Any Vintage Camera Users On Here?

[raygreenwood]

I have an operating darkroom.....with a pristine 1959 Beseler 23C enlarger.

As others have noted.....film has never left the market. A few types and chemicals have left the market for a period of time.....not long.....as intelectual property was redistributed and prpductikn restarted.

Kodak film had never left the market....though Kodak does not manufacture it. The sold the rights, name and equilment to make the film to another company about 15 years ago or so. Its still quite good.
For black and white I have always preferred Ilford films.

Motion picture color film is being produced....still....because there is no other visual effect like it. Some of the biggest blockbuster films these days use a mixture of like 80/20 to 90/10 digital cgi to motion picture film for certain scenes.

For a few years some of the more "boutique" processing chemicals were gone....but have lately been brought back. My favorite Accufine, fine grain black and white film developer reappeared about 2 years ago being made by a new company. Works great!

As long as we continue to take film pictures.....a lot of this will continue to he made.....and....a lot of high schools and colleges have film classes again....because there is no better way to teach light usage, framing, contrast and imaging.....than with film.

And...ALL of the main companies, Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Pentax/Ricoh.....all make brand new models of 35mm slr film cameras.

Get out there and shoot film.....use those cool vintage cameras. Spend a few bucks and develope your own negatives. Support these places. Many modern photo shops can alip your negatives into their Epson flatbed negative scanners and print them for you.

Nothing like film. Ray

[Da TOW'D]

In the '60's I went to Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara California. We started out with 4x5 view cameras and advanced to 2 1/4 sq. or 35mm cameras.
I had a Rolleflex at the time but when I got my hands on a Nikon F and just about stopped using the Rolle.
I still have 5 Nikon F cameras and many lenses. I always had one hanging from my neck.
In the 90's my job was working for the DFO(Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans) as a marine engineer and we were required to get a digital camera and a computer.

I thought about getting a digital back for the Nikon like my Polaroid back.

I looked at the Nikon digital cameras but they felt a bit lumpy. I tried a Canon digital and it felt good.
I'm on my 4th Canon a G1X work horse of a camera I carry everywhere.
My dark room hasn't been used in 20 years. It is all Adobe Photoshop now for me
I've scanned a lot of my old film for some of the pictures I shot in my youth

I spent many happy hours in the darkroom developing and printing- tri x rated at 320 asa- I miss the chemical smells
cheers
Hank
_________________
'57 type 1 Blackberry
'58 SC Ruf
'62 type 3 Notch
'92 Eurovan Willy DD
and NUTS

[67ctbug]

Well guys I'm about to bite the bullet. There's a brand new film developing chemical kit for sale locally so I think I'll get that and a film tank and see what happens. Going to try with a new roll though so I don't ruin vacation photos
_________________
'67 Beetle L41
'74 Westfalia
'69 Plymouth "Adam-12"
'63 Ragtop
'73 914
'73 Dodge W200
'72 Dodge Wrecker
Go Cubs!
World Series Champions 2016

[KTPhil]

Color or B&W?

I found color film processing too much of a close-tolerance bother. I made a few color prints, mostly from slides, but it never felt as creative or dramatic as with my old B&W photography. It was too non-linear to get proper control as I would dodge or burn-in. With B&W I could really work a print.

[67ctbug]

Color. I think I'll develop it and then scan it onto my laptop to make a positive image.
_________________
'67 Beetle L41
'74 Westfalia
'69 Plymouth "Adam-12"
'63 Ragtop
'73 914
'73 Dodge W200
'72 Dodge Wrecker
Go Cubs!
World Series Champions 2016

[borninabus]

i have a pretty decent camera collection that has been amassed over the years. started out on a minolta SRT 100 in high school. been shooting, processing, and printing ever since. i have several SRTs now. they are my go to 35mm SLRs just because i’ve used them since day one. kinda like driving a VW, i can operate them without even thinking about it. it’s just instinct at this point.

some other highlights are my Ihagee Exatkta 35mm, Yashicamat 6x6, Kodak Retina IIIc rangefinders, Canon Demi half frame and newest addition to the stable, the venerable Pentax 6x7 SLR. i really took advantage when film went out and camera/darkroom stuff was going cheap.

even took a shot at digitizing some of my images just for ease of sharing, but not really my cup of tea.

keep on shooting!
_________________
88 Van WBX, A/T - 13 JSW TDI 6M/T - 2012 Touareg TDI Sport

[williamM]

Loved shooting B n W thru a Bronica and finally bought the first 2-1/4 format zoom lens. was great in the studio- had a studio in Perth for a year and paid the rent by shooting catalog shots for the "Western Australian Department of Decentralization". My first bus and I traveled round WA looking for mimic shots from the previous years catalog. By the way- if anybody know what they did please post.

