Your secret sleepers

[Cholentpot]

Both Minolta and Canon AF film bodies are under the radar, (the expection being the EOS 1V) I have petty complete Minolta set up, but have gotten in the weeds with later Konica Minolta G and Sony lens not working on my Minolta 9 or 800si bodies. So maybe, if I could back for a do over I would have gotten a EOS 1N mid level body for second body and 3 L zooms and a couple primes. As noted by Cholentpot is that almost every if not every EF full frame lens will work with all film bodies.

Not just that the lenses work. A 50 1.8 will work perfectly on an EOS 650 and work just as well on a 5DMk4. The L lenses are generally much much heavier than the bodies. Throw a 24-105 on a Rebel G and you basically haul around a lens all day with a few ounces of plastic on the back. The only downside to some EOS cameras are the battery costs.

 

[KenS]

With some 60+ years experience under the dark-cloth and 40+ years as a 'Professional (and I having the 'OFFICIAL 'Parchments' to prove it on a nearby wall), I believe I was making a 'valid' statement.
if you are any what reluctant to accept my 'claim' I can send you a photograph as 'evidence'.

Put that in your YOUR pipe..(tamp it down 'gently') and go smoke it all by yourself.

Ken

 

[Huss]

The Nikon F6 is the quietest SLR I have used, so it would not wake up sleepers. Quite something how Nikon managed to make everything so quiet on it.
So, uh... that is the ultimate sleeper.

 

[Huss]

With some 60+ years experience under the dark-cloth and 40+ years as a 'Professional (and I having the 'OFFICIAL 'Parchments' to prove it on a nearby wall), I believe I was making a 'valid' statement.
if you are any what reluctant to accept my 'claim' I can send you a photograph as 'evidence'.

Put that in your YOUR pipe..(tamp it down 'gently') and go smoke it all by yourself.

Ken

I knew you were old! Bless you Ken.

Enjoy whatever you put in your pipe.

 

[KenS]

I knew you were old! Bless you Ken.

Enjoy whatever you put in your pipe.

ONLY "Erinmore' pipe tobacco... I have to admit that I have been to a few 'places/get-togethers' I where (and my wife) have had to 'leave' due to the 'smoke' and the smell of fresh dried 'wacky tobaccie' that others were (supposedly) 'enjoying'.

Ken

 

[BobD]

I don't want to say because the prices on them may go up if I do.

 

[George Mann]

All of my secret sleepers are sleeping because they are old, problem plagued cameras just like all my old overhyped ones, even the supposedly invincible one that received service recently.

The only body that actually works properly is my Nikon F90x (lousy, you don't want).

 

[grat]

I just finished / developed the first roll through the Konica IIIA I bought recently, and I gotta say, I'm liking the results. Not as high a percentage of keepers as I'm used to, but that's the drawback to 36 exposures-- you wind up taking shots because you have to, not because you want to.

 

[Cholentpot]

I just finished / developed the first roll through the Konica IIIA I bought recently, and I gotta say, I'm liking the results. Not as high a percentage of keepers as I'm used to, but that's the drawback to 36 exposures-- you wind up taking shots because you have to, not because you want to.

You run into this problem with bulk loads. You know the last few shots are no good, so you give a little extra. But then you hit 36 and your like, this is the end. But it's not. But you don't want to shoot anything meaningful. Frame 40!? Come on!

 

[grat]

You run into this problem with bulk loads. You know the last few shots are no good, so you give a little extra. But then you hit 36 and your like, this is the end. But it's not. But you don't want to shoot anything meaningful. Frame 40!? Come on!

In this case, it was more maddening-- one of the videos I watched about the Konica IIIA said to make sure you lock the film door properly, otherwise you might set it down, and the film door could *sproing* open. Naturally, I forgot to lock it properly, and it went *sproing*. Which also reset the film counter. So I knew I'd run out somewhere between 29 and 35. Only partially lost one frame, though.

 

[Cholentpot]

In this case, it was more maddening-- one of the videos I watched about the Konica IIIA said to make sure you lock the film door properly, otherwise you might set it down, and the film door could *sproing* open. Naturally, I forgot to lock it properly, and it went *sproing*. Which also reset the film counter. So I knew I'd run out somewhere between 29 and 35. Only partially lost one frame, though.

The dreaded *sproing!* has happened to me with many cameras.

 

[GarageBoy]

N2020/N2000 are gems - solid enough, nice viewfinders, take aa batteries and take all ai lenses

Yashica fxd - much cheaper alternative to the contax 139

 

[GRHazelton]

The dreaded *sproing!* has happened to me with many cameras.

That "sproing" happened to me with my Konica IIIa! After a few mild curses I decided it was part of the learning curve.....

 

[Cholentpot]

That "sproing" happened to me with my Konica IIIa! After a few mild curses I decided it was part of the learning curve.....

Nikon AF cameras have issues with the door latches on some models. I've had the door pop open mid roll because the tape lost its tack.

