Best film "point and shoots" / CSC

Unsurprisingly enough I would recommend a Trip 35 :) No batteries, cheap (ish) and one of the all time great of lenses :)

The only battery powered compact I use is a Nikon L35AF. It's nice enough and has a fast and sharp lens.
 
MindofMel said:
Hi all,

I am looking for some recommendations for a 35mm point and shoot / compact camera? Something nice and light, cheap as possible.. but consistent results.

Anyone have any they know to be good performers?
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I rather enjoy my olympus trip.
 
norters said:
Unsurprisingly enough I would recommend a Trip 35 :) No batteries, cheap (ish) and one of the all time great of lenses :)

The only battery powered compact I use is a Nikon L35AF. It's nice enough and has a fast and sharp lens.
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You need to examine a trip 35 carefully as I've seen plenty at the bootie and not many have been working properly...agree the Nikon L35AF is VG and the Nikon RF2 (and would add you can't go wrong with a Nikon although I haven't tried them all :) ), also look at a Konica C35.
 
Are you after a genuine 'point & shoot' in that you just want to press the shutter and let the camera do the rest ie focus, aperture and exposure or do you just want a small compact 35mm camera?
 
Olympus XA2, great little camera. Solid, cheap, dinky. The XA4 would be my ultimate choice, but they're rare as rocking horse poo, and when they do turn up, go for about £100, whereas the XA2 can be found for under £20.
 
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Olympus XA or MJU II. Not as good as say, the Contax T2, Ricoh GRs or Hexar AF (which is the best :p) but they're a lot cheaper!
 
excalibur2 said:
You need to examine a trip 35 carefully as I've seen plenty at the bootie and not many have been working properly...agree the Nikon L35AF is VG and the Nikon RF2 (and would add you can't go wrong with a Nikon although I haven't tried them all :) ), also look at a Konica C35.
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I got lucky with my ebay job. Twenty quid, original lens cap and leather case and no light leaks. Keep meaning to get another for back up but I don't want to jinx the one I already have!
 
Like others have said, if you want cheap and pocketable then the Olympus's are a great choice if you can cope with something a little chunkier and pricier then there's no arguing with the Hexar's reputation.
 
If you can do without autofocus, the Olympus XA series and the Minox 35 series are great small, quality cameras.
 
norters said:
I got lucky with my ebay job. Twenty quid, original lens cap and leather case and no light leaks. Keep meaning to get another for back up but I don't want to jinx the one I already have!
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Get a T5 for backup :D
 
FruitFlakes said:
Olympus XA or MJU II. Not as good as say, the Contax T2, Ricoh GRs or Hexar AF (which is the best :p) but they're a lot cheaper!
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+1
 
Wife has got Mju II, last film camera bought in my house takes a decent picture. I think she actually bought it at the same time as I bought my first digicam a Camedia C2, actually takes a decent picture given the constraints of being an early <£150 digital camera.

I like my Trip 35, apart from the focus ring its as simple as it could be.
 
I wanna go with a Ti....:dummy:


if only for the weather barometers on the top plate


and I'd keep it forever if it worked as good as it looked..:cool:
 
XA2 has a meter; but no meter display.
Meter controls the shutter speed.
There's a green LED 'low-light' warning indicator in the view-finder, if the shutter speed is going to be beneath I think 1/15th.
Offers shutter speeds far beneath that, if you use a camera support... would say tripod, but rather defeats pocket camera... but convenient chair, wall, car roof... usually something near-by!
Have to rate the little XA... Mine saw two decades of serious abuse, and consistently worked and worked well.
Its a genuine point and shoot, made for the non-enthusiast; YET, it was such a 'great' little camera it is still mentioned in the same breath as serious aficionado's cameras like the Minox or Rollie.
£25, from a dealer, with flash? Very hard to beat. In 1980, that little camera was about £90 in the shops, it wasn't a 'cheap' camera, by a very long stretch.
Later Mju... I really don't rate. Especially the Mju 'zoom'. Mju, packed an awful lot more features into the same body-size; auto-advance, DX-coding, integrated flash; but it was ten or more years later, built down to a price to be sold in the Under £100 threshold. lens was good, think it was a little wider than the XA's 35mm.. 28 or 30? I dont recall... but it was no where near as durable a bit of kit.
Mju Zoom? Great idea, and wonderfuly de-rigeur in classic Olympus tradition, putting variable focual length in a pocket-camera for the man in the street... bludy awful to use and horribly fragile....
My money would for sure, go on an XA.... but then I have three... and I would say I put my money where my mouth is..... but, actually I was given all of them!
 
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Ricoh GR1.... awesome lens and built to last. A mate shot his entire three-month trip to Oz on one and used the negs as A1 enlargements for his entire major exhibition at uni.
 
Cheap and good??, Olympus MJU1 or MJU2, I've taken photos with MJU1 and its great, even some gig photos!

Or if you're a lucky ******* (like me) You might be given a Yashica T3Super D or a Ricoh GR1 for almost nothing!
 
My wife's Olympus Stylus (= Mju 1) suffers from light leaks. I'd put new seals in if the wife would let me have it for a while! I mention this, Mel, since if you're going to be away for a while it'd be good to check rather than trust the seals!

(Actually it was the worst film purchase I ever made, thought I was getting a bargain in NY 42nd St, but discovered when I got home that I could have bought the mju 2 for less, and that the stylus wasn't working, and that the warranty wasn't valid... cost me £40 on top of what I'd already paid to get it working again!)
 
The Olympus XA (not the 2,3 etc) the very first one, is the best and most sought after, it's a beauty. I don't think I'll ever sell mine. A street shooters favourite.
 
I would love a GR1 or a Contax T2 but the price's seemed to be so inflated. I'm happy to pay for amazing qaulity but not happy to pay over-the-odd's
 
Thanks all, still havent solved this. Many of the suggested models have turned out to be zone focussing - something that I'm not a fan of because I've never managed to get a sharp roll out of a ZF system.. MF but preferably AF from the P&S would be best.

Will keep my out for a Nikon L35AF, Konica C35 AF or Yashica T2

Resource: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3387938
 
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Got Olympus 35RC and Minolta Hi Matic 7s II's mosly for my 35mm film compact stuff. Both excellent quality film cameras, great lenses, the latter being a bit better for me as I have big hands. The Minolta has just been serviced and works like new. rangefinders are great!
 
Yep, same as mine. A cracking little camera and a doddle to use, did yours come with the groovy lens cap?

Andy
 
Sounds cool, let's have some piccies then.
 
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