My sister gave me... the gift of FILM! (lots of pix)

She's shot digital for about 3 years now, and she's not used this camera that was our mom's:



Man, this is really fun! I needed a new battery, but otherwise it's "read the manual".

She herself, she got a new Canon 5D Mk2. Oh, I wish I had the money....

The next day, Sunday, I put the roast in the oven (the other half of the Christmas prime rib roast) and we drove down to the gamelands with the pups for a walk in the woods. IT was a blast! She had her new camera, my daughter was using the Rebel XT, and I had the Canon AE-1 and my 40D. Guess who is the Roadfood member:



Her BF Greg took the shot.

The following pictures are right from the raw to jpg. You can tell the XT, a little bit; the colors need popped. Otherwise, it was a beautiful day for shooting!












And the smile on Penny's face tells all:





The roast: the roast was AWESOME. Served with fresh spinach, Yukon Gold mashed potatoes, home made slaw, and good beer. Best roast of all that I've ever made.

I shot about 50/50 film and digital. I have to finish out the roll of film, then drop it off for processing, and scan it, then we'll get to see what's up.

Sisters are great gift givers!!!
 
Enjoy the new adventures!!!
 
I guess Penny is a Roadfooder!!
 
She looks very happy, with a great appetite!!

Mosca


I shot about 50/50 film and digital. I have to finish out the roll of film, then drop it off for processing, and scan it, then we'll get to see what's up.

You just explained why digital killed film.

From what I understand dynamic range is still in favor of film but I wonder if scanning doesn't kill some of that advantage.

Nice photos. Those cameras and lenses are pretty good.

The AE-1 made a lot of money for Canon back in the '70s and '80s.  Not a bad camera to receive as a gift...not at all!

Brad

Very nice late Christmas present Mosca, have fun.

  My last film cameras were AE-1's. I bought them at an estate auction and used them for 14 years. We had a difficult time parting with them a year or so after turning to Digital format. They were really fun machines and I have literally thousands of photos of rail activity around the USA as a result.
  I love the quality and the convenience of my Digital SLR, but there is a soft spot in my memory files for those AE-1's and the canisters of Costco Film I used, and used, and used !!

Any thread with lots of dog photos gets a big thumbs up from me!!!!
 
Have fun with the camera!

Speaking of film canisters...

A few months ago I was pulled over for expired license plates (I had brain-cramped and forgotten to renew them).  I happened to have 3 empty canisters sitting in the front console and after the trooper asked me all the usual questions he wanted to know what they were for.  It took me a second to realize why he was asking and then I broke out laughing and explained that they were from film that I had dropped off sometime in the past...but he dutifully opened each one and took a sniff!

Brad

Those are great Mosca!  I have an ancient Leica of my dad's and I keep thinking I should actually try taking pictures with the thing.

Nancypalooza


Those are great Mosca!  I have an ancient Leica of my dad's and I keep thinking I should actually try taking pictures with the thing.

Yer darn tootin' you should!
 
A Leica isn't just any old camera, most are works of engineering artistry and still one of the benchmarks that other cameras are measured against.  Is it an M-series (rangefinder) or R-series (SLR)?
 
Compare the prices of used Leicas to other cameras at keh.com (KEH is a big used equipment dealer in Atlanta).  You might be quite surprised.
 
Brad

I just got back from Dan's Camera City (follow the link to the eastern seaboard's finest camera store, at least outside NYC); I dropped it off for a refurbishing. They are going to replace the shutter bearing, the light seal around the film carriage, and clean it up; $123. I thought about it, and decided I was going to spend $35 to have it cleaned anyhow. The guy said that it would last another 20 years, so I did it. It's going to take 4-6 weeks, it goes back to Canon for this.

Just firing the one roll of film through it makes me think I'll be a better photographer for learning to shoot with film. Digital does so many things better and more efficiently that I'll never adopt film as my medium of choice. But film made me think about the composition of every single frame, made me double think every setting, made me think about so much more. What I did was, shot a scene digitally at the same ISO as I had film loaded, and noted the settings; then took the aperture and shutter speed and set the AE-1 to those. I'm going to go pick up the shots in a few minutes, maybe I'll hook up the scanner and see if I can compare them, or post any comparisons. No guarantees, of course.

OK, got 'em. Not bad. There are some processing artifacts, a discolored line through each print; I'm not sure if it's from the camera, from the old, cheap film, or from the cheap Rite-Aid processing. I'm not concerned, because they're all shots I already have, these aren't the only set of wedding prints or anything like that.

What I wanted to find out most was 1) Did I focus correctly? 2) Did the camera shake? 3) Did I get the exposure right? I got a couple that are half a stop over or under, I got the focus right on about two thirds of them. I got no camera shake.

It's a start!

