Which film cameras can you buy brand new?

[macfred]

There are much more desirable analogue/film cameras than I ever could afford ...

 

[blockend]

There are undoubtedly some cult film cameras that would sell, at least in limited additions. However that would mean diverting production, retraining workers and most importantly, making and carrying spares and offering repairs for an unspecified time, probably not less than five and perhaps as much as ten years.

There may come a point where the secondhand values of some cameras make manufacturers sit up and take notice, but they're busy trying to survive in a rapidly contracting digital market currently.

 

[Chan Tran]

There's no money to be made here.

Yup and people who are asking for them don't realize how much they would cost. In fact it's hard for Nikon to gear up and make the F3 for any less than the F6.

 

[Sirius Glass]

None that I can think of. If I were to find something really hot I would buy it new, but it is unlikely.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Leica is making as selling new film cameras. Also I just received today NiB Bessa R2M, special old stock deal. But they are publicly available at least in two on-line stores in USA and at one in Canada. Free shipping within USA or Canada, BTW.

 

[benjiboy]

I think anyone buying a brand new 35mm or medium format film camera in today's market when they are available for what is virtually pocket money, would have to be stupid.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

I think anyone buying a brand new 35mm or medium format film camera in today's market when they are available for what is virtually pocket money, would have to be stupid.

I checked my pockets. Four dollars and change. Canadian, not American dollars or Brits pounds. You must be rich capitalist for whom pocket money is something calculated in hundreds of
Guineas or been of welfare and buying junk in thrift store. I think, but maybe I'm just stupid. I purchased new film camera this week. For the price of used one ...

 

[anfenglin]

I bought my Holga 120N new.

 

[Born2Late]

The only one I know of is a Nikon F6. Some still on dealers shelves.

Yes, the F6 is still available. My understanding is that Nikon is building batches as demand dictates. I just purchased one about a month ago. My dealer couldn't get one at the time because their distributor was out, but I was able to get one from Adorama and I believe that B&H just got a shipment as well.

 

[Craig]

I think the Nikon FM10 is still being made too.

 

[John Koehrer]

Pinhole cameras from several makers from 35mm to at least 8X10.

 

[lantau]

That would be easy, but not cheap. It would be a lot cheaper to just replace the few bad parts on existing boards. Most modern electronic components have life spans in the hundreds of years if taken proper care of. The exceptions are potentiometers, switches, motors, or anything else with moving parts. Also, electrolytic capacitors and battery compartments tend to fail either due to fluid leakage or fluid drying out. Building whole new boards on a non-industrial scale would be very time consuming and expensive. So there's little motivation to make a whole bunch of drop-in replacements.

I've repaired hundreds, if not thousands of electronic boards in my life (many inside cameras). The stuff made around the turn of the last century (late '90's early 2000's) can be more difficult to work with due to their use of SMD parts. But even those aren't too bad if you have the proper tools, patience, know how, some steady hands, and a schematic. Most electronic components used in cameras can easily be replaced for pennies. Even the extinct components will most likely have a modern day equivalent that's readily available on the internet (Though some will have proprietary IC's that can't be sourced except from the OEM. But IC's rarely ever go bad unless there was a catastrophic failure elsewhere in the circuit). The boards themselves can be remade on the cheap (you literally expose and develop them like a photograph).

The only thing that keeps people from routinely repairing these old boards is they take a fair bit of knowledge to understand, and most people who know enough about them to work on them, don't want to waste their time working on them. There's not much money in camera repair, so there's not much incentive for an electrical engineer to go into that field when they can make multiples more money working for a large company. And most non electrical engineers don't want to invest the years it takes to learn this stuff. So you have the people with the knowledge but no motivation, and the people with the motivation and no knowledge.

I think it is important what you wrote. That opinion that fully mechanic cameras are more reliable than ones with electronics is more urban myth than true. Electronics are quite robust, especially the older ones up the middle of the 90s. As you said, electromechanical stuff can break like anything mechanical, and the electrolytic capacitors have a limited life time but can easily be replaced. They will be available just like screws will be available. I grew up with those electronics around me and I could never see a reason why they would ever stop working.

Now some modern high performance integrated circuits might have a more limited life time. The current densities in those tiny structures are enormous and there is quite some heat stress. I'd make a guess that modern digicams electronics life time depends on the hours they have been operating. Switch it off and it is like frozen film, but not affected (nearly as much) by natural high energy rays.

If the electronics of the long existing film cameras have been designed without bugs that cause otherwise stable components to be fried I don't see why they won't last.

For example my Minolta X700. The known weak spot are the capacitors. If they break, they will simply be replaced and that's it. Mine had a mechanical failure in the shutter. I believe the curtain got stuck somewhere and a shop fixed it for me. No problems with the circuitry so far. And if it happens it will be fixed just like my mechanical issue.

My XD11 has custom made ICs inside. I doubt there will be any spares. But why would they break? By todays standards they are primitive, closer to a PCB than a chip. Compared to the microchips in a digicam the structures in those Minolta chips are like a transcontinental oilpipeline vs a human hair.

So worry not about any film cameras that have proven to be stable. Those with design flaws will be known by now.

