What I miss about the "old days"

G M Fude · 01-18-2008, 10:32 PM

Note that I refrained from saying ""the good old days" (they weren't) but, yeah, this is an "old" fart reminiscing.

My first camera was a Minolta SR-T101 with a 58 mm f1.4 Rokkor lens. I remember choosing that camera over a Pentax Spotmatic; one reason IIRC (this was the early 70s and I was 15 years old) was being a novice I wasn't comfortable with a screw thread lens, which most SLRs used at the time. Minolta was an affordable option with a bayonet mount and that seemed safer than cross-threading an M42 with my inept junior fumblings.

I got to thinking about this today while watching American Gangster -- all the cops in Ridley Scott's latest gem were using Asahi Pentax, I think I saw one newsman using a Nikon, the one with the big ugly pentaprism housing.

And it reminded me that one of the things I miss about my SR-T101 was winding the film between shots. I never had a motor drive for it and one of the subjects I used to photograph was car rallies. So I got pretty good at advancing the film damn quickly.

It had a nice feel, flicking the lever through 120 degrees or so -- I can actually remember the feel it had even today, muscle memory persists even 30 years after all those thousands of shots -- and it sorta said "Well there's another fine image in the can!". There was no chimping with film of course, so there was always the wondering as to whether or not that shot "came out okay".

But, yeah, one of the aspects I enjoyed about photography back then was winding the film. Okay, carry on guys, thanks for reading, I'll now go back to polishing my walking frame... (j/k)

Nesster · 01-19-2008, 08:11 AM

Yes, that wind on after the shutter release puts a finality to the whole process: especially doing it with a bit of emphasis. Truly satisfying. I still do this with my old SLRs and my Kodak Retina

and it IS a big part of the satisfaction of using these cameras.

rormeister · 01-19-2008, 08:31 PM

Not to mention the dismay when you're in the heat of a great set and "clunk" the winder stops half way balking at you, insisting you've run out of film. Now if only I could find my walker

Mike Cash · 01-20-2008, 03:38 AM

Last week I took both my K100D and my recently acquired Pentax SV to shoot an event. I switched back and forth between the two and a few times got a suprise as my thumb whiffed the non-existant film advance lever on the K100D.

Then there was the "fun" that came when I thought I had loaded 36-exp film in the SV when it was actually 24-exp.

*cardinal43* · 01-20-2008, 06:09 PM

Then there was the "fun" that came when I thought I had loaded 36-exp film in the SV when it was actually 24-exp.

I did this many years ago in Old Town Tucson when I was shooting with my Minolta SRT-101. I didn't realize it until it wouldn't advance and I rewound it and took it out and discovered it was a 24-exposure vs 36-exposure (I always bought 36-exposure). My wife just laughed and took a picture with her trusty Kodak Instamatic.

Mike Cash · 01-21-2008, 04:58 AM

I also sometimes forget just what film I have loaded in a camera. I have so many and they all often sit around for months with partially shot rolls in them. Since many of them are meterless, the ISO doesn't have to be set anywhere on the camera and it is easy to forget what speed film I left in it. In order to serve as a reminder, when I put the cameras away I usually set them to "Sunny 16". So cameras loaded with 100 speed film have the shutter on 100 (yes, lots of my cameras are old enough to have 1/100 as a shutter speed) while those loaded with 400 are left with the shutter on 1/500.

*christinelandon* · 01-24-2008, 05:55 AM

Steve, I get the same feeling when I borrow a friend's car or get a rental with an automatic. I am so into the feel and habits of a stick shift! When I switch between the Spotmatic and the K10D, it feels just like that...

MRRiley · 01-25-2008, 11:05 AM

What I miss about the old days is "match needle metering." If the needle was centered the exposure was 0:0. My Pentax KM had it and my MX has a similar but non-mechanical stack of LEDS (red/orange/green/orange/red). As much as I love my K10D (and my K110D) sometimes there is a bit of information overload in the viewfinder.

cygnet · 01-25-2008, 02:43 PM

Hey, my first camera was a Minolta SRT 101 too. Had 3 Minolta lenses for it, but I don't remember what they were now. Then I got an Olympus OM1 because they were smaller and lighter. The same reasons I like my K10D and DA lenses now.
Speaking of winding the film, you don't hear the sound of a motor drive anymore either. I took my OM1 with motor on it to a glamour workshop a couple years ago. All the oldtimers were remembering fondly that kawoosh, kawoosh, kawoosh sound. It hard to describe the sound, but when you hear it, it's immediately recognizable.

Trawlerman · 02-01-2008, 11:34 AM

Yup I remember shooting with these old birds. And I still love to shoot with them.

One of my earliest camera's is the FSU FED-3a. It doesn't have a wind-on lever but rather a knurled knob to wind on. You have to be careful to wind-on and cock the shutter before changing shutter speeds as it can tear the shutter curtains otherwise.

This one is meterless and doesn't even have a reminder of what film is loaded. I do have a vintage Weston Master IV meter but most of the time I can't be bothered to carry/use it so I just shoot Sunny-16 and hope for the best. With a bit of practice it can become quite easy.

Here are some images of my FED-3a. This one is a 1963 model and has been fully CLA'd by Yuri @ Fedka. He supplied it with the original box, manual and manufacturers passports. I got a bespoke strap from Gordy at RFF. I've also fitted it with a Nikon-S style vented hood.

As you can imagine, i get quite a few odd looks from people when using this and some older guys often come and chat about the times they had one back in the day. It's quite the conversation starter is this.

*khardur* · 02-01-2008, 03:27 PM

Originally Posted by MRRiley

What I miss about the old days is "match needle metering."

the first Pentax I used (but not my own) had the match needle. That was when I was first learning photography, way back in '91. (yeah, I know some of you guys will get a chuckle at that, I know I'm still a youngin)

my first SLR was a Yashica FX-7, had green and red lights, that was it. On my *ist 35mm and my ZX-M it had a bar graph - I loved the bar graph...