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Cameras with data imprinting?


thomas_butler1

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<p>My parents had a camera in the 90s that would imprint the date or time that the picture was taken onto the negative. Looking back at old pictures, I found that this was incredibly useful. I know that the Nikon F6 has this feature but it's too expensive for me. Does anyone know of a film camera that is less than $500 and still has this feature? Thanks.</p>
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<p>Some Minolta AF cameras from the 1980s onwards had optional Databacks that did this function. Not all of them can handle dates very far in to the 21st century though. If you're prepared to forego recording year information then there would be no problem, I guess.</p>

<p>I would imagine camera and back should come well within budget for many of these cameras.</p>

<p>Some later cameras also recorded date and exposure information on memory cards, but this information would not necessarily find its way on to the negative and so would need to be recorded and stored separately.</p>

<p>The mhohner.de site is a great resource for these cameras, and databacks are covered <a href="http://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/camera_acc.php#backs">here</a>.</p>

<p> </p>

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<p>The Command back 90 for the Canon T90 provides dates thru 2029. It is a great film camera....you can usually get one for around $100 plus whatever lenses you want extra. If you already have Nikon gear, I'd opt for the F4 + data back mentioned above, another great camera (I have both the F4 and T90 but no data backs).</p>
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<p>If you are in Nikonland, it's hard to not also like a Nikon N90s with the MF-26 data back. Easily found on Ebay for anywhere from $25 to $100+ for the pair, depending on condition and desires. (from scanning completed auctions)</p>

<p>I have an F4 with the MF-22 and the MF-23 data back and an N90s with its MF-26 databack. While the F4 is certainly built well, it is older and a bit larger. The F4 was made from 1988-1997 and the N90s was made from 1994-2001. The N90s' layout is distantly reminiscent of Nikon's DSLR. Both the F4 and the N90s have their pros & cons and are loved/hated by many. The MF-23 is the only back I have to nearly always refer to the user manual to program, it hurts my old brain.</p>

<p>Just another opinion ...</p>

<p>Jim</p>

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<p>If you want to spend really little money, the Nikon F65/N65 had a twin with date imprint function, the F65D/N65QD. Similarly, I believe there is a model of the Canon EOS 300 (if I'm not mistaken EOS300QD).<br>

Looking at eBay, there are some F65D/N65QD, and with your budget you can get plenty of them. I admit, nowhere near as nice a camera as the higher-end models mentioned so far, but if budget is a prime consideration, they might be worth to consider. </p>

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<p>If you don't need an SLR, data imprint was a common feature on point and shoot cameras from the 1980s up through as long as they made film P&S cameras.<br /><br />A date stamp is certainly useful for identifying the date of old pictures. But IMHO it ruined many otherwise good photos. Nothing I would ever want in any serious photo. <br /><br /></p>
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<p>One of Nikon's backs for the F5 imprinted the data on the edge of the film, not within the actual frame. MF-28, perhaps? It's been a long time since I've thought about this stuff.</p>

<p>An F5 body can be had for under $500 and a quick look at eBay suggests an MF-28 would make the package roughly US$500 total.</p>

<p>I bought an F5 from KEH in 2004 for $1,000 and didn't mind one bit, considering that it was $2,800 new during much of its run.</p>

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<p>Many pentax autofocus SLR models had optional (but common in used market) backs that could imprint the date. Many used examples of the more recent ZX/MZ series models have this option pre-installed. The feature was called "quartz date".<br>

The Pentax MZ-S (a bit on the pricey side but nowhere near the cost of F6) has this built-in, prints shooting mode, shutter speed, aperture, metering mode, exposure comp, ISO, etc outside of the image area (between sprocket holes). I suspect this is similar to F6. A post on this <a href="/black-and-white-photo-film-processing-forum/00VJ9r">here</a>. I cannot recall whether it is possible for date/time to be captured between sprocket holes though. Pentax 645N and Nii medium format cameras could do this as well.<br>

<br />There are also many compact non-SLR cameras from Pentax and other brands that could print dates into the image as well. </p>

<p>I believe there was an optional data back for some Contax SLR models like the Aria as well.</p>

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