What is the best analog camera?

[Leigh B]

...the microprocessor(s) are controlling only the duration of the exposure and the aperture.
The processors aren't doing anything to the latent film image at any lower granularity - certainly not at the equivalent level of a pixel.

Of course they're not manipulating pixels, because pixels don't exist on film.
But they are adjusting the exposure based on what they think is significant.
They've been doing this for years, as explained in the instruction manuals for the cameras.

The F5 and F6 have the appearance and handling of a digital camera, but they are film cameras - there is no digital (algorithmic) manipulation or interpretation of individual image elements.

RTFM

- Leigh

 

[flavio81]

Suggesting that today's micro control systems are the same as those of 40 years ago indicates you have absolutely no clue what the micro does nor how it's used in a modern camera.

The algorithms and sensors in common use today had not been invented 40 years ago, nor had processors with sufficient power to implement them.

- Leigh

Switch meteríng mode to "spot" or "center weigted", be happy and stop complaining. And by the way, i do know what a microcontroller does; i have also programmed some of them btw.

 

[Les Sarile]

No problem. I also appreciate gold contacts in electronic circuits.

One of many desirable properties of gold.

 

[Luckless]

Most of us will disagree. One camera, one lens, one film, one developer, one stop bath, one fixer, a good book and a friend. One step at a time. The C330 may be too much camera to start from. Find a simpler camera in the beginning.

I'm rather curious as to what "Lesser camera" you would suggest as something to start learning on. The The Mamiya C330 is a fully manual camera, a sealed box with a crank to advance the film, a few interlocks to make sure things turn in the correct order, a rack and pinion focus, and levers to make it easier to trip and re-cock the leaf shutter. The only 'complex' controls on it would be the lens selector knob, single/multi exposure switch, and maybe the flash-bulb sync switch (Assuming it hasn't already been glued into the electronic position or bypassed completely.)

Maybe I should toss the wonderful piece of technology that the C330 is in the trash and get something with TTL metering that will automatically adjust aperture or shutter speed for me as I settle in on what my exposure should be so that I never again forget what settings I've dialled in on the front of my camera?

 

[flavio81]

I agree with Luckless, the C330 is a rather simple camera. Except maybe for lens changing, which requires a small series of steps.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I owned a C330 with three lenses. While the camera is quite capable, I found that even after selling cameras for years, decades of camera usage, I found that for me the camera was too fiddly. One has to turn the camera side to side when changing the shutter speed and the aperture for one thing. The most annoying "feature" was that two lenses would automatically cock when the film advanced but the 250mm lens had to be cocked manually. I missed photo opportunities because I had just switched the lenses and would have to stop an think "Is this the one that needs to be cocked or is it automatically cocked". There were other issues well documented in photography magazines.

The camera is quite capable and has some great features, but it is not for me and it is not for someone just starting out. You have the camera and you should keep it and use it. The only caveat is remember the fiddliness and stick to one lens while learning about film photography. Using the other lenses should come later. By the way, anyone starting out should only use one lens until they have learned the ropes well enough to handle changing lenses on any camera.

 

[MattKing]

It is hard for me to say whether my C330 would be good for someone starting out, because when I purchased it new in the 1970s, I was already familiar with and experienced with using a number of different cameras - in other words it is hard for me to look at it with a "newby's" eyes..
However, I've always found it a lot less "fiddly" than Sirius' beloved Hasselblads. I had them side by side to compare, because I was selling both of them at the same time.
I used my C330 for years shooting wedding photos (among many other things). The controls come immediately to hand and using it is easy and instinctual. It happens to be particularly easy to use if you are left handed, which I assure you isn't common, but my right handed friends can use it easily too.
I say this not because I think Sirius is wrong in his preferences, but rather to point out that personal preferences are really important when it comes to "getting on" with a camera.
And that is something that is an important part of the answer to the original question in this thread. The absolutely best camera in the world isn't a good choice, if it is awkward for you to use.
The only reason I might recommend against the C330 or any other 120 camera for someone starting with film is that 35mm cameras and film tend to be much easier to find and use and 35mm film tends to be easier to get lab processed.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Yes, Mamiya Cxxx have features that are setup for left handed people, two focusing knobs. I am left handed, but I still never fell in love with the Cxxx family, even with a Porroflex prism.

