What is the best analog camera?

[flavio81]

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

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.

 

[Paul Howell]

One if the issues with hearing aid batteries is that some cameras have battery compartments that are air tight, I had to drill small holes in the covers of a my Mirandas EEs and Konica T3s to keep proper voltage when shooting all day long, Petri no issues.

 

[fstop]

Minolta XK ,XD-11, SRT 202
Nikon FA. FE-2 ,F-3
Leica R-5

 

[Charlie Hempstead]

The Minolta XE trumps the XD in my book - absolutely my favourite hands down.

 

[Les Sarile]

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, XD and X700 all fill the bill - they have autoexposure as well as full manual control and can usually be found in your price range. I have perfect working samples of these and the underrated Minolta lenses are particularly great values these days but I don't know what is available in your neck of the woods.

 

[flavio81]

The Minolta XE trumps the XD in my book - absolutely my favourite hands down.

I agree. XE is awesome. "sister" cameras are the Nikkormat EL and the Canon EF -- all of them have the vertical shutter, same era, autoexposure, and fantastic build quality.

 

[Chan Tran]

If the OP has Pentax K lenses to go with his P30 then I would suggest a Pentax KX or MX. The budget $200 Australian which is around $150 USD I think would buy a good working MX and easily the KX. I don't recommend the K1000 at all.

 

[Alan W]

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.

 

[mgb74]

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.

 

[Chan Tran]

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.

And that's fine. We wanted him to go that route any way.

 

[Les Sarile]

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.

folks may not know that there really are so many options now!

 

[Ko.Fe.]

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.

 

[flavio81]

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.

If i could get a half-decent F1n for USD $100, i would buy four. You are very lucky...

 

[onre]

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.

As an added bonus, the camera is capable of taking completely decent photographs.

 

[Alan W]

If i could get a half-decent F1n for USD $100, i would buy four. You are very lucky...

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.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

As an added bonus, the camera is capable of taking completely decent photographs.

Yes!

 

[flavio81]

Best analog camera is the one you are carrying the moment you need it the most.

Besides that,from the cameras i've owned or used, these are my favorites (SLR only), ranked:

1. Mamiya RB67
-- wonderful
2. Canon New F1
-- close to the perfect 35mm SLR
3. Nikon F2
-- same
4. Canon F1
-- best built of all this list
5. Canon EF, Nikkormat EL, Minolta XE
-- nice automatic machines with perfect build quality
6. Nikon F3 and FE, FE2, FG, Canon A1
-- really really nice auto machines however not as solid or reliable as the ones in #5
7. Canon FTb, Nikkormat FT2, Minolta SRT-303, Nikon F, Pentax Spotmatic
-- Really tough mechanical cameras. Nikon F should be higher, though.
8. Olympus OM-2 and OM-1, Minolta X-700/X-500, Canon EOS 650.
-- Easy to carry/use cameras, rated lower only by small details: ergonomics and reliability (OM), uglyness (X-), AF-operation (EOS)

Any of these is an excellent choice.

 

[onre]

4. Canon F1
-- best built of all this list

As someone who repairs cameras for living, I really can't say this is the case.

 

[flavio81]

As someone who repairs cameras for living, I really can't say this is the case.

Externally, at least.
Let me guess, is the shutter brake the problematic part on the F1?

Which is the one that is best built internally? I wouldn't be surprised if your answer is Nikon f2.

 

[onre]

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.

 

[flavio81]

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.

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.

 

[onre]

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.

 

[flavio81]

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.

Thanks for this information, i'll try to test 1/2000 soon on mine. I seldom use that speed, but it is nice to have. l

 

[4season]

To the OP: Maybe reconsider an electronic SLR? Occasionally one hears of cameras with endemic, age-related problems, but am guessing that you simply got unlucky with that particular P30. Last-generation plastic SLRs are not very fashionable right now, but that means that you can buy relatively new cameras for very little money, often much less than the cost of having an older mechanical SLR serviced. Many use lithium batteries such as the CR123, but rechargeable versions of these can be had at modest prices, making these late-model cameras very inexpensive to operate too.

I also like the Smena 8M suggestion

 

[Ces1um]

Hi
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

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_K1000