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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-23-2024, 12:06 AM
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From my exchanges with a Pentax technician, a late serial number LX doesn’t mean much in terms of reliability. Even the youngest of these cameras is >20 years old. Reliability is pretty much down to luck, service history and how it has been stored.
They are beautiful cameras however and a pleasure to use. Pretty much all of the high end film cameras have some reliability risk now.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-21-2024, 11:12 AM
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Leica M7 has been out of production for six years but I am guessing a new old stock one would be about $5k? There’s no way I would buy one for that since I have a nice M6 bought years ago when prices were reasonable.
My guess is that a re-issued LX would be >$8k. They would have start from scratch again with the tooling for body parts etc, whereas Leica has kept manufacturing capability in place.
Even a remake of a modest consumer-grade SLR would be >$2k in my opinion, unless they want to make a huge loss on each camera.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-19-2024, 04:40 PM
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A re-issued LX would be awesome, but theres no way they would be able to bring such a camera to market for what any of us film enthusiasts would be willing to pay.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-01-2024, 12:12 PM
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I wouldn’t buy a Pentax original half case from that era. They are made from very poor quality synthetic material that has cracked/disintegrated on all the examples I have seen. On ebay there are sellers in china that make leather half cases for most popular cameras at reasonable price. I have a few of these and they are nice.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-01-2024, 12:07 PM
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I find 28mm a more difficult focal length to get good photos. A common pitfall is to have too much clutter in the frame. The trick is to get close to the subject.
Pentax K mount lenses are very inexpensive on the used market so its fun to experiment with different ones. Other good ones to try are the 40mm pancake, 35mm and 85mm. I personally prefer the discipline of using prime lenses instead of zooms. I have a rule that I only take one camera and one lens on a particular outing.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
03-01-2024, 07:11 AM
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A good tip is to look for hoods made by third party manufacturers on ebay. They make the plastic type with a bayonet locking mechanism for a third of the price. I recently bought one for my 28mm f2IS. The Canon hood was a crazy price like $80. The third party one is excellent. I couldn’t tell the difference in quality.
I think Canon’s whole business model is to sell the cameras as loss-leaders and clean up on the over-priced accessories :D
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
02-21-2024, 01:44 PM
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No problem if you have 11 backup bodies :D
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
02-19-2024, 01:56 PM
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I thought that was an F80. Can’t be polluting this marvelous thread with digital trash :)
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
02-16-2024, 04:51 PM
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Nice discreet walk-around rigs :)
I have always been curious to see what these action finders are like. I am guessing that focussing is not particularly easy due to the low magnification needed to get the huge eye relief. These things were designed for shooting while wearing a motorcycle helmet which is not a situation I find myself in very often. They were expensive in their day but can be bought quite cheap now because there is a limited practical use for them.
---------- Post added 02-16-24 at 11:59 PM ----------
Awesome, a piece of photographic history!
I want to pick one of these up when I see a clean one at the right price.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
01-25-2024, 03:53 PM
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I wouldn’t keep that personally, especially if you paid a premium for the ‘Titanium’ version.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
01-23-2024, 03:25 PM
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The way I interpret the last paragraph of p29 of the manual is that the meter on function only works with the Motor Drive MX, If using Motor Drive MD the motor drive button will not activate the metering. I suppose you would need to activate the meter with the camera shutter button in this case.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
01-08-2024, 12:54 AM
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Well done for attempting this, I would not be so brave. Thanks for sharing the pics.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
01-07-2024, 02:23 PM
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The MX is a must own camera for any Pentax film camera enthusiast. It balances well with the compact M series lenses.
Some of my favourites are the 40mm f2.8 pancake and the humble 50mm f2 which can be purchased for peanuts.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
01-03-2024, 11:52 AM
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The failure of the optical aperture reader is a common problem. A small mirror in the optical system becomes loose. This can be easily fixed by a service technician, by re-glueing the small mirror. It is probably possible to do a DIY repair if you are that way inclined.
The meter almost certainly needs servicing in the black camera, which might need parts from a donor camera. The nearly 50 year old SPD sensor could have lost sensitivity.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-26-2023, 06:34 AM
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I think Canon benefited from being the dominant manufacturer of AF SLR’s at the end of the film era. These cameras were still cheap, but Canon benefited from economy of scale and R&D knowledge from the vast number of camera models they released previously. The benefit now is that there is a huge number of reliable cameras on the used market that can be bought for peanuts. They are not my favourite cameras to shoot, but they are very reliable and produce high quality images.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-24-2023, 04:06 AM
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Wow thats crazy that they sell for that much. For me the only remaining film camera bargains are the late model AF SLRs.
For example you can get the last Canon EOS model made (300X or Rebel T2) in almost unused condition for £25-£35. Then add a 40mm pancake prime for around £100 and you have a camera that is similar size to most point and shoots, but far higher quality.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-15-2023, 12:02 PM
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That olympus is an outrageous buy for $25!.. The lens alone sells for around $400 on ebay.
I am surprised the previous owner made no effort at all to research what the camera and lens is worth.
Even before the recent rise in film camera price rises that camera and lens combination would be an easy sale on ebay for $200+.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-13-2023, 01:15 PM
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Yes the pentax cases were crap after the spotmatic era during which they were proper leather. I haven’t seen many of the fake leather ones that have not disintegrated.
I never use the full case but I quite like a leather half case to protect the camera and make it more comfortable grip. I have bought a few aftermarket leather half cases from ebay and they seem to be reasonable.
---------- Post added 12-13-23 at 08:20 PM ----------
The good news about the Minolta XE-7 and XD series cameras is that Leica made cameras with same core chassis. The XE-7 is the same as a Leica R3 and the XD-7/11 was the same as Leica R4-6. The Leica cameras were a premium product so they also sold very high quality genuine leather cases for these cameras. The superb Leica cases can now be bought cheaply on ebay.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-08-2023, 11:41 AM
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I agree with both of those flaws. The P30 has a weak transport mechanism and the T70 has a ridiculously loud and slow winder. However both take great pictures. I don’t think you can be too fussy when buying a camera for the price of two films.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-08-2023, 11:30 AM
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For me the worst part of the spotty experience is the meter. The Cds cells are very old now and sluggish to react. I wouldn’t trust the accuracy. This is a problem with pretty much ALL 60’s cameras with Cds light meters. Besides that the cameras are beautifully made and have a smoothness very much like a Leica.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-08-2023, 11:24 AM
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I’m with you on that one. There’s no way I want to buy any more lenses unless they are Pentax M42, Pentax K, Canon FD, Canon EF, Nikon F, Nikon Z, Leica M39, Leica M, Leica R, Olympus OM, Contax/Yashica, Minolta MD, or Minolta AF!
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-06-2023, 03:27 PM
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I have never really seen the point of needing both aperture and shutter priority. All of the manuals say to use SP to freeze action but it is just marketing fluff. To freeze action on an AP camera jus set a wide aperture.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-06-2023, 03:22 PM
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If the number of cameras you currently own is N, the correct number to own is N+1.
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Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras
12-06-2023, 03:05 PM
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I remember reading that it was only the earliest serial numbers that had that problem.
Edit: found the info about 2/3 down this page.
http://www.rokkorfiles.com/XD11.html
---------- Post added 12-06-23 at 10:14 PM ----------
Agree that Contax cameras are awesome and often overlooked. There is a guy in the UK that used to do a full strip-down rebuild of the 139 as a hobby (web site below). The mirror has a counterbalancing mechanism that does a nice job of eliminating mirror induced vibration. When the lubrication of this mechanism dries up you get the cats sneeze sound. After service this is gone.
https://www.contax139.co.uk/ |
