The C&V Camera Thread
 

While there have been several long-running C&V photograph threads, I didn't find a thread about C&V photography.

So I'm trying to start one.

For purposes of this conversation, a C&V camera will be, at least initially, defined as "any film camera, but with an emphasis on the higher-end consumer & "working professional" grade products." (Definitional arguments are not only accepted as inevitable, but welcomed as fun.) I anticipate with some relish the attempts to resolve whether or not an autofocus film camera qualifies as "C&V." (Perhaps surprisingly, I have no firm opinion on the question.)

So, in the hopes that this thread will take off and be useful and fun, allow me to submit the Minolta SRT Super:


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...64cd799cd9.jpg
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...673ecee798.jpg
I scored this on the List of all Craigs for one autographed lithograph of President Hiram Ulysses Grant.

And that's another thing about C&V cameras: you can get hardware that's as well-made as it was possible to make it, with a level of fine mechanical detail that you'd be hard-pressed to find on any new camera for less than the cost of a good, late-model used car.

And I think they're mostly fantastic looking as well. Elegant, solid-looking without seeming harsh, and they show off their materials' characteristic textures and surfaces.

So, if you like taking great new pictures with great old cameras, have at! Cameras, lenses, gear, stories, and, of course, pictures!

--Shannon

My Pentax SpotMatics ('60's - ~ '85) are long gone.

Same with the Olympus OM-1's (mid '80's - '03) that followed.

Yet I (still) own two Contax Arias and a few compatible Schneider and Canon-compatible (via the T-mount system) they wore when I stopped shooting much film.

Those lenses work Just Fine (thanks) on my two Canon digital bodies (but we won't go down that rabbit hole in this thread).

I'll take a couple (digital) pics of my Arias then post 'em here onced I'm done with today's planned 25+ mile road bike trip out, then back into town, later.

(Can one still buy 35mm film??)

I have my Grandmother’s camera- don’t recall what it is- she had some lenses in the bag as well. It never stirred me in to photography- I don’t think I’ve used it since the turn of the century.

When my folks moved out of their house- I saw my Dad’s camera- I *should* have grabbed it- but no idea where it went. My Dad had good things, so it was likely a decent camera- but I just had no interest in film cameras, and we had so much stuff to get rid of/find a home for. Now that my Dad is gone I really wish I’d have grabbed it.

As an aside, when my Mom moved out of the big apartment- we threw away at least 2 litt digital cameras- my sister and I thought they were junk- and both my son and daughter were appalled that we tossed them.

As to film, it's not hard to get. If you live in a big urb, you'll have at least one local place to get some. If not, the internet is full of the stuff, especially given the current "analog revival," which is hitting photography like it did music a few years ago.

And, if you really wanna get your C&V on, Rivendell sells Ilford black & white film.

--Shannon

31 years ago my wife and I had our "official couple" photography session.
B&W. 2-1/4" format.
Last year I had need for an image from that session.
The photographer STILL had the negatives! one image was used in his book for portraiture images.

probability getting similar with digital image files?

Still buying and developing B&W 35mm film for my Nikkormat, Nikon FTn,, and Yashica Electro 35 GSN. Once I develop (in D76), I go the scanning route and digitize. Here are the cameras, and a recent photo of my 1971 Raleigh Sports taken with the Yashica.

I'm into vintage {bicycles, cameras, radios, watches}


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8c595efce6.jpg
Three (of my many) 35mm cameras with fresh Arista EDU 400 B&W film
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8c05294eaa.jpg
1971 Raleigh Sports - 35mm B&W film photo

Well, I'll be honest and say that while I still have quite a few old film camera's I hardly ever shoot them anymore. That said, I use a whole slew of old manual focus lenses on my EOS DSLRs. I easily have probably close to 30 Contax Zeiss, Leica R, Pentax, Olympus, Vivitar Series 1, and even some Mamiya 645 lenses adapted and in regular use on my digital cameras.

I still have most of these 7 series Minolta camera's packed away still. Forgot how many I had until my son was asking for one and I popped open the box. He chose the XE-7.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a4726ed7f4.jpg

This baby is going to the grave with me.
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4d3cfb0570.jpg

I still have one of these out ready for quick use also.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...115a628162.jpg
My youngest started playing with photography using this nice ol' rangefinder. Even too a blue ribbon at the county fair with a shot he took using the old beast.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...82ad964819.jpg

I don't have a lot of the old film stuff digitized and easy to share. I mainly shot Velvia. But here's some:

SRT-101 with a 100mm on a bellows.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2ce523bfa6.jpg

Minolta XE-7 with a 24/2.8 lens
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...eabd2f12d1.jpg

Minolta Hi-Matic 7SII
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7afb379455.jpg

I'll sneak in an AF camera. Minolta 7xi with a 28-85 lens. This is an all time favorite image and took many best in shows back when I did that. Funny thing is I had this slide on my discard pile when my girl friend stopped me and talked some sense into me. LOL!
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...2d2e891c20.jpg

Same setup as above:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...1abbba08af.jpg


But I have to be honest and say I do consider digital superior now. It's so much cheaper, the workflow from shot to print is totally in my control and faster, and the quality is top notch with good lenses.

