What is the best analog camera?

[Leigh B]

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

30 years ago I was repairing Nikons for all the hundreds of press photographers in Washington, DC, and lots of other pros.

I doubt you could find a single pro shooter from that era who would agree, since they all used manual F2 and F3 cameras.
Computerized modification of exposure parameters didn't exist back then.
Likely all the shooters in the 100 years before that would also agree.

- Leigh

 

[Chan Tran]

The F3 does have some digital circuitry in it.

 

[flavio81]

I've programmed many megs of s/w in hex

Megabytes of code in hexadecimal. Yeah, right. You type very fast, of course.

Too much pointless, baseless claims for the day, i think.

 

[flavio81]

The F3 does have some digital circuitry in it.

Fully digital. The F3 is microprocessor controlled. As is its contemporary, the Canon New F-1.

 

[Sirius Glass]

For all the cameras which I use for important and serious work they are:

• 120 or 4"x5"
• all mechanical, no electronics, no batteries, no problems if repairs are needed because they are all mechanical

I do not have to worry about hard to find batteries or discontinued electronic boards.

 

[Alan W]

Highly entertaining bickering,for some.Worthless to the poor bloke with the original query.

 

[Les Sarile]

Fully digital. The F3 is microprocessor controlled. As is its contemporary, the Canon New F-1.

Given the limited functionalities of these two - with no schematics and era of CPU development, I am guessing these didn't incorporate a microprocessor, RAM & ROM. Maybe comparators, logic devices - hybrid technology. Does anyone have schematics?

 

[Les Sarile]

Megabytes of code in hexadecimal. Yeah, right. You type very fast, of course.

I designed and was about to wirewrap my first computer in the 70s. When I wrote to Motorola they had a development kit just like I drew up and they sent it to me free since I was a student then. I did assembly code then but don't think I came close to megabytes especially since the 8bit memory space was limited to 64k without resorting to banked memory . . .

 

[Leigh B]

Megabytes of code in hexadecimal. Yeah, right. You type very fast, of course.

Yes, I do type very fast.

And much of the many megabytes of code that I produced was examined and edited in hex, but not generated that way initially.

Model 29 card punches are not efficient generators of hexadecimal.

- Leigh

 

[j1orbit]

Yeah they aren't nearly as efficient as a Fortran compiler when it comes to generating "many megs of s/w in hex".

Don't say you have programmed "many megabytes of hex" unless you have actually sat at the panel with the toggle switches and done it. Megabytes at a time.

Sooner or later, you're bound to meet up with someone who knows you're blowing complete and utter meaningless nonsense words out of your own fundament --- which is what has just happened to you here, FYI.

Incidentally, that same knowledge also makes me immediately skeptical of your arbitrary and really quite ridiculous definition of a "film camera" vs. a "digital camera."

Yes, I do type very fast.

And much of the many megabytes of code that I produced was examined and edited in hex, but not generated that way initially.

Model 29 card punches are not efficient generators of hexadecimal.

- Leigh

 

[Leigh B]

Incidentally, that same knowledge also makes me immediately skeptical of your arbitrary and really quite ridiculous definition of a "film camera" vs. a "digital camera."

Excuse me, but you've obviously mistaken me for someone who cares about your opinion.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

- Leigh '

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Yeah they aren't nearly as efficient as a Fortran compiler when it comes to generating "many megs of s/w in hex".

Don't say you have programmed "many megabytes of hex" unless you have actually sat at the panel with the toggle switches and done it. Megabytes at a time.

Sooner or later, you're bound to meet up with someone who knows you're blowing complete and utter meaningless nonsense words out of your own fundament --- which is what has just happened to you here, FYI.

Incidentally, that same knowledge also makes me immediately skeptical of your arbitrary and really quite ridiculous definition of a "film camera" vs. a "digital camera."

Oh really? For a new chum to APUG, you're making a lot of noise. How about introducing yourself to the gathered masses first, rather than barge through like the proverbial bull in a china shop, summarily passing judgement on established members?

 

[Eric Rose]

The OP said "I would really like to get into film photography and am wondering what is the best camera to buy?" Many of the proceeding comments have just been an excuse for the usual suspects to rant on about their favourite gripes.

So getting back to the OP's question. My suggestion would be a camera similar to the the K1000, Spotmatic or even a Minolta SRT100 or 101 or a Canon fTB. I would also suggest not using the built in meters and buy yourself a simple hand held light meter.

