Any still use their old Nikon Film Cameras

<p>Opps I forgot to include my N 90s I am shooting slide film in that one</p>

<p>I still use an N90s to shoot some of my minister wife's "low budget" weddings (with a 24-200 Tokina lens). However, I just recently dug my first Nikon out of it's "hiding place," an FE2 that I bought new back in '84, and loaded a roll of Fujicolor 200 in it. With the lens I first used on it, a 35-70 Nikkor, I shot that whole 36-exp. roll in my backyard - orchids (I'm in Maui), our three cats and the small waterfall that empties into a stream that runs behind my house. Doing that brought back a lot of fond memories, and it was good therapy, too. Aloha!</p>

<p>I absolutely love film. About 98% of my professional work is done via film. Absolutely all of my personal work is done via film. My main carry around camera is an N90 you just can't beat an old expired roll of T-max! (I'm sure fresh of course will beat it haha)<br>

Here is a picture I took last month while on vacation in Seaside, Florida. N90, 50mm f1.8 AF, T-Max 400: </p><div></div>

<p>I still use F75, but unfortunately its battery cap broken about a year ago and recently broken its mode dial too, I can live without battery cap by putting some adhesive tap after putting battery into it but its impossible to live without mode dial because now I can only shoot in auto mode and don't control over other things like aperture, shtter speed, EV etc.</p>

<p>Now its time to get a Nikon D5100 along with kit 18-55 AF-s and try find someone who can fix my old film SLR to make it usable again.</p>

<p>I still use F75, but unfortunately its battery cap broken about a year ago and recently broken its mode dial too, I can live without battery cap by putting some adhesive tap after putting battery into it but its impossible to live without mode dial because now I can only shoot in auto mode and don't control over other things like aperture, shtter speed, EV etc.</p>

<p>Now its time to get a Nikon D5100 along with kit 18-55 AF-s and try find someone who can fix my old film SLR to make it usable again.</p><div></div>

<p>All I can say is if going out with film an the old nikon leave the digital at home.Once your film is scanned and put on a disk its all digital anyway.Unless you do the old school wet darkroom in which I'm glad I know how to do.</p>

<p>I loved my old FE2 wth MD-12 drive, had two, but eyesight forced me to trade for the F100 and AF lenses for work, got two, and I finally got rid of the two of those to get the D700, my first, and probably last digital SLR, unless I go for two.</p>

<p>I still have one of the FE2 bodies and MD-12 (never liked to shoot the FE2 without it—much greater stability and grip), and a few FE bodies, one broken, and an FM, all of which I'm going to sell, and a lot of manual AIS lenses I still prefer to use for my own shooting on the D700 (35 f/1.4, 50mm f/1.4, 105 f/1.8, 135 f/2.8), and I'll often use my AF lenses in manual on the D700, for my own, slow-paced shooting.</p>

<p>I don't shoot film in 35 anymore, only in medium format with the Pentax 645, which I love, since it handles like a 35 SLR, and its lenses are really spectacular, great negatives or slides from them. You want to make the slides into some kind of lighted lamp they're so beautiful.</p>

<p>I'll never afford a MF digital, and I doubt they can match, certainly not supercede MF film's latitude anyway, despite that the MF digitals have met MF film's resolution. I have two 645 systems, but will be getting rid of one of them, as well. Then it will be just the D700 and a 645... and a lot of lenses.</p>

 

<p>For a challenge and a real photographic experience, time to time I pick up my Nikon F, no metering finder, or a Nikkormat Ftn, or any of my many Nikon film bodies, very rarely my beloved F5, or, the inherited couple of Olympus OM-1 and OM-2's with a roll of Velvia or mostly Tmax film. Then drop to develop them, and then I'm scanning them. <br>

Nostalgia, nostalgia? . . . With the Digital's, D40, D300, D700 to easy the technical part. It is a pleasure to operate and set you camera at site, then have to wait to see how well you learned, and how good you are in a real photography. It is a pleasure to control the machine and everything. Even winding up the shutter/advance the film, is a pleasure for me, having or not having a motor drive on the body, I'm using it for a better grab and weight only.<br>

