My journey with Classic Cameras

[silverscape]

The question that Starvy Goodfellows posted about rangefinder cameras really got me thinking.

 

I think I first joined Photo.net back around April or May of 2007. Back then, I was totally clueless. I didn't

know anything at all about manual focus or exposure. I didn't know what the "aperture" or "shutter speed" meant.

I've always loved taking pictures, ever since I was a kid. And I had a fascination with antique cameras. But I

had NO idea how they worked. Until I started coming here, I pretty much had only used simple point and shoot

35mm and 110 cameras, and digital point and shoot cameras. But I had bought an Argus C3 on eBay and I wanted to

learn more about manual exposure. So I posted a question here. And that's how it all got started.

 

Now, I'm looking back...and good lord I've come a long way. Sometimes I can't even believe everything I've

gotten into in just 3 years. Actually, less than 3 years. I don't even know how it all happened. It happened

so fast. I learned manual exposure (with the Sunny 16 Rule...I didn't even have a light meter yet). Then I

decided I wanted to learn how to develop my own B&W film. Then I set up a darkroom for developing prints. Then

I wanted to try 120 film, so I got my first TLR (a Yashica A). Before all this, I had never in my life even seen

a Twin Lens Relex camera before! Then somewhere, I got the idea that I wanted to try a folding camera, and I got

a Zeiss Ikon Nettar. LOL....before this, I didn't know anything about folding cameras and I used to just call

them "one of the those old accordion cameras."

 

I started collecting more antique cameras. I got a 35mm SLR (again, I had never used one before). Then a couple

more TLR's, and another folding camera. Then I read about vintage Polaroid cameras and I decided I wanted to try

it. I started using instant peel-apart film. I had never even seen those kind of cameras before. The only

Polaroid cameras I knew about was the Polaroid 600 cameras, from the 80's and 90's.

 

Before I knew it, I had an entire closet and bookshelf full of antique cameras.

 

A couple of days ago, I was developing some prints in my darkroom (garage) and it hit me...how in the world did

all this happen? I have a bunch of hobbies, but I don't think I have ever gotten so involved in anything like

this before. 3 years ago (March, 2007) I swear, I had absolutely no idea that I would be doing any of this.

 

It just feels so weird now...I feel like I've been doing this forever now and I look back and I never thought I

would have done all this. I don't even know how it happened. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm definitely

not the total noob I was a few years ago.

 

If there are any other relatively new members here...do you guys sometimes look back and just wonder how you got into all this?

[Farside]

<p>I got back into film simply because of digital being so easy. I'd been shooting film for decades and had a selection of cameras over the years then stopped using cameras at all for about a decade. The digital cameras I bought were great, but when I started looking at using manual lenses on them (which was a natural progression for a skinflint, seeing as how I had several manuals from way back) the bug bit. Before I knew it I was casting around ebug and other sources for all sorts of manual lenses and quickly amassed a collection of stuff I had always wanted, but was far too expensive back in the day.<br>

Moving on from that, the start of a collection of folding cameras was innocuous enough, but a couple of years later it's led on to a dive into large format (5x4), but that's enough for now. Until the next time the bug bites...</p>

[john_robison3]

<p>Similar story for myself, but it all happened 40 years ago! Well, similar in that I went from not knowing much of anything to darkroom work in about a year. I never had a shelf full of classic cameras back then, just two or three favorites. A friend helped with learning darkroom work otherwise the process would have been much more lengthy. My regret now is not keeping my first 35mm SLR, a very nice Miranda G. The G model had interchangeable finders and screens starting my preference even now for plain matte focusing screens. The chance purchase of a used Olympus Pen VF camera back then also started my interest in 35mm half frame. That camera was small, and importantly, flat, so that it would slip in a jacket pocket. It also had full manual control of shutter speed, aperture, and focusing (to 2 feet). I've never been able to quite get around an aversion to any camera without at least the option of full manual control of all exposure and focusing functions. Of course, in the last 10~15 years the internet and that dammed auction site has opened up the opportunity to fill the camera shelf even more, and lighten the wallet! Way back then, in the stone age, it was much easier than today, film wise. When I needed another 100 ft. of Tri-X it was only a short trip down to the loop, $7 for 100 ft. and Kodak snap caps were 10 cents each. There were 6 or 7 real camera stores in downtown Chicago. Wonderful places chock full of every young photographers dreams. Went back to Chicago last year for a visit to the city. It had been 30 years and the city I knew was almost gone. Only one camera store left in the loop, Central Camera. I stopped in and the first person I met was a salesman who had sold me stuff over 30 years ago. He was retiring the very next week. Now, for paper, film, etc it's a call in to Freestyle, the 3~4 wait, and $30 for even their Arista Edu 100 ft bulk, my my, how times have changed.</p>

