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Albedo

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Hello!

So I love my digital SLR, but in the interests of taking my understanding of photography to the next level, I think using a film camera would be useful. And I'd like to learn how to develop film.

I don't have a lot to spend on one, but luckily some of them seem very reasonably priced (not talking about picking up a Leica M7 here...!)

So I was wondering if anyone could advise me on where I should be looking? Or rather, what sort of names might fit the bill. I'd quite like a rangefinder, rather than SLR system...

Budget.. hmm.. want to be realistic here, but £50-£100 (including a wideangle lens). Possible? :thinking:

Thanks
 
Hmm, might help this cause, but the girlfriend might become a lost cause! And I'm also after a viewfinder for my LX3, so if I pushed this up too I might have to flog a kidney.

Did you have something in mind?
 
One decent rangefinder you might get within your budget is an Olympus XA.
I paid $76 for mine in 2004 (ebay) which then was about £50. It included the separate flash unit. There's one on ebay at the moment. Don't get confused by XA2, XA3, XA4. Only the XA is a rangefinder. The XA4 mind you is a very rare and sought after model and worth getting even though it's not a RF. But way too pricey.

Also on ebay is an Olympus 35 RC rangefinder item no 260389997051 with a buy it now price of £55. Don't now anything about them but looks like a good chance to take.
 
there is the risky route of getting a FED or a ZORKI.... cheap lenses (compared to some other lenses!) and camera too. the only issue is the range of different conditions they come in. and its soviet-russian build! (the only country that produced cars worse than British Layland:lol:)

in all honesty, I wouldn't go down that route, however cheap it is. I have a voigtlander myself, and I bought a semi-working Zorki+lens that I picked up for £3! -see it as covering glitter (the voigtlander) with a turd (the russian glass :lol:), i love it though and I have even used the zorki once or twice too.

However, If it were I with that budget I would probably go with the XA. Nice camera!

also, have you used a Range Finder before? if you havent, try and borrow one, or go to a shop and play with one for a few minutes! Make sure your comfortable with the RF-focusing (i have a friend who just can't cope with it- and there are others too apparently...) you might find you prefer the split-prism on SLR's!

£100 on a SLR can get you something really quite good no-problem! Bare that in mind too!
 
Olympus 35RC is a fab camera, if your looking on a budget you can't go wrong with one of those.

Also one other thing to keep in mind, the RF cameras mentioned, bar the Zeds & Zorkis is that they are all "fixed lens". Which if you are used to zooms on a DSLR can take a little getting used to. Having said that it does make you work harder for the shot, and so more rewarding :D

(PS beware of the Rooski stuff as I think Alexsander has bought all the decent stuff :lol:)
 
Knikki said:
(PS beware of the Rooski stuff as I think Alexsander has bought all the decent stuff :lol:)
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haha I wish! I spent months looking for a Bessa R I could afford.... the zorki is from a fleamarket at the end of portabello rd wasn't looking for one, it just popped up in front of me! -though I have been blabbering on about my new acquisition quite a bit:D) i'l stop now.

also thinking about it, don't go for a zorki/zed/fed/russian stuff as most of them don't have a lightmeter! the models that do are usually innacurate too!
 
Albedo said:
I'd quite like a rangefinder, rather than SLR system...

Budget.. hmm.. want to be realistic here, but £50-£100 (including a wideangle lens). Possible? :thinking:

Thanks
Click to expand...

not a rangefinder i know but i have an olympus OM2 plus a few lenses on ebay at the moment...
 
Albedo said:
Hello!


Budget.. hmm.. want to be realistic here, but £50-£100 (including a wideangle lens). Possible? :thinking:

Thanks
Click to expand...

I think there are two choices, and generally it effects the budget.
There are loads of cheap optically excellent rangefinders, but they are mostly fixed lens.
If you want an interchangeable system with a range of lenses to choose from, its gonna be tricky for under £100.
Mostly the fixed wides are around the 40mm mark, which isn't too bad if you're used to crop sensor wides.
 
Thank you all very much for your input!

After some reading, I think I'll go with the 35RC - it sounds like a decent value first film camera. May wait to see how much a couple go for on eBay first though.

Thanks again!

Oh and joxby - I think a fixed focal length would do me good!
 
A skim through ebay completed shows a couple of 35RCs gone for £56 and £60. Another possible worthy contender is the Yashica Electro 35. This goes for much less, but still a good camera.
 
MisterE said:
A skim through ebay completed shows a couple of 35RCs gone for £56 and £60. Another possible worthy contender is the Yashica Electro 35. This goes for much less, but still a good camera.
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The Yashika Electro was a great camera particularly the GSN with a 45mm / f1.7 lens able to hold its own then and probably now, it has a great feel to it.
http://www.geocities.com/heidoscop/electro35.htm
 
Albedo said:
Thank you all very much for your input!

After some reading, I think I'll go with the 35RC - it sounds like a decent value first film camera. May wait to see how much a couple go for on eBay first though.
Click to expand...

Well I hope you're having better luck getting a 35RC than a couple of people. Two have just gone for £154 and £160, which is about £100 more than they were selling for 10 days ago and earlier when I first mentioned them!
 
if your really incredibly lucky, there are (on occasion) voigtlander bessa R's (+lens) that go for around £175!

tis over budget though...

other option is (noticing that you live in london!) go to portabello market (friday's are best, no tourists:))

there are a few people who sell old camera gear and just random stall owners too!

its really worth a look. one had old leicas that were way over budget, but I think he was also selling some of those old Yasicas, Olympus +others! (lots of russian tat too!) -other than the leicas and perhaps a rolleiflex or two, I noticed that most of the other cameras that you can find go for under 100.
 
Car boot season has or is about to start again - you might be surprised what you can pick up, for the sake of an hour on a Sunday walking round stalls rather than browsing ebay ;)
 
There are so many good fixed lens rangefinders about, (although you wont be able to get your wide angle, theyre pretty wide anyways)

I got a Yashica Lynx 5000 and am mre than happy with it, gave the girlfriend the dslr for a bit
 
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