When I can get pictures like this test shot with my old manual focus lenses adapted to digital I see no reason to shoot film.

Canon 5D with an adapted Contax Zeiss 100/2.0 M.F. lens.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...dd003c961d.jpg

Picked this up back in the Fall. Shooting some black and white experimental shots.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...34678f25f4.jpg

Canon man. It's obvious that I had a thing for the EF.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...02334249d0.jpg

I have an Olympus OM-1, great camera.

I still have my Brownie! I haven’t used it in about 55 years because I discovered the Instamatic! My phone works just fine for me now 🙂

https://i.imgur.com/svJ6Uwl.jpg

Personal all-time favorite camera.
I think I've had 4 F2's- two black, and two chrome. I kept the best condition F2 (pictured here) and sold the rest off. Had 3 F3's, but they really weren't my thing, and sold those off as well.

A little back-ground:

My first work with film was with a loaner K-1000. Decent little camera, and the match needle metering system made perfect sense to me.
The first real camera that I owned was a nikkormat FT-2, and I did a ton of B&W with it, and really cut my teeth on Imagery and to a lesser extent, human behavior.
Went as far as a Bronica Sq-A, and did the rounds of the wedding/social circuit with it. That camera made for a lot of happy customers.

As for today, I still shoot with film on occasion. The bulk of my shooting now is done with a DSLR, and manual focus lenses. I just can't quite get my head around the A/F thing- the harsh, clinical looking imagery is about as far from me as I could ever get. That is not a put-down- far from it. It's like coffee drinkers. Some like it black, and some like it in a puddle of cream and sugar. The same thought patterns extend to camera brands for me. If you like Brand-X, and make usable imagery with it, more power to you. I won't get into the brand bashing thing- this is more a matter of personal taste.

Without digging, and looking, the current line-up is as follows:

Beater black Nikkormat FT-3. It appeals to me, because they are rarely seen. I put a roll of cheap c-41 Kodak print film through it, and it works fine. More a part of the collection than an actual user.

Chrome Nikkormat FTN. For a while, this was my only film camera. It has made some interesting portraits.

Chrome F2 with the basic Photomic match-needle finder. A god-send to those of us who are saddled with wearing eye-glasses. This is the one I reach for when it comes to serious film work.

At the risk of alienating myself from the topic, I'll mention the one that really deserves it:

Nikon D-810 DSLR. This sees almost daily use with me, and it's stable of manual focus lenses. Most of the imagery I post to this forum is taken with it. It is actually improving my photography simply through repeated use.

I should mention that at this late stage of the game, I am still learning, when it comes to photography.

A few more gear pix:

https://i.imgur.com/PBO3VWp.jpg

H.C Nikkor 50mm f2 reverse mounted on PB-2 bellows unit on the F2.

https://i.imgur.com/iKXr7l2.jpg

Bellows unit and F2 again with Nikkor Q 135mm f 3.5

https://i.imgur.com/k0WO7Xw.jpg

Nikkormat FT-3 with O.C Nikkor 35mm f2.



http://forum.mflenses.com/userpix/20..._vP6p3h6_1.jpg

Nikkormat FTN with S.C 50mm f1.4 aboard.

There's tons of this stuff still here, mostly lenses now. I've got the camera body count down to 3 film cameras, and one DSLR. More manageable that way. I have a lot of lenses, since A/F came in, most of the manual focus stuff is almost affordable now.
I'm having a ton of fun with it, and that's as it should be.

-D.S.

I have just one now - 1937 Kine/Ihagee Exakta. Probably due for a clean, lube, and adjust pretty soon.

I have too many cameras not enough time. Same with bicycles.
I seem to recall the first camera I looked through was my Mom's Spotmatic (which I now have,) but the camera which seemed magic to me was her Yashica-Mat. Something about looking down into that big bright screen was awesome.
So, I got a little Kodak 110 that I took everywhere on Boy Scout backpacking, cycling, hiking, camping trips. My first SLR was a Pentax ME Super which I kept for probably 15 years before going to an autofocus Pentax and started tinkering with old junk cameras early in my time in the Navy. I switched to Nikon for serious work some time, maybe about 2001, since then I've shot F3s, an F4, settled on my current F2. While I was in the Seabees, I took two Leicas, an M2 and an M4, to Iraq and shot as much film as I could there. I was also issued a Nikon D2H, which I still have a soft spot for. The big collection of cameras has waned and waxed since, I still have the M4 and the F2AS, but a bunch of other cameras have also found their way to my custody. I recently made it a point to seek out a Minolta Autocord which brings me back to that original fascination.
I don't even know how I wound up with ten or eleven 16mm motion picture cameras, all of which I've overhauled and restored (seven of these are Bell & Howell "Filmo" variants.) I regularly shoot the 16mm cameras as well.
Today, I'm at work, but might have a chance to walk around Philly in the oppressive heat after my shift, with a Kodak Retina IIa and a roll of Tri-X, perfect camera to stick in the backpack and go.
Phil