[gene m]

<p>Digital is sterile.<br>

Film is dirty.<br>

I'm a dirty boy.</p>

<p> </p>

[john_robison3]

<p>By the way Chris, your journey over the last two or three years, and especially your sharing it with the folks on this forum, is a real treat. Good to see a young person so passionate about film and old cameras. Your enthusiasm is infectious. It keeps up my hope that film photography will will not die.</p>

[Rick_van_Nooij]

<p>I recognize some of myself in your story Chris, before 2005 I never used a manual camera at al. My interest in photography didn't start much more then 3 years before that when I purchased an Ixus V2 2.1 MP camera (which is still serving me well for some macro stuff).<br>

But in as I said, in 2005, I bought a Zeiss Ikon Nettar for 30 GBP from a British Re-enactor. I tried to get my head around all these manual settings, and the Seller was a great help providing me with some good settings for a particular film.<br>

From there the hobby grew and grew, And now I've got a display cabinet with 30+ working cameras, most from before 1940. With my Leicas as pride and joy.<br>

I've souped my first film only last year and I'm getting ready to do it more often as the Lab results keep getting worse and worse.<br>

I'll quote a fellow Dutch photographer: "Digital is Fast Food, Film is Haute Cuisine"</p>

[SCL]

<p>Film & digital each have their place, but for really good fun, nothing beats film, manual cameras, a darkroom with all its aromas, and of course the final print! Chris, congratulations on your journey, I made mine many years ago and never regretted a moment of it!</p>

[ken_jeanette1]

<p>As the master of doublespeak once said. Why it's Deja Vu all over again. Enjoyed your story, brought back lots of memories.</p>

[k5083]

<p>Chris, I'm sorry to hear about your spiral into addiction and sorry to hear that we have functioned as enablers. Don't be surprised if a bunch of guys show up at your door yelling "INTERVENTION!" and tie you up and take your cameras away. If you hear them call each other things like "Gene" and "August" those are just code names, they're not really us. Incidentally, which room are the camera closet and bookshelf in?</p>

<p>Although the above stuff about addiction is tongue in cheek, my wife would say it with tongue firmly in center of mouth.</p>

<p>I have been a film guy using mainly 1980s SLRs since before joining PN a few years ago, so the journey back in time has been shorter for me. I do have a fetish for old technology of any sort. It was eye-opening how susceptible I was to certain categories of classics, specifically 120 folders, 1950s-60s SLRs, and Soviet rangefinders. Without waxing too poetic about it, just the visual and tactile satisfaction of using these cameras adds a welcome and affordable source of beauty to my life, almost regardless of whether they make pictures.</p>

<p>But let's be attentive to product as well as process. The toys are nice for their own sake but what has it done for your photography? I can say for one thing that they get me shooting. There's always a camera to test or to exercise; no need for an "occasion" to take pictures. When you go out with a camera to shoot, a lot of good things happen. There are creative possibilities opened up by the capabilities of some of these cameras -- a medium format folder in your pocket, for example, creates opportunities not available with 35mm or digital -- but more often, the creative impact is driven more by the limitations of the cameras. Here's something I want to photograph, but how can I do it within the framework of the camera I have in my bag today, which might happen to have a fixed, slow lens, or no depth of field indication? The result is certainly some pictures missed compared to if I was carrying a modern, sophisticated camera; but others thought of and captured that wouldn't have been if my gear had let me do it the easy way.</p>

 

[bsharpe411]

<p>Great thread! I've been playing in the darkroom for 40 years now, but got away from it for the past 10 or so years. All 3 of my daughters took photography classes in high school and were thrilled to have their very own darkroom at home...no long stays at the school after classes. With the youngest graduated, I also drifted away from the darkroom in particular and photography in general. I still had my trusty Canon Ftb and used it occasionally, but mostly for color prints done commercially.</p>

<p>A few years ago I was given a digital Canon Rebel XTi, and only then realized how much had changed (for the worst) since the FTb days. Since then I've collected all those FD lenses I could never afford years ago; along with about a dozen various FD bodies. I always lusted for a Canon F-1 and now I have 3 of them (various versions).</p>

<p>I admit that occasionally digital has been a benefit and I'm still quite a novice on Photo Shop. That's probably because I first turn out all the lights in the computer room and then place an orange safelight filter over the computer monitor. To complete the mood, I also light a fixer-scented candle. What can I say?...I'm still old-school !</p>

[john carter]

<p>You came to the right place, Photo.Net is an unbelievable knowledge source.</p>

[john_robison3]

