Spec me some kit :)

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Superewza

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Well the plan was to get a cheap DSLR and go from there, but i've spent too long waiting and now i've caught the film bug :)

So say i've got about £200 to spend, i can go over but you know ;) Is it possible to get a decent 35mm (sorely tempting to get a MF TLR but probably not a good idea) body, a few lenses and any accessories i might need (flash, filters etc.), along with a handful of film and some chemicals for that?

I'm probably not being helpful, but i'm not really sure exactly what i want. I can see the appeal of say, a Nikon F75 but at the same time i'd love a Pentax ME Super or something along those lines, but then there is a fully manual option like the Super Paxette, although i'm not sure how far £200 would get me with one of those. Any words of advice?

I recently dug out some prints from a disposable that i took several years back, and i was blown away by the image quality compared to pretty much everything i've taken on a digital camera, so i reckon i'll be happy whatever way i go, it's just actually making a choice...

Oh, and i'm also looking for a negative scanner, i have a cheap Veho that might get me by for now but i get the feeling something better will be in order. Only requirements are decent image quality and (if at all possible) Linux compatibility, although of course low noise and speed would be ideal. Any suggestions?

Thanks for any help, cheers :)
 
Well if you don't know anything about film cameras you could get many answers that would confuse you, best to say what sort of photographer you are and what subjects interest you e.g. street scenes, portraits, landscapes, buildings and so on.....if you say everything? Then I'll start the ball rolling with the cheapest 35mm SLR camera that can give top results:- Praktica MT3 or MT5 with Helios 44m or Meyer/Pentacon nifty fifty lens, I've seen them go for £5 -£15, not on Ebay as prices are going up cos the digital guys now want these lenses.
 
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I'd say more natural landscapes, animals and people (think, large gatherings of people... not sure how strict this forum is in terms of politics ;) ), but it would be good to have an all rounder. Looking around there seems to be a fair few bargains to be had with M42 lenses, would you say those Praktica's are the best, reasonably priced M42 bodies?

If not ebay then where, i don't see much film stuff going on these foums... maybe i'm just not looking often enough, cheers :)
 
My experience of Praktica bodies is that build quality and reliability are 'creative'. One I had lasted ages, the other, just a couple of rolls. For purely manual M42, take a look at Fujica ST605. Nice and solid, feels good in the hand. Fujinon standard lenses are not yet as coveted as Pentax Takumar/Helios/Pentacon, though harder to find.
I'd also be tempted to stick with your original thought of an ME Super. One of my first and still got a soft-spot for it :) It's K-bayonet lenses shouldn't be too hard to find, huge range, too. Ricoh KR10? Also K-bayonet. Basic. Very.
I may be biased (OM10+manual adapter owner!) but Olympus OM series can be a bargain, though as said, 35mm prices are edging up.
I seem to recall Canon and Nikon also had a few cameras for sale in the 80's, as well :) (no experience so won't comment)
You should get lots more opinions, seems there were even more 35mm options back then than there are digi now!
 
Oh and how about Minolta X-300? Lovely little cameras. Saw one the other day in Cash Converters for £30, with 2 lenses: Hanimex, though :(
Otherwise might have had it :)
 
+1 for a Pentax K mount if you want to get a little system together. Quite a few manufacturers opted into this system (and some are still made)
There's no doubt loads of m42 lenses about, but Praktica bodies aren't the most ergonimic (or better built) one of the Japanese m42 systems would be better. (but older)
 
I just managed to pick up a pristine Spotmatic 1A with Takumar 55 f2, 2 X Teleconverter and alloy 49mm lens hood for £32.50, so there are still bargains to be had on E Bay. The advantage with M42, is that should you choose to take a trip to the "dark side" of digital (which I do, because I am beyond redemption), then these lenses will fit any DSLR with a very simple adaptor (without an element, thus preserving image quality).
In the M42 range you have - Takumar, Helios, Pentacon, Carl Zeiss Jena, Fujinon and many more.
 
There is a Canon AT1 on the Bay with 55mm lens, now with 12 minutes to run, and the bidding is at £12!
 
Superewza said:
I'd say more natural landscapes, animals and people (think, large gatherings of people... not sure how strict this forum is in terms of politics ;) ), but it would be good to have an all rounder. Looking around there seems to be a fair few bargains to be had with M42 lenses, would you say those Praktica's are the best, reasonably priced M42 bodies?

