camera

[SGKent]

OTHER THAN smart phones, what cameras are people in the bay community using to take photos to post how-to's, scenic sites etc.. I have an old AE-1 I've been meaning to replace, and not really sure which direction I want to go.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Brian]

Why get rid of the AE-1? I use a Fujica st605 for pictures and a nizo super 8 for videos nothing wrong there except the price of developing

Honestly, I'm a fan of the new digital point-and-shoot cameras that have been coming out. I got a cheap Nikon Coolpix back in 2011 that has served me well through the years, didn't take the best pictures but it sure was a decent camera.
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Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

[oscarsnapkin]

Been a Nikon guy most of my life, but a Canon AE-1 Program was my first camera back in the early 90s. I know you said not smart phones, but in all honesty, the photo quality has gotten so good on phones it’s hard to beat. Just too damn convenient. I have a closet full of high end Nikon lenses/equipment that I haven’t touched in years. Admittedly I kind of got out of the hobby, but when my kids were born a few years back I had planned on taking lots of great photos, and it just wasn’t worth the extra hassle. Can’t go wrong with a Nikon digital SLR if you’re insistent. Nikon optics are among the best, and you can put a lens made in the 50s on a camera made today and vice versa. Digital video on an SLR is pretty amazing too being that you can use various lenses and things made for still photos.
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- 1977 CEI Sunroof Bus 2.0L F.I. Hydraulic Lifters
- 1973 Thing

"It’s so easy to laugh, it’s so easy to hate, it takes strength to be gentle and kind."

[Globespotter]

I have and use a digital Canon EOS 800D/Rebel T7i and love it. I used to shoot with an AE-1.

Nowadays TBH smartphone cameras can do almost anything and the quality is amazing, so unless you plan to be pretty serious, buying a good digital camera might not be the answer, but since you specifically asked 'other than smart phones', my recommendation would be something like the digital Canons.
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1977 Westfalia - October 2015 - Current
1971 Super Beetle - May 2012 - Current
1979 Westfalia - 1986-1991
1971 Super Beetle - 1977-1980

1971 SB Survivor Story: https://globespotter.com/
Road Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=511800&highlight=
My 77 Westy Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647114&highlight=

http://vw-mplate.com/mcode.php?lang=EN&id=30990
https://vw-type2-id.xyz/mplate/72067382

[raygreenwood]

I still use my Pentax ME-Super, Super Program and occasionally just for fun, my K1000 for black and white film. I have my own darkroom.

I do all of my color with my roughly 10 year old Pentax K10-D dslr.....one of the last and best weather proof ccd sensor SLRs. Very rich color with large pixels.

I have a killer collection of Pentax and Takumar world class film glass lenses and they all work superbly on my dslr as well with no adapter.

In fact.....it's become a large movement in the past 5-7 years in the pro and amateur DSLR world to adapt high end film lenses to very modern dslr. The glass quality surpasses some of the new stuff and the semi-manual operation gives great control. Literally thousands of videos on you tube about this.

Pentax/Takumar and Minolta and a few other boutique mfgs are in the tops for crossover glass and there are Several companies who make stellar adapters go access diaphragms and metering on ANY new dslr including micro 4/3ds cameras.

Ray

[SGKent]

keep them coming.

A couple specifics - when Canon went to the DSLR and mirrorless they came up with a new line of lenses. The AE-1 uses FD lenses which is why I never updated it. I kept hoping that with millions of AE-1, AE-1 program, and A-1 out there the industry would have salvaged all those potential buyers in some way to reuse the lenses etc or bodies. The FD lenses cannot be used with the later Canon cameras.

The smart phone is what I have been using. I am looking for something that I can take better quality how to photos when working on things in the bus. It is easier for me to look thru a viewfinder and zoom a lens in and out, even focus than fight with all the digital controls. I've worked with software apps for years and there are so many changes i get frustrated after learning how to do something then it changes in the software, so I have to go web surfing to find where the feature has been hidden. As a result the main feature I use on the smart phone is just a basic click and shoot. I'd like more control like I had with the AE-1. I'd use the AE-1 but it it too much work to shoot, send to develop, then scan so I can post it. Also film prints change color over the years. Digital is more stable.

I have not ruled out Canon or Nikon. Pentax was sold in 2011 to Ricoh and is a brand name only. you folks who could reuse your old lenses are so lucky. I have as much invested in lenses and filters as i did in the AE-1 body.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[Globespotter]

[Jalabert]

If you prefer an analogue type experience. I have one of the Fuji rangefinder style bodies - the XE-1. Pleasure to use, although you'll never find a digital viewfinder as good as a 35mm one unless you go full-frame sensor, and they're stupid money.

