe/fe-fm-comparisons.htm

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/fm3a.htm

Terry Breedlove · Aug 5, 2016

I will add that my F3 hp is easier for me to see and focus with. I wear glasses

Diapositivo · Aug 6, 2016

frank said:
The FM3a is a hybrid of the FM and the FE.

I stand corrected. I thought that all FM had manual exposure.

frank · Aug 6, 2016

Diapositivo said:
I stand corrected. I thought that all FM had manual exposure.

Yes, the FM/FM2 is fully mechanical. The FE/FE2 is fully electronic. The FM3a has a hydrid shutter that is parially electronically controlled when a good battery is installed, but can operate fully manually (with no meter) when the battery is dead.

farmersteve · Aug 6, 2016

Terry Breedlove said:
I will add that my F3 hp is easier for me to see and focus with. I wear glasses

I started wearing glasses a couple of years ago and my older film cameras don't have diopter adjustments on them like the new ones and I have been struggling with focusing with my glasses on. I have mainly Canon gear but I keep hearing about the F3hp being so easy to focus with glasses. Is that really true?

Nodda Duma · Aug 6, 2016

I'm a big fan of the FE, and ended up buying an FM3a for the additional *minor* features that the Nikon design team incorporated to the original FE/FM to make an excellent product even better. Minor things like Dx code reading (don't often use it), brighter viewfinder, straight-pull camera back opening, and the film cartridge window. Also the promise that if the battery fails, I can still run the shutter.

Functionally they are exactly the same. I use the FM3a regularly now and the FE is in reserve. But honestly, I didn't really need to upgrade.

Even more honestly, I've been using my old Olympus OM-1 that I've had forever more often lately than the Nikons. I think the Zuiko 50 f/1.2 is great for color and the Nikkor 50 f/1.8 is great for B&W...but of course that's just my opinion.

Theo Sulphate · Aug 6, 2016

farmersteve said:
... I keep hearing about the F3hp being so easy to focus with glasses. Is that really true?

Not so much focus being easier, but being able to see the full screen.

I have F3/T's, which automatically come with the HP head. With glasses, I can almost see all four corners of the screen plus the LCD (showing shutter speed) and ADR (showing aperture) at the same time. I have to move around a bit to see everything.

For focus, I was used to the excellent microprism on my old Pentax SP500 - the image just snaps into focus. On my new F3/T, I found the split image and the surrounding microprism not as good. I ordered a regular microprism screen , but it was still not as good as I was used to. Finally, I got an H2 screen which is an all-microprism screen over the entire viewing area. That's extreme, but I enjoy it. My other F3/T has an R (grid) screen. Anyway, most people would probably like just the normal screen though.

Terry Breedlove · Aug 6, 2016

farmersteve said:
I started wearing glasses a couple of years ago and my older film cameras don't have diopter adjustments on them like the new ones and I have been struggling with focusing with my glasses on. I have mainly Canon gear but I keep hearing about the F3hp being so easy to focus with glasses. Is that really true?

Yes it is true and I own a couple Fe and F2 and other brands. My F3 hp is much easier for me anyway.

Old film camera vs new film camera

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