I suspect that, if you leave it in the full-auto modes, it will be too similar to modern digital SLRs, so the technological limitations and poor interface designs of old A/F cameras will stand out more. If you also think that might be true, try turning as much of the assistance off as you can... full manual, if the camera will let you.

It's often better to make things very different than superficially the same.

--Shannon

Mom was an avid amateur photog, made her own darkroom in one of the bathrooms (which I also used) and she was a devoted Minolta fan.
But Dad was devoted to Nikon and I was gifted his 'extra' Nikkormat FTN body (and bought one lens) when in High School. Later inherited all his Nikor lenses and accessories but any other bodies apparently were sold off.
Still have the Nikon stuff; Mom sold away all her Minolta gear and the darkroom equipment years ago.
I had a large collection of antique-to-modern photo gear but only kept a few 'gems' after my own "purge" a few years ago:
A Rolleiflex
My GrandDad's Kodak folding "Pocket" camera (it's huge! pockets were very big BITD!)
an Alpa (Swiss 35mm) with a couple good German lenses...stuff like that

I finally got aligned with the guy with the Yashica Minister III. Even better he was willing to drive, saving me a BART trip to Castro Valley. We met in the McDonalds near where I live, and made like a we were doin' a drug deal. When I got it home and took the case off, (the better to fondle you, my dear,) I discovered that I had purchased not a Yashica Minister III, but a Yashica 35 Model M. This was a little higher-line than the Ministers, so Yashica didn't use the name for it.


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Everything seems to work, the selenium-cell meter matches the reading from my cell phone app, and I'm good to go to shoot a test roll of Tri-X, right?

Wrong. I can't figure out how to get the cartridge into it's well. The bottom of the "spindle" hangs up no matter what I do. Oh, well, I'm in touch with the dude I bought it from, (check his work out here.) I'll figure it out.

And, I think, with a manual SLR, a rangefinder, my mom's Olympus TL-1 (Mju in a pleather case), and my step-grandfathers autofocus Minolta, I'm pretty well set for 35mm kit for the foreseeable future.

Now to spend money on film!

Which I'm already doing... I just ordered one each of the four different ISO 400 B&W films from Film Photography Project. I'm especially looking forward to their "Mummy" film, since their "monster movie" stuff was what first caught my attention. I just thought it was a neat idea, and wanted to try it out.

--Shannon

(Oh, and bicycles. Always to spend money on bicycles.)

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Looks like there are several kindred spirits here. I think I still own every piece of photo equipment I’ve had since high school. Here are a few of my favorites. I originally used Canon gear but switched to Nikon after I attended a camera show in the 70s where the Nikon rep claimed that while Canon built great gear for great photographers, Nikon gear was designed for gorillas. He set about proving his point by inflicting all manner of torture and abuse on his demo cameras (pro tip: never buy a show demo anything). I made the switch to Nikon but sometimes regretted it. I’d still like to match a Canon rangefinder with the juicy old 50mm f0.95 lens.

The first generation “Nikonos”, following the original Jacques Cousteau “Calypso” underwater camera, is a tank and can take a beating. Heavy as a brick, no meter, and not at all user friendly but after setting the exposure and focus, it can be operated (using the unique shutter release and film advance mechanism) with one hand even if wearing a glove. Decent results and considering what was available in the 70s, it was my choice to take skiing, biking, kayaking, and rock climbing - the kids with GoPros have no idea of how fortunate they are.

I still can’t part with my FM2 (full manual) and FE2 (manual with aperture priority option) cameras hoping to dig back into film once I finally retire. They are simple and reliable in most weather conditions. The shutters are smooth with speeds up to 1/4000th and can still shoot without battery power. The 58mm f1.2 Noct and 85mm f1.4 lenses are gems and yield beautiful imaging on my D850. I have quite a bit of nice legacy Nikon glass but it’s kind of a crap shoot finding what supports 45MP.

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An update on the Yashica M:

With the help of Funky Gene and a video he recorded about this camera, I was able to get the film into the camera. It just took more force than I'd been comfortable with applying to a 65-year-old camera that I know nothing about.

And then another problem reared its ugly head. About 5 frames (plus a couple-three wind-in frames) into a new roll of Tri-X, the film jumped the tracks and jammed the advance. I tried to save the rest of the roll, by pulling the exposed film out of the takeup spool and winding it back into the cartridge. Which seemed to work, but the film did the same thing at about the same place, maybe a couple of frames further in.

I was puzzled. But then I realized that the rewind crank, which on this camera is weirdly on the bottom, had not been locked beck into its recess. This would leave the rewind spindle connected to the crank... which can't be conducive to proper film advancement, neh?

So I popped in the roll of expired-in-2010 Kodak UltraMax 400 that dude gave me, and we'll see how it goes. (In retrospect, I should have used it first, but I didn't want to use 15 year old color film as a test roll for the camera. That was an 11 dollar mistake... If you get a free roll of film with an old camera, use it first.