I use Walgreens for my "everyday" processing and a CD is only an additional $2.99 when I get prints.  They scan it at about 1800x1200 IIRC, and if I need more resolution I use a camera store about 30 minutes away.
 
It'll be interesting to see how your next roll turns out, after the camera's been serviced.
 
Brad

Oh heck Brad; I should have thought of that! Maybe I can drop off the negatives tomorrow.

Brad_Olson


A Leica isn't just any old camera, most are works of engineering artistry and still one of the benchmarks that other cameras are measured against.  Is it an M-series (rangefinder) or R-series (SLR)?

Okay boys you tell me.







What do I have?  The three letters on the top of the camera are D.R.P.  Circa the fifties, probably purchased at an Army PX if I know Dad.   And I'm assuming the little buddy is a light meter?  I love the leather cases.

Sweet... that is a Rangefinder, but I can't tell which one. It is a real precision instrument, to be sure!

Edit: It looks like an M2, or an M3; but the number on top, in front of the hot shoe (flash mount) looks like it starts, "M2...". So I say, M2. See how much to get it cleaned up. That is one of the finest cameras of its type ever made.

M2 information

M3 information

Yes Brad, you're right; it is a III, not a 2 or a 3. Nice ID!

Wow.  I feel like I'm on Antiques Roadshow.  I've always put it on a bookshelf because the camera and my dad's old 8MM are the only things I have of his, and I associate them with him so closely, but if it could be cleaned up and I could use it, it would tickle me no end.  So can I email somebody at Dan's Camera City and see if I could ship it to them for refurb, or if there would be an okay place nearby to send it?  Now that I know it's a really good camera it will keep me from taking it just anywhere.
 
Thanks boys!  You're pretty awesome!

Nancy, you might look around the Web and check out the Leica subculture to see whose name pops up repeatedly when it comes to service.  For example, I have Pentax equipment and there's a retired Pentax technician in Tennessee who's considered one of the best; he's not affiliated with any camera store and he works out of his house, but he has the tools, parts, and knowledge to do the job.  I would be extremely surprised if there aren't at least a couple of guys who're the same when it comes to Leica.  And it certainly wouldn't hurt to ask Dan's or any other shop to see what they might recommend.  Good luck!

Brad

^
+1

Dan's doesn't have someone on site; they just shipped mine off to Canon.

It would be awesome to have an old working Leica.

From the Leica Historical Society: a list of repair shops for Leicas

Excellent resource!  I'm a little shocked to see that one of the shops is less than 30 minutes from me; Oregon WI is less than 10K in population and not where I'd expect to find a Leica specialist!

Brad

You know what, I'm going to LA next week and I can just take it with me to one of those area shops.  This was very fortuitous timing y'all--thank you so much for all the help.

Mosca
The guy said that it would last another 20 years, so I did it. It's going to take 4-6 weeks, it goes back to Canon for this.

But will film be around for another 20 years?

At the rate we're going there is no guarantee Kodak will be around and there are already old film sizes you cannot buy.

I still have my film SLR I bought in 1963 for around $300. That was a lot of money for me back then. I bought a used 1958 Pontiac for about the same price.

I thought about that, Davydd. I think that I won't be around for 20 more years! But at least for a while, artists are still using film as a medium.

I'm ordering some Velvia!

Film might increase in price and decrease in variety but I doubt it's going anywhere soon.  And if it actually becomes a legitimate concern I can always make a little more room in my freezer.

The next film size to disappear will probably be 110.  I think right now there's only one current manufacturer (Ferrania of Italy) although Kodak and Fuji (or a Fuji-sourced private label) will occasionally turn up.  I was in Walgreens earlier this week and noticed 3 24-exposure rolls at $2.99 apiece; a check of the box revealed a "Made in Japan" stamp and a 1/2009 expiration date so I suspect it came from Fuji.

Brad

I just spent 20 minutes poking around the 'net, and it looks like choosing a film is another crucial variable.

I think I would want to start with something general, something that I can depend on, while I learn consistency of operation. Print vs slide... I'm not getting out a slide projector any time soon. But, can prints be made from slide film, or is it just the positive/negative that is different?

So many questions! I know, I'm asking them on a food forum, and rest assured, I'll do the research and figure it out; I'm only remarking on it right now, that it's like so many things... the explosion of questions that occurs at the moment you decide to really get interested!

Nancypalooza


You know what, I'm going to LA next week and I can just take it with me to one of those area shops.  This was very fortuitous timing y'all--thank you so much for all the help.

Fortuitous indeed!  Hopefully it won't require major surgery...but be aware that camera repair craftsmen don't come cheap.  I sent a German camera to a well-known shop in California a couple of years ago for a general service and it required just a little bit more than the standard level of care, and IIRC it was over $250.  But that was probably the first time in 35 years that it had been serviced, too.
 
Brad