Film camera's

[H Richard]

It's sad the wonderful equipment that has no value any longer. I spent many happy days over 30-40 years enjoying photography, I liked B&W, had my own dark room. Competed in Camera Club salon's and international salons. It's been several years since I have done any serious work, and I am still cleaning out "stuff".

As we age we need to get rid of all that "stuff" we accumulated over the years, so our children won't have to deal with it. This week I drug out my Nikon F2 Photomic with 5 lenses and assorted other filter's etc. I had tried one time a couple years ago to sell it all, but no takers. Trying to assess what the value might be, I look over ebay, and there are hundreds of examples of what I have and/or similar with prices of 29.95 and no takers. There must have been over a hundred F2's listed going begging. So, I took to the local pawn shop, and the nice owner really liked it, recognized the quality and wouldn't even offer $1.00. Nothing for any film camera's. I have contacted the local Jr College that AI think has a photography program to see if I can donate any of it. Waiting for a return call.

What a shame, at least I spent the last 30+ years acquiring S&W's, and they have been worth a lot more.

 

[Rustyt1953]

 

[AJ]

About a dozen years ago my Grandson took a photography class in High School. I gave him a Nikon with lenses from 50 MM to 500 MM with a doubler and a ton of filters. The teacher told him not to bother with a film camera.

 

[Rodan]

I still have a Minolta setup with multiple lenses and autowinder that I took lots of pictures with, up until ~2005 or so.

It's packed away somewhere as I wasn't sure what to do with it, but maybe someday it will be worth more as an antique than it is as a camera...

 

[Onomea]

Yep. A familiar lament.

I suspect at some point quality film cameras will be seen as valuable antiques, but I have no idea as to when that will happen.

 

[Puller]

I still have an Olympus OM-10 with a set of lenses in the case. Was working perfectly when I transitioned to digital in the late 1990's.

I can remember when 35mm film was all the rage and it came in all kinds of flavors and exposures and usages. Alas, you can only find it specialty camera shops and even then they don't carry much, making using a 35mm camera kind of a challenge to sue these days.

Kind of makes me think of ammo shortages and such, all the anti's have to do is control the ammo and ammo components and guns will become obsolete without even initiating gun control.

 

[AJ]

I bought a Velbon Camera tripod in France many moons ago. Now I use it for my spotting scope, when shooting off hand.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Some of the digital cameras use the same lenses as the older film camera. Before you buy a digital, see if there is one that uses you high quality lenses!

BTW, Sony uses the "E" mount. None of my PK/A (Pentax Automatic) lenses will work on our current cameras!

Ivan

 

[NFrameFred]

Loved working in the darkroom. As a poor 20 something I bought bulk B&W film on reels and reloaded it into 35mm spools to afford to shoot all that I wanted to. Spent time composing the shots because, unlike digital, "throw-a-way shots" were costly. If you didn't have a benefactor or a magazine or newspaper to finance your shooting the costs added up. Much like shooting your firearms as much as you want - reload, cast, etc., if you really desire the results . . .

Digital came on much faster than I even predicted when it was first introduced for commercial sale. Suddenly all the small and medium format stuff I had accumulated was worthless . . . a curiosity. I had two Viet Nam era Pentax cameras that took thousands of frames - after their (at the time) "modern" internal light meters went bad or the batteries died, they still took great photos. Even after going to Minoltas and Nikons, the Pentax shooters were never left behind. When I closed down the dark room the Besseler enlarger, the roll print dryer, the cutters, format frames . . all wound up in the dump. No one interested in it even as museum pieces.


Digital has a lot to recommend it - it's what it is. Cost wise comparison it's amazing. People's phones now take better pictures than most people can make use of. But it is sad to see something that required so much dedication, time, money, imagination and specialized skills to create images that were iconic for the time (and will remain so for the foreseeable future) to go so quickly by the wayside and be relegated to 'ancient history'.


The musings of a dinosaur . . . .

 

[AJ]

Some of the digital cameras use the same lenses as the older film camera. Before you buy a digital, see if there is one that uses you high quality lenses!

