[Tony Belding]

We may find that one day, we will have fewer and fewer working Film cameras due to this. Something like the K1000 has stood the test of time and probably will for ages more but even they have light meter issues. Just musing out loud.

I've also been pondering some subjects along those lines.

I was thinking about picking up a cheap APS pocket camera off eBay. Fuji was the last company to produce APS film, and I think they stopped in 2011. You can still find film fairly easily, some of it cold-stored, but all the remaining supplies are gradually becoming more-and-more expired. It can still be developed. Some of those little cameras were technological wonders of their time, but they are also delicate mechanisms, and I'm sure the passage of more years doesn't do them any favors. So, what's to become of all those cameras and film? Do we toss them all in the trash, or do we try to use them up while they're still usable? It might be interesting for a while to carry a camera and film that I know have no future. A dose of reality. An opportunity to contemplate the impermanence of all things.

At the other extreme, not long ago I snagged a restored Agfa Isolette III folding camera. It has no electronics. It got a new bellows, was cleaned and lubricated, shutter and rangefinder adjusted, and now it works just like new. It's sixty years old (more or less) and uses a film format that was introduced in 1901 and is still in current production. It even fits in my pocket when folded. (But it's kind of awkward and slow to operate, if I want to whip it out and capture a fleeting moment!)

[stevebrot]

This is a little off topic but not really, but the thread has me thinking and asking. Many of the older manual camera's light meters stop working over time over become less accurate...

That is often (usually?) the case with selenium meters, but not that big a problem with CdS, SPD, and GPD meters in Pentax film SLRs. There may be some calibration drift over time on those models having analog electronics,* but performance remains consistent as long as the wiring is intact. FWIW, The meter in the K-70 is not that much different than that in the MZ-S.

Do we know how long some of the more high tech electronics will work?

Conventional wisdom is the same as for a new Pentax dSLR. They work until they stop working. The ability to repair is dependent on availability of replacement parts. A good rule of thumb with the electronics of vintage cameras is that if the camera has survived to this point with all systems working, chances are excellent that it will continue to do so. I have several bodies dating to the late 1970s/early 1980s and all haven proven to be quite reliable.


Steve

* In regards to analog meters...if the meter dies, it is usually a capacitor that goes bad or a corroded wire (battery leakage).

[Jonathan Mac]

It's inevitable that there will be fewer and fewer working film cameras as they break down and are not repaired due to cost, availability of parts or expertise, or lack of willingness. However, there are a lot of old film cameras out there and very few people using them, so there should be plenty to go around for quite a while.

Light meters may fail but in most cameras that's not a critical component. I have many cameras without light meters or with broken light meters, or which take batteries that aren't available any more. I use the sunny sixteen (or often the sunny 22) rule and educated guesses and I get a good exposure 95% of the time. External light meters are still made, and I bought one of them too, for trickier situations.

If a new film camera were to be produced then for many people it would be too expensive. If I had cash to get a new film camera I'd get an F6 and a few modern lenses, all of which is available now. I'll stick with used cameras because they're much cheaper, even if they're not as capable.

[photoptimist]

Another variant on the theme of a "modern film camera" might be to 3-D print the non-optical parts of the camera and then add an Arduino or Raspberry Pi plus the needed motors and sensors to offer light metering, aperture actuation, and shutter control. The optics might be some off-the-shelf lens (some small prime that won't break the 3-D printed mount ring), a scavenged lens (e.g. from a Polaroid camera), or a pinhole.

And if you want cheap then how about these: Pinhole Photography: 10 Paper Cameras For Photograph Purists

[lithedreamer]

I have my eye on a 4x5 large format camera, used. Companies like Wista still sell them new through B&H, though.

[Tony Belding]

I have my eye on a 4x5 large format camera, used. Companies like Wista still sell them new through B&H, though.

For the most part, large format film never was supplanted by digital. There are no large-format digital cameras.

[lithedreamer]

For the most part, large format film never was supplanted by digital. There are no large-format digital cameras.

I wouldn't be able to afford it, if they did exist!

[Racer X 69]

Modern film camera?

[photoptimist]

For the most part, large format film never was supplanted by digital. There are no large-format digital cameras.

Although there's no large-format digital cameras in the consumer space, there are beasts like this Intergraph aerial camera based on a 140 megapixel 88x82mm CCD sensor. DALSA makes CCD sensors up to 95 x 95 mm but I've never heard of one being installed in a view camera.

[Racer X 69]

There are no large-format digital cameras.

Actually Better Light has been offering scanning backs for a while now.

And there is a new player entering the market, Large Sense, with image sensor backs. Still in development, and still only black and white but they are promising color.

Very expensive.

There was also some guy who made a one off full size (8x10 I think) back made from an image sensor array.

One of a kind, and priceless.

Then there are the photo stitching options available. using a medium format digital back, or even a DSLR. Seems like a clunky way to get digital from one of the oldest and coolest methods of capturing light though.

[Racer X 69]

There was also some guy who made a one off full size (8x10 I think) back made from an image sensor array.

Here is the one of a kind 8x10 digital back (actually there are two, a good photographer always carries a spare). Made for pro photographer Mitchell Feinberg, it is called the Maxback.

Get this.

He doesn't use the thing to make final images, that is still done on film. The digital back was created to replace the Polaroid film used to get the exposure, composition, etc. set up.

Oh, and it is only 10 megapickles.




Read About It Here

[skierd]

Now that is something!

If an 8x10 back cost 6 figures, a moderate resolution 4x5 back could drop to mid to high 5's, not far off from the current highest end MF backs.

[Racer X 69]

Now that is something!

If an 8x10 back cost 6 figures, a moderate resolution 4x5 back could drop to mid to high 5's, not far off from the current highest end MF backs.

Better Light had a 4x5 scanning back for $6,500, but their web page shows it as sold out. They offer 6 models for 4x5 ranging from $6,500 to $23,000.

Still a bit rich for my check book.

[skierd]

A scanning back is not really the same kind of solution at all. Using a large low-ish MP sensor as an electronic polaroid to test exposure is way more realistic for just about anything that isn't a static still life image or reproduction work, and could even stand to be a reasonable replacement for LF film if the resolution was high enough.

Also responding to Tony, I don't think introducing another new film format is really the answer. There are plenty of dead formats out there for a reason; 35mm, 120, and LF have survived because they are still popular and relevant. More importantly they are still produced. Maybe you could respool 16mm for APS-C, but with film especially quality is so tied to film size that I don't see a future for anything smaller than 35mm.

In any event, film is currently married to nostalgia as much as the image quality. Once the GAS that goes along with collecting a film system wears off and the parts supply fades, where will those of us who want to shoot with silver and chemistry be left?

I will fully admit that I did not know about the Lomo LC-A 120. Give that camera a real rangefinder and aperture control similar to the Olympus XA and it's exactly what I was thinking about for a MF pocket camera. If someone other than Lomo sold it, it might have come out under $400 too... or at $400 with the features I'd like to see. Still it's pretty darn close.

[Racer X 69]

Once the GAS that goes along with collecting a film system wears off and the parts supply fades, where will those of us who want to shoot with silver and chemistry be left?

Here: Wet Plate Collodion Forum