--Shannon

Your film misadventure made me think of a feature of Exakta cameras, the built-in film cutter.
You unscrew a small knob on the bottom and pull down a sharp hook to separate the exposed film from the cartridge.
Done in the darkroom, you could start development on a partial roll, while quickly re-threading the rest of the roll.
New users often discovered it when wondering , "What's this?".
Made for a MUCH MORE frugal world.

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Hah-hah! I remember that Exakta "film cutter feature" ^ and I did Exaktly the same thing which was a baffling wake-up when it happened. Then had to ask my Dad to explain this weird German contraption. (it was his but he was letting me "play" with it).

He handed me the user's manual...no fun at all!

;)

The instructions were auf Deutsch, ja?

In further support of the "the rewind lever was the problem" theory, I'm now about 1/3d of the way through the roll. One hopes that my sacrifice of one roll of Tri-X will prove to be sufficient propitiation for the Camera Gods, and they'll let me play with, and learn from, this neat old Japanese rangefinder.

The exposure system is already causing some learnin' to happen. It's not TTL, so composition and exposure setting are orthogonal to each other. I've never used an exposure value system before. It's different, kind of like the difference between mens' and womens' pants sizing. The shutter speed and f-stop are oddly linked, through a "Shutter Speed Control Ring" that links the two, advancing one while simultaneously reducing the other so as to keep the same EV. As the name suggests, the idea was that the photographer would use this to set the shutter speed for motion or whatever, and the aperture would change in response. Sort of a primitive shutter priority system, but all mechanical. And, as if all that weren't weird enough, the "Shutter Speed Control Ring" hath not detents... it's continuous.

All this combines to make me think about exposure in a different way.

--Shannon

And yet more learning-by-screwup. And again with the film advance & rewind mechanism.

On this camera, unlike any other that I've had, if you advance the film to the very end, instead of just stopping the lever travel and making an unpleasant noise, with this camera, the first warning you get is your last: the spockets strip out of the holes in the film, and the whole system jams. Including the rewind lever.

So I'll have to take it to my photo developing place to have them extract the film in a darkroom. Oh, well... the film was free, and it expired 15 years ago. If it's trash, it's trash.

But it seems that I was right about the previous sprocket-stripping problem. At least this time, it got to the very end of the roll before it jammed. And I think I know what I did wrong this time, too. On this camera, you have to set the film counter at "1" manually, after you load the film. What I had done was to do what I do on my SLRs, and taken a few throw-away lead-in shots while making sure the film was seated and spooling correctly. Then I set the counter. And so, when I looked at the camera, and the film counter read "31," I thought I had a few more shots to go.

I was wrong.

--Shannon

I rarely rely on the frame counter to give me an accurate read on how many frames are left, instead relying on the force of the wind lever/knob to indicate I am at the end of the roll.
Being conscious of this has helped me out of the situation described
Best, Ben

Yeah, that'll be SOP going forward, as well as a recalibration of my thinking... not more eking out 38 shots on a 36 roll! With this camera, 36 means 36. And that means it's true for all my cameras from now on. It's really dangerous to me to have two ways to do the same job in two similar-but-different contexts, because I will inevitably use the wrong process in the wrong context, thereby screwing up both the film and the camera. YMMV.

--Shannon

Nikon F and F2 had stepless mechanical shutter speeds between 1/125 and 1/2000 sec. The detents were there, but anywhere in the green numeral range could be set to perfectly align the match needle TTL system.

Working in the dark-room, and trying to learn the zone system will give a further appreciation of the EV system.

-D.S.

No pic of my cameras, I'm afraid, all deep in storage, I need to sell off all of that. Nikon F ftn photomic with tons of non-AI lenses, including perspective control. Fairly complete collection of Polaroid cameras, including first SX-70 in metal and leather, and original crinkle finish bellows Polaroids that used roll instant film. Several dozen box cameras.

Zone focusing might be a useful thing for me to learn. And if it is, this would be a great camera for to learn it. No TTL view and focus, and the rangefinding patch in the viewfinder is pretty hard to see, what with my glasses and poor vision and all.

--Shannon

Further to the Saga of the Yashica Model M, I took it down to the wonderful humans at Photolab in Berkeley, who took it into the darkroom and extracted the film from the camera. They were even going to hand it back to me in a light-safe canister, instead of the milky-clear one that Kodak, in their infinite wisdom, had used. All at no charge.

Like I said, wonderful humans.

But, since I don't darkroom and I was going to have them develop it anyway, I just did that. We'll see what well-stored but 10-years-expired color film does in a 65-year-old camera that I paid 50 bucks for.

Bonus, the lovely humans at Photolab really liked my camera.

--Shannon

Sooo...do you mean the Contaflex beats the Canon SLR? There was an article in one of the mags (US Camera?) in the late '50s-early '60s comparing SLR photos to Leica or Nikon or Canon interchangeable lens RFs. The conclusion was that locking the mirror up made the differences in sharpness disappear. I think they enlarged prints to 16X20. OTOH, if you think the Canon SLR photos are better.... I used a non-quick-release SLR for years, and I never missed the QR, though I didn't do sports. I could do kids and college parties, though.

