FD and the Recession

[ed_lutz]

<p>I've been into the FD line since high school when my dad listened to my suggestion and got his A1. Between then and now I've been shooting nothing but FD and had my system built up long before the current recession. <br>

I have though been using the low cost of used film gear to allow me to put together the medium format system I've been wanting. I'm now the happy owner of a rather complete collection of RB67 gear which cost less than what one lens would have cost in the not too distant past. I did though also recently get a Nikon F4S and a couple of lenses, just because they were so cheap. Now though after putting a few rolls though it I have come to the conclusion that its not something I want and its going back up for sale. Its not a bad camera, but its heavy and I find the meter is easier to fool than the meters in my T90s. I like the FD system and more importantly I'm used to the FD system. My T90s feel like an extension of my body, my A1 and F1 are almost as natural to use and they all take wonderful pictures.</p>

[alexander_ghaffari]

<p>I do not like autofocus, so why bother paying for it? Also, I enjoy manual modes (AT-1 rocks).</p>

[jodys]

<p>I switched to EF then digital in the last 10 years, before going back to FD when I started up my darkroom again. I now use my digital body pretty much as a replacement for a polaroid back on my FD gear, using a $30 adaptor off eBay (I use a lot of flashes set on manual, with improvised soft boxes and reflectors). But I had a good reason for keeping my FD stuff around, I have the 800mm 5.6 L lens and there's no way I could afford to replace that with a newer EF lens.<br>

On the plus side, when I'm going for impossible shots, I can use the 800mm with a 2x 'A' teleconverter and a digital body with no noticeable drop in quality for shots posted on the web. That works out to the equivalent of a 2667mm lens which I can use at the faster speeds of the digital EOS bodies. Since most nature shots are taken within a working distance of 40' or so (if you want anything good), I just take out the glass in the EOS-FD adaptor and sacrifice focus to infinity (with a net gain of 10' or so in close focussing). Since the 800mm focusses a little past infinity, I get a pretty good working range.</p>