If not ebay then where, i don't see much film stuff going on these foums... maybe i'm just not looking often enough, cheers :)
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Ok then so an all rounder, next to consider is what camera lens mount i.e. do you want the lenses to fit a DSLR? This is important if you don't want to spend a lot of money using film, as lenses not easily adapted to be used on a DSLR are a lot cheaper.
So cheaper excellent lenses that are in a time warp (although some of the new digital cameras can use them) are Canon FD, Konica Hexanon lenses and I would include Minolta MD, but the lenses are more scarce so the prices are higher. If you want one of the top non AF camera for Canon FD then it would be the T90 for about £60-£90.....near the top Konica cameras are FT1 about £35.
What do I use? Well I'm just an ordinary amateur that NOW doesn't believe in buying lenses at ridiculous prices and with about 13 film cameras that I "play with", find that I use the Canon T70 the most, next Minolta X-700 (with third party lenses but do have one Minolta MD 58mm f1.4), then Konica TC.
 
As Brian says, the Canon FD lenses are dirt cheap for the quality, because they don't adapt easily to modern DSLR (or indeed the EOS film range bodies). As to the bodies to suit, it pretty much comes down to your preferences - the T range of bodies are probably more reliable, being newer and not prone to the "Canon Cough" - they are however - to my eyes at least - that particular type of 80's plastic ugly. The T70 is however a good camera, and the T90 is the missing link - it's pretty much a EOS body with a FD lens mount! The other option on affordable FD lens capable bodies is to go for one of the A series bodies. I've used the AE-1 Prog, A-1 and the AT-1 out of these, and would be happy with any, provided they were cheap enough, especially as we now know that there's a camera service co. that can cure the cough for under £40 should it develop. I know that if my A-1 starts wheezing, I'll happily send it away and pay a few bob, to keep the collection in use.
 
A 135 setup and a few lenses can be had cheap. But unless you can score a really good deal on a decent used negative scanner, it will be a limiting factor on the quality of your analog to digital conversion. Less expensive flat bed scanners can do a better job on 120 film than 135 film in general.
 
Thanks everyone, that's a lot to think about :)

I'm liking the look of the Fujica ST605(N), just need to wait for a letter from my bank and i can start spending :D

Any suggestions for a scanner? How's the Epson V33, looks like i should be able to get that working in Ubuntu... that said, i could hold off and use a C7180 or cheap Veho that i have in the house already, but last time i scanned negs with the HP they came out all turquoise. User error?
 
Superewza said:
Thanks everyone, that's a lot to think about :)

I'm liking the look of the Fujica ST605(N), just need to wait for a letter from my bank and i can start spending :D

Any suggestions for a scanner? How's the Epson V33, looks like i should be able to get that working in Ubuntu... that said, i could hold off and use a C7180 or cheap Veho that i have in the house already, but last time i scanned negs with the HP they came out all turquoise. User error?
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Well I only have the later Fuji STX-2 but haven't heard of any complaints against the Fujica ST605n, and good luck in your hunt for screw lenses for it, try Gumtree and boot sales, assuming you will get a 50mm lens with the camera...next buy is the Pentax 35mm f3.5 and must be on your list, also the Pentacon 30mm can be very good if you get a good copy, I picked up a Meyer 135mm f2.8 M42 for portraits for £3 at the boot sale...so good hunting and watch out for LBA as you'll end up having water on your cornflakes.
 
Superewza said:
Any suggestions for a scanner? How's the Epson V33, looks like i should be able to get that working in Ubuntu... that said, i could hold off and use a C7180 or cheap Veho that i have in the house already, but last time i scanned negs with the HP they came out all turquoise. User error?
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For 35mm, I use a V200, Works OK under Ubuntu (10.10, 64bit) and xsane. There's .deb's for the V33 at the same place, from http://avasys.jp/eng/linux_driver/ Quite painless but be sure to read the instruction, there's a particular order to install the 2 or 3 packages.
I've not scanned colour yet but B+W looks ok.
 
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Hmm, seems a bit misleading - apparently the V33 can't actually do film, or at least doesn't have a transparency unit, but they still list the speed it takes to scan it on the spec sheet. Just had another go with my C7180, using some of my grandad's old positive slides instead of a negative strip. Lets say this is a benchmark (cropped and scaled down):

scan0020l.jpg


Which seems decent enough, but takes far too long (5 mins+) and isn't entirely practical. I'll keep an eye out on gumtree...
 
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