Plastic SLRs

[blockend]

Welp, prior to owning my N80, I'd never heard of the CR123. So I take a trip down to my local Walgreens to buy a couple -- and guess how much they wanted for them? Over $12 each! I went back home and googled the number and found a seller on the internet where I was able to buy a 4-pack for about 4 bucks. That's more like it! So, anyway, that's why they're oddball to me.

The F601s I used to own took a twin cell that cost £15 in the big photo chain stores in 1990! Shooting flash you could get through one battery in two rolls of film - that's more expensive than shooting chromes!

Batteries are much cheaper on the internet now, mine go past their user date before I get time to use them mostly.

 

[darkosaric]

F601s I used to own took a twin cell that cost £15

That is why I like F801(s) .

 

[4season]

Working slowly and meticulously, it still only took me a couple of hours to assemble this:

Mirror box including shutter and flash synchronization terminal are preassembled, and it goes together quickly as a result. No painting or cementing required. There's no mention of lubrication, but I found that a bit of dry graphite burnished onto the focusing helicoid and film transport seemed to help a lot.

 

[cuthbert]

Working slowly and meticulously, it still only took me a couple of hours to assemble this:

Mirror box including shutter and flash synchronization terminal are preassembled, and it goes together quickly as a result. No painting or cementing required. There's no mention of lubrication, but I found that a bit of dry graphite burnished onto the focusing helicoid and film transport seemed to help a lot.

I like it...price?

 

[AgX]

Well, prior to owning my N80, I'd never heard of the CR123..Over $12 each!.

CR123A and CR2 are the most common batteries found in the latest AF-compacts.

Your price is madness. That is nearly the price of a 10x-pack.
Sometimes it can be economic to buy a camera just for its battery.

 

[TheToadMen]

Just wanted to let you all know I'm trying to revive the "Toy Camera Print Exchange".

So, for those of you needing a purpose to use their real plastic cameras, see: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[summicron1]

I like it...price?

$40 or so.

 

[cooltouch]

CR123A and CR2 are the most common batteries found in the latest AF-compacts.

Your price is madness. That is nearly the price of a 10x-pack.

Wasn't my price -- it was Walgreen's -- but I'll agree it was madness. No way was I gonna spend $24 for batteries. As I mentioned, though, a quick google search led me to a site that specialized in the CR123s and I was able to order a 4-pack for cheap with cheap shipping. So it all worked out. Kinda academic and all now though since I'm using the MB16 with the camera -- AA batteries now. I prefer the MB16 because of the increased depth, which gives my right hand better purchase, plus I actually don't mind the increased weight -- mostly because the camera is so darned light to begin with.

 

[benjiboy]

I have two Canon plastic cameras, An A1, and a T90, I have had them more than 25 years and both have been trouble free and both still work perfectly.

 

[farmersteve]

I have two Canon plastic cameras, An A1, and a T90, I have had them more than 25 years and both have been trouble free and both still work perfectly.

I have an A-1 and that thing is mostly made out of brass. The T-90 is also a lot of metal. The AE-1 had more plastic in the construction but compared to the cameras that came after (I have a Rebel 2000) the FD lens cameras had a lot of metal in them.

 

[AgX]

I have two Canon plastic cameras, An A1, and a T90, I have had them more than 25 years and both have been trouble free and both still work perfectly.

I would not call either a plastic camera. The A-series cameras got a cast-metal carcas. The T90 still got a metall mirrorbox and for the rest does not "feel plastic" at all.

 

[cooltouch]

I would not call either a plastic camera. The A-series cameras got a cast-metal carcas. The T90 still got a metall mirrorbox and for the rest does not "feel plastic" at all.

This is certainly true of the A-series carcass. Some think the top covers are brass, but not all are. I don't know specifically about the other A-series Canons, but I can state definitely that the A-1's top cover is actually metal-clad plastic, which is then painted a durable black enamel. The metal cladding looks like copper to me, and not brass. I have owned a couple of A-1s where the "brassing" had actually worn through the metal skin to the thicker plastic substrate below.

 

[benjiboy]

I would not call either a plastic camera. The A-series cameras got a cast-metal carcas. The T90 still got a metall mirrorbox and for the rest does not "feel plastic" at all.

I like my A1 and T90 but the bodies are plastic, I have often thought if the T90 was all metal like my F1's it would weigh a ton.

 

[cooltouch]

I like my A1 and T90 but the bodies are plastic, I have often thought if the T90 was all metal like my F1's it would weigh a ton.

As Agx correctly stated, the A-series bodies are not plastic, but metal. The top covers are metal-clad plastic (at least on the A-1, this is true).

I own a T90 and, while its body is made of some sort of plastic, it's that super tough stuff that resists abuse better than most metals. And, as Agx stated, its mirror box is metal, as is most likely much of its innards, like the film chamber, for example. I suspect that, if it were made out of all metal, that it would still weigh less than an F-1 with motor drive attached (gotta include the motor drive, since the T90's is built in).

 

[AgX]

By the way, metalized plastic top caps are an invention of Pentacon.
To the amazing of their japanese competitors, who were fooled by them too.

 

[Cholentpot]

I'm slinging around T50 with an FD 1.8 it looks and sounds like 1984. No controls, just put the lens into A and shoot. I have a roll of UltrafineExtreem 400 in there pushing to 1600. I'll see what the camera does with it...

 

[cooltouch]

I'm slinging around T50 with an FD 1.8 it looks and sounds like 1984. No controls, just put the lens into A and shoot. I have a roll of UltrafineExtreem 400 in there pushing to 1600. I'll see what the camera does with it...

