Rolly ?

[Amp34]

Why don't you get an Yashica A TLR - http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinturner/4789719521/

I think you'd have to be an idiot to get a Rolliflex until you learnt a bit more. Not that a Rolli is more advanced than a Yashica; but the Yashica can be had for under £50 whereas a Rolli cannot. Buy a Yashica, try it out, if you like it then get a Rolli ... simple. Film and scanning will be your only cost, 120 film costs a couple of quid a film, get it developed for a couple of quid and buy a film scanner or pay to have scanned.

The one thing that will throw you off and probably put you off is composing a shot on a TLR; you have no idea how tricky it is!!!! Left = right, Up=down; you move left and you are actually moving right, the same with up and down. It takes a few minutes to compose a shot if you don't use it that often. I would advise using 400 speed film for it (or a Rolli) - you naturally over expose.

I thought you were going to lay low for a bit with the 'I want to buy' threads?

Film is around £2.50-3 so not too bad, if you can't develop it yourself though it works out as about £10-12 a roll... £14 for 12 shots is something that does make me baulk a little (that's without scanning).

How about getting a Mamiya C220/330? Cheap, pretty similar and a nice camera. I have one and love composing in it, it gets easy quickly (diagonal is still a pain!) and looking down at a plate rather than into a tiny viewfinder is beautiful. Unfortunately I've only been able to shoot two rolls of film though mine in a couple of months, time and cost (developing) is an issue for me.

 

[At The Gates]

Film is around £2.50-3 so not too bad, if you can't develop it yourself though it works out as about £10-12 a roll... £14 for 12 shots is something that does make me baulk a little (that's without scanning).

How about getting a Mamiya C220/330? Cheap, pretty similar and a nice camera. I have one and love composing in it, it gets easy quickly (diagonal is still a pain!) and looking down at a plate rather than into a tiny viewfinder is beautiful. Unfortunately I've only been able to shoot two rolls of film though mine in a couple of months, time and cost (developing) is an issue for me.

Yep the Mamiya is a good suggestion. Much cheaper than the Rollei too. Or just get a bakelite Lubitel 2 off an auction site for £40

 

[john_s]

I have some NVG's if it helps ? Probably wont though as they work off ambient light such as the moon!

You'd need a light source that puts out no visible light.

Years ago, when I worked for Kodak D&P, we had PNGs and IR "lights" in the darkroom - mainly for checking for and repairing any damaged film before putting each batch of films through the developing machine.

That said, one of their darkrooms leaked enough light that after working in there for 30 minutes or so for your eyes to adjust, you could read a newspaper in that darkroom. It did pass the required light tests for not fogging film though.

You don't need PNGs though for loading film into a spool for a developer tank - it's easy enough to do it by feel. You don't even need a to go to the trouble of setting up a darkroom, as you can buy bags with elasticated arm holes to use for loading film onto the dev tank spool.

You will need a darkroom though if you want to do your own printing. That's fun... there's something magic about watching the image appear on the paper in the dev tray.

 

[martinturner]

Film is around £2.50-3 so not too bad, if you can't develop it yourself though it works out as about £10-12 a roll... £14 for 12 shots is something that does make me baulk a little (that's without scanning).

How about getting a Mamiya C220/330? Cheap, pretty similar and a nice camera. I have one and love composing in it, it gets easy quickly (diagonal is still a pain!) and looking down at a plate rather than into a tiny viewfinder is beautiful. Unfortunately I've only been able to shoot two rolls of film though mine in a couple of months, time and cost (developing) is an issue for me.

£14?!? I get my 120 developed for I believe £4.50 a roll from The Darkroom, the 120 film can be had cheaply ~£2 a roll if you buy in bulk (10+). I bought a cheap Epson film scanner for £70 so that pays for itself really. (not V500 model but does the job)

It's not really the type of camera to 'learn film' though, you would be better off buying an SLR. The only reason anyone really buys these cameras is for a bit of fun or the personal satisfaction that comes from developing yourself. A bit like a Holga, once the fascination wears off you will use it less and less, hence why I would say to not invest too much initially.

 

[Amp34]

£14?!? I get my 120 developed for I believe £4.50 a roll from The Darkroom, the 120 film can be had cheaply ~£2 a roll if you buy in bulk (10+). I bought a cheap Epson film scanner for £70 so that pays for itself really. (not V500 model but does the job)

It's not really the type of camera to 'learn film' though, you would be better off buying an SLR. The only reason anyone really buys these cameras is for a bit of fun or the personal satisfaction that comes from developing yourself. A bit like a Holga, once the fascination wears off you will use it less and less, hence why I would say to not invest too much initially.

Developing and printing non C41 costs a lot more than that. I used Club35 as they are regarded as cheap and good quality but if you shoot B&W or Colour Transparencies then you're looking at around £12 a film.

 

[At The Gates]

Cheapest way i find is either dev only or dev + scan to CD, depending on how lazy i'm feeling. Although i'm getting places like Club35 and The Darkroom to scan much less often as their scans arent great (they just use the big Noritsu machines anyway - nothing fancy like a drum scanner) and they're always covered in dust so i have to end up spending hours fixing them anyway, that i could have just spent doing it myself properly. That way even getting a roll of 120 E6 done is only about £9. If i want prints i post process any scans i get then just send the ones i want printed to Photobox.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Either way, using film is not the way to learn aperture, shutter speed and iso, not quickly anyway.

You can learn all that without a camera even but to learn that quickly, digital all the way. Using film will slow you down massively, especially in 120. The only thing shooting film force you to do is think before snapping, since each click will cost you about a pound!

Then again, if you have self control with digital you can do the same anyway.

 

[AtticusFinch]

Film is an interesting medium to use and may cause the OP to consider things differently. Using an entirely manual camera slows the process down considerably and promotes thought and pause into the process.

It really isn't expensive to buy, develop and print from film, especially if you do it yourself. A full b& w capable darkroom can be got for a couple of hundred quid, and then printing is only necessary for the shots one wants.

Film may assist the OP in his learning, and is an entirely valid medium. I much prefer the creative process from film than digital personally and with experience comes knowledge, mistakes less frequent and the enjoyment from creating the image manually is not in my experience, matched by digital techniques.

 

[.one.]

A little off topic but do people still buy film based cameras only i have an old cannon body i may put on the members market if it's worth my time, I all so have some really old lenses which do not fit the cannon but seem mega old can not even remember were they came from

Was thinking about the bay but as you all know can be a pain.

 

[Stupot_]

A little off topic but do people still buy film based cameras only i have an old cannon body i may put on the members market if it's worth my time, I all so have some really old lenses which do not fit the cannon but seem mega old can not even remember were they came from

Was thinking about the bay but as you all know can be a pain.

People do, but usually not for a lot of money. If it's good glass it might fetch a bit.

Why don't you start a thread in this section with some photos of what you've got, I'm sure we can help you out with what it is, you might be persuaded to keep it

 

[alexakasloth]

I would like a cheap, old school, manual, SLR, oh and definitely something reasonably compact with just a 35mm lens or something. Something that produces images that look old, something a little different. What would you recommend?

I picked up a pentax mv with a 50mm prime and a couple of zooms and flash for £60 at a flea market, check out ebay as the bodies are £10-15 iirc.