<p>Har har Bob, loved the fixer-scented candle idea. When I know I need to get caught up on printing a few negs but don't want to go through the extensive bathroom set up I just grab the bottle of fixer and snort a whiff, gets me in the mood.</p>

 

[doug grosjean]

<p>Chris, I like this post. I've also liked many other posts of yours, because you have a youthful enthusiasm that reminds me of why I got into photography, too.</p>

<p>And now for some fatherly advice that you might take seriously, since I'm not your dad. You're amazed at the things you're doing now, and never dreamed 3 years ago you would be capable of ... Well, I've got good news. You're a bright, creative young man. Keep your mind and eyes and heart open, and you'll constantly be surprised in the future, by the unexpected things you've accomplished in your recent past.</p>

<p>You're on the right path, and while I don't know what that path is, I'm pretty sure it's much bigger than just photography. There's no map where you're going, but you'll figure it out. :)</p>

<p>O, the places you'll go! - Dr. Seuss</p>

[JDMvW]

<blockquote>

<p>Before I knew it, I had an entire closet and bookshelf full of antique cameras.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>It's a slippery slope, for sure. I bought one little third-party zoom for my older Nikons on eBay, then it was so easy that I thought I'd buy a replacement for the old Praktica FX that I had always regretted selling. then.......</p>

<p>And I ain't done yet, alas.</p>

[dlw]

<p>Classic camera's are great. Old TLR's and folders are the stuff dreams are made of, BUT, wait until the LF bug bites you. It's like a whole new wonderful world.</p>

[Mike Gammill]

Fixer-scented candles- LOL

[silverscape]

I had a feeling you guys would relate :)

 

Yeah, I think I do have an addiction with collecting classic cameras. But actually, I just seem to have a fascination with antique stuff in general. I have a collection of old AM vacuum tube radios (they all work) and I even have a record player and a few records that I listen to once in a while. I also have a big collection of vintage 8mm movie cameras:

 

 

That's not even all of them. I took that picture about 2 years ago and I probably have twice as many now. I don't just collect them either, I do actually shoot with 8mm movie film sometimes. And I have a projector :D

 

 

Sometimes I really do think that I was just born in the wrong decade.

 

But getting into photography has definitely opened up another outlet for me. It started off as just a fascination with antique cameras. But when I started to learn about manual exposure and photographic techniques and how I could do so much more with a camera then just aim and click, I really felt like I had a new way to express myself. Or at least the way I wanted to see the world. And yeah, part of the reason why I prefer using film is I just like the whole process of it. I like working with something tangible that you can actually see and hold in your hands. And that you're working with something pure and raw...light and optics forming an image on film and causing a chemical change at the molecular level. The light is literally burning an image onto the film. And it's there forever. I was a kid in the 90's, and I grew up with film. But I never really had a clear understanding of how it all worked until now. I feel like I've learned so much from it in the past few years...about light, about chemicals, about optics. Everything.

[doug grosjean]

<p>Chris, you weren't born in the wrong decade. Had you been born earlier, you probably couldn't have afforded all these cool film cameras! Man, nobody had movie cameras when I was a kid. Yeah, they existed. But nobody in my family / social circles had them.</p>

[Lou_Meluso]

<p>What's really weird is finding out cameras I bought new back in the day, and paid dearly for, are now considered vintage, and cost next to nothing. Very weird.<br>

It's refreshing to hear of your continued interest with photography, Chris. You are right, it is a wonderful way to express yourself and serve as a way to preserve frozen moments that later will be cherished memories. If you keep your curiosity and sense of wonder alive you will find that you will use cameras as an excuse for looking deeply at life around you. You will begin to see the world with a richness and clarity that others often miss. Keep taking those cameras off the shelf and burn those images forever into that emulsion and your efforts will fill your heart with joy. The joy of the beauty in life. The joy of connecting with others. The joy of creating something that is uniquely you. That is the real power of photography.</p>

[silverscape]

Wow...this is getting into some very deep philosophical stuff. Interesting discussion :)

 

You guys are definitely right though. Since I've gotten into this, not only have I learned so much about traditional photography, but I do feel like it has actually made me slow down and see things that I never really paid attention to before. For example, since I got interested in landscape photography and learned when was the best time of day to take pictures outdoors, I started seeing things differently. Even when I wasn't taking pictures. I began to notice how the light changes throughout the day, and how golden and vibrant everything looks at sunset. While just going about my day and hanging out with friends, I would look at ordinary and mundane things and see how the light hits it from a certain angle and how certain colors pop when the afternoon sun hits them. It's also made me look at people more and just certain things they do and I can compare them to old pictures I've seen and it makes you realize that there are certain things about people that just don't change over time. Like when one of my contacts on Flickr posted a B&W picture of him with his son and it reminded me of a photo I developed from a glass plate negative I got on eBay. It was the same kind of picture, a family posed in front of their house. There was something so timeless about it.

