David Mitchell
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
Im still really enjoying shooting 35mm at the moment, I have enjoyed shooting the Fujica ST605n due to its user friendly controls, solid construction, easy to use metering and a good number of shutter speeds. If any newbie out there is reading this you can get a good example with a 55mm lens for £35 - well worth a go!
Anyway, I am looking to upgrade to more of a 'workhorse' camera, what I mean by that is a camera that I can just go - im taking a film camera and want to shoot photos *picks up camera and goes* I have decided to basically have a good 35mm SLR that I can use to take/enjoy shooting out and about, and then some more unusual cameras (like my stereographic or the photosniper) every now and then. Theres nothing wrong with the ST605N but I just felt that as im going to start collecting some decent vintage lenses to use. I currently have a Nikon 50mm E series F1.8 lens (currently on the EM) and a pre AI 35mm F2.8 lens which I have to use on my D3100 due to the indexing not working correctly on the EM.
I have got a few ideas of what I want to get, it firstly must be 100% manual ie I set the shutter speed and the aperture on the lens. It must have a light meter inbuilt for easy of use - I will have a vintage light meter anyway when shooting my more unusual cameras but don't want to have to take it around. I also want to make sure I can get a good set of lenses, I enjoy landscape and still life photography rather than street photography so im going for the 28mm-70mm sort of range of lenses.
My ideas for cameras are currently:
Nikon F3 - its Nikon and its awesome
Olympus OM-1 (may also look at the OM-3) - apparently a very good camera
Pentax K1000 - LOTS of lenses out there with the PK mount and very affordable
Canon A-1 - pretty good camera but I don't really have lenses for it (although could adapt)
Are there any other cameras that I should look at? Ideally my budget is at around the £1-200 mark, I know that I can easily get a K1000 with lens or indeed 2 lenses as a kit for £150 or less.
I am veering towards the K1000 due to the large number of lenses - I saw a decent semi fast 28mm lens for about £30 earlier and I know that you can get some quite cheap fast 50mms.
Any other options are certainly welcome but I think ive got the main ones I can think of that don't cost £500 body only or have a limited lens selection. You can also see the sort of style camera I am going for, ie classic 1970-80s SLR with pyramid in the middle lol im not really after something thats got a million grips or thousands of buttons. I am just looking for a camera that I can just change the shutter speed on and has an inbuilt light meter for ease of use - ie I take the photo, not the camera.
Im still really enjoying shooting 35mm at the moment, I have enjoyed shooting the Fujica ST605n due to its user friendly controls, solid construction, easy to use metering and a good number of shutter speeds. If any newbie out there is reading this you can get a good example with a 55mm lens for £35 - well worth a go!
Anyway, I am looking to upgrade to more of a 'workhorse' camera, what I mean by that is a camera that I can just go - im taking a film camera and want to shoot photos *picks up camera and goes* I have decided to basically have a good 35mm SLR that I can use to take/enjoy shooting out and about, and then some more unusual cameras (like my stereographic or the photosniper) every now and then. Theres nothing wrong with the ST605N but I just felt that as im going to start collecting some decent vintage lenses to use. I currently have a Nikon 50mm E series F1.8 lens (currently on the EM) and a pre AI 35mm F2.8 lens which I have to use on my D3100 due to the indexing not working correctly on the EM.
I have got a few ideas of what I want to get, it firstly must be 100% manual ie I set the shutter speed and the aperture on the lens. It must have a light meter inbuilt for easy of use - I will have a vintage light meter anyway when shooting my more unusual cameras but don't want to have to take it around. I also want to make sure I can get a good set of lenses, I enjoy landscape and still life photography rather than street photography so im going for the 28mm-70mm sort of range of lenses.
My ideas for cameras are currently:
Nikon F3 - its Nikon and its awesome
Olympus OM-1 (may also look at the OM-3) - apparently a very good camera
Pentax K1000 - LOTS of lenses out there with the PK mount and very affordable
Canon A-1 - pretty good camera but I don't really have lenses for it (although could adapt)
Are there any other cameras that I should look at? Ideally my budget is at around the £1-200 mark, I know that I can easily get a K1000 with lens or indeed 2 lenses as a kit for £150 or less.
I am veering towards the K1000 due to the large number of lenses - I saw a decent semi fast 28mm lens for about £30 earlier and I know that you can get some quite cheap fast 50mms.
Any other options are certainly welcome but I think ive got the main ones I can think of that don't cost £500 body only or have a limited lens selection. You can also see the sort of style camera I am going for, ie classic 1970-80s SLR with pyramid in the middle lol im not really after something thats got a million grips or thousands of buttons. I am just looking for a camera that I can just change the shutter speed on and has an inbuilt light meter for ease of use - ie I take the photo, not the camera.
they seem pretty good value for money, I will probably just buy a body only as it seems it can take the pre-AI lenses so I can run the 35mm lens and perhaps look at getting a decent, non 'Economy-series' 50mm lens as well. I wasn't going to get a low F lens as I don't usually shoot wide open but as I have the shutter speeds high enough to shoot wide open...AWESOME 
). Its really odd how ive gone from when looking at cameras wondering what lens they come with to the point where im at now where im choosing what body I should go with.
