Film SLR for £50

juancarlos66

juancarlos66

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As per title, which film SLR should I look at ? I only want to spend up to £50 whilst I get to grips with it.
I have looked at OM's & Pentax but really don't have a clue, I don't want something too complicated.

Many thanks.
 
As you have a Nikon already (so I imagine some Nikon fit lenses) why not try another Nikon? For £50 you could get an FM if you wanted something a bit more nostalgic or an F75 if you wanted something more modern. Lots of choice out there.

Andy
 
Cheers Andy, that thought never occured to me :bang:

Looked at the F75's and boy are they ugly compared to one of the OM's (shallow I know) but seem well speced for the money.
 
I think Andy's Nikon idea is a good one, as looking on ebay it seems that nearly everyone sells a camera as 'body only' these days.
 
You can pick up a Minolta X-300 for about thirty quid with a 50mm 1.7 lens :) I am very biased though!! Boss little camera.
 
There not the best looking cameras I will agree but they are excellent. Have a look in the classifieds on here (film and conventional bit) theres an F60 with a 50mm lens for sale at a good price.
Im nothing to do with the sale by the way, just pointing it out.

Andy
 
Just bought a Dynax 7 for £49; massive camera!
 
Thanks for all the replies, it seems to make sense to look for a Nikon. I only have 2 lenses for the D50 so could use these.
 
Nikon FM, great reliable workhorse camera! Lots of used ones with plenty of life left in them.
 
Jao said:
Nikon FM, great reliable workhorse camera! Lots of used ones with plenty of life left in them.
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Yeah, the Nikon FM is a very solid camera that I always find useful to have around—it doesn't require any batteries to run—and it's just a lot of fun. You should be able to pick one up for under £50 on eBay or if you can find one for sale on here.

I'm also a fan of the Nikon F-801, which I think is a very underrated camera. Its viewfinder is huge with good eye relief, it autofocuses with AF-D lenses, the focusing screen shows depth of field down to at least f/1.4, and it runs on readily available AA batteries. And oh, I bought mine for exactly £5.20 off of eBay!

Be forewarned, however, that neither of the above will work very well with G lenses (both of these cameras require an aperture ring on the lens) and the Nikon F-801 won't autofocus with AF-S lenses (well, neither will the FM either, but that's to be expected).

If you need something that can work with AF-S and VR lenses, I used to have a Nikon F80 and I always thought it was a good little camera. The viewfinder is smaller than the other cameras I've mentioned, but it's probably better than any other digital cameras. I believe that the early Nikon digital cameras like the D50 are also based off of the form factor of the F80, so it should be easy to get to grips with. I've seen plenty of these available for between £20-£30 or so on eBay.

What Nikon lenses do you currently have? Keep in mind that crop sensor lenses which are designed for APS-C Nikons like your D50 will suffer from severe vignetting, although they will still mount.
 
The 2 lenses I have are the AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 3.5-5.6G VR DX and the AF Nikkor 50mm 1.8D
 
juancarlos66 said:
The 2 lenses I have are the AF-S Nikkor 18-55mm 3.5-5.6G VR DX and the AF Nikkor 50mm 1.8D
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Your AF 50mm f/1.8D lens will be perfect on any Nikon film cameras after the F2 onwards, I believe (look here for more detailed information: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/compatibility-lens.htm). I have the slightly older non-D lens and it's probably my most used lens along with my Samyang 85mm f/1.4 on my Nikon film cameras. Depending on the types of photos you take, this could be all that you need.

Keep in mind that 50mm is wider in film than it is on your D50 (the equivalent field of view on a D50 would be about 33mm) due to the difference in size between 35mm film and digital sensors.

Unfortunately, your 18-55mm will vignette on any 35mm camera, as it's made for the smaller sized APS-C digital sensor, so I wouldn't recommend using that.
 
The Ken Rockwell site you quoted has been saved as a favourite since buying the D50. Thanks for the info, so really only the 50mm will be of any use ?
 
juancarlos66 said:
Thanks for the info, so really only the 50mm will be of any use ?
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Unless you enjoy very dark corners on all of your photos, then yes, unfortunately.