The artistic part are the same. Developing & processing? Instead siting in a wet darkroom, now I steering on the monitor, much longer time, then I used to be in the darkroom. And! . . I have to upgrade my computer every so often, witch cost more then the darkroom was.</p>

<p>I use my old Nikon FA with the big autowinder whenever I can. It's been six months since I put a roll of black and white through it. I couldn't believe the power of the pictures I took with it. I need to work more with black and white. There is something so special about using a classic manual camera with black and white film.......it fits so well together, although some of my best photos have come from the FA using Porta160 VC.</p>

<p>Since they were so cheap I got an N75, N80, and N90 too. I mainly use color in those cameras. I pretty much settled in on the N75 for now. It is so light wieght and can use G lenses if I want. I laugh all the time when I use it. It's that much fun for me to use.</p>

<p>Bob E.</p>

<p>I shoot B&W with my F3HP and bag of primes all the time, for personal and paid work. The bag also includes an F2 as a backup and/or colour body. The F3 has to be my favourite camera of all time, and using it is pure joy! I shoot mostly candid portraits and I have a 105mm F/2.5 AI almost permanently bolted to the F3; it's a superb combination!</p>

<p>Still have and use my FTn, purchased new on R&R in 1968. I just finished 2 rolls of TMax 400 and am going out today with a roll of Velvia.<br>

Also have an 8008 that gets used less, but still used.<br>

Note on the FTn -- I use the silver oxide hearing aid batteries and find the horror stories about short life, etc. to be a little over exaggerated. I can use the meter without correction.</p>

 

<p>Film & Film Cameras <br>

<strong>A case for conventional film process and cameras</strong><br>

Digital anyone? SURE you bet! Convenience, instant results and superb image quality gain popular acceptance. New film cameras are nearly non-existent. Film is going the way of the horse & buggy. Now is the time to take a practical evaluation and seek to preserve the process.<br>

Let’s start by stating a simple truism … less is more. More widgets and exotic features, more things to go awry. I have film cameras that are fully operational from the 1940s, 50s & 60s. Try to convince me, the plastic bodied, all electronic Super Pixel SPII will be a working tool in even a third of that time. Simple truth … a large percent of electronics support peters out in 5 years or less.<br>

Then there is the economics, high mega-pixel cameras cost in the thousands of dollars. With film being ignored by the masses, you can purchase a pre-owned pro-oriented film camera for a few hundred dollars. Go on the internet and check out the availability and abundance of truly fine precision machinery, for yourself.<br>

KEH Camera "A great source for pre-owned cameras / Nikon F to F4, some with warranty … $350.00 or thereabouts<br>

Rolleiflex & Mamiya TLRs … $250.00<br>

4 x 5 Large format … $250 and up … even a premier brand Linhof<br>

Heck, savor the elegance of an old Kodak’s made in West Germany in the 50s and 60s or the solid feel and panache of a legendary LEICA.<br>

With the proliferation of all electronic cameras the availability of certain batteries, particularly propriety single model designs can be uncertain, obsolete batteries are death your older equipment.<br>

With electronics come rapid innovation and the likelihood in time, the storage media may not be supported. Consider 8 tracks, reel to reel tapes, VHS, BETA and conventional recordings 45s & 78s to name a few examples. The earliest photos date from the first quarter of the 19^th century, will the digital image of Granddad even exist?<br>

Film still has greater bang for the buck, superb resolution, greater latitude and a depth rarely reached via the digital process. Film has permanence that does not change with technology advances; a photo of Lincoln is as viable today as it was 150 years back. How much history will be lost as the technology for some digital images can no longer be supported?<br>

Early motion pictures are the classic preservation of our past; the likes of Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin would be a vague memory. Film images and digital scans, while not identical to full digital, they do allow some of the convenience of digital manipulation and allow the processes to co-exist.<br>

Dust off that old reliable Canon, Nikon and Leica and run a few rolls of Kodak and Fuji and savor this old magical process.<br>

KEEP FILM ALIVE …<br>

Ray Shine</p>

<p>I think the Leica film RFs are cheaper than some yrs ago :) But the lenses are too dear.</p>

