david_mason1

If you are leaning toward a Leica, also consider a Soviet FED or Zorki. There are numerous models. Zorkis certainly have their fans, but I happen to like FED 3s and 5s due to improvements over the Leica II/III series such as lever wind, removeable backs (no leader trimming), geometric shutter speeds 1-1/500+B and integrated viewfinder/rangefinder. The FED3 is quite aesthetically pleasing in its own right, if no Leica clone. The FED5 is unquestionably uglier but adds a hot shoe, rewind crank and sometimes an uncoupled selenium meter.

 

The Industar I-61 is usually an excellent normal lens, and its L/D variant is incrementally better. If you want something pocketable, bid on a collapsable Industar-10 or -22 which are Elmar clones.

 

Of course Soviet quality control had its good and bad days. The trick is to buy from a reliable dealer over there who tests, CLAs and guarantees, some of whom charge standard EBay prices, probably around $50 with shipping. Visit the Russian camera forum at www.beststuff.com for suggestions on good and bad dealers. With only a little luck you will end up with an excellent camera (if not quite a Leica) that you won't hesitate to take anywhere and everywhere.

Digital and film P&S cameras probably have the same longevity. Ditto SLRs whether digital or contemporary highly automated film type. None of the above are really repairable.

 

Provided I could afford it, I would actually be inclined to go with digital. Whatever the present shortcomings, it's the way of the future. Imagine where you would be today if you had asked the analogous question about recorded music ten years ago and had gone with analog? Chances are you would be regretting it.

The Soviet Union may not have been the workers' paradise it set out to be, but it was almost a photographers' paradise provided one had a certain sense of humor.

 

LOMO used to make the Smena 35, a thermo-plastic body with glass triplet 40mm f4 lens, scale focusing, and manual apertures and shutter speeds B, 1/15-1/250. It has a hot shoe and tripod socket. Since it has separate film advance and shutter-cocking it is very unfortunate that there is no provision for cable release which would have made it perfect for multiple exposures.

 

This Smena is extremely small and light, and even arrives with a nice fabric belt case. Freestyle used to sell them for about $12, but unfortunately ran out. You can still find them on EBay, although shipping from the ex-USSR will about double the cost. I carry one with a pocket-size flash when I don't want to be bothered with a serious rig

 

Other Smena models generally come with metal construction and "neverready" cases. It may seem like more for your money, but it is overkill that defeats the idea of a camera you can take along casually and not shed too many tears if you lose or break it.

Some kind of Kodak Brownie for Christmas when I was eight or nine. That didn't take, but I got an Aires Viscount when I was 16 -- decent Japanese RF -- and put serious miles on it all the way through college, then I lost it hitchiking. I also picked up an old Korona 4x5 kit in college that had everything except a tripod, then somebody gave me an antique wooden movie cam tripod that weighed at least 20 pounds but otherwise perfect for the job.

I'm interested in using C41 process chromogenic B&W film such as Ilford XP2 and Kodak 400CN as a means to quick & dirty immersion in B&W photgraphy. Would like to identify inexpensive labs where I can get reasonable prints. Apparently it boils down to finding a lab that pays attention to detail in general (cleanliness, proper chemicals), then finding an operator who knows how or is willing to learn how to produce decent b&w prints. Probably you can't make blanket statements like "avoid Costco", instead "try the Costco at such and such location & have so-and-so do your prints." I wonder if there are enough folks out there shooting chromogenic B&W films to start a thread on cheap & good photofinishers to cherish and cheap and horrible ones to avoid.