Photo setups
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Manual and semi-automatic 35mm camera reviews |
Nikkormat FTN
|
-- about 30 years old. A heavy, rugged, all manual camera
with a built in
basic light-meter.
Takes Nikon AI lenses, which are excellent.
It is ideal on the copy stand for old photo
reproduction and close-up work.
Displayed with a 135 mm f 2.8 lens, which is good
for portraits.
I also have 28mm, 50mm, and 80 - 200 zoom lenses.
I sometimes use macro
lenses, and a 2x extension tube.
This camera can be purchased on the used market for $75
to $100 without a lens.
I have seen it as low as $50, with a lens, at a thrift shop.
Look around.
It has a self-timer and pc flash cable outlets, one for X and one for
M.
Shutter speed from B to 1000. Mirror lock-up feature. |
Pentax MG |
An
all-purpose aperture - priority camera. No manual override.
Not by any means
expensive,
it is easy to use, quite small, and reliable. Many good lenses are
available for it.
Shown is a versatile 28 - 205mm zoom with a 1.4 macro feature.
Does not have flash
cord jacks, but does have a flash mount.
I also have a straight 50mm lens and a
135mm 2.8f. It is almost worn out by now.
The Pentax ME is very similar, but has more controls, including manual override. |
Konica TC |
One of the first Auto exposure cameras that was a top seller.
Shutter
priority or manual.
Flash synch at 1/250, with both PC outlet and hot shoe. Cloth
shutter.
Very easy to use and durable.
Many good lenses are available. This one has a 1.8 40mm.
A great student or travel camera that delivers fine results. |
Yashica TL-Electro |
Pentax Spotmatic. Pentax K -1000
Great student cameras. All
manual, speeds to 1000, plus B.
The Yashica and Pentax cameras use 49mm screw
lenses,
which can often be found
very cheap on the used market.
The better ones,
such as those by Takumar, are excellent.
Yashica flash synchs at 1/60, plus
hot-shoe and PC jack.
If you're travelling to an undeveloped country and don't want
to take
an expensive camera, get one like these, then sell or trade it before
returning.
There are many similar cameras made from 1950's to 1970's that are good,
too.
|
Olympus
OM-10 |
The
Olympus OM-10 is a great little camera, very light-weight.
It uses aperture
priority, with an LED in the viewfinder to indicate shutter speed.
Self timer,
speeds from 1 second to 1000, plus B. You can get a manual adapter for this
camera, allowing full manual control. Easy to use, with a host of excellent
lenses available. |
|
|
Also
recommended: |
Canon
A-1 and AE-1 Program. Nikon F-series. Nikon FE -- etc. |
Electronic 35mm
Very common today, and most are built very well. Many lenses are
available.
Some have fairly complicated controls
and others requires dedicated flash
for best results.
Best to get one with manual over-ride to electronics.
Main problem with this type of camera is dependence on batteries.
No
battery, no picture. Not good.
The better ones have cast aluminum or
titanium frames under the plastic.
If the electronics fail, you are out of luck,
and
it will be sudden, without warning. I always have a manual camera available.
|
Nikon N70 |
--
very versatile and durable. Same type of electronics
as some of Nikon's top cameras, yet it doesn't cost a fortune. Very light in weight,
compared to the F series. Can take older Nikon lenses as well as the new auto-focus
ones. I have a 28 - 80 general purpose auto-focus lens on it and a 70 - 210.
Autofocus is quite fast, and can take around 3 fps. Useful camera for fast action,
slides, and portraits. Its complex automatic matrix metering system is very
effective. All manual adjustments are available, too. Manual, shutter or
aperture priority, programmable, up to 3 frames per second. Very versatile and
accurate on-board flash. No flash cord or standard shutter release jack,
unfortunately. Many photo enthusiasts forget than some of the most famous
master photographers built their reputation with cameras that were primitive by today's
standards, with little or no internal metering for proper exposure.
|
Olympus IS-1
|
Self-contained autofocus(no manual focus over-ride) with excellent 35-135mm lens.
Can be set to Program, Aperture priority, or manual. This is a very useful camera,
and delivers good results, but it has a few negatives: No PC outlet, and the
hot-shoe requires a dedicated flash unit. Awkward film loading, and goes through
batteries faster than I would like. Size is also cumbersome. Autofocus is
quite slow, too. However, its lens and other features, such as adjustable built-in
flash, manual exposure over-ride, and so on make it one I use often for web photos.
Newer versions of this camera have improvements, but I have not tried them.
|
Also
good: |
Pentax
models, Canon Rebel and EOS series.
Top of the line is the Leica R-8 and similar models from Nikon, Minolta, Canon, etc. |
Nikon 8008
Nikon F801 |
Nikon 8008, or F-801( European model)
This is a very popular camera, used as a backup by many
professionals. Very durable.
A host of features, with a top shutter speed of 1/8000 second ! I use this camera
for all my pet photography.
Although it's built for the auto-focus lenses, it takes all AI indexed Nikon lenses.
Shown with the Nikon Speedlight 25, wide angle TTL flash unit. |
Canon TX |
-- a basic but well-built
camera for which you can buy many lenses
on the used market. Great student camera.
Has an averaging meter with a match-needle. |
Ricoh 401 |
This is a
very unusual camera, because it has a dual view-finder,
both waist-level and
regular.
It is old, and uses screw-in lens that was once a standard.
It's a very hardy camera.
Built-in averaging
meter, aperture and shutter priority, self-timer,
both X and M flash outlets.
Seen here with a Mamiya/Sekor F 2.8 28 mm lens and a Vivitar flash unit.
This old camera can produce excellent results.
The waist-level viewfinder is very
handy on the copy stand
and for discrete photos,
such as street photography. |
Rangefinder 35mm |
|
Leica M
series
or quality range-finders of classic
vintage.
All old rangefinders from Leica, Nikon, and Canon,
and some others,
are highly collectible.
Lenses may be hard to find and very expensive.
Rangefinders are quiet and usually smaller than SLR's, making them unobtrusive.
That's good for press photographers. |