 

[grat]

Nikon AF cameras have issues with the door latches on some models. I've had the door pop open mid roll because the tape lost its tack.

That's the thing about the IIIA-- It's got a half-moon ring that you flip down, and rotate 180 degrees to (un)lock. If it's unlocked, and you fold the ring up (or set it down on a hard surface), it trips the door release (which is spring loaded). If you remember to lock it properly, it's not coming open "by accident" without a hammer and chisel.

In that sense, it's fantastic-- but you gotta remember to lock it.

 

[John Earley]

I have a Canon P with 50mm f1.8, 35mm f1.8, and the 100 f2. Excellent handling, great viewfinder - parallax corrected, wonderful fit and finish...

I have the same kit though my 50/1.8 has some haze starting. A wonderful camera and great lenses.

I also have among my many cameras a Nikon F90x which I truly dislike. It's not just one thing about it, it's just that the camera as a whole doesn't mesh with me. The N80 on the other hand is a wonderful instrument in my opinion. I use it with the G lenses that I share with my D750 and it makes a good combo.

 

[dnyc]

Canon 7 or L# with the 50 f1.5 LTM.

 

[Cholentpot]

New one for me.

The Kodak Signet 35 is a cracker of a camera. It's really small with a nice lens and a nice viewfinder. They're pretty cheap to pickup. I got one off the online flea market bay place. Sounds like the shutter is ok, rangefinder is slightly off and I tried to fix it but the screw was stripped out. No worries, shot on it anyhow and enjoyed it quite a bit. No clue how the negatives turned out though. I'll find out at some point.

 

[Down Under]

My two Nikons N65 (= F65s in Australia) are quiet little things. I bought them as discount specials and later added an autowinder which uses AA batteries and adds a bit of welcome weight to the kit. Their shutters go "tsshk" so they are unannoying and even polite to use. Plastic, but not flimsy. They meter well and they have never failed me. A few hundred Aussie dollars well spent.

I got rid of (sold them on Ebay) the 28-80 Nikkor G kit lenses they came with as at the time I found the images they made were too 'soft' for my liking, which I now regret as I have grown 'softer' with age. One N65 now has a 50/1.8 Series E (original version) Nikkor and the other a 1.8 D AF Nikkor. Both do everything I want entirely to my satisfaction, but sadly I do not use these fine cameras as much as I should. (Mental note to myself go out and exercise them this weekend.)

I could also nominate my Contax G1s as exceptionally quiet shooters, but they are definitely not bargain items and many have praised (or damned) them elsewhere, so I will say no more about these fine cameras, except that I own four of them (along with five beautiful Carl Zeiss G lenses) and I will never ever part with them in my lifetime.

 

[flavio81]

Agfa Solagon, Rodenstock Heligon, Schneider Xenon, and I say “had” because after a few house moves I cannot find all 3 of them) and surprisingly the Xenon is the one I like least. The Solagon is

Please

Don't disclose the secret.

 

[flavio81]

The problem with the EM, as well as the FG and FG20, is shutter shock/mirror slap vibrations resulting in the possibility of blurry pics at 1/60 and below.
I love the size and feel of those cameras.

This, and the EM even more so. And the electronics on them aren't reliable at all.

I think the EM is a very cleverly designed camera, but with a poor build quality overall.

 

[markjwyatt]

...Another sleeper is the Konica TC, made by Cosina it was reliable entry level camera with the Konica AR mount, shutter speed priority, but my preference would be a Konica A A2 or A3, stripped down Konica T and T3s.

I don't know. When I was looking for a (working) film camera a few years ago, I considered the Konica TC with the pancake 40mm lens. They were a hot topic because of articles like this one: https://casualphotophile.com/2018/08/10/konica-autoreflex-tc-hexanon-40mm-lens/

It may have died down in the mean time. As soon as someone with some clout features them, a run starts.

 

[BAC1967]

New one for me.

The Kodak Signet 35 is a cracker of a camera. It's really small with a nice lens and a nice viewfinder. They're pretty cheap to pickup. I got one off the online flea market bay place. Sounds like the shutter is ok, rangefinder is slightly off and I tried to fix it but the screw was stripped out. No worries, shot on it anyhow and enjoyed it quite a bit. No clue how the negatives turned out though. I'll find out at some point.

Great camera! The shutters are easy to overhaul, some good instructions online. If you can get ahold of the yellow beamsplitter from a broken Minolta Highmatic F they fit perfectly and will give you a nice double image for focusing.

 

[Cholentpot]

Great camera! The shutters are easy to overhaul, some good instructions online. If you can get ahold of the yellow beamsplitter from a broken Minolta Highmatic F they fit perfectly and will give you a nice double image for focusing.

I just taped a piece of exposed film over the viewfinder and everything is hunky-dory.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Probably the Kodak Retinas - the entire series of them, including the later ones like the IIIs. Not so secret, but the prices have remained rather stable for a long time, and with a few exceptions, are extremely common and not the subject of collector fantasy.