If you need quick feedback use colour negative film and get it processed locally. Once you have the basics of exposure and composition down then you can get into developing your own B&W film.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

And my suggestion?
Get a pinhole camera!
Learn to meter independently of mechanics and electronics. Learn to see with the camera, and not through it. Then move up to more advanced offerings once your understanding of film and exposure pans out. Don't make the mistake that an electronic camera will have all the answers for you all the time: it won't. The answers are more often between your ears.

 

[Leigh B]

Don't make the mistake that an electronic camera will have all the answers for you all the time: it won't. The answers are more often between your ears.

Yeah, what he said ^ ^ ^

- Leigh

 

[flavio81]

Thanks j1orbit, you said it better than me.

Oh really? For a new chum to APUG, you're making a lot of noise. How about introducing yourself to the gathered masses first, rather than barge through like the proverbial bull in a china shop, summarily passing judgement on established members?

Said "established member" is beyond my threshold of tolerance for annoying baseless drivel, and has earned my use of the "ignore" button. In fact, i apologize to everyone here: I should have ignored him earlier instead of replying.

As for the OP, he did not deserve long, very misleading rants on why the Nikon F6 is a "digital camera".

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Flavio, that's all very well. But the F6, for what it's worth, is not the camera for somebody just getting back into film. Not at all.

And now, I would still like j1orbit to step forth with an introduction rather than engage in personal attacks.
I have noticed something most interesting...

In the meantime, we could swing the thread back on topic to give a few more useful answers than classroom lectures in programming?

And—
Be nice to Australians!

 

[Leigh B]

Thanks j1orbit, you said it better than me.
Said "established member" ... has earned my use of the "ignore" button.

How could he say it better than you when he IS you?
Your attempt to hide behind a phony new username has failed.

And thank you for ignoring me. Presumably that will diminish your nonsense posts in the future.

- Leigh

 

[flavio81]

In the meantime, we could swing the thread back on topic to give a few more useful answers than classroom lectures in programming?

And—
Be nice to Australians!

LOL

Allright then. I think most of the suggestions here are just fine. Let me add my 50 cents to the camera suggestions: A camera with the EV system - the ones which link the shutter speeds with the aperture so all the combinations that give the same exposure are visible.

For example (inexpensive) a voigtlander vitoret DR or Vito BL. Such cameras make easy to understand the concept of shutter speed+f/stop combinations that are equivalent, and are easy to use.

A deluxe example would be a Kodak Retina.

Another of such a camera is the Rolleicord, which I find easy to use for a beginner. But not so inexpensive.

Other than that, i think the presence of a good, easy to understand meter is a good plus for the beginner. In this sense i'd give extra points to the Canon FT and FTb; they have "partial" meters that are easy to understand and use. Much better than any camera meter, of course, and of particular benefit to the beginner, would be a handheld meter capable of incident meteríng.

 

[Leigh B]

Much better than any camera meter, of course, and of particular benefit to the beginner, would be a handheld meter capable of incident meteríng.

It seems we do agree on something.

I'm particularly fond of the Sekonic multi-function meters. Their L-558 is always in my kit (with a good battery).

- Leigh

 

[Soeren]

Id say Nikon F100 or F6 are the best analog cameras. Sturdy well built camera bodies, big bright finders and a huge selection of lenses from nikor Ai to afs-g + third party manufacturers like sigma, tamron and zeiss(ahem cosina).

 

[Les Sarile]

Id say Nikon F100 or F6 are the best analog cameras. Sturdy well built camera bodies, big bright finders . . .

You may not know this if you have always used Nikons, but their viewfinders have always been much less than lifesize in magnification since the introduction of the F. This is best for people that wear glasses. Of course with the advent of autofocus, VF's are not relied upon for critical focusing and therefore don't need to be bigger.

 

[Soeren]

I found it a big step up when i moved from olympus om 1 and 2n (having had an om2sp) to f90x. I find My f100 easier to focus manually than my f3, on parr with the mamiya645pro and a bit easier than the RZ67PROII. A MF camera like mamiya or bronica e.g. Etr could be a candidate too.

 

[elcabezagrande]

This. This is best analog camera.

 

[darkosaric]

This. This is best analog camera.

Well, 100% you can get some very nice street photos with this camera ! Nobody will give you a bad expression when using that camera!