Latest was buying Hassies when the price dropped to zip a few years ago- really nice to shoot-- (with a check list that would finally release the shutter) Now have a Bronica S2A and the next model with meters. Haven't bought the batteries yet-.

Any one have a source for new film?
_________________
some days I get up and just sit and think. Some days I just sit.

opinion untempered by fact is ignorance.

Don't step in any!

[photogdave]

Cool bus pic!
Here's some more VWs on film:

Hasselblad XPan, 30mm lens, Agfa APX 400

Leica M4, Voigtlander 21mm, Ektachrome 100

Rolleiflex TLR, Ilford HP5+
_________________
89 Syncro GL Westfalia 2.1 WBX/WBXaustSS

My Westy Movies:
photogdave On Vimeo
photogdave On YouTube

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[67ctbug]

Oh man, love these bus and vanagon pics! The person selling the chemicals hasn't responded to me so I might have to get them on amazon or something. I can't wait to see some of my pictures, I took a few photos at a show in August.
_________________
'67 Beetle L41
'74 Westfalia
'69 Plymouth "Adam-12"
'63 Ragtop
'73 914
'73 Dodge W200
'72 Dodge Wrecker
Go Cubs!
World Series Champions 2016

[kinkerstinker]

Cool Thread! I used to shoot a Nikkormat FTn all through college.. I LOVED developing and enlarging. I'd love to get back into it but I don't have the space in my current home for it.

[79SuperVert]

I have an Olympus OM-1 that I would love to resume shooting pics with. I also have a Nikon F body with the old massive prism housing with the round external light sensor window, but the sensor doesn't work well anymore so I kept the body for antiquarian reasons and sold the lenses years ago.
_________________
Central Jersey VW Society

Wanted: Art Collins VW (Savannah, Georgia) items - license plate surrounds and other items. Also ivory "AM", "FM" and "SW" buttons for a US Blaupunkt Frankfurt.

[67ctbug]

On the 9th and 10th of December I went to NYC and shot some Kodak Portra 400 out of my Ricoh and some Delta 400 black and white out of a Kodak Retinette at the World Trade Center and all over lower Manhattan up to Central Park. Also shot some Super 8. I'm super excited to get this developed!
_________________
'67 Beetle L41
'74 Westfalia
'69 Plymouth "Adam-12"
'63 Ragtop
'73 914
'73 Dodge W200
'72 Dodge Wrecker
Go Cubs!
World Series Champions 2016

[Cusser]

I had a film camera.

I took some rolls/photos of young gals unclothed, but they weren't developed yet....
_________________
1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[Abscate]

[KTPhil]

Yes, but he can still mount them.

[Malokin Martin]

If anyone here does tintype, it’d be great to get a PM about them. I’d really appreciate some advice on what to buy on eBay.

[79SuperVert]

Finally dragged out my 30 year old OM-4 and bought some Kodak color film from B&H in NYC and started taking pics today. Taking pics this way is so much more fun than using a cell phone camera.
_________________
Central Jersey VW Society

Wanted: Art Collins VW (Savannah, Georgia) items - license plate surrounds and other items. Also ivory "AM", "FM" and "SW" buttons for a US Blaupunkt Frankfurt.

[zozo]

My dad used this for decades to shoot slides. Took beautiful, rich, warm pictures.

[borninabus]

nice. a classic!
that camera is commonly referred to as "the brick"

the thing that i love best about photography is giving my prints away to familiy and friends. "pics" are so marginalized these days, most people never see them mounted and framed all nice like and don't understand the effort that goes into making a piece of fine art.

keep on shooting
_________________
88 Van WBX, A/T - 13 JSW TDI 6M/T - 2012 Touareg TDI Sport

[ZENVWDRIVER]

I collect pin-hole camera glass negatives... that's a black box with a tiny pin-hole in it, to allow a certain amount of light in (exposure) - onto a glass negative... most date before 1910.

... have retired my Canon AE-1 Programme with a variety of interchangeable lenses, from the 70s, in favor of a Canon Cyber-shot digital... better in many ways - sucks in many ways.

Used to travel a lot - cross country trips in a VW bus was common, sometimes for many months to a year... would come home with many hundreds of color slides, set up a screen and put on a slide show - many friends did the same, back in the 80s.
_________________
5/50, pastel green 11G - SOLD
8/50, gray 11A Beetle
6/52, pastel green 11C - SOLD
11/4/52, black Zwitter - SOLD to my little bro.
1954 Porsche, pre A, with VW 36 horse- SOLD
1/54, black 11C Beetle - TRADED
2/55 Iceland green Beetle, on a 1965 pan
3/55 113 Beetle, stratos silver
1955 Messerschmitt KR175 - SOLD, sadly
1960 single cab
1962 SO33, with SO 42 interior
9/63 Pacific blue, Ghia
'87 Toyota MR2
'02 WestFORDia E-150, GAVE TO OUR SON

All super-heroes, wear a MASK