 

[ic-racer]

This is my running list of film cameras that can be purchased new in the USA (excluding kickstarter, cine, toy, instant and pinhole)
Alpa
Chamonix
Shen-Hao
Linhof
Toyo
Wista
Silvestri
Arca-Swiss
Cambo
Horseman
Leica
Nikon
Voigtlander Bessa
Rolleiflex Hy6
Interpid
K. B. Canham
SVEDOVSKY
Walker
Gibellini GP810

 

[film_man]

...maybe in a few years when 3D scanning and printing tech advances sufficiently we'll be able to 3D print any mechanical camera we want...

 

[Sirius Glass]

I think it is important what you wrote. That opinion that fully mechanic cameras are more reliable than ones with electronics is more urban myth than true. Electronics are quite robust, especially the older ones up the middle of the 90s. As you said, electromechanical stuff can break like anything mechanical, and the electrolytic capacitors have a limited life time but can easily be replaced. They will be available just like screws will be available. I grew up with those electronics around me and I could never see a reason why they would ever stop working.

Now some modern high performance integrated circuits might have a more limited life time. The current densities in those tiny structures are enormous and there is quite some heat stress. I'd make a guess that modern digicams electronics life time depends on the hours they have been operating. Switch it off and it is like frozen film, but not affected (nearly as much) by natural high energy rays.

If the electronics of the long existing film cameras have been designed without bugs that cause otherwise stable components to be fried I don't see why they won't last.

For example my Minolta X700. The known weak spot are the capacitors. If they break, they will simply be replaced and that's it. Mine had a mechanical failure in the shutter. I believe the curtain got stuck somewhere and a shop fixed it for me. No problems with the circuitry so far. And if it happens it will be fixed just like my mechanical issue.

My XD11 has custom made ICs inside. I doubt there will be any spares. But why would they break? By todays standards they are primitive, closer to a PCB than a chip. Compared to the microchips in a digicam the structures in those Minolta chips are like a transcontinental oilpipeline vs a human hair.

So worry not about any film cameras that have proven to be stable. Those with design flaws will be known by now.

Said the man that has not had to retire his favorite camera because a part, battery, or integrated circuit chip is not longer available. OK, folks how long do you think it will take for him to learn? Does anyone want to take the bets?

 

[MattKing]

Said the man that has not had to retire his favorite camera because a part, battery, or integrated circuit chip is not longer available. OK, folks how long do you think it will take for him to learn? Does anyone want to take the bets?

The same problem exists with purely mechanical cameras. A lot of mechanical parts are only available through harvesting same from other bodies.
The problem is purely economic - everything could be replaced or repaired, if it was economic to do it.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The same problem exists with purely mechanical cameras. A lot of mechanical parts are only available through harvesting same from other bodies.
The problem is purely economic - everything could be replaced or repaired, if it was economic to do it.

That is what spare parts cameras are used for. That still generally works better for all mechanical cameras than ones with electronics.

 

[Huss]

Hi All,

I've been trying to search around to see if any film cameras are available to purchase brand new... it seems as if there is a big gap in the market!

So far i've found a rather naff looking kickstarter project called 'Reflex'

What's naff about Reflex? I have a bunch of the film cameras mentioned in this thread and have a Reflex on order because I think they bring a very unique and interesting take to the market on what a new design 35mm camera could be, and I love the fact that someone has the b@lls to do that.
It's Reflex, Nikon F6, Leica or used. Any of those are excellent options.

 

[tedr1]

Nikon shows the FM10 35mm film SLR on the Nikon USA website, at about US$570, however it is not listed at B&H.

 

[Huss]

Nikon shows the FM10 35mm film SLR on the Nikon USA website, at about US$570, however it is not listed at B&H.

Out of stock at Nikonusa.com

 

[lantau]

That is what spare parts cameras are used for. That still generally works better for all mechanical cameras than ones with electronics.

I just got a Contax II for various reasons. I'm already looking forward to when those silk ribbons in the shutter say goodby. They are close to being unobtainium. My Minolta Alpha 7 has a mechanical problem with the gears driving the apterture. With some luck the service company that did repairs on behalf of Minolta still has spares. IF they do it will not come cheap I heard. Maybe it will be better to buy another one. Where are you going to get your mechanical custom spare parts from? I don't see the difference.

Those custom chips in the Minolta XD11/XD7 from the 70s are quite simple by todays standard. If you're nuts enough you could make them, just as you can make anything if you throw enough resources at it. Has anyone ever heard one of those breaking? I have a broken spare camera. I could get them out of there, just like I scavenged the self timer handle from it.

 

[ciniframe]

Because this is the 35mm sub-forum then speaking of only 35mm the choices are very few and very expensive. I count 4 cameras, Nikon F6, Leica MP, M7. MA. Some plastic and overpriced junk from Lonography.

 

[MattKing]

There are lots of single use cameras still being made and sold.

 

[Theo Sulphate]

I think it is important what you wrote. That opinion that fully mechanic cameras are more reliable than ones with electronics is more urban myth than true. Electronics are quite robust ...

Mechanical cameras may not be more reliable, but they're more repairable, which is why Sover Wong, Youxin Ye, Harry Fleenor, DAG, etc., stay in business, among others.

The issue with electronics is that there are so many subsystems that typically if even one fails, the camera cannot be used.

My cameras from the 1930's to 1960's are working perfectly. I suspect no camera with extensive use of electronics (1990's on) will be functioning 20 years from now due to its electronic complexity - and that includes the F6.

 

[gr82bart]

It's such a shame, I wish the powers that be would realise that there is money to be made by reintroducing some older and well loved 35mm cameras!

LOL No there isn't. If there was, there's be film cameras.