Or, easier, fit a #675 hearing aid cell, which is really cheap and gives the exact, stable voltage. It requires you to figure out how to make it stay in place, but this is easy on most cameras.
The other issue with older mechanical cameras with meters is that the meter often depends upon mercury oxide battery with its constant 1.35v output. So you need to either use Wein air cell batteries, or use some type of adapter to convert the 1.5v silver oxide down to the needed 1.35v
Id probably prefer either fully manual or mechanical with auto exposure. I'm very new at this so having a bit of help from an exposure reader would be helpful.
The Minolta XE trumps the XD in my book - absolutely my favourite hands down.
And that's fine. We wanted him to go that route any way.After reading all this, I'm sure the OP a) is sorry he ever asked and b) decided to buy a little digital P&S.
After reading all this, I'm sure the OP a) is sorry he ever asked and b) decided to buy a little digital P&S.
There are thousands of options out there,this is my recommendation-a Canon F1n.Second version of the F1(With the box top holder on the rear door).That and a 50mm 1.8 lens can be had for less than $100.Canon FD lenses and bodies are cheap and plentiful.
As an added bonus, the camera is capable of taking completely decent photographs.Smena-8M. It will survive bumpy postal service. It is all manual. Focus needs to be set manually, shutter is independent from film advance. Both are manual. Yet, it is full auto, if you follow symbols on the lens barrel, once ISO is manually set.
And you could have about five of them for 100 of Australian Dollars.
Those cameras were made in millions, for millions who were like you, getting first film camera.
I stopped at 3!One of them I got for $45 and it had an old 6 blade 50mm 1.8,all in perfect working condition.If i could get a half-decent F1n for USD $100, i would buy four. You are very lucky...
As someone who repairs cameras for living, I really can't say this is the case.4. Canon F1
-- best built of all this list
Externally, at least.As someone who repairs cameras for living, I really can't say this is the case.
Shutter curtain brake isn't that bad to adjust if you use a drum tester, as the bounce becomes visible. Nikon F2 has a brake for the same purpose too, likewise easy to adjust with a drum tester. The problem with F-1 is that they seem to just wear out to a point where everything is just, well, worn out. Same doesn't seem to happen to F2 nearly as often. This, of course, is just what I've observed from the bodies I've seen.
Regarding patching, people can be surprisingly inventive when faced with such a problem! I've seen an old focal-plane shutter Hasselblad that had a piece of some elastic substance used to patch a curtain - it resembled bubblegum, but apparently wasn't. Didn't taste it, though.Thanks for your thorough reply. However the most worn down (and still working) camera that i've seen was a F1. Mostly brassed, curtains kinked like aluminium wrap AND PATCHED (i have no idea how this curtain can be patched), and the camera still worked. However i doubt that any speed over 125 was correct or even.
I have never seen a non-working F2, though.
Regarding patching, people can be surprisingly inventive when faced with such a problem! I've seen an old focal-plane shutter Hasselblad that had a piece of some elastic substance used to patch a curtain - it resembled bubblegum, but apparently wasn't. Didn't taste it, though.
I've never seen F-1 gone to a point where it couldn't be cocked or shot, but the faster speed accuracy is often a problem. Apparently the release mechanism wears out so that it's hard to get both 1/1000 and 1/2000 to be within acceptable limits. This is much easier with F2.
A lot of the technical colleges used to teach photography students using pentax k1000s because they were relatively inexpensive, really helped people get a grip on how a camera functions and how f stops and shutter speeds affect the final photograph. They were a great "teaching" camera. It's all mechanical and functions without a battery, but does use a simple button battery to run it's light meter (which is amazingly easy to use if you want to use one). You can easily find a pentax k1000 here in Canada for usually around 50-100 dollars cdn on kijiji. That frees up a few bucks for an additional lens. I believe out currencies are at relatively even value so you could expect to spend similar amounts. Parts are still plentiful for this camera so any repairs you may need can be done, and usually for reasonable amounts of money. Check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentax_K1000Hi
I would really like to get into film photography and am wondering what is the best camera to buy? A friend gifted me their Pentax p30 but it didn't survive the journey in the post. It had an electric shutter which the camera repair man explained often cause problems. So I would like to buy a fully mechanical operating one.
Ideally I wouldn't like to spend more than $200 Australian dollars.
Your thoughts are much appreciated!
Kit
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