The good news, however, is that a 50mm lens on a 35mm film camera is very useful, indeed! I shot a few rolls of film last weekend myself and that was the only lens I used, even though I have a number of other lenses.
 
skysh4rk said:
Keep in mind that 50mm is wider in film than it is on your D50 (the equivalent field of view on a D50 would be about 33mm) due to the difference in size between 35mm film and digital sensors.

.
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Please correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to recall the D50 crop factor of 1.5 would make the 50mm FoV 75mm.....no??

Therefore the 50mm lens will give a "true" Full Frame 50mm FoV on 35mm film
 
Asha said:
Please correct me if I'm wrong but I seem to recall the D50 crop factor of 1.5 would make the 50mm FoV 75mm.....no??

Therefore the 50mm lens will give a "true" Full Frame 50mm FoV on 35mm film
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Yes, you are correct; I just stated it in a different way.

In order to give you an idea of how your 50mm behaves on film (which is proper full-frame field of view as you stated), you would need to use about a 33mm length on your D50.

In other words, 33mm on D50 x 1.5 = 50mm on film. This is why people usually recommend the 35mm f/1.8 for crop sensors, as it's close to 50mm on full frame.
 
skysh4rk said:
Yes, you are correct; I just stated it in a different way.

In order to give you an idea of how your 50mm behaves on film (which is proper full-frame field of view as you stated), you would need to use about a 33mm length on your D50.

In other words, 33mm on D50 x 1.5 = 50mm on film. This is why people usually recommend the 35mm f/1.8 for crop sensors, as it's close to 50mm on full frame.
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Sorry, I miss interpreted what you wrote.....when i initially read it, it came across to me that the 50mm would give a 33mm FoV on the D50.

My excuse, long day, old age, nagging mrs....oh the list goes on :D:D:D
 
Thanks to you both for educating a :p
 
Asha said:
Sorry, I miss interpreted what you wrote.....when i initially read it, it came across to me that the 50mm would give a 33mm FoV on the D50.

My excuse, long day, old age, nagging mrs....oh the list goes on :D:D:D
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Yep, no worries at all. It can be difficult to keep it all straight sometimes, especially when you start to include larger film sizes like 6x6 and 6x7 as well...
 
Have bitten the bullet and bought a F80. Waiting for it to arrive now.
 
juancarlos66 said:
Have bitten the bullet and bought a F80. Waiting for it to arrive now.
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Good stuff! A fun, little camera that works very well with modern lenses. Enjoy and be sure to post a few photos to let us know how you're getting on.
 
Yes will do. Would like to get into developing my own later on.
 
norters said:
You can pick up a Minolta X-300 for about thirty quid with a 50mm 1.7 lens :) I am very biased though!! Boss little camera.
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I have one with the 50mm 1.7 lens, and it's produced some of the sharpest prints I've had from an slr. Put a slide film through it last year, but haven't had it developed yet :shake:
 
I have taken half a roll using the F80 with a f1.8D 50mm Nikkor, apart from this what other (cheapish) lenses would go well with the F80 ?

Thanks.
 
I use a 28-100 AF G Nikkor with mine mostly & have been quite happy with the lens. They go for around £40 on ebay.
 
juancarlos66 said:
I have taken half a roll using the F80 with a f1.8D 50mm Nikkor, apart from this what other (cheapish) lenses would go well with the F80 ?

Thanks.
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Hmmm... quite a few things to consider first.

For a start, what do you like to shoot? What sort of focal lengths are you thinking? Zoom or prime? Are you comfortable with manual focus? What do you consider cheapish?

You might want to try shooting a few rolls with the 50mm and see whether you feel too far from your subjects, too close, or just right before jumping into your next lens.
 
skysh4rk said:
Hmmm... quite a few things to consider first.

For a start, what do you like to shoot? What sort of focal lengths are you thinking? Zoom or prime? Are you comfortable with manual focus? What do you consider cheapish?

You might want to try shooting a few rolls with the 50mm and see whether you feel too far from your subjects, too close, or just right before jumping into your next lens.
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Good advice here.
 
Hmm sounds like good advice. I tend to try to run before I can walk. I will continue with this roll and then try a roll with different shots.

Ebay must love people like me lol.
 
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