I've bought an adapter rung - I think it's a kenko? - and I can use my olympus OM lenses on it. There's settings in the firmware for using an adapter.

[rsbadura]

I hate big cameras, sorry - carry and used them in the analog era of the 70s and 80s - I dislike them especially in the garage while working.
Better to have something small and easy for lots of snapshots

Today I use in most cases one of my Smartphones (smaller iPhones for business and home).
For travels an small Olympus PEN E-PL9 with different optics.
And in some cases a GoPro HERO 10.


My first digital photos was made in the early 80s with a analog video camera and a digitalizer to a 8bit Computer as ATARI 800. But only some b/w dots.

In the early 90s a Panasonic NV-DS7 digital video camera with the first CMOS sensors, which was also useful at poor light in the garage and under the car - and with Mini DV tape cassette with lot of memory for photos (PAL 720 × 576 pixel) and video in these time era - and with a big display to check the photos. I used it for my Karmann Ghia restoration and also up to the 2010 restoration of my bay window. It was quite expensive in the 90s, but was used nearby 20 years and its thousands of garage photos online are still a reference in the German community.

My first digital photo camera was a Apple (Kodak) QuickTake 100 in the mid 90s - memory for only 8 bigger photos (640 x 480 pixel) - but not good in darker light conditions - and without any photo display at this camera. But anyway it was one of the first digital photo cameras on the consumer market beside Logitech Fotoman.

Regards,
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Rolf-Stephan Badura
1970 VW Karmann-Ghia Coupe
1979 VW Bus L to camper conversion
1982 Eriba Pan travel trailer
2017 VW CrossPolo
HAZET classic tools

[Wasted youth]

Obviously, the men among us will be using a Cambo 4x5 monorail with Schneider glass. At the very least a Crown or Speed Graphic. Using anything but Provia 100f for color work is unacceptable at this point unless you have 4x5 K-14 in the freezer… which I doubt.

Of course, we are making our own No. 2A and 3 flashbulbs. Strobe units are for pussies.

And I’m not going to debate black and white film and paper with you. Let’s save that for when the handle of Johnny Walker Blue is half gone.

But if you must be nimble and portable while you perform photography gymnastics, I expect to see you wrangling the Mamiya RB67 in one hand and a dripping Philly cheesesteak in the other.

Naturally, if you’re not projecting the 6x7 slides in glass Gepe mounts on your Hasselblad PCP-80, then I’m going to be writing your name on the shithouse walls.

[Abscate]

[Wasted youth]

Ha, sorry… no can do. It’s wide open and my depth of field is rather shallow.

[VWsArent4Hippies]

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewforum.php?f=43
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[oscarsnapkin]

[Abscate]

I was fired from my school photographer job for over-exposure…


Tip,your waitress!
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.ssS!

[Wasted youth]

What an interesting development. I just can’t picture you doing that.

[Xevin]

[KTPhil]

[mikedjames]

Back on topic - if your investment is big in Canon FD, you could always try something like https://www.kentfaith.com/KF06.082_canon-fd-to-canon-eos-mount-adapter and buy an Canon EOS family camera.

I went Canon FTb -> AE1p -> A1 then a series of disappointing digital cameras, from 0.3MP to 7MP.

I went on the holiday of a lifetime to California in 2009 and I regretted only having a 7MP point and shoot Samsung camera..

In 2013, I bought an 18MP Canon EOS100 and two EF zoom lenses covering 18mm to 250mm focal length, with the longer lens having image stabilisation..

That has covered me from drunken snapshots at VW events, to taking pictures of yacht racing out on the water between laying racing marks for the yachts.



No, mobile phones cannot take pictures as sharp as a decent DSLR with the same number of pixels - the camera sensors are smaller compared with the wavelength of light, so no matter how amazing the optics, the pictures are always slightly fuzzy ..
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Ancient vehicles and vessels

1974 VW T2 : Devon Eurovette camper with 1641 DP T1 engine, Progressive carb, full flow oil cooler, EDIS crank timed ignition.
Engine 1: 40k miles (rocker shaft clip fell off), Engine 2: 30k miles (rebuild, dropped valve). Engine 3: a JK Preservation Parts "new" engine, aluminium case: 26k miles: new top end.
Gearbox rebuild 2021 by Bears.

1979 Westerly GK24 24 foot racer/cruiser yacht Forethought of Gosport.
1973 wooden Pacer sailing dinghy

[Xevin]

The best cameras are the ones that capture the moment.
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Keep on Busin'