Where Next?

Rob MacKillop

Rob MacKillop

Edinburgh Correspondent
I'm finding myself day dreaming about getting a high-quality film camera, and wondering what that might be. Front runners include...

Nikon F100 - much cheaper than an F6 with much of the same quality (apparently - just going by online comments)

Olympus OM-4 - superb workhorse

Mamiya 6 or 7 - medium format, but portable (compared to my RB67) but two or three times the price of the two above.

I don't mind manual focus. Lenses are obviously just as, if not more, important.

My current film cameras - K1000, T90, Zeiss Nettar, Olympus Trip, and the RB67

Comments, suggestions?
 
I love my nikon F100, I might love a mamiya 7 more though ...
Thing with the f100, your only looking at £100 for a good one... Then you could get a 28mm 1.8 afs and a 50mm 1.4 (maybe just 1.8) afs and probably still not have spent the cash for a good mamiya.
you would also have an awesome starting point if you ever felt the desire to go digital with the system.

Just thoughts, but worth thinking ...

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Nikon F100 with 50mm 1.4 afs by Hamish_Gill, on Flickr

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GAS?
 
Thanks, Hamish. Do you think there is a big step up from the Canon T90? Not sure if you've tried one before.

So, are you saying that the Nikon lenses autofocus lenses are the same ones as for their digital cameras?
 
In general, yes. DX lenses only cover APS-C sensors and so will vignette badly on a film camera (or a 'full format' digital one). But FX lenses will work perfectly on both (as long as they have aperture control on the lens - ie non G lenses). And the majority of manual focus lenses will work fine on both (and the mount has never been changed significantly so there are lots of old lenses to play with out there).

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I'd still save up for the 7 though! ;)
 
Thanks, Pete. I might well start saving.

Oddly, the better I get at digital manipulation, and the more creative I get with it (as with the recent bin lid shots) the less satisfied I am, the less I enjoy the whole experience.

I much prefer this...



Ells Angels cropped by RobMacKillop, on Flickr


over this...



with pipe by RobMacKillop, on Flickr


Some people will understand, some might think I'm crazy, but there it is. It's nice to be able to do both, of course, but I would like to develop my film skills far beyond where they are at at the moment. There's just something more real about it - don't know what it is, and I can't put it into words. And of course, this has nothing at all to do with anyone else's images, purely my own experience. I got put off film after my darkroom-asthma experience, but there is still much I can do before the film is ejected from the camera, and I'd like to explore that more.
 
I know what you mean, Rob. I shoot with my 7D from time-to-time, but the prospect of going out to shoot pictures with it holds no strong appeal. Shooting with a film camera is much more satisfying to me.
 
I'd suggest MF is the way to go Rob - 35mm is good, but MF is another league all together

The Mamiya is a clear fave, but I'd heartily recommend a Blad or Fuji 6x9 camera.

The Fuji 6x9 models have fixed lenses - so are simple to use if a little restrictive. Lens quality is superb, and the rangefinder style makes them very easy to use.

The Blad is wonderful - and has so many accessories and lenses that you'd never get bored.

Image quality is wonderful - and the cameras go for peanuts these days, as few people can be arsed with film.

five hundred quid gets you a 500 C/M with a standard lens and a 12 frame 120 film back
 
I know exactly where you are coming from Rob!
its too easy, too easy to be good, but also too easy too make mistakes and go off course ... Basically there are far too many variables! I have of course taken this to the nth degree and taken away many of the variables even on the film camera ... Here this is a preview excerpt from the blog article I'm writing at the mo about my experience with a compact camera

Either way the Hive shots had me hooked! The feeling of success, perhaps not by everyone's standards, but at least by my own ... With a point and shoot camera camera ... Was massive. I think the oft quoted ideal that "A good photographer can achieve a good photo with any camera" appeals to me. Feeling that I was achieving good results with something that cost me £35 and was nothing more than a point and poke was, well, a good feeling. I have a Nikon D800 and a vast array of Nikon lenses, the photos IT takes are of superb quality, resolution, dynamic range, etc, just unbelievable... And for work, I find the thing indispensable. For my hobby, I find it boring to use, there is no challenge in achieving what I want to achieve, the results have no gravity to me. The same photo taken with a Yashica (or any other compact for that matter) just feel more satisfying! It was these latter rolls of XP2 taken with this camera that made me realise this!
I take photos with a camera like this with no thoughts of wishing I had something bigger, something with a different lens, larger sensor or whatever else. I don't feel self conscious, in fact I don't feel like a photographer. I just feel like someone with a camera taking a few photos... And I love that
Click to expand...
 
It's just more enjoyable when you have to think about less stuff ... When the goal is a photo, a simple composition, shapes in a box ... photo ... Just my 2p worth anyway :)
 
Hamish - great post. I'll be reading the blog article, of course, when published. I like the phrase, "the results have no gravity to me".
 
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