 

As far as classic cameras go...yeah, I'm definitely hooked. I can seriously foresee myself getting a large format camera sometime in the near future. Next I want to try infrared film. Then learn how to develop my own color film, and learn how to make color optical prints. I really feel like now there's nothing to stop me...well, except money of course!

 

Doug, you might be right...if I had gotten into all this before, I probably wouldn't have been able to afford all these awesome film cameras. I'm amazed at how cheap I got some of them. Although vintage film cameras are starting to sell for higher!

[tony_lockerbie]

<p>Always very gratifying to see someone discover the joys of traditional photography. It takes a dedicated few to keep the fires of silver halide photography burning.<br>

Keep up the good work, and we look forward to following your progress.</p>

[k5083]

<p><em>Sometimes I really do think that I was just born in the wrong decade.</em></p>

<p>You might have felt that way no matter what decade you were born in. You could just be a born nostalgist. If you had been born in the 1950s, maybe you would be fascinated by turn-of-the-century hardware. If you were to have been born in 2050, maybe you would be fascinated by the EOS 5D. </p>

<p>Well, okay, maybe not.</p>

 

[JDMvW]

<p>Nostalgia is a powerful force. Witness the eastern Germans who have "ostalgia" and fond memories of the old DDR. Ukraine just elected a back-to-the-USSR government. So it's clear that one can be nostalgic about almost anything at all. I have a younger friend who is actually nostalgic about the music of the 1980s!</p>

<p>In my case the urge to acquire is not only to replace the cameras that I got rid of and now regret (a Pentax H2), but also the cameras I couldn't afford back then or wouldn't have bought considering the cost (e.g., a Pentacon Super).</p>

[bsharpe411]

<p>Chris...I wish you the best of luck and enjoyment as you venture into larger formats and advanced darkroom. One caution I would offer you in venturing into color negative printing. The process is very rewarding when you can finally emerge from the darkness with that perfect color print. Just understand that there are many more variables in play when doing color...as opposed to black & white.</p>

<p>Trying to convince yourself that a print that is too yellow means that you must <strong>add</strong> more yellow filtration, takes some getting use to. Also, in evaluating an off-color print, you must decide if the print is either too blue...meaning add more blue...which you can't do (no blue filters), but instead add more cyan and magenta. Now, you never want to have all 3 subtractive colors (cyan, magenta, and yellow) in the pack at one time and the typical pack usually has magenta and yellow in it, so instead of adding say 20 cyan you subtract 20 yellow (opposite of cyan).</p>

<p>Now, if that's not confusing enough...suppose that print is really too cyan...<strong>not</strong> blue (it's tough to tell them apart). You need to add more cyan, which you have, but again you never want to have all 3 colors at the same time and you already have yellow and magenta in the filter drawer. So instead of adding cyan, you subtract equal amounts of yellow and magenta (the complement of cyan).</p>

<p>Finally add to this the fact that every change in amount of filtration also changes the needed exposure time and/or f-stop. I found that shooting a close-up of a 18% gray card near an evenly-lit person's face the best bet for calibration. If the gray card comes out gray, then the person's face should also come out perfect.</p>

<p>OK Chris...I probably scared the hell out you with all this to digest; however, you're doing it not to save money on processing (that'll never happen considering your time as money) but instead to understand what goes into the making of the perfect color print. Once you overcome the first hurdle of making gross mistakes, you'll begin to fine tune your work and gradually improve it. The most important thing is to keep notes on what you did and compare changes you made to the changes in the final print. Equipment like variable dichoric heads on the enlarger make it a lot easier than handling a large pack of individual filters by hand. A color analyzer also can be programmed to remember that perfect filter setting and also determine proper exposure. I used a Beseler Color Analyzer and got good results. But out of the box, that analyzer is dumb as dirt. It'll be your job to do what I originally described to get it programmed properly.</p>

<p>Finally!! After all this is done, those settings remain the same as long as the color-related variables...film type, paper type, chemistry, and color temperature (daylight, tungsten, electronic flash, etc) remain the same. All that is left is exposure, which at this point should be simple. A final suggestion is to use a processing drum, rather than trays, for development. The chemistry is one-shot, which eliminates that variable, and you can do this part in daylight, which avoids the slop of working in total darkness.</p>

<p>Is all this worth it? For a person with a keen interest in the art/science of photography like you...I say YES!</p>

[bsharpe411]

<p> duplicate</p>