<p>I am wanting to get a N75, so light and it does G lenses and has aperture preview button. What more to ask for? Takes wireless remote and I think it even has a spot meter. No manual ISO but that is fine. I don't push process film, I just use slow film.</p>

<p>I have been toying the idea of a D3100 but it just doesn't feel the same with the rear LCD and all that and it is just not film. I have some cheap film in the freezer when I imported my film from the states, they are cheaper that way. Fuji and Kodak consumer 100 neg film. I thought that if I use my improved skills now and try to shoot some of the best quality consumer film and see how I go, hah. I wanted to use a Canon EOS 88, the Asian version. But the battery is expensive to replace. But it is so small at 330g, largish spot meter and multi segment meter, manual ISO but no aperture preview button (don't need that) and it's full frame. 52mm filter thread zoom lens. Could even add in a fast prime and for personal photog, what more do I need?</p>

<p>I should go out today and finish my 4 shots of Provia on my F100 and then ship the 6 rolls to Dwyannes. The other 5 rolls been in the freezer since NYR. With the Chilean volcano might get some nice colors. Then I have 20 shots left of Fuji ProS then I might play with Fuji/Kodak cheap 100 neg film. And see if I really do need pro film or not or if they are somewhat close.</p>

<p>Even thought about getting a CR123 or CR2 rechargeable batteries just to keep it going. I do find the F100 somewhat a bit heavy for personal use. For personal use I don't need build, weather sealing or fast sport mode.</p>

<p>Next shipment might just be 1x pro pack of 135 Velvia 50 and 2x pro pack of 120 Velvia 50 and maybe just 1 roll of Ektar 100 just to see what it does.</p>

<p>Nikon F4 with three Nikkor lenses. Fuji Velvia 50 and Provia 100. Epson V500 scanner. Am still very much a student, but am learning how to shoot, how to scan, how to resize for web and for print. It is a fun trip - with some success in getting good results along the way to keep me going. </p>

<p>better get in, i have bought more film in the last year than ever! started in a darkroom in 1965, just getting back into it, developed nas, fun. just learning about color films, do have nikon dslr, nice but enjoy film more.</p>

<p>For all my important shoots I still use my Nikon F4s, and my Bronica ETRSi, loaded with Velvia or Provia. My D300 is the camera that's sits in the cupboard most of the time.<br>

Might be time to off load the D300 for a Fuji X100, might use the fuji more for travel. Then again a nice Nikon Fm3a might be the go.</p>

<p>F100 still gets used here. I still don't have a DSLR with as good a viewfinder as the F100 (but then I don't own a D700.)</p>

<p>Believe me, if I didn't make back money with it, I wouldn't own a D700 either, no matter how great it is. I never afforded the top-line film cameras either, after the FTn, keeping my original FTn until the FE2 came out, and then settling for pairs of FE2 and then trade up to AF with the pair of F100 bodies until the D700 came along, and I'll probably just get another after its replacement comes out and the prices fall further.</p>

<p>Great shots of the city! I still shoot with my Nikon Ftn. Same old tank keeps on clicking. I am now diving into developing film & prints at home. This gives me a immersion in the total creative process...<br>

I did look at the new Nikon digitals last winter. They are all very nice and full of gadgets, but I'm not into gadgets. I use a smart phone, an mp3 player and work on a laptop all week. Though the gadgets are attractive, they are also addictive for me. Deep down I am in love with vintage stuff. Old sax, old bicycle, old camera and now old enlarger...</p>

<p>The only way film makes sense to me is medium format. You get the kind of resolution and latitude you have to pay at least $8K for in medium-format digital. I own three Pentax 645 bodies (they really do handle like an SLR) with doubles of the range of lenses. I used to use them for weddings, one with the tele and the other with the wide, and a third for when the job needed a second shooter. Now I don't do weds any more and only occasionally use the one, and I'm looking to sell the other two, can supply complete outfits, mint shape. The slides are gorgeous. Could make a cool lamp-shade with them if I worked in wood frame.</p>