[Nesster]

We all have our treasured equipment that give us satisfaction - and we hope, excellent results photographically.

But, even with the weather sealed uber DSLRs, there are times when the weather's bad, the temperature is below freezing, or the danger of dropping the camera is great. That's when you need the Beater - preferably film, though an old digital would work if you don't mind if it gets ruined...

My Beater has been the Fujica ST605 - the first one I paid $15 for and ended up giving away... the replancement ST605 I paid a whole $3 for, lens and all.

What makes the ST605/n special, beater-wise?
1) the shutter seems bullet proof
2) the battery lasts for ever, and even if it freezes, the shutter is mechanical
3) that extra-special 1/700 top speed
4) ISO range of 25-3200! take that, Pentax!
5) screw mount lets you use an arsenal of beater lenses. I use the Fujinon 55/2.2 that comes with, or a Yashinon DSM 35/2.8

There are some differences between the two - the ST605n adds the frilly shutter speed indicator to the view finder. The vf by the way is wide and very decent, and contains a horizontal split prism. To turn on the meter and stop down the lens, you use your right hand to push in a button next to the lens mount - this is very nice indeed.

My original ST605 was a trooper - I used it in -20F cold on the Jersey Shore at dawn, and for several hours long tramp through a very rainy Manhattan - so wet that at times I couldn't use the view finder, as it fogged, and had to go into box camera mode... Never a complaint, never a miss...

Here's the original, quite a handsome beasty:



A picture from the below freezing Jersey Shore jaunt:



And one from the rainy day in Manhattan:



The replacement $3 ST605n is something special, and really deserves some appreciation:



This camera features a base plate held on by 1 screw only (the other end either flaps or I tape it); a missing film release button (I stab it with a pen, if that doesn't work, the camera goes into the dark bag); and the lens has been chipped away at by some demented former owner, as the focus ring is nearly all gone, exposing the focus helicoid underneath. But because of all of this, the camera works and makes an excellent Beater.

The Fujinon 55/2.2, even in this partly circumcised state, can be very sharp indeed...




Please tell your stories about your Beaters - those ugly ducklings that do their job, regardless...

[eddie1960]

i have a number of beaters though no handy examples of pics as i'm at work Pentax
SV,KM and Mx, All work in any condition and with b/w iso is pretty much determined by where i want to expose the film (if the camera meter doesn't recognize say iso 3200 i can easily adapt
other
Fed 4 and 5 - built like tanks and I have no issues in any weather
Holga , Lomo Fisheye, - easily replaced cheap plastic jobs with no real mechanics to go wrong and their charm is their unreliable output

any of these are easily replaced cheaply if i somehow manage to damage them but I can't think of to many things that would damage them aside from outright stupidity on my part (well not entirely true pointing the feds at the sun will likely burn a hole in the shutter)

If I really needed a beater i could care less about I would drop into the junk shop and by the Zenit E I've been looking at. My first camera was one of these and it even survived drops from 30 feet up with nothing more than a dent. the Helios is a pretty nice cheap lens too (real reason I'm looking at it, just need to get him down to my $15 junk shop cap)

If I really needed digital I would likely grab my old *istds which I never use any more but still hold onto for some reason. It saw a lot of hard use and still works perfectly though

Nice pics Nesster as usual.

[Ratmagiclady]

I've got a couple of marginal Canon FT's up on blocks in the backyard.

(OK, that's a metaphor. )

They're draft-able for that duty, but in general I only 'beat' so hard, anyway. I suppose a lot of my stable in general isn't in the 'too-precious' category.

[séamuis]

my MX. just looking at it, will tell you all you need to know. but its fully functional. just recently, I dropped it about 5 feet onto a smooth concrete floor. banged the lens' filter ring up pretty bad. i love it. i dont baby it like my SV or my !gasp! leica, and it just keeps working faithfully.

[deadwolfbones]

Just bought a Nikon D70 as a slightly different class of beater.

[epqwerty]

I have this exact film camera. It truly is something special. Now that you posted this it makes me want to pull out my ST605N and shoot with it again. I really have been neglecting mine for the last little while.

[stevebrot]

The FED-2 is clean, but is currently held together, at least partially, with super glue. Still though it is reliably crude and is probably my best handling camera outside of the Ricoh XR7.



The XR-2s has a broken self-timer lever (they all do) and was received when purchased with a liberal coating of tobacco residue, but it is a deadly reliable shooter. I have nothing but praise for the Copal "square" shutter that is in it and my Singlex.

The XR7 was rescued from Goodwill as a parts camera, but ended up replacing the camera it was supposed to help fix. I can be thankful that the polycarbonate sheathing is black so as to not show the multitude of scratches. (The outside is poly, but the body itself is cast and CNC machined alloy.) Still, though, it also is super reliable and a pure pleasure to shoot with due to its light weight and excellent balance. It will be a sad day when it finally quits working.

Here are both of them (along with the very non-beater Super Program) mounted to their power winders:



(I guess maybe they don't look too bad. Maybe I am the only one who sees the scratches?)


Steve