BTW, Sony uses the "E" mount. None of my PK/A (Pentax Automatic) lenses will work on our current cameras!

Ivan

Two of my old lenses are Tamron's, One is an 80-210 Zoom and the other is a 500. Both used an adaptor to attach to the Nikon. Guess I ought to see if they make an adaptor for fit them to a Cannon.

 

[JohnHL]

Count me in.

In the '70s, I loaded up on Canon equipment (AE-1, lenses, filters, flash, auto-winder, tripod, etc.)

Not as top drawer as most of you, but a decent hunk of change.

I took lots of color slides with the 25 speed film (cars, motorcycles, scenic views, and what vibrant colors!).

I took good care of the stuff.

I've still got it and it's all worthless.

Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

John

 

[Rudi]

They still make film, I was a bit shocked. Got some for my Polaroid.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Also loved working in the darkroom.
Sort of calm, quiet and Serene.
OK. I got the same feelings casting Bullets and Reloading.
But I never was a One Trick Pony!
Need to go into the Garage, find the photo of that Wabash Ferry.
Between Vincennes and Evansville. They used a Motor Boat hooked to the car carrier which swiveled on what appeared to be a Trailer Hitch for Locomotion.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I bet that 500mm lense is a blast. When looking for an adapter don't take No as a final answer! The internet has all kinds listed under a single brand but like Pentax, they fit several.

In the 80's, I spent a fortune developing film as I learned to use filters. I have some really great shots of my kids with "Stars in their eyes!"

Good luck.

Ivan

 

[LVSteve]

I've played with adapters putting old lenses from the film days onto modern digital bodies. I got quite a shock. Even an 8 MP DSLR will show up the flaws in an older, middle market lens.

 

[AJ]

I've played with adapters putting old lenses from the film days onto modern digital bodies. I got quite a shock. Even an 8 MP DSLR will show up the flaws in an older, middle market lens.

Stands to reason that lenses would improve too.

 

[lihpster]

Used to shoot on film, then scan the negatives into the PC. Still have an Olympus OM-1, a Nikon EM and an Old Minolta SRT. Hell, I never used it but I've got a Kodak No.1A Series II. And I could probably get more money from a Cheeto shaped like Abe Lincoln.

 

[eveled]

I have a 35 mm camera my Dad bought from a co worker. The story that goes with it is interesting. The coworker's side gig was team photographer for the Boston Bruins. The camera got smashed by a stray puck. While it was in the shop he bought a new one he liked more and sold the repaired one to my Dad. This was the early 70's Bobby Orr, Derick Sanders, Phil Esposito………..

 

[G-Mac]

At one time, I wrote and submitted race reports to Cycle News and included photographs. I also had photographs published in "Easyriders" and "Biker" magazine. I actually got paid for this! I did this with a fully manual Pentax K1000 35mm camera. I normally used a 70-210mm zoom lens. My camera now is my cell phone.

 

[DWalt]

I once had a darkroom full of high-end equipment and around a dozen big name cameras of all sizes. Nikon, Canon, Rollei, Hasselblad, Zeiss, Leica, and several 4x5 view cameras. When it became obvious that digital was here to stay in the mid-to-late 90s, I stopped using most of it. I had pretty well quit using film completely by the mid-00s, and started selling everything, or at least tried to. Most of the darkroom equipment was either given or thrown away as no one wanted it. I didn't have too much trouble selling my cameras and lenses on eBay and Craigslist, but I didn't get much for them, except for my Leicas and Rolleis, as they still had some value to collectors. I was able to repurpose some of the Nikon film lenses to digital. So my photographic arsenal now consists of two older model digital SLRs (a Nikon D90 and a Panasonic), a Canon pocket size digital point and shoot (which is surprisingly good), and my iPhone and iPad built-in cameras. And of course an older version of Photoshop. And even those are more than I now need. I can see the day not far off that there will be no more dedicated digital cameras sold, at least for amateur use, and all amateur photography will be done with the built-in cameras in cel phones.