I did a lot of freelancing as a motorsports photographer back in the 1980s. I remember running into another freelancer at a drag race and this guy was a hoot. Definitely struck me as the type who was used to living off the land, so to speak. He was a Canon shooter, which made him rather unique right there, since most pros shot Nikon back then. But I remember that he was covering that drag race with a T50 and a nFD 200mm f/4. And here I was dragging around a big bag of Canon F-1s with motor drives and a bunch of lenses, and this guy's out there shooting away with a T50! It kind of made me rethink things, and I haven't belittled that camera as much ever since. This guy also showed me a cover page of some motorcycling magazine he had stuffed in his backpack that he shot with a QL-17 GIII, which was when I first became interested in that little gem.

 

[Cholentpot]

I did a lot of freelancing as a motorsports photographer back in the 1980s. I remember running into another freelancer at a drag race and this guy was a hoot. Definitely struck me as the type who was used to living off the land, so to speak. He was a Canon shooter, which made him rather unique right there, since most pros shot Nikon back then. But I remember that he was covering that drag race with a T50 and a nFD 200mm f/4. And here I was dragging around a big bag of Canon F-1s with motor drives and a bunch of lenses, and this guy's out there shooting away with a T50! It kind of made me rethink things, and I haven't belittled that camera as much ever since. This guy also showed me a cover page of some motorcycling magazine he had stuffed in his backpack that he shot with a QL-17 GIII, which was when I first became interested in that little gem.

I find the T50 to be refreshing, leave it up to the camera and focus on the...focus. I love the screech of the film advance. I also bang around with a QL, the electronics are shot so I shoot commando. Fun camera, my first rangefinder.

 

[blockend]

I find the T50 to be refreshing, leave it up to the camera and focus on the...focus. I love the screech of the film advance. I also bang around with a QL, the electronics are shot so I shoot commando. Fun camera, my first rangefinder.

The shutter is borked on my T50, but I share your liking for simple point and shoot SLRs. The Canon AV-1 and Pentax MV do something similar, but the pared down SLR reached its apogee (or nadir depending on your perspective) with the Konica FP-1. Although it took standard Konica lenses, they only functioned at f2.8, f5.6 or f11.
Since the spring I've shot with a Nikon F60 almost exclusively however, amounting to more than 40 rolls of film, probably a lot more. It never missed a beat. Having had five cameras die on me in the last year (2 SLRs and 3 compacts) I've become choosy about which one to pick for important occasions, but the F60 just keeps going.

Also recently picked up a Canon 5000 as back up the 3000n.

 

[Cholentpot]

The shutter is borked on my T50, but I share your liking for simple point and shoot SLRs. The Canon AV-1 and Pentax MV do something similar, but the pared down SLR reached its apogee (or nadir depending on your perspective) with the Konica FP-1. Although it took standard Konica lenses, they only functioned at f2.8, f5.6 or f11.
Since the spring I've shot with a Nikon F60 almost exclusively however, amounting to more than 40 rolls of film, probably a lot more. It never missed a beat. Having had five cameras die on me in the last year (2 SLRs and 3 compacts) I've become choosy about which one to pick for important occasions, but the F60 just keeps going.

Also recently picked up a Canon 5000 as back up the 3000n.

I would use my Canon 500n more often but man, that battery is expensive. I'd rather drink that battery up in my A2. My Promaster 2500PK Superduper went on me a few weeks back, I brought it back with some silver foil and tape though.

 

[unityofsaints]

I have Nikon F5005 and used it as my primary camera for a while but couldn't get over the high-pitched film advance sound. Now I have an FM2 and couldn't be happier.

I still keep the 20€ 5005 around as a backup but realistically the FM2 will never beak down so it will just gather dust

 

[Helios 1984]

I have an EF 50mm 1.8 bitting the dust since I sold my Rebel XT, I was thinking about buying an old film EOS instead of selling the lens for a few bucks. Any suggestions?

 

[MattKing]

I'd recommend a Canon EOS Elan 7N/EOS 33V.
Modern AF, fully featured, fairly compact and light.
Of course, I happen to have an extra one ....

 

[sabredog]

Was gifted a Nikon F55 35mm SLR with Nikkor 28-80mm 1:3.3 - 5.6 lens on the weekend by a good friend. A lovely surprise.

The rubber/vinyl grip had gone sticky with the residue cameras from the 1990's and 2000's seem to get as the rubber coating breaks down. A bit of work with some isopropyl alcohol and the residue was gone. So I am not sure when I will get a roll through this camera and have no idea how good they are either as I am an Canon SLR user.

 

[Down Under]

Am I the only one left using the Nikon F65? I like them enough that I now have two of them. Bought my first one with the crappy 28-80 lens in, as I recall, 2006, with the MB17 motor drive, for a whopping A$100 (I know, I know, but hey, this is Australia, land of nothing cheap!). Six years later I snagged a second with data back and the same 28-80 on Ebay for A$50. The zooms were traded off a few years ago, oddly for more than I paid for the cameras, as part of an expensive MF purchase deal.

For me the F65 was rather a long learning curve, but I now use one with a 28mm D and the other with a 20mm D, both with B&W film, usually TMax 100 or 400, both superb films. My backup cameras. Both have never ever let me down tho one tends to flash an ERR message whenever I switch lenses and I have to unlock and lock the lens two or three times to get it functioning again.One of these days it may give up the ghost - and I'll go back to Ebay to look for another body.

I agree with those who said these plastic numbers are the hidden bargains of our time - the late Galen Rowell thought highly enough of the F65 to take one with him on his mountain climbing expeditions, which to me, says a lot. I'm now past the point of climbing mountains and even steep hills, but for street shooting, an F65 and a 28 is hard to beat.

Get them now while they are at their cheapest. Young photographers are rediscovering them, and the good deals won't last...