Originally posted by krypticide Many thanks for the recommendation, it does look like a solid FLRF. A bit hard to find, but that's fine by me. Unfortunately, I don't know a lick about film; can you recommend any that a place like Costco could process?
That would be
C-41 film. Colour negative film - what your mum used to photograph you when you were a kid. Occasionally referred to by other names: CN-16 (Fuji's term for the same process) or chromogenic film, print film, or just plain old colour negative. Note that there are black and white versions available that are just colour films without the colour dyes.
You know, that stuff that ends up as orange strips of negs. Wherever you find film, you will certainly find C-41 film. C-41 is particularly handy in that it has a lot of latitude - you don't have to be bang on exposure to get a good picture. That's why they use it in those meterless disposable cameras.
Kodak's Gold and Max films would probably be the most common, especially in the states. Fuji's Superia series is very good, and very common, but probably not as common as Kodak in the States. Some stores might have own-brand film.
There are pro-level C-41 films out there, too. Kodak's Portra series (a personal favourite of mine) is one, as well as the new Ektar 100 that's just been released. Fuji's PRO series is their equivalent. Both Portra and PRO come in the same speeds: ISO 160, 400, and 800.
There're two black and white C-41 films regularly available: Kodak BW400CN, and Ilford XP2 Super. They're nice, but don't have that tone and grain of real BW film.
As for a compact rangefinder, none get more compact than the Olympus XA. It's a rangefinder, like a Leica, but unlike a Leica, it's actually small. One of Maitani's genius designs, it's proper full frame, but about as big as a twenty pack of durries. 35mm f2.8 lens, five elements, some of which are high-refraction and low-dispersion to get the SLR-like quality - the total length of the lens is actually shorter than its focal length (so, technically, it's a telephoto,) with completely internal focusing. Takes A76 batteries, the kind you can still buy anywhere.
It's also a masterpiece of industrial design. It's small, but full-featured. It's got a proper meter in it, a proper rangefinder, and a proper lens. It's nicely weighted. The finish, in a touch of Zen awesomeness, is made to feel like stone, which is pleasantly unique for a camera. The clamshell case is also the on/off switch - but note that this is the only thing that regularly goes wrong with the XA, and on some of 'em it might be broken, allowing your fire the shutter with the camera closed.
The clamshell combines three functions - switch, lens cap, and shutter lock - into only one action. Slide it shut, and the meter's off, the lens and viewfinder are protected, and the shutter's locked. Note that because the VF is covered when the lens covered, you'll never take a photo with the lens cap on. This makes the whole camera smooth and sleek, and since everything's protected, buying a secondhand XA means it'll probably be in better nick than most other old cameras.
It's got a three-position switch on the base of the camera, for checking the batteries, adding +1.5 EV comp for backlit shots, and a self-time. That's an odd to have those functions, you might say. True, but this is one of the genius little touches of the camera: when it's in the self-timer positon, the switch sticks out at 90 degrees from the camera, and becomes a little foot to stabilise it when it's rested on a table. Brilliant.
The shutter release isn't just good for a CRF, it's very good by any camera standards. It's so smooth and sensitive (you WILL take a few mistake shots with it when starting out.) Very, very quiet shutter, of course.
I suppose what I'm saying is that it's a beautiful example of camera making, and well worth picking up if only for that. It's a great blend of form and function (the yin and yang of industrial design) but more importantly, because it's so small and well-protected, you can take it anywhere. If you can take a phone and a wallet with you, you can squeeze in room for an Olympus XA. For that reason, it'll get photos other cameras can't, because you won't might be able to lug other cameras around with you the way you can slip in an XA.
Of course, there're a few minor downsides. Viewfinder's not that bright, but they're never bright enough, frankly. The lens is a bit weird wide open (but most any lens is - the reason you make an f2.8 lens isn't so much because it's fast, it's because it'll be better at f4 than an f4 lens.) Meter's a bit rough, and only goes to ISO 800, which was very fast in those days, and starts at 25. It's a bit fiddly to set. And because it's so small, you may find an errant digit in your shots every now and then. And I don't know if they produced one with the focus scale in feet.