 

[MattKing]

even with a Porroflex prism

Was it a "Porrofinder" or the prism finder?
The Porrofinder uses a mirror rather than a prism, is larger and relatively light and gives a latterly (left-right) reversed image.
The prism finder is smaller, quite heavy, and gives a latterly correct image.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

Of course they're not manipulating pixels, because pixels don't exist on film.
But they are adjusting the exposure based on what they think is significant.

Adjusting exposure, by microprocessors or other circuitry doesn't make a camera a digital camera.

You asserted that the F6 is not a film camera, but a digital camera:

the F6 is not a film camera.

It's a digital camera with a film transport in place of the LCD display.

You're just playing word games. It's digital in the sense that microprocessors are used to control exposure, but to the rest of the world "digital camera" means the image is recorded by an electronic sensor.

If a camera records an image on film, it's a film camera.

 

[Leigh B]

If a camera records an image on film, it's a film camera.

If a microprocessor adjusts the exposure of that image, it's a digital camera.

- Leigh

 

[Theo Sulphate]

If a microprocessor adjusts the exposure of that image, it's a digital camera.

- Leigh

I do understand your point.

However, people are going to use 'digital' to refer to cameras with an electronic sensor to record the image and they are going to use 'analog' to refer to cameras that use film to record the image.

Yes, I do realize the electronic sensor on something like a D800 has analog voltages and charges that are read by A/D converters.

 

[Leigh B]

I do understand your point. However, people are going to use 'digital' to refer to cameras with an electronic sensor to record the image and 'analog' to refer to cameras that use film to record the image.

Unfortunately, that's true.

Fortunately, we're not dependent on the accuracy of consumer terminology to provide our food and drink, else we would starve.

-----

To my mind it's entirely a question of exposure control, since exposure + framing define "photography".

If a camera CPU changes the exposure from what you would expect, regardless of the reason, it's digital.
That's because the camera is being controlled by the CPU, not by the shooter.

- Leigh

 

[fstop]

holy cow batman, my daily driver must be a F-1 race car by that twisted logic.You can argue semantics all day long, you will still be wrong.There are 2 types of cameras, film and digital.

 

[Sirius Glass]

Was it a "Porrofinder" or the prism finder?
The Porrofinder uses a mirror rather than a prism, is larger and relatively light and gives a latterly (left-right) reversed image.
The prism finder is smaller, quite heavy, and gives a latterly correct image.

Mit de prism and a light meter. It changed the balance of the camera due to the weight1 but it got rid of the left-right reversal which I never got use to with any reflex camera without a prism.



1 Just like the prism changes the balance of the Hasselblad, that does not bother me.

 

[Leigh B]

There are 2 types of cameras, film and digital.

There ae two types of shooters... those who understand how cameras work and those who don't.

- Leigh

 

[Sirius Glass]

There ae two types of shooters... those who understand how cameras work and those who don't.

- Leigh

​

 

[fstop]

There ae two types of shooters... those who understand how cameras work and those who don't.

- Leigh

Obviously you are one of the later.If I use a electronic pocket calculator to formulate the exposure I'm sure you would say that its digital,if I use my fingers to adjust a Nikon F does that make it digital? lets face it you got a burr under your saddle about electronic camera controls, that is your problem.

 

[Leigh B]

Obviously you are one of the later.

Pehaps you meant "one of the latter".

If you're going to insult somebody, at least spell it right.

And I understand the operation of computerized control systems far better than you ever will.

- Leigh

 

[fstop]

You program plc's in hex do you? If you did you wouldn't have a problem with them.

 

[Leigh B]

I've programmed many megs of s/w in hex, although I don't like to do it because it's slow and tedious.

- Leigh

 

[Sirius Glass]

Someone got their panties twisted, ya think?

 

[faberryman]

Some people just make up definitions. It makes "proving" your point easier.

 

[Leigh B]

Some people just make up definitions. It makes "proving" your point easier.

And some people ignore definitions, because it makes proving their point easier.

- Leigh

 

[fstop]

SG,she has her panties in a twist for sure, newbies read this stuff and its misleading. Do you put film in a Nikon F-6? if so then its a film camera.

It was electronics that brought attention 35mm SLRs ,without it they would have floundered long ago.