Idiot that I am, at 14 or 15 I bought an Exakta V w/F2 Biotar (non-auto, non preset) instead of a 1940 Leica F (also known as III - NOT IIIF) with an F2 Summitar. My dad was horrified that I was contemplating buying an almost 20 year old camera instead of the 4-5 year old one. I updated to an auto F2 Biotar in 1962 when I was making 150% of minimum wage in the 6 months between HS graduation and college. I traded the Exakta for a new Minolta Autocord 7 years later, the 1st day of our brief 'honeymoon', then sold the Autocord to the camera dealer I was working for when I realized my infant son was going to cut deeply into any darkroom time. Snapshots only since 1972.

I went through several 100' rolls of 35 mm film during high school. I never liked 35 mm photography - I much preferred the thought required when dealing with 12 shots on a 120 roll.

On the bench, one can quantify "sharpness/contrast" in a definitive way, but in the real world there are a lot of variables that are involved in drawing conclusions.....shutter speed, film speed, aperture, frontlight/ backlight and so on......


Me too........Film processing and printing costs money, so does slide processing.....On the other hand digital images are free until they are printed. I am always conscious about this and take the time to compose my images as much as possible in the viewfinder whether 35mm or my 6x7.....
IMHO, With todays digital and frame rates, many shots are often made without considering these simple elements of design, cropping after the fact in the computer more than one can with emulsions.. Firing off 15-30 shots on digital costs nothing, doing so increases ones chance for at least "one" keeper.
I shoot digital and when shooting, I still shoot like I am using film....composition and so on, I do appreciate what digital brings to the table.
In action, wildlife and sports one can plan, but in the end, much will still be determined by luck.

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JM2C's, Ben

My first manual camera which I still have is a Nikon FE2. This camera has a shutter speed of 1/4000 and has been incredibly reliable and inspired me to take a photography class to learn how to actually do darkroom developing, enlargements, etc. I never did do my own darkroom and have since moved to digital on a Nikon D610, but the lenses I had for the FE2 continue to work on the D610 (just have to manually focus).
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$5 at a thrift shop, probably cuz no one knew what it was nor how to open it. I have some FP4 loaded in 4x5 holders so maybe I'll goof off with it
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This thing is so far beyond the range of my grokking that, if I tried to use it, not only would I not have a prayer of getting a useable image out of it, but I'd probably manage to set it on fire.

Like, what's it even for?

--Shannon

The Speed Graphic was a favorite of newspaper photographers. The wire frame just above the logo would pull up to be a coarse viewfinder for quick shots, like for sports. You set the shutter speed and aperture, cocked the shutter, focused for the distance where you thought the action would be and waited for the shot. The film was in sheets carried inside dark slides, so a second shot was not a quick affair. BITD, photos were contact printed, so the size of the negative was the size of the photo. The large film format allowed for some cropping if the subject was off center.

The flash was an external unit that used D cell batteries and had a large reflector. The flash bulbs were similar in size to a 60 watt bulb. A Speed Graphic flash handle was the basis for Luke's light sabre.

I got my first Speed Graphic as a complete kit from a retiring traveling salesman.
His side hustle was taking professional quality photos of the motels he stayed at, and then marketing motel postcards to the owners.
Remember when your motel room came with motel postcards to mail to your friends?

I've had a few Crown Graphics, and one Speed. I've loved them all. Moved to a Nagaoka Seisakusho Field 4x5 about 10 years ago but find myself wanting another 4x5 press camera.
Lately, I've been shooting with a Minolta Autocord, and a pair of Leotax shown here:
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The black camera is a Leotax T2L which was a serious competitor of the Leica IIIG. Mine is sporting a 2.1cm Nikkor O on a home-hacked Novoflex Nikon- M39 adapter. Viewfinder is a pristine Canon 19mm finder. This is one of my very favorite cameras with one of my very favorite lenses.
The chrome camera is a Leotax K with a 5cm f/2 Chiyoko Super Rokkor. This camera was purchased without a leatherette covering looking ugly and with a 5cm f/3.5 collapsible Konishiroku Hexar. All for $15 USD. I overhauled the camera and lens then covered it with a panel of vinyl MB Tex from my old Mercedes Benz.
I've been walking around with this pair of cameras for a few days lately, getting back to shooting a little like I used to. I prefer carrying two bodies, one with a 50mm, the other with a 21mm or other non-retrofocal wide which exhibits little or no distortion (the Nikkor O 2.1cm lens is such an optic.)
I also have a Leica M4 with a dual range Summicron, this pair I took to Iraq in 2004-2005, and I'm slowly trying to do a soft retirement for the camera.
I have way too many cameras, come to think of it. But these little Leotax are what I prefer for long walks lately.
Phil

This is my Grandmother's old camera. I got it when my Grandfather passed in 2001- and for a while (like a couple rolls of film) I used it, trying to get into photography. It really didn't click for me (so to speak).


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