These are packed up in the original boxes for those that have them. I have toyed with trying film out again, but my Pixel 8 Pro is always on me and takes good enough pictures.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7a9b3370f3.jpg

I used to collect old film cameras for the same reasons that I got into old bikes. I could get functional old tech for pennies on the dollar and still have fun with it. I never got into film processing, so I gave up using the old camera when I could no longer drop it off at the local 1 hour desk. Since my first 35 mm SLR was a Minolta SRT-200, my collecting leaned toward Minolta auto-focus cameras. It was only natural to get a Sony DSLR to make use of all the lenses I accumulated. I also liked unique or off-brand cameras if I thought they were interesting. One was this Kowa Se-T. It is a leaf shutter SLR with a fixed lens. What makes it unique is the mechanism. Normally, the shutter would be behind the mirror and closed while you compose the shot. On this camera, the shutter is in the lens, so you are looking through it while you compose the shot. When you press the shutter button, all this happens in as little as 1/500 of a second:

1. Close the shutter
2. Close the aperture leaves to the correct f-stop
3. Raise the mirror
4. Raise the light shield
5. Open the shutter to expose the film
6. Close the shutter
7. Drop the light shield
8. Drop the mirror
9. Re-open the aperture leaves
10. Re-open the shutter

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ea0b23c2d5.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a2826871b6.jpg
Something a little unusual, a 1942/1943 Arriflex 35 "Handkamera". This was a German military camera and the precursor to the Arriflex 2, 2A, 2B, 2C 35mm motion picture cameras. Sadly I do not have any lenses otherwise I would be tempted to run some film through it. The Arriflex 35 has a rotating mirror making it the first successful reflex film camera.

My 'antiques' -
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...b8dc5352e5.jpg

All still fully functional (though the batteries for that 1Ds need of replacement) all virtually untouched.

I shudder to think what the retail value of all this hardware was (and the myriad accessories that aren't pictured) when they were still 'state of the art'.

I had a Canon AT-1 match-needle camera when I was in the Marine Corps. Like my Raleigh Gran Sport, it wasn't anything fancy, but did the job and left me with good memories. A camera like that quickly taught you the fundamentals of exposure and why you might want to trade off the shutter speed for lens aperture. Do young photographers even think about these things?

Anyway, here's a shot taken with that Canon AT-1, from the back seat of one of my squadron's TA-4 Skyhawks. It was my first flight in the back seat, and I couldn't have asked for better conditions for a photo!

https://www.flickr.com/photo_downloa...ret=e0faff63bd

This was shot with slide film. Maybe ASA 200?

Steve in Peoria

My ex-wife still has all my photos from my last WESTPAC. I shot one roll of Fuji 25 slide film, one of those images, of a line faked through the starbord-side flight-deck lifelines, as we passed close to an island on our way into Singapore (Straits of Mallaca?).

I remember that the texture of the white rope against the dark green and blue of the strait was almost 3-d... looked hyper-real.

--Shannon

OM-1
bought new, 28 28mm and 70 to 210 zoom.
bought 50 mm f1.4 from ebay
Sent body off to get it modified to handle modern batteries as you can't get mercury base batteries
run tri-x and use https://thedarkroom.com/about/ for processing

the back of my head really wants to find a 4x5 field camera......

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6fb7348410.jpg

I think maybe start a thread on die cast car collecting! I have hundreds of Dinky , Matchbox , Lesny , Corgi , etc. and some with boxes!

Just ordered a three-point strap from Outer Shell. Great reviews, and I like their other products, so I expect to be happy. I've never had a strap like that before, so I just went on reviews and reputation.

--Shannon

have a few boxes of Corgis, Matchbox, and some very realistic die-cast ship models ( not sure of the scale, freighters, tankers, aircraft carriers with aircraft ) a tallship, pilot ship and so on.
Gave away the redline hot wheels...
my mother in law kept her kids though!
I do have a Mattel X-15 vr'oom cycle, recumbent trike with joystick Rear! wheel steering!

Here's a couple more. 1937 Minolta TLR. I've never shot film through it, but it seems to be fully functional.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...6501947384.jpg
1937 Minolta TLR

B-A was a mail order business that focused on TVs, HI-FI stereo, cameras and electronics back in the 1950s and 60s. This shutter priority fixed lens rangefinder was in their catalog in the late 1960s.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...0995935c75.jpg
B-A Auto EE-1

Around the time I stopped shooting film, I sold off a bunch of stuff while there was some demand for it. I was just looking over what remains of my collection and saw that I will be ready with some Sears branded cameras whenever the "